Winter 2013 (Part 6) - Gemini On The Eve Of The Virtua Launch
  • Nightscour

    Nightscour is an action-RPG published by Electronic Arts exclusively for the Apple Gemini. It combines elements of titles such as Diablo III, Castlevania, and the OTL Souls series, and takes place in a Victorian-era town that is being menaced by a strange and powerful beast. This beast's presence has spawned other, smaller beasts, and has also caused animals and even some humans to go crazy, forcing the protagonist to put them down with an array of weaponry including a crossbow and a rapier. While operating somewhat like a typical loot-based slasher title, with enemies able to drop loot, the protagonist able to find it, and merchants able to sell it, exploration also plays a major role, as does gathering clues and talking to the townspeople, which opens up new avenues of exploration and discovery for the player. The game's difficulty can be tricky to navigate at first, but it's not quite as unfair or punishing as a Souls title, especially once the player collects a good amount of loot and levels up the protagonist enough. The game also has some steampunk elements, with the protagonist able to assemble gadgets and even deck themselves out in a limited amount of steampunk-style armor. The game never goes full steampunk, but there is that influence there. As for the game's graphics, they're excellent, looking like a full console iTwin game with a few small graphical tricks. The game's world is also quite large, with the town actually being somewhat of a small city, with lots of surrounding environs to explore and the ability to go into buildings and even explore tunnels and caves. Nightscour has some of the best production values of any handheld game yet released up to this point, and critics give it excellent reviews, helping to contribute to the game's hype as one of the year's stronger Gemini exclusives. Sales of the game aren't great, but it does still make a decent profit, and is ultimately seen as a success.

    However, Nightscour itself isn't all that significant of a game. It doesn't really innovate and doesn't become influential, and is mostly remembered as just another strong adventure title, albeit one that shows off the power of the handheld it's made for. Instead, what makes Nightscour significant is that it represents a significant investment by Electronic Arts in Apple's Gemini. It's a game that could have been made for any of the consoles, or even any of the handhelds, but Electronic Arts chose the Gemini. They chose the Gemini after developing the first wave of sports titles for the Gemini and realizing how powerful the handheld truly was and what its potential could be. Nightscour was originally intended as a console game, either a late-seventh generation game or an eighth-generation launch title, but EA chose the Gemini, an unusual choice considering the game's genre. Though Nightscour didn't push many Gemini units, and was probably somewhat hurt in terms of sales by being a Gemini exclusive, its developers gained crucial experience in programming for Apple's machine, which they found to be much like programming for the iTwin. Nightscour's release and limited success shows that companies are starting to gravitate toward the Gemini for developing their handheld exclusives, despite the system's drawbacks (its price and the fact that it's a digital only device). The Gemini is proving to be a more powerful and capable machine than the Connect, and though the Connect will continue to see stronger first party titles, third party companies begin to see the Gemini as being the more attractive handheld to develop for. Apple will continue to take advantage of this going forward, and will encourage companies to port their Virtua titles to the Gemini as well.

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    Apple Expecting Virtua To Push Gemini Hardware Sales

    Even after the Nintendo Connect has enjoyed one of its most successful months ever thanks to the launch of Mariokart Excel, and has once again opened up a healthy lead over its competitor the Apple Gemini, Apple has signaled that it's "encouraged" for the Gemini going forward. The Apple Virtua has launched, and while early sales figures won't be released for a few more days, the company took the time to promote its handheld console, the Apple Gemini, alongside the Virtua. John Carmack, director of Apple's gaming division, recently said during a conference call with media representatives and investors that he expects the Virtua's launch to push Gemini hardware sales heavily. Not only does Carmack see potential in the Virtua's ability to stream content to the Gemini, he also believes that Apple fans will enjoy playing their favorite franchises on both devices, with a number of Virtua ports expected in the coming months. When asked if he believes people would be willing to buy a $299 handheld after dropping $499 on the Virtua, he replied that he believes buyers in the market for premium gaming devices will be willing to pay for both. He went on to say that Apple had a number of deals and sales planned that would make the cost of owning both devices "easier to absorb", and that such sales would include software bundles, hardware deals, and cross-buy between the Virtua and Gemini versions of certain games.

    Apple's Gemini has sold more than 12 million units thus far, and Carmack predicts that it will have sold around 20 million units total by the end of 2013.

    -from an article posted on Gamespot.com on March 30, 2013
     
    Apple Virtua Worldwide Launch
  • (Authors' Note: This is coming a bit early, as I have a business trip to go to next week and won't be able to update at all for about a week or so. I'm leaving you with this major update in the meantime!)

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    Apple Virtua Technical Specifications

    The Apple Virtua is a large black console with a polished finish, a bit smaller than OTL's original Xbox One and a bit larger than OTL's original Playstation 4. Like the Google Nexus, it features a Blu-Ray disc drive, four USB ports, and HDMI inputs and outputs. Unlike the Nexus (and unlike the later Reality), it also features two cameras in the front of the console. These cameras are what set the Virtua apart from its competitors, as it gives the Virtua the ability to create a “total immersion space” that allows the player to experience full body motion controls. This is fully customizable, allowing players to calibrate the motion control range to the space that the Virtua is in (you can't play it in a closet, but it accommodates a wide range of living spaces). The Virtua thus operates in a similar fashion to OTL's Xbox Kinect, though there are a few key differences in terms of functionality. The Virtua's cameras are first and foremost designed to enable the virtual reality gameplay, and so the system, at least at first, doesn't function like the Xbox One did with voice commands and controls (those would come in later). In fact, Apple devices ITTL don't yet have Siri-like functionality, as voice controls are one of the major fields of technology that is actually behind IOTL in terms of progress. The Virtua will get a similar system to OTL's Siri later on, but for now, the Virtua lacks any kind of voice control system. This does free up processing power and development resources for the motion controls, and so the Virtua has, by far, the most advanced motion control system for any video game device to date. As far as software goes, the Virtua has access to the legacy iTunes library, and is capable of playing any digital Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Game Gear, Katana, or iTwin game yet released, and is also capable of playing iTwin games via backwards compatibility (giving the Virtua a library of 3,000+ digital games at launch).

    The Apple Virtua is right around OTL's original Playstation 4 in terms of raw graphical power. In some ways, it's more powerful and capable, though in other ways, it's slightly less, again due to added processing power being devoted to the Virtua's motion control gameplay technology. The Virtua utilizes a custom-built 1.95 GHz octo-core Intel CPU alongside a 833 MHz GPU, providing around 2 teraflops of processing power. It has 8 GB of RAM, 2 more than the Google Nexus, and is generally a more powerful console overall, with graphics that are visually better in most games. Like the Nexus, the Virtua has two primary control schemes: a twin-controller setup similar to the iTwin, but with a few key differences, mostly concerning the grips, which have an extra trigger button (L4 and R4), which is primarily used for virtual reality functionality but which other developers use in different ways. The Virtua also has a traditional controller option, and on those controllers, the L4 and R4 buttons operate like the paddles seen on some advanced OTL controllers (including the Xbox Elite). The Virtua's default twin controllers have special chips allowing the camera to see their positions from anywhere, and the controllers have a wide array of movements and sensors, including an advanced rumble functionality that exceeds the capabilities of OTL's HD Rumble on the Switch. This has the effect of making the twin Virtua controllers quite expensive, with a set of them running $99.99 (the traditional style controller also has an MSRP of $99.99).

    Overall, while motion controls and virtual reality were Apple's primary development goal with the Virtua, they also designed the console for raw power in a much more overt way than they did the iTwin. Steve Jobs was annoyed by just how much better first party games looked on the Sapphire than they did on the iTwin, and he didn't want to be beaten that badly by Nintendo in terms of raw power ever again. The Virtua is priced and promoted as a premium product, and though its initial MSRP is $200 more than the Nexus, the high price isn't a concern to Jobs, who knows that Apple loyalists are willing to pay big bucks for premium, well promoted products.

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    Launch Title Summaries-
    (The Virtua's North American launch line-up consists of 20 games, plus a few more small titles not worth mentioning here. Most are ports, but around half are exclusive to the console.)

    Bayonetta 2

    Developed by PlatinumGames exclusively for the Apple Virtua, Bayonetta 2 is a hack and slash title and a sequel to 2009's Bayonetta. While the game comes out ITTL about a year and a half earlier than it did IOTL, it enjoyed about the same amount of total development time, due to the extremely strong sales for the original game pushing Apple to commission and fund a sequel almost immediately. Bayonetta 2 features similar gameplay to its predecessor, but like OTL's sequel, gameplay is more refined and better paced, with new combo attacks at Bayonetta's disposal and the introduction of Umbran Climax, allowing players with a full magic meter to pull off numerous combos and strong attacks in rapid-fire succession. There's also an alteration to the Witch Time mechanic that allows Bayonetta to temporarily take control of an enemy and attack either themselves or another enemy. Called Witch Trance, this ability plays a major role in certain fights and can lead to some unique and humorous moments. Other than these new additions, little has changed between Bayonetta 2 and its predecessor. Of course, the Virtua does allow for an entire layout of motion controls which allows the player to punch, kick, and pose to make Bayonetta pull off some incredibly fun combos. Like in the first TTL Bayonetta game, Bayonetta breaks the fourth wall at times to comment on the player's performance if they're utilizing the motion controls. It IS possible to use the traditional control scheme, which is still quite fun and controls Bayonetta just as well. Another major difference between OTL and TTL's games is the graphics: the Apple Virtua is by far the most advanced console the Bayonetta series has been on (IOTL or ITTL), and the game demonstrates the system's graphical power quite nicely, with a smooth framerate and detailed character and enemy models that make the game one of the best looking launch titles for the system. Hellena Taylor and Kari Wahlgren reprise their roles from the original game, and TTL's Bayonetta 2 features much of the same music as OTL's game, including “Tomorrow Is Mine” and a remixed “Moon River”. Plotwise, there are also some strong similarities between OTL and TTL's titles. Like OTL's game, Bayonetta's companion Jeanne has been dragged into hell by a betrayer demon, and Bayonetta is forced to battle both angels and demons to get her back. Bayonetta's human allies Luka and Lizbeth both return from the previous game, and both have a role to play in the game's main plot, which now involves a modern day preacher figure known as Pastor Goliad (voiced by Stephen Root) being used by an ancient witch hunter named Margaretha (voiced by Susanne Blakeslee) in order to restart the Witch Hunts of years past. Margaretha is behind Jeanne's abduction, and Goliad (who doesn't know that he's being used to summon demons into the world, but instead believes his new miracle powers come from God) serves as the human face of her plan, directing swarms of angels against Bayonetta as she travels the world to save Jeanne and ultimately the universe from Margaretha's evil plans. Though Bayonetta does slaughter armies of angels, she doesn't harm Goliad himself, instead using her powers to break the hold Margaretha has over his mind (she DOES humiliate him though, and it's implied that the government arrests him for fraud soon after his defeat). Bayonetta rescues Jeanne from execution, and together, the two travel back in time to defeat Margaretha before she gains enough power to destroy witches in the present. Bayonetta isn't able to save her own mother from the hunts, but she does gain inspiration and a brand new power, and uses this power and Jeanne's help to defeat Margaretha and end the witch hunts once and for all. Bayonetta and Jeanne then return to the present and resume their lives of luxury, decadence, and angel hunting. Bayonetta 2, like OTL's game, enjoys incredibly strong reviews, with review scores easily the best of any game released so far in 2013. The game is heavily praised for its fun hack and slash action, its optional motion controls, its gorgeous graphics, and its extremely fast pacing. The game has plenty of replay value, and is considered to have set a new bar for the genre. It becomes the Virtua's most successful launch title, and is a true killer app for the system, helping to push hardware units despite the Virtua's high price.

    GameRankings Score: 96.93%

    Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity

    Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity is a half-sequel, half-enhanced port of the hit Gemini title Virtua Fighter Infinity. It's essentially the same game, but includes all the DLC plus several original characters, a suite of brand new modes (including a built-in brawler title and expanding on the Virtua Quest-style RPG mode from Infinity), and most importantly, support for the Virtua's built in motion controls, allowing players to achieve almost one-to-one movement for their characters in the game. There's a super-detailed Create A Fighter mode that will allow players to put themselves into the game like never before, meaning that for the first time, it's possible for the player to star in a Virtua Fighter game. While some critics see it as a bit of a gimmick, most players eat it up eagerly, and the game is seen as a major improvement over the original (which was already considered one of the greatest fighting games of all time). Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity is one of the best reviewed console fighting games ever, and sales heavily reflect that. It's the best selling launch title in Japan. In North America, sales are strong, but a bit lower than might be expected, due in part to people owning the game on the Gemini and not quite wanting to make the jump at launch. Still, it's a massive hit, and probably the most successful Virtua Fighter overall since 4.

    GameRankings Score: 93.01%

    Virtua Rally

    A successor title to both Sega Rally and Virtua Racing, Virtua Rally aims to be a comprehensive racing experience combining both arcade and simulation style racing into a single package. The game includes three main modes: a “simulation style” mode that emulates the Gran Turismo and Forza series, an “arcade style” mode that provides full arcade-style racing in the style of the classic Virtua Racing games, and a “rally style” mode combining the two. The game includes support for traditional controls, simple motion controls, and complex motion controls. It releases alongside a steering wheel accesory (sold separately) intended to simulate the feel of real virtual racing. While the game is graphically gorgeous and plays quite well, it's seen somewhat as a “jack of all trades, master of none”, a game that isn't quite as challenging and compelling a sim as Gran Turismo, or as simple and fun as Virtua Racing or even the earlier Sega Rally reboot. It's still a very well received game, and another strong seller, but isn't quite the killer app that some of its fellow launch titles are.

    GameRankings Score: 86.23%

    Virtua Sports

    A compilation sports title including new versions of Virtua Tennis and Virtua Soccer, as well as basketball, baseball, golf, billiards, darts, foot racing, boxing, and fishing. The game allows for both traditional controls and motion controls. Like Virtua Rally, it suffers from a bit of a “jack of all trades, master of none” problem, but all the games are quite fun and control quite well. The game has less of a budget title feel to it than OTL's Wii Sports did (retailing at full price), but ironically, the game doesn't become as iconic or successful, mostly because it's not packaged with the system. Players who do take the plunge are rewarded with a very fun game and an excellent demonstration of the Virtua's capabilities.

    GameRankings Score: 88.98%

    XCOM: From The Skies

    Another Virtua exclusive, this one from a third party, this game is the latest in the XCOM series, in which players must repel an alien invasion with the army they have at hand. Unlike games such as OTL's Enemy Unknown, this is an RTS, not a tactical RPG, and it requires more resource management and faster thinking, operating a little bit like Starcraft without quite as much strategy. It allows for optional motion controls, in which players can physically pick up and move units around, and though this is a fun way to play the game, traditional controls are probably the way to go. It's a slick, simple, but fun RTS, and though hardcore XCOM fans scoff a bit, it's overall a good game.

    GameRankings Score: 76.15%

    World Series Baseball 2K13

    The latest in Apple's exclusive baseball series, this one also made its way to the iTwin and Gemini. The Virtua version is nearly identical, though it does have better graphics and tacked-on motion controls. It's a good baseball game, and though it's no Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame, it's still a popular launch title.

    GameRankings Score: 80.50%

    NASCAR 2K13

    Another Apple sports exclusive, this NASCAR game actually runs into a bit of a conflict with Virtua Rally, which also includes NASCAR racers (though 2K13 is the only one with the actual NASCAR tracks and ruleset). The 2013 game is considered somewhat of a disappointment compared with the excellent NASCAR 2K12, and the Virtua version is no exception. It's certainly not a bad game, but does have some trouble selling due to the various issues.

    GameRankings Score: 71.54%

    Dragonball ZV

    This interesting title is a Virtua-exclusive Dragonball fighting game. Though there are plenty of Dragonball games being released for various consoles at this time, most with similarities to OTL's Tenkaichi and Budokai games, Dragonball ZV slims down the roster a bit in order to showcase the graphics of the Virtua. It's a beautiful fighting game, certainly the closest in appearance to the actual anime that has been released to date, but it's nothing too special. Most fighter fans buy Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity, while only hardcore Z junkies pick this one up.

    GameRankings Score: 70.77%

    Ghosts At Dusk

    A horror title with some similarities to Fatal Frame, this first-person launch title is designed to take advantage of the Virtua's controls. It's about a group of Japanese students on a class trip who find themselves harrowed by ghosts. It's legitimately terrifying, if somewhat short and simplistic, and best remembered for the elaborate motion control scheme which forces players to stay alert and attentive to protect the students (most of whom are attractive girls). Though most reviews are positive, a notable negative review compares the game to Night Trap.

    GameRankings Score: 77.04%

    Skullgirls

    This anime-based fighter comes to the Virtua exclusively ITTL, due to Apple working extensively with Reverge Labs to produce and publish the game. It's quite similar to OTL's title, though it's even better looking graphically, and gets a physical release at launch (at a budget price of $29.99). With more fighters and an expanded storyline, it's overall a stronger game than OTL's title, but amidst the other fighters present at the Virtua launch, it gets lost in the fold and becomes known as a niche game.

    GameRankings Score: 83.40%

    Assassin's Creed III

    Like the previous Nexus port, Assassin's Creed III is fairly identical to the game that got released late last year. It has the best graphics of any port released thus far, and a bit smoother gameplay due to included patches, but there's little reason to buy this version if you've already played the others.

    GameRankings Score: 92.77%

    Call Of Duty: Coalition

    Second verse, same as the first. It's a better looking port than the Nexus version, but nothing new has been added here.

    GameRankings Score: 81.60%

    Thrillseekers: Winter Challenge 2

    Activision threw in some DLC with the Virtua version of the game, but other than a new graphical coat of paint, this is essentially the same game as the others.

    GameRankings Score: 77.36%

    Child Of Light

    Absolutely nothing has been changed here from the other versions. Even the graphics are identical to the Nexus version of the game.

    GameRankings Score: 85.16%

    Shadowrun Archaica

    The next-gen Shadowrun title, launching on the Nexus in February, the Virtua in March (at launch), and the Reality in June, this game is a brand new WRPG set in the Shadowrun universe. It plays much like a more simplistic Deus Ex: Human Evolution, though with less combat and more computer hacking and trading. Its plot revolves around the discovery of an ancient library of interplanetary knowledge, and the struggle amongst various factions to retrieve portions of the library's collection. It's a fairly open ended game and also quite intellectual for an RPG, with the player asked to solve complex word puzzles and decipher interactions with a wide variety of characters. In addition to the game's console launches, it also launches on PC and Mac, and generally does better there, with the game's content and gameplay style more suited to PC players than to console ones. Reviewers criticize the game's length (the main story is fairly short) and some of its obtuse content, though a few reviewers call it one of the best RPGs of the year. The Virtua version is a decent showcase for the console's graphical power, though it lacks the second screen functionality of the Nexus. It's a flawed but fun Shadowrun game and hardcore fans of the series tend to really like it.

    GameRankings Score: 78.45%

    Batman: Dark Legend

    Another port that's fairly similar to the other versions, it does look quite good on the Virtua, and it's possible to control Batman with motion controls, leading to some fun Youtube videos of players dressing up like Batman to play.

    GameRankings Score: 86.04%

    Grapple: Settle It In The Ring

    THQ's long-awaited wrestling adventure game comes to next-gen consoles in early 2013, and is a Virtua launch title. It allows the player to create their own protagonist (male or female) with a basic set of wrestling moves, and they'll learn more as they progress through the world. The game isn't quite as silly as it sounds, it has some serious plot twists and villains, and plays the “world based on wrestling” trope fairly straight. The plot itself involves corporate espionage and a rigged presidential election, with Terry Crews playing the voice of the game's main antagonist (the developers wanted to get Randy Savage, but Savage died in 2012 under similar circumstances to OTL, just before he could record his vocal lines for the game). As you play, you'll have to recruit various wrestlers to your side (mostly by beating them in matches), with the gameplay resembling the company's OTL WWE wrestling titles. Grapple is a really fun game that doesn't quite live up to the massive hype THQ was attempting to generate for it prior to its release (mostly due to developmental issues). Its sales are mediocre, and it becomes more of an underappreciated gem rather than the company's next new hit IP.

    GameRankings Score: 81.89%

    Guacamelee!

    Another hit OTL indie game that also appears ITTL, Guacamelee! is released on most current platforms in early 2013, with the Virtua port appearing on the digital score at launch. Like IOTL, the game is a melodramatic luchadora-based Metroidvania game, and achieves similar critical and commercial success to OTL.

    GameRankings Score: 88.37%

    Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra

    The latest in the moderately popular adventure series, Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra is released exclusively to eighth generation consoles, including the Virtua. The priest protagonist, along with Kannara and Septet, all return to battle the mighty Anubis and a legion of undead horrors that have invaded Ammut-Ra and seek to destroy everything and drag everyone into the underworld. This game, three years in the making, is a major graphical showcase for the new consoles, but achieves much better sales initially on the Nexus than on the Virtua, where it becomes lost amongst its fellow launch games. It would see decent sales legs later on, and is overall considered a good game, though not as good as Savior of Ammut-Ra.

    GameRankings Score: 79.16%

    Wulfsbane

    An Enix produced horror-themed RPG for the next-gen consoles (only the Virtua and Nexus, with no Reality port), Wulfsbane is an action RPG about a werewolf who stalks a Gothic-themed world in search of revenge on the person who put them in that condition. Interestingly, the werewolf is actually a teenage girl, and she's attempting to hunt down a young prince who murdered her best friend (who also happened to be the prince's betrothed). The game's combat system is somewhat slow and stiff, a sort of hack and slash with Souls-esque controls (but not difficulty), and it's meant to evoke a sense of horror and melancholy in the player. It's a dark, brooding, and beautiful game, though the graphics are a bit weak for eighth generation standards. The game's reviews are solid but not great, and sales are highly disappointing in the States (though in Japan it becomes one of the best selling Virtua launch titles and also a major hit on the Nexus). The failure of Wulfsbane in North America leads Enix to draw back its operations in the West, and Japan would see numerous exclusives in the eighth generation that North America wouldn't.

    GameRankings Score: 75.82%

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    March 25, 2013

    The Apple Virtua is launched worldwide at an MSRP of $499.99. This price includes the Virtua and its twin controllers, but no other accessories or games. The system's release is preceded by a major advertising and hype campaign for Apple which pushes the system's motion control capabilities and also the trendiness of the console, with celebrity endorsements and gamer testimonies hyping it up as a premium product. The system's launch is also preceded by highly favorable reviews from the gaming press of both the hardware and software, with the motion control capabilities receiving especially high praise. Virtua Sports, Virtua Rally, and Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity receive the bulk of the mainstream hype, while Bayonetta 2 is pushed by Apple as the hardcore gamers' game of choice for the console's launch. The Virtua receives considerably more launch hype than Google's Nexus, and pushes its connection to the iTwin quite heavily, hoping to appeal to families who purchased the iTwin even at its own high launch price of $399. It's a tough sell, but Steve Jobs is determined to make it work, and the Virtua's advertising campaign is by far the biggest for a game console launch of all time, twice that of the previous record holder, the Microsoft Xbox 2. The Virtua launch is accompanied by enormous fanfare, both from the gaming community and the mainstream press alike. Though most of the early buzz is positive, the Virtua's high price receives huge backlash from large segments of the gaming community, who are also suspicious of the system's built in cameras that could potentially be used to spy on players (though the cameras' functionality being initially devoted strictly to the motion controls does mitigate this a bit).

    The launch of the Virtua is considered a major success in Japan, a success in North America, and so-so in Europe. Sales are largest in North America, with over a million total units moved in the first week, while Japanese sales, around 600,000 in the first week, significantly outpace expectations. The Virtua's price was thought to have been a major limiting factor on sales, but that doesn't seem to be the case, at least initially, with the usual early adopters joining Apple hardcores and mainstream players swayed by all the hype. It's not as big a launch as some systems have seen, but in the eyes of most, more than any $500 console has any right to have. In Europe, only around 100,000 units would be sold in the first week, with British, French, German, and Spanish shelves full of consoles throughout the remainder of the year.

    Here are the launch week sales figures for the 20 launch titles, based on North American sales (on a total of 1,138,507 first week units sold in North America):

    Bayonetta 2: 357,834
    Virtua Sports: 321,050
    Virtua Rally: 213,816
    Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity: 145,963
    Call Of Duty: Coalition: 123,728
    Assassin's Creed III: 80,599
    World Series Baseball 2K13: 61,774
    Dragonball ZV: 48,360
    NASCAR 2K13: 37,619
    Batman: Dark Legend: 37,447
    Thrillseekers: Winter Challenge 2: 30,515
    Ghosts At Dusk: 27,461
    Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra: 23,800
    Shadowrun Archaica: 21,216
    XCOM: From The Skies: 20,534
    Guacamelee!: 18,271
    Grapple: Settle It In The Ring: 15,361
    Skullgirls: 10,071
    Child Of Light: 7,604
    Wulfsbane: 7,382

    -

    *On the set of Late Night with Drew Barrymore, Drew Barrymore and Lyssa Fielding are showing off the Apple Virtua. They're playing Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity, and facing a large screen as they play the game with the full motion controls.*

    Drew: Okay, I'm pretty sure you're gonna kick my ass, but I'll take you on anyway.

    Lyssa: *laughing* Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna kick your ass too. *the audience laughs loudly at this*

    Drew: Well, let's get to fighting, huh?

    *The round starts and Drew throws a few weak punches, doing some damage to Lyssa's character, who just mostly stands there and takes it.*

    Drew: Yeah! Yeah!

    Lyssa: *smirking, she launches into several fierce combo attacks, throwing a series of sharp punches and kicks which register as strong strikes that combine to quickly take off half of her opponent's lifebar*

    Drew: Oh no, oh no! *gets thrown to the ground by Lyssa's character* Come on, punch, punch dammit! *throwing futile punches at the screen as her character tries to get up*

    Lyssa: I feel like I should let you hit me a few times.

    Drew: Yes, you should!

    Lyssa: *fierce kicks Drew's character to the ground again*

    Drew: Oh, come on!

    Band Director: You're getting your ass kicked, Drew!

    Drew: I'm no good at games! While Lyssa was playing Super Mario Bros., I was doing drugs! *the crowd laughs*

    Lyssa: Well, to quote former FBI director William S. Sessions, winners don't use drugs...

    Band Director: Isn't the Virtua designed for people who aren't good at games? I mean, if you can do the motions you can play the game, right?

    Drew: It's not designed to beat experts!

    Lyssa: *laughing as she lands the finishing blow, the crowd cheers loudly* Woooooo!

    Drew: Okay, okay, let's go another round, I'm not finished with you!

    (…)

    *Now Drew is playing Bayonetta 2 while Lyssa helps by giving her advice.*

    Drew: This game is fun, it's more fun than Virtua Fighter anyway. I think that's because I'm not playing against you.

    Lyssa: Bayonetta is awesome. I'd jump in, but you're the host, so I'll let you play this round.

    Drew: Yeah, you just show me how to play. I'm actually doing pretty good right now I think. *using some punches and kicks to take down a gang of angels* Aw yeah, feathers are flying now!

    Lyssa: Do the torture attack, do the torture attack!

    Drew: *does the hand motion to use a torture attack on the last angel in the group* Can we even show this game on broadcast TV? I feel like we're going to get a fine showing this.

    Lyssa: Well, it's a taped show, so...

    (…)

    *After the quick Bayonetta demo, Drew and Lyssa sit back down to discuss the console.*

    Drew: So that's the Virtua, and it's... it's really neat! It's probably the most fun I've ever had playing video games.

    Lyssa: It is a lot of fun, you know, I've gotten about a week to play with it and I've had a blast. The motion controls are awesome, the games are great, I've been playing the hell out of Bayonetta 2...

    Drew: The one you have, Apple sent you, right?

    Lyssa: That one is in my trailer on the set of Hating Places, and then I'm buying another one to keep at my house. What's neat is that I heard that the camera can tell how big of a room you're in, so it doesn't matter whether you're in a trailer or in your living room. It's kind of cramped in my trailer, I cleared out some of my stuff to have room to move around though. That means you know it's good, I wouldn't clean out my trailer for just any reason! I'm a slacker when it comes to that kinda thing!

    Drew: Oh, I know. *smirks* So this thing you think is going to give lazy people all over the world a reason to clean up their houses.

    Lyssa: It is, it's going to be better than a nagging mom. *the crowd laughs* Speaking of moms, I'm getting my mom one of these too. She doesn't play video games but I'm getting her this and probably Bayonetta.

    Drew: I'm not sure that's an appropriate game for an elderly woman to play.

    Lyssa: My mom would love it. My mom is cool.

    Drew: I know your mom, she is cool, I didn't know she was THAT cool.

    Lyssa: My mom is that cool.

    -from the March 22, 2013 episode of Late Night with Drew Barrymore on CBS

    -

    April 6, 2013

    Steve Jobs smiled as he read the reports showing off the early sales figures for the Apple Virtua. Despite the system's high cost, it had outsold the Google Nexus in its first week of sales, and was on pace to sell more than ten million units by the end of the year if things continued at their current pace (and Jobs expected that they would).

    He could take credit for most of the Virtua's sales, but not all of them... and despite the problems he'd had with his friend Steve Wozniak in the past, even he had to admit that Wozniak's ideas had been paramount in the development of the Virtua. Wozniak had been a major part of the iTwin's success as well, and more than 100 million units later, and barring a late surge of Sapphire sales, Apple had become the first company ever to win a console generation against Nintendo.

    He knew the Reality launch was on the horizon. Nintendo's system was expected to be slightly more powerful than the Virtua, and would cost $100 less for the base model (though if buyers wanted the system's main selling point, its VR headset, they too would have to shell out a total of $499). However, like the Sapphire before it, Jobs knew Nintendo's Reality was beatable.

    And despite all of the controversy over Jobs and Apple's activity in Japan, the Virtua had been a major success there as well. How could it not be? Apple was huge in Japan. Jobs had cultivated a major part of the console's launch lineup for Japan, with Bayonetta 2, Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity, and Ghosts At Dusk all receiving heavy promotional pushes there. He'd also ensured that the Virtua wouldn't experience any of the same supply crunches that had plagued the iTwin.

    His teams were already hard at work on the Virtua's VR solution, a headset for the Virtua that would work in combination with the system's motion controls to create the first ever true virtual reality experience. He knew it would be several years away, and would likely require a second iteration of the Virtua, but he also knew it would be worth the work and the time, and if Nintendo's Reality did initially start out ahead, it would be his ace in the hole.

    Jobs had chosen a young tech wizard to lead his team, someone who'd been recommended by another recent hire: John Carmack, now heading up Jobs' gaming division. In a meeting shortly after E3 2012, Carmack had introduced Jobs to a young man, just 19 years of age, who was about to start his own technology company.

    “Maybe,” said Carmack to the young man, “instead of starting your own company, you could come work for my friend Steve.”

    Jobs had been impressed with the young man immediately, though he knew his design would need work before it could be implemented for the Virtua. It also wasn't a done deal right away... the 19 year old didn't initially know if he wanted to work with Apple. His technology was groundbreaking, and with Nintendo rumored to be working on something similar, he still wanted to weigh his options. However, later in the year, at the same Silicon Valley party where Jobs and Wozniak had discussed the re-election of Jon Huntsman together, this young man was also in attendance, and told Jobs that he'd like to take him up on his offer.

    Now, the young man was leading one of Apple's most important development teams, putting all of their resources into developing a suite of virtual reality headsets. The devices would be rolled out across the iOS family initially, but eventually, a Virtua solution would be developed.

    This young man, Palmer Luckey, was now one of the most important people in gaming, but at the moment, only Apple insiders knew his name.

    But eventually, hoped Steve Jobs, all of that would change. Next year would see Apple's rollout of true virtual reality begin, and the console wars would enter worlds that had never before been imagined.
     
    Winter 2013 (Part 7) - The Rest Of The Games
  • (Here are the rest of the notable games from January 2013 to March 2013!)
    -

    Nintendo Sapphire-

    Dragon Quest: The War Of Legend

    Dragon Quest: The War Of Legend is a tactical RPG developed by Enix for the Nintendo Sapphire. It can best be compared to a Final Fantasy Tactics-style game, but with Dragon Quest art design, gameplay, music, and tropes. It's a bit simpler than Final Fantasy Tactics, at least at first, with less character classes and more straight-forward combat. However, later in the game, the ability to send certain units on “quests” opens up, and those quests can alter character growth and storylines, while also opening up new missions for players to embark upon. There are a wide variety of character classes and races in the game, with humans being the most common, but also angels, demons, elves, and dwarves, each with their own unique classes and abilities, and players can also have monster units such as Slimes, Drackys, and Dragons. The game utilizes the familiar Dragon Quest art style, with symphonic music by Koichi Sugiyama. Voice acting is non-existent in the game, with dialogue playing out across menus during and between battles. In between battles, players can visit towns to recruit characters, outfit units, and even launch side quests, much like a typical tactical RPG. The game's plot is alluded to by its title: it concerns a war being fought between the great kingdom of Artania and the powerful Radclorian Empire, led by an emperor who is being controlled by the powerful demon lord Zartanius. The player starts out as a young Artanian soldier leading a small unit of troops, but is eventually revealed as the legendary hero, who must recruit more heroes to their cause. Each mission plays out like its own mini-quest, with some quests playing out over multiple missions, though most are self-contained and only have a small part in the game's overall storyline. While thousands of different units can be recruited, there are twelve main heroes in the game, with eight recruited over the course of the story and four being optional. With the player allowed to have up to twelve units take the field at a time, it's possible to use all the playable heroes at once, though most will have their own personal favorites. Each of the twelve main heroes has their own storyline and missions, though it's somewhat abbreviated compared to a traditional Dragon Quest game. The plot plays out much like one would expect, with Zartanius eventually revealing himself and the heroes forced to confront him in one grand final battle. Overall, Dragon Quest: The War Of Legend is a rather simple tactical RPG. It's got enough Dragon Quest gameplay and fanservice to please longtime series fans, but is only a decent SRPG on its own. As one of the last significant Sapphire games, it gets a decent amount of hype and attention in the months prior to the Reality's release, and has passable sales in North America, while being a chart-topping hit in Japan.

    Apple iTwin-

    Thomas The Tank Engine

    Thomas The Tank Engine is an action/train simulation title for the Apple iTwin. Intended for younger players, the game is a sort of cross between a typical action platformer title and a train simulator game in the nature of Densha de Go (with MUCH simpler controls). The game tells a fairly simple story of Thomas and his friends taking cargo to various destinations across the land, with some obstacles in their way. Intended to capitalize on the fame of the hit Cartoon Network animated series, the game shares a lot of voice actors and its animation style from that, while telling its own original story. The game gives the option of using traditional controls or allowing players to use the twin controllers to move Thomas and the other playable characters on the tracks. The game is extremely linear, and most players can beat it in less than two hours, though it does provide a decent challenge for its target audience. Overall, review scores are mediocre, though critics do praise it for being appealing to young fans of the franchise, and it's a well made game overall. Initial sales are decent, but the game's sales legs remain strong throughout its lifetime, even after the release of the Virtua (the game does get a Virtua port in 2014 with new quests and features).

    Mickey Mouse Returns 2

    A Capcom-developed sequel to 2011's hit iTwin adventure title, Mickey Mouse Returns 2 plays and looks much the same as its predecessor, and is intended mostly to cash in on the success of the first. It does incorporate characters and situations from Disney's new Mickey Mouse animated series, helping to tie the two properties together to capitalize on that game, with some new playable characters showing up, including Max Goof and Chip and Dale. Hat power is the name of the game this time around, same as last time, though some characters have unique power-ups, including a paintbrush for Minnie and a skateboard for Max. This game's main villain is Magica DeSpell from DuckTales, who initially uses Pete as a patsy, though Pete actually turns good about a third of the way through the game after Magica's treachery is revealed. With a decent amount of obscure characters and easter eggs from previous Disney properties, it's a fun little fanservice game, though fans expecting big improvements over its predecessor are somewhat disappointed. It achieves decent sales upon its release, and is considered one of the last great iTwin games.

    Google Nexus-

    Angry Birds World

    A platformer title combining the physics-based action of Angry Birds with the exploration and discovery of a 3-D platformer, Angry Birds World is considered an early flagship title for the Google Nexus. As of TTL 2013, Angry Birds is still an extremely strong gaming IP with plenty of sales on most gaming platforms, including Android, and an Angry Birds platformer on Nexus is intended to take the IP to the next level. It introduces a complex storyline with a number of different characters, but the familiar Angry Birds motif of a war between the birds and the pigs provides the driving action of this game. The game's controls involve slingshotting the birds from place to place, with each bird having their own form of movement and their own attack style. Players can switch between different types of birds to access different areas, and exploration and platforming are adapted to this style of movement, while aiming has been streamlined to allow a fast and flowing style of play. It is a bit tricky to get used to, but once players get the hang of it, it's fairly easy, and Angry Birds veterans are able to adapt quickly. It's definitely not the most detailed or content-rich platforming title, but it's full of wacky humor and has all of the elements that made the original Angry Birds so addictive. Overall review scores are fairly positive, while initial sales meet expectations, making it one of the top three new launch titles of January 2013.

    Cold Mist

    Cold Mist is a mystery suspense adventure game in which the player must use the Nexus' controller screen to suss out visual clues about missing persons. The screen can be adjusted to a variety of modes and displays, and allows the player to move around and talk to witnesses while viewing information and clues on the second screen. The game's protagonists are a pair of young female detectives named Annabelle and Rei. Annabelle is a mystery novelist who moonlights as a sleuth, while Rei is a new police recruit who seeks vengeance for the death of her older brother, which may be connected to the current cases being investigated. The game features a somewhat melancholy, serious storyline, where, at least initially, a lot of bad things happen to good people. The game has five different endings, with two considered “bad”, two considered “bittersweet”, and only one really considered “good”. Cold Mist is praised by critics for its unique visual aesthetic (a sort of pulp comic/manga blend, with motion comic animation) and its use of the Nexus' second screen, but it's definitely a cult hit, with low sales (it IS one of the top five launch titles of January 2013, but this is mostly due to a lack of strong games released during the month).

    Sewer Scamps

    Developed by the indie RPG company Pallisade, which was acquired by Google around a year before the game's release, Sewer Scamps is a JRPG-styled game with an Earthbound-like aesthetic. It stars four child protagonists who venture between several large cities, mostly traveling the sewers, and help people deal with their various problems. These problems can be as simple as rescuing a lost cat and as complex as defeating an eldritch horror. The game features an action combat system with timed hits (though sometimes, other control inputs determine attack success) and various battle techniques (there's no “magic” in the game, but some special techs resemble magic). As for experience and money, characters earn Helper Points, which can be spent at a special menu on stat upgrades, new techs, and hidden weapons. All character progress is earned through this system, allowing players to customize their characters to their heart's content. The game's world is quite sprawling, stretching across eight cities overall, along with a vast underground network of tunnels and dungeons. In addition to main storyline quests, there are hundreds of side quests to complete, ranging from simple “go here” tasks to complex chains of missions that can sometimes span multiple story chapters. The game has no voice acting, while the graphical style can best be described as “SNES-CD esque”, a sort of graphical hybrid of 16 and 32 bit graphics. The game's music is also a mix of orchestral-based and chiptuned, creating a sort of “modern retro” vibe. The storyline itself involves four adolescents, two boys (Alan and Tommy) and two girls (Caitlin and Selena), each of whom has their own individual problem that eventually draws the four of them together to help others. The game's antagonist is a powerful real estate developer who wants to take over the eight cities, but is doing so at the behest of an eldritch death god named Shamble who wants to eat the souls of every living being (though Shamble is quite a terrifying villain, he's portrayed in a mostly family friendly way). The game is full of humor, drama, twists, and turns, and overall is considered one of the best RPGs of the year, becoming an instant cult classic and one of the Nexus' best indie exclusives. The game also has an Android version with slightly downgraded graphics and less cutscenes that also becomes a strong seller.

    Monument Valley

    Similar to the OTL title, Monument Valley is an indie puzzle game designed to appeal to the player's sense of aesthetic beauty. The Nexus' second screen allows for the game to be played in a somewhat different way from OTL, allowing the player to zoom in on their segment of the screen while viewing the entire puzzle on their television. This also allows players to manipulate certain objects in the game's world in a way they couldn't do IOTL. Like OTL, Monument Valley is considered an excellent title, and its status as a Nexus exclusive (Google's funding allowed the game's development to proceed faster than IOTL, accounting for the game coming out a year earlier than IOTL) adds further prestige to the console's indie lineup. While it's not a major driver of hardware sales, it still helps to further legitimize the Nexus as a strong system for indie titles.

    The Redacted

    A military shooter about a squad left in hostile territory, The Redacted is notable for its use of the Nexus' second screen and its outstanding online multiplayer. The second screen is used for a variety of features, including an aiming scope, a mirror, an analysis tool, and a lie detector, giving the player a unique tool that they're able to use in the field. The main campaign (which sees the squad uncover a number of unsavory activities carried out by their high command) is decent but not quite up to Call Of Duty's level, and overall, the game sees lower than expected sales (which isn't helped by its status as a Nexus exclusive, giving it a smaller potential buyer base to begin with). It becomes an early high-profile “flop” for the system, but fortunately, the Nexus has plenty of third party titles to carry the FPS load. The online multiplayer community for the game, though small, is extremely devoted, giving this game life far longer than one might expect, and making a sequel a possibility despite fairly low sales.

    Nintendo Connect-

    Aeon: The Eastern Cross

    A spinoff of the popular Sapphire action/adventure games, this title takes place between the original two games and features a new protagonist, a girl named Rumor from the eastern realms, who is guided by the goddess Aeon to save a valuable artifact from a deadly group of hunters. Rumor shares some powers and techniques with Aeon herself, but also has some unique and deadly futuristic weaponry to help her out. Overall, the game is shorter than its console counterparts, and its pace is sped up by a more action-oriented style of gameplay that includes more boss battle sequences and shorter sequences of exploration. Rumor visits four dungeons over the course of the game, each with its own unique gimmicks and gifts. The game features strong production values for a portable title, with graphics that at times rival those of the console games, and fully animated cutscenes with full voice acting (with Rumor herself being voiced by Gina Rodriguez). It's rare one gets a full-scale portable adventure on par with console games on a handheld system (though with this generation of handhelds, that will change), and critics enjoy Aeon, with the combat and boss fights making up for its fairly short length. Initial sales are decent, with the game becoming a somewhat popular budget buy once the price comes down a bit.

    Elvenfall III

    The first Elvenfall title for the Nintendo Connect, Elvenfall III (which doesn't have a subtitle in North America, but whose subtitle in Japan translates to Maidens Of The Falling Leaves), features four brand new protagonists, four elven sisters said to be born out of the season of autumn, and who must battle an army representing the encroaching winter. There's of course more to it than that, with each of the four seasons represented by its own nation, with spring and summer also coming into play later on. However, the main conflict takes place between the forces of autumn and winter, and later it's revealed that the four elven women are expected to give up their lives at the end of their journey. Each of them approaches their fate in a different way: one of them is calm and accepting of it, the other seems to have a death wish and seeks death and glory in battle, the other forms a romance though she knows she is destined to die, and the fourth sister laments the coming of death and seeks out ways to prevent it. This element gives the game a somewhat melancholy and bittersweet feel, though there are plenty of happy moments for the girls as well. The romance in particular becomes a critical focus, with a maiden of autumn falling in love with a Knight of Spring. Knights of Spring are said to be immortal, though the knight that the maiden falls for has never allowed himself to fall in love, knowing that he will remember the sorrow of loss for all eternity. And, even though the forces of winter are considered the “enemy”, there are heroes among them as well, with the game's primary antagonist being a tragic one as well: a beautiful queen who seeks to freeze the autumn to preserve the life force of its inhabitants, having once had a tragic love with a male denizen of the autumn realm. In the end, the queen is defeated, but comes to accept death, as do the four heroines, who each die and fade away in the game's ending. The other characters who remain alive learn to accept this as well, and the cycle of the seasons continues despite the pain and tragedy of loss. Elvenfall III is released in February 2013 in North America, after a fall 2012 release in Japan (where it was a major best seller there). It doesn't do as well in North America, but still sells decently thanks to critical reviews that call it the best JRPG on the Connect since Infinitia. The game's combat system (which involves a new mechanic called Elventime, essentially allowing the players to trade time and the risk of death for special stat boosts and moves) is highly praised, and the storyline is considered the best thus far in the series. Elvenfall remains a major hit franchise for Nintendo's handhelds, though the developers are considering expanding the series to the Gemini or mobile platforms in the future.

    Apple Gemini-

    Head-2-Head

    A party game where two players compete in various mini games and gaming challenges. It's sort of reminiscent of 1-2-3 Switch from OTL, but has more complex games and requires more strategy, intended for a more older and “hardcore” gaming crowd, with mini-shooter games and RPGs amongst the 22 mini games available. Can be played locally or online, though it's intended for local play. Moderately successful commercially, it gets great reviews and becomes a decently popular e-sport later on.

    The Library Of Elliot Carlisle

    A mystery/adventure title that takes some inspiration from old school detective titles and contemporary games like Crime Stories, the game tells the story of a young man who inherits a mansion and discovers a series of mysterious books in the mansion's library that may solve the murder of the previous owner (while also preventing the murder of the protagonist's friends and loved ones). It's a budget title released in physical and digital form, but it's not an indie game. The game does have full voice acting, and some fairly decent, if also fairly simple, graphics. Achieves strong reviews and good sales, though not initially good sales (its sales increase later on due to good word of mouth).

    -

    Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):

    January 2013

    1. Dragon Quest: The War Of Legend (Nintendo Sapphire)
    2. Thomas The Tank Engine (Apple iTwin)
    3. Angry Birds World (Google Nexus)
    4. Aeon: The Eastern Cross (Nintendo Connect)
    5. Cold Mist (Google Nexus)

    February 2013

    1. Batman: Dark Legend (Google Nexus)
    2. Shadowrun (Google Nexus)
    3. Mickey Mouse Returns 2 (Apple iTwin)
    4. The Darkest (Nintendo Sapphire)
    5. Head-2-Head (Apple Gemini)

    March 2013

    1. Mariokart Excel (Nintendo Connect)
    2. Virtua Sports (Apple Virtua)
    3. Bayonetta 2 (Apple Virtua)
    4. Virtua Rally (Apple Virtua)
    5. Virtua Fighter Beyond Infinity (Apple Virtua)
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 1) - Marvel's Heroic Team-Ups
  • The Avengers

    The Avengers is an action beat 'em up game exclusive to the Nintendo Connect, developed by the same team that made the Connect Spider-Man game (the two games were worked on concurrently). It takes some of its beats from the TTL 2012 movie, but also features its own unique storyline and characters, and tries to take advantage of the Connect's abilities to provide a cinematic experience in a handheld package. Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp form the main superhero team, but are also joined by Spider-Man and Scarlet Witch. While Loki plays a major antagonistic role in the game, the game's primary antagonist is Galactus, who seeks to swallow up the Earth and must be defeated by the Avengers, who are tasked with gathering various powerful artifacts from a variety of villains encountered throughout the world, including the Green Goblin, the Mandarin, the Red Skull, and Crossfire. Combat in The Avengers is mostly straightforward beat 'em up, but playstyle does vary based on the hero used. Captain America is a sort of jack of all trades, Spider-Man is quick, the Hulk is powerful but slow, Thor is powerful but imprecise, and Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, and the Wasp all require a lot of technical skill. Players can power up their heroes throughout the game with points earned from defeating enemies, establishing a sort of pseudo "level up" system that gives players a sense of progression and also makes the combat (which can be tedious at times) worthwhile. There are also plenty of side missions, though most of them are fairly quick and simple, with most of the narrative strength given to the game's main plot. There are cutscenes galore in this game, though none of the film actors reprise their roles, and instead, the Avengers and villains are played mostly by voice-over veterans (with Nolan North as Captain America, Grey Delisle as the Wasp, etc.). The game doesn't do anything really groundbreaking or special, and is instead intended to capitalize on a popular property while bringing many of these heroes to the Connect for the first time. It succeeds at those goals, and is a strong seller, but reviews are merely good, and many Connect players actually prefer the Spider-Man title from 2012.

    -

    Fox Family's Guardians Of The Galaxy proved to be a major hit after its launch in the fall of 2012. A TV10-rated animated series, the show was heavily based on the new comic team from the late 2000s and not the original 1960s comic incarnations, though all of those characters would find their way to the new animated universe as the series' four seasons of 88 episodes progressed. The show was intended to be a sort of counterpart to the 2012 live-action Avengers film, not in terms of plot or story tropes (the two series did not share a continuity) but to establish a superhero team on one of Fox's television properties that could thrive on its own. Fox considered adapting The Avengers for television, and would do so later on, but they decided against it initially, not wanting younger viewers to confuse the two versions of the popular superhero team. Instead, the Guardians got their own show, with a team consisting of Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, and Quasar initially. Characters such as Adam Warlock and Drax would make their way to the show later on (Drax in season 2, Adam Warlock in a three-part season 1 finale special), but during the first season the show worked to establish the dynamic between the initial team. With Star-Lord and Gamora as a sort of "will they or won't they" couple/rival duo, and Rocket Raccoon and Groot already established as a duo, Quasar became somewhat of the loner of the team, and also a bit of a loose cannon, with her allegiance flipping back and forth at times (she would betray the team "for good" at the end of season 1, clearing the way for Adam Warlock to join the team, but would achieve a small degree of redemption in season 2, and would flip back and forth numerous times with some fans comparing her to the character of Cree from Spy School... the fact that she was voiced by Cree Summer was a coincidence). Star-Lord, voiced by Seth Green, was a typical action hero, but with a bit of a shady past, and though he too would at times commit some morally ambiguous acts, his loyalty to the team was unquestioned. Gamora, voiced by Laura Bailey, turned out to be more of an "action girl" archetype, though not as rough around the edges as Quasar. Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Jesse Corti, was probably the most "comic relief" character amongst the group, a sort of berserker criminal who frequently got the team into trouble. Accompanied by Groot (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, though all he could say was "I am Groot"), Rocket was a powerful ally, though also a loose cannon and at times a liability.

    The team primarily dealt with threats all over the universe, and the format of the show for most episodes was a sort of "monster of the week" format where the Guardians would land (sometimes crash land) on a planet or space station, find out about a problem, and use their skills to solve it. However, the show also had an overarching plot involving the Kree, a group of world-conquering space aliens who had seeded worlds with sleeper agents, and had also created a group of superpowered beings known as the Inhumans. These Inhumans were initially charged with carrying out the Kree's bidding, but many broke off and formed their own societies, and would play a major role in the plot of the series itself, with some becoming allies of the Guardians, others becoming enemies, and a few occupying the space inbetween. Each season would see new heroes and villains come into the fold, with the lineup of the team changing at least once each season. Each season also had a primary villain. Season 1's main villain would be Ronan the Accuser, Season 2's main villain would be the Inhuman traitor Unspoken, Season 3's main villain would be Adam Warlock's alternate timeline villainous self Magus, and Season 4's main villain would be Thanos. Not all villains would be limited to one season: Ronan returned numerous times after his season 1 defeat, and Quasar would be a recurring villain numerous times as well, until her final redemption midway through season 4. The show was one of the more "mature" Fox Family animated series, showing numerous brutal fights and even blood at times, pushing the boundaries of the Y10 rating. The show would also be one of the first Fox Family shows to feature a same-sex relationship, establishing Quasar as a lesbian and placing her in relationships with both the Kree princess Crystal (who Quasar initially abducts during a season 2 episode but would later reconcile with and enter into a relationship with) and the heroine Moondragon, the latter of which would become her most enduring relationship in the series. Moondragon would start in an antagonistic role, aiding one of Quasar's villainous endeavors, but would later join the Guardians in season 3, and would help lead Quasar to a path of redemption, one that would unfortunately be completed with her death (however, Quasar would find solace in Crystal, with it being implied that the two get together following the events of the series finale). As mentioned earlier, numerous members of the original 1969 Guardians team, particularly Vance Astro/Major Victory and Yondu Udonta, would appear and play major roles in the series, with two of them (Yondu and Nikki Gold) even joining the team for a time. Indeed, across the series' 88 episodes, every single character who had been a part of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics would make an appearance in the series, paying tribute to the beloved comic's 40+ year legacy.

    The series would air from 2012 to 2017, seeing strong initial ratings for its first two seasons that would taper off during seasons 3 and 4, but remaining a strong part of Fox Family's animated lineup for the time it aired and helping to pave the way for even more Marvel shows to come to the channel. The creators knew that season 4 would be the last, and wrote the entire last half of the fourth season with the finale in mind, tying up nearly every loose end (leaving a couple tantalyzing ones open for spinoffs and fan speculation) and putting the bow on one of the best superhero animated series of all time. It helped to boost sales of the comics as well, and led to at least one video game spinoff, as well as slightly increased success for live action films featuring the characters. It's remembered as one of the iconic animated shows of the 2010s, and has a strong fan following continuing to this day.

    -from an article on Tubehound, posted on July 29, 2019

    -

    Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. To Get Series Of Graphic Novels Released Over The Next Two Years

    With all the superheroics occuring in the Marvel Universe, not a lot of thought is often given to the agents of the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., who spend much of their time cleaning up the messes those superheroes make while keeping humanity safe. Now, a series of graphic novels called Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Debriefed will chronicle the adventures of six separate agents, each getting their own graphic novel. The first, released later this month, will tell the story of Agent Zane Harper, who loses his arm during a battle between Thor and a group of aliens, and becomes a candidate for a biomechanical graft. As he deals with his new arm and the mysterious side effects, he must also be a mentor to a young agent named Julie, a student of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols who could be a potential liability. Each graphic novel introduces a brand new character to the Marvel mythos, though each one will also feature previously established characters, including popular superheroes and other agents depicted in comics past.

    "We're hoping these new graphic novels not only introduce new readers to the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., but shed a new light on the group for our older readers as well," said Dan Slott, one of the top creative heads at Marvel, who's also overseeing the new series. "If the series is popular, expect to see some of these new characters featured in future comics and other Marvel properties as well."

    Each graphic novel is penned by a different writer and drawn by a different artist, which Slott hopes will give each one its own distinct style, while also tying in with the personalities of the agents featured. And while each of them will have its own separate characters and story, they'll each be tied together as well, with story threads featuring throughout each work.

    "While every novel in the Debriefed series can be enjoyed on its own, we're also including some small pieces of a larger story in each one, so hopefully readers decide to pick them all up after reading their first one."

    Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Debriefed #1 - Zane Harper will be released on April 23.

    -from an article on CBR.com
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 2) - Simsational Sequels?
  • SimCity

    SimCity is a city building simulation title in the SimCity series, developed exclusively for the Google Nexus console. It has many gameplay and graphical similarities to OTL's 2013 PC version of the game, but with many differences as well, most notably the fact that the game does not have an always online component. Instead, it incorporates optional online gameplay allowing players to share their cities and place them in the same regions with other players' cities, but also allows the game to be enjoyed as a fully single player experience. It incorporates many of the advancements in gameplay introduced by the OTL version of the game, including curved roads and enhancements to the game's road mechanics that allow for a more simplified experience, not requiring players to individually place power and sewage lines. The game also includes some of the mechanics from SimSociety, at least those that would make sense for the creation of a single city or a single region. The game features detailed information and customization for individual buildings and city blocks, allowing players to create customized districts and have more control over the development of single buildings and zones. The game also gives players a more detailed method of gathering feedback from their Sims, allowing for real-time complaints and suggestions so that players can make changes to their cities on the fly. When playing online, it's possible to call for help from other cities, with neighboring cities able to send police and fire units to deal with crises, or for a regional hospital to be built that can respond to natural disasters. Like other console-exclusive SimCity titles, this game has its own musical score and some unique graphical motifs designed to give the game a distinct feel from versions of the game for PC or for other consoles. Numerous references to Google are included and it's even possible for a large enough city to build the Google HQ campus, while other references in the game include The Covenant, where it's possible to have a Covenant invasion that will force players to call upon Master Chief to help put it down. Another major element of the Nexus SimCity is the ability to use a secondary graphical mode for handheld devices. While it's possible to play the full game with the full graphical interface on the Nexus Companion in portable mode, it's also possible to use a secondary, downscaled mode to make the game much easier to play on the go, with simplified graphics and full touch controls. The player also has the ability to customize touch controls for the full version of the game while on the television, giving players a PC-like second screen experience with hot keys and the ability to click and drag buildings and menus on the fly. SimCity for the Nexus aims to create the best of both worlds, allowing for the simplicity and convenience of console SimCity to merge with the detailed features and customization of PC SimCity. It's intended to be a bridge to the next generation for the series while also serving as somewhat of a killer app for the Nexus. It becomes one of 2013's most hyped Nexus exclusives, and sells excellently in its first month thanks to strong reviews and good word of mouth. It also establishes a strong relationship between Maxis and Google. Though that relationship won't grant Google exclusivity over the Sim series (Electronic Arts still owns Maxis and they want multiplatform games wherever possible), it does help Google to score some exclusive features and DLC, while the Nexus version of Sim games usually becomes the flagship console version.

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    SimCity 5 Expected To Be Announced At E3

    While Will Wright doesn't want anyone calling next month's Nexus-exclusive SimCity title SimCity 5, he does admit that the game represents the "next evolution" of the series, and allowed Maxis to test out features that they hope to include in a full-fledged SimCity sequel for PC, Mac, and perhaps next-gen consoles as well. Though nothing has been officially announced, Wright spoke to IGN in a recent interview and all but confirmed the next mainline game in the SimCity series, which he says has been in development for "more than a decade".

    "We've been pretty busy with the Sims series and of course SimSociety, so the next proper SimCity has been on the backburner for a while," said Wright, who also admitted that the game has been completely scrapped at least twice as technological improvements have forced the company to re-imagine the game. "We're farther along now than we've ever been, and we're probably pretty close to announcing something."

    While numerous consoles have seen the release of a SimCity game in some form, and mobile platforms have gotten two SimCity titles, Wright considers all of those games side projects, or in his own words, "practice", saying that the new SimCity will take all the best ideas from those games and put them together while using the latest technology to make the game as big and as detailed as possible. He also says that while PC and Macintosh are the intended platforms for the new game, he's also planning to release it for consoles, including the Nexus.

    "The Nexus SimCity is an excellent game, and should certainly be considered a full SimCity title in the classic series tradition, but that doesn't mean we won't be releasing more games in the series for the Nexus. The Super Nintendo got multiple SimCity games after all."

    Electronic Arts is planning a major conference at E3 this year, and SimCity 5 is expected to be one of the highlighted games. We're not likely to see the game released this year, but expect Maxis to target a late 2014-2015 release window for the game, which may launch on PC about a year before coming to home consoles. Though SimSociety has been good at quelling fan demand for a new SimCity game, Wright himself knows fans have been chomping at the bit for a proper SimCity, and admitted as such in the IGN interview.

    "We know not everyone plays SimSociety, even though the numbers say that many, many people do. We know those people want to see a new SimCity, and all I can say to them right now is to be patient, but maybe not that patient."

    -from an article on SimScoops, posted on May 1, 2013

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    Zuckerberg Leaving Maxis, SimSociety To Console, SimSociety 2?!

    With Electronic Arts set to make a major announcement concerning the future of the Sim series at this year's E3, many are speculating that something is likely to be announced in addition to the expected announcements of The Sims 4 and SimCity 5. Most of these rumors pertain to SimSociety, and speculation is swirling about a potential sequel to the game, which has achieved more than 200 million units sold in less than five years on PC and Macintosh. It's one of the most successful video games of all time and also ranks as one of the internet's largest social networks, but EA and Maxis have been keeping quiet about the game as of late, despite a steady stream of expansions and DLC packs that continue to be released every few months. Many expect a sequel to be released as early as 2015, possibly as a tie-in with a new SimCity game in a form of cross promotion. SimSociety itself, though kept fresh with regular content updates, is starting to show its age graphically, and it wasn't the most graphically advanced game at the time of its release, either. Though many millions of people continue to regularly play the game, a new title could be a way of allowing Maxis to introduce many new systems at once, to optimize the game for better rigs, and to perhaps simplify certain bloated aspects of the game that a segment of the player base are starting to criticize as of late. While Maxis has denied that a sequel is being developed pretty much every time the subject has come up, it's no secret that the company has expanded considerably, with dozens of new hires and a glut of new development resources poured into the studio by parent company Electronic Arts. We've also seen some cryptic concept art for elements that almost certainly wouldn't be possible in the original SimSociety due to technological limitations. While a full sequel announcement isn't entirely certain, and perhaps less likely than not, we wouldn't be shocked to see a surprise SimSociety 2 announcement dropped at the end of Electronic Arts' presser.

    What we would be a bit more surprised to see would be the announcement of the long-rumored SimSociety console port, but now that the eighth generation has begun, it's become somewhat more likely. Again, it's another thing that Maxis has consistently denied, but with the new generation of consoles hitting the market, it's no longer inconceivable that the PC/Macintosh exclusive could make its way to consoles such as the Reality and Virtua. Indeed, Electronic Arts has teased some form of SimSociety on at least one next generation console (the Nexus), and while it would still require some sort of a downgrade to avoid graphical and memory bottlenecks, SimSociety on console is no longer such a hard sell. SimSociety could also be one of the first console games to allow cross-generational play. Will Wright has teased the idea of Nintendo, Apple, and Microsoft players forming their own societies and going to war with one another (though now he'd have to substitute Microsoft for Google), so we know it's something he'd like to do. Electronic Arts certainly has the financial incentive to release SimSociety on more platforms, so a surprise console port announcement may indeed be the last thing to come out of the Electronic Arts conference this year.

    If SimSociety does get a console port, a sequel, or both, they'll likely be proceeding without lead programmer Mark Zuckerberg, who has announced his intention to leave Maxis before the end of the year. Zuckerberg, who's become a well known figure as not only the main developer behind SimSociety, but also a social media director for Maxis, has stated that he's going to leave Maxis and start his own gaming company with a focus on mobile. This isn't a terribly surprising development, but it might be a potentially troubling one for those who see him as the genius behind one of the greatest games of all time. The breakup is said to have been amicable, related more to Zuckerberg's personal ambitions than any perceived creative differences (though Zuckerberg has at times been a notable critic of Electronic Arts' business practices), and by all accounts, Zuckerberg and Will Wright remain close friends. With Zuckerberg leaving to start his own gaming company, it represents not only a loss for Maxis, but a sign that the mobile market is continuing to rapidly grow in prominence, with a new company popping up seemingly every day. The mobile gaming market represents a rapidly growing share of the overall video gaming market, and if Zuckerberg's new projects prove to be successful, that share will continue to increase.

    -from an article on Kotaku, posted on June 1, 2013
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 3) - The New Indie Landscape
  • The failure of Logarhythm's concept for an Android-based microconsole serves as a demonstration of the difficulty newcomers have of breaking into the world of video game hardware, and also a sign that the release of the Google Nexus is creating ripple effects across all segments of the industry. Logarhythm announced its initial concept in late 2011. Dubbed the Chroma, it would have featured an Android architecture and would allow developers to create their own games and release them into the console's online ecosystem. The Chroma would have been significantly less powerful than the Nexus, but also significantly cheaper, retailing for only $129 while packing power somewhere between the Nintendo Wave and the Apple iTwin (some have compared the Chroma to Nintendo's Connect in home console form). The console had backing and funding from numerous individuals, including John Romero, who announced that id would have looked into developing an exclusive multiplayer FPS title for it. However, crowdfunding efforts fell through despite heavy online promotion, with many potential backers citing the release of the upcoming Nexus in their decisions not to back the console. Numerous Android console projects have been proposed and announced in the last few years, but the Nexus has caused nearly all of them to fade into the ether, with the Chroma being perhaps the most notorious failure of the bunch. Crowdfunding itself has also hit a number of snags, with the website Kickstarter being forced to shut down less than a year after its launch due to server costs and controversies. Most crowdfunding these days is done on websites such as Friendster, which significantly limit the types of projects that can be funded, and video games are one of the categories of things that aren't allowed to be crowdfunded on the site, making it difficult for new companies to launch hardware or software projects. Frequently, it's more likely for indie games to receive "angel" backing from a larger company, which may or may not exert a measure of control over the project, and has led to some developers and players questioning "just how 'indie' is indie, really?" One promising potential source of crowdfunding for indie games projects has come from Please, launched as an arm of the digital encryption company Veritsu, an app which allows people to contact one another and donate to various small projects. Please works as sort of a "flea market of ideas", comparable to Ebay being a flea market of things. Please has been primarily used to fund scientific research endeavors, but has recently become source for crowdfunding as well. It's backed by a number of prominent tech innovators, most notably Okuma founder Mitsuko Ariyama, and while it's not the easiest crowdfunding site to post to, it is one of the most secure for both project backers and project creators, which has caused it to rapidly gain prominence in the past year. While it's likely to be a few more years before crowdfunding for game projects goes mainstream, it is a promising way for independent game developers to get their projects funded without the need for infusions of cash from larger entities.

    -from an article on Techbiz.net, posted on April 25, 2013

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    Towerfall Soars To Top Of Gemini Sales Charts

    The online multiplayer melee game TowerFall has catapulted itself to the #1 spot on digital sales charts for the Apple Gemini, pushing ahead of such games as Mega Man Battle and Valkyria Chronicles III. The game, which has four players battling it out with bows and arrows, amongst other weapons, as they climb a medieval styled tower in 16-bit retro graphical style, has received some of the best reviews of the year from game critics, and it seems that fans like it even more, as the game has achieved more first week digital sales than any Gemini game since Sonic The Hedgehog 6. While originally intended to be a sit-down console title intended for local multiplayer, the game's developers changed its focus after the game became an Apple exclusive, and after a 100-level single player adventure mode was added to the game. However, it's the online multiplayer that's proving to be the real attraction, with the game already becoming popular on social media and on mainstream gaming websites, while streamers are posting videos of themselves to sites such as Videocean and Youtube. Apple has yet to announce if the game will make the jump to the Virtua console, but it's pushing Gemini systems in a way no other 2013 title has, a very impressive feat for a $10 indie game.

    -from a June 29, 2013 article on Games Over Matter

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    And what's next for the Hirsch Twins and their company Pyramid Games? In addition to a Terror Trip sequel (which Alex Hirsch says to expect "sometime before 2020"), the company is also getting to work on numerous other projects, most of them being developed for mobile. In fact, both Alex and Ariel have already said that they're each going to be working on their own individual game for mobile devices, and that those games could come out before the end of the year. Alex's game is said to be a "cool action RPG like Legend Of Zelda, but with Diablo-style loot mechanics", and says that it'll be optimized for touch controls, or, according to Alex, "maybe the Google Nexus". As for Ariel's game? She says expect it to take a bit longer, that it's going to be a visual novel/social simulation game with RPG elements, and that it may feature a "limited amount of voice acting, with me playing like half the characters or maybe all of them".

    Pyramid devoted a lot of time and resources to Terror Trip, and it's clear that the company's developers want to put their focus on smaller games going forward.

    "We want to make games," said Alex, "lots of them, which is hard to do when you're devoting so much time to one big project. We'll be working on Terror Trip stuff for sure, but in the meantime, all of us want to focus on some smaller projects that we've been itching to do."

    And by "Terror Trip stuff", he's not just referring to a sequel. Pyramid will be working on spinoff titles and ancillary material for the game as well, including books and comics based on the game and telling stories that take place both during and after its events.

    "We won't be doing an animated series or anything like that, so don't expect the next Thrillseekers or anything. It'd take too much time and energy, and too much focus away from our next games."

    Terror Trip has expanded the view of many in the industry about just what's possible for an indie game, and has also raised the bar significantly, something that both siblings have expressed a degree of regret for even as they express appreciation for how well their game has been received.

    "The way a lot of indie developers look at it now is that they're all going to have to take money from bigger companies to make games now, since all of them want to make something like Terror Trip, and that's just not true," said Ariel. "Look at us, we're going to be working on much smaller games for the next couple of years at least. You don't have to make Terror Trip. We made it because we wanted to make it, not because it's the only thing we could've made. There are some amazing indie games that have come out. Alex and I have both been playing Evoland on the Nexus, and it's amazing. They didn't take a cent from Google or anybody, but they made this great RPG that pays homage to the whole history of the genre, and that game was made on a really low budget. There are so many great games coming out that didn't cost one twentieth of what it cost to make Terror Trip, and some of them are doing just as well."

    -from an article in the August 2013 issue of GameInformer
     
    Broadcast And Cable Television In The 2012-13 Season
  • (Here's the update reviewing the 2012-13 network television season!)

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    ABC:

    ABC had a mixed bag of a season, saying goodbye to a number of old hits while also seeing ratings declines for some of its biggest shows, including Dancing With The Stars and Once Upon A Time. The network also said goodbye to Lane, which ended its eleven season run with one of the most watched series finales of the past decade that saw its protagonist graduate college and head off into her a new life with her fiance (a woman, making Lane one of the first network dramas to feature a same-sex couple in a happy relationship). ABC did score big with a pair of rookie hits: the musical family comedy Perfect Harmony and the serialized drama The Quiet. Perfect Harmony, which tells the story of a typical American family but with elaborate musical sequences (usually one or two per episode) has found a massive audience amongst young viewers and women, and is the season's most successful freshman comedy, while The Quiet, a mystery show about a young CIA agent (played by Emily Rose) who becomes unwittingly involved in a government conspiracy to conceal the existence of ghosts, is one of the highest rated new dramas of the year, earning Rose an Emmy nomination and forming a major one-two punch with Once Upon A Time on Sunday nights.

    CBS:

    CBS was forced to lean heavily on its old standbys, with Big Bang Theory still performing extremely well and anchored by Northwest and Hating Places, but other than its comedy hits, the network didn't have a lot going on. However, the highly anticipated Murder, She Wrote reboot/sequel proved to be a massive hit, updating the classic formula for modern audiences and becoming one of the biggest hits with female viewers in recent memory. Like her predecessor Angela Lansbury, who was nominated numerous times for Emmys, Reshma Shetty earned herself an Emmy nomination for her role as the protagonist in the new series. Whether she'll follow in Lansbury's footsteps and actually win an Emmy (Lansbury was nominated many times, but won only once) has yet to be seen. CBS is likely to go back to some of its old hits for new shows, as it struggles to keep its ratings up.

    NBC:

    NBC saw declining ratings from all of its big sci-fi serials, but they continued to perform fairly strongly, with The Event, Powers, and Agency all cracking the overall top 25. NBC also stayed strong with Sunday Night Football, which continues to be at the top of the broadcast heap in terms of ratings. The big story from NBC, and what bolstered the network to #2 overall, was the unlikely success of The Tournament, a single-elimination, winner-take-all quiz show tournament for a grand prize of $5 million, the richest by far in television history. Spanning a total of 37 episodes across 20 weeks, The Tournament sees 64 Americans from all walks of life compete in a series of head-to-head trivia challenges to advance to the new round. The show's main attraction is that before each match, it gives in-depth profiles of the contestants, giving viewers at home a reason to root for the competitors and adding real human drama to the proceedings. The final match, a grueling two-hour long multi-round trivia challenge aired live from the Los Angeles Coliseum, was one of the highest rated television events of the year. NBC also found success with Extremely Dangerous, a crime procedural in which a crack team of elite international agents hunts down some of the world's most wanted people.

    FOX:

    Once again, the FOX network enjoyed a bumper crop of hits, including one of the biggest debuting dramas since Powers several years back: Runaway, a show about a teenage boy who leaves home, causing a chain of events that bring ruin not only to his extremely connected family but to an entire town. The show is riveting and gripping, with a cast of compelling characters and a realistic but still exciting story. It's become one of the biggest water cooler shows in recent memory, and audiences can't stop talking about the next episode, especially after a cliffhanger season finale. FOX also saw a major hit with Magdalene Regional, a hospital-based drama filled with interpersonal conflict and an extremely likable main character. While American Idol has started to fade, it remains near the top of the ratings charts, and is likely to remain a hit for the better part of the 2010s.

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    Top 25 Rated Network Television Programs Of 2012-13:

    1. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
    2. Runaway (FOX)
    3. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
    4. American Idol (Wednesday) (FOX)
    5. American Idol (Tuesday) (FOX)
    6. The Tournament (NBC)
    7. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)
    8. Person Of Interest (CBS)
    9. Perfect Harmony (ABC)
    10. Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
    11. Dancing With The Stars (Results) (ABC)
    12. The Quiet (ABC)
    13. The City (FOX)
    14. Northwest (CBS)
    15. The Entrepreneur (ABC)
    16. Magdalene Regional (FOX)
    17. Once Upon A Time (ABC)
    18. Hating Places (CBS)
    19. Powers (NBC)
    20. 60 Minutes (CBS)
    21. The Event (NBC)
    22. Extremely Dangerous (NBC)
    23. Blue Bloods (CBS)
    24. The Showdown (NBC)
    25. Agency (NBC)

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    Female-Driven Dramas Score Big On Cable

    2012 was a big year for female-driven dramas on a number of cable networks, and the first half of 2013 looks to continue that trend, with several that rank among the most watched shows on cable TV. Whether they're more subdued character studies or exciting action shows, shows starring women and featuring women in numerous prominent roles are more successful than ever, thanks to cable networks taking more chances on female directors and showrunners who are telling a variety of stories by women and for women.

    Surprisingly, the network advertised as “Television For Women”, the Lifetime Network, hasn't seen any significant hit shows debut in the past year, though a couple of ongoing shows: extraterrestrial dramedy Just Visiting and courtroom drama The Bench, are continuing to score excellent ratings and have both been renewed through 2015. The network continues to air a slate of original movies and reality shows that perform acceptably, and Lifetime execs seem content for the network to do what it's always done. FX is currently airing one of cable television's most talked about and highest rated new shows: Jetta, starring Charisma Carpenter as a punk rocker turned bounty hunter. The show is criticized for being somewhat ludicrous and over the top, but it's also scoring massive ratings and is currently FX's second highest rated show. For those looking for more subdued dramatic fare, Showtime is airing Full Court, which chronicles the lives of the members of a women's professional basketball team. It not only shows the team playing together in the summer, when the league is active, but shows what the team members do in the offseason. While some look overseas for leagues to play in year-round, others participate in different endeavors with varying degrees of success. Not only has the series won major critical acclaim (including for former professional basketball player Cheryl Miller, who has won major accolades for her performance as the team's beleaguered coach), but it's become the most watched show on the network, with both female and male viewers tuning in by the millions. It's helped Showtime become the #2 premium cable network besides HBO. Speaking of HBO, that network has also announced that it will be airing a female-driven drama starting in 2014. The show will be a fantasy series chronicling the adventures of an exiled princess who becomes an archer and a mercenary. Called Fletching, the series will star British actress Naomi Scott, and is expected to have one of the largest budgets of any new HBO series.

    There's also rumors that a new television series based on the Tomb Raider video game franchise is beginning to go into production, aimed at a possible 2015 release. Eidos, which currently owns the Tomb Raider license, has been scouting potential production companies for the new series, which could tie into an upcoming next generation Tomb Raider video game title. The series is expected to take place in its own continuity, not as a prequel or sequel but as a separate timeline from the games entirely. Rumors are swirling that either a cable network such as TNT or a streaming service such as Blockbuster or Netflix could pick up the series. A Tomb Raider television series would present a major creative and financial risk, but could also tell a more expansive story than the films, and could potentially be more profitable if successful, while also creating more interest in the upcoming games. With so many successful shows on television starring women, and video game to screen adaptations such as Metroid proving to be highly successful, the environment has never been more favorable for a Tomb Raider television series to succeed.

    -from an article posted on Tubehound.com on June 28, 2013
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 4) - Dueling Megatens
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid

    Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a JRPG exclusive to the Apple iTwin. Developed by Atlus, the game is a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series, in which humans and demons and gods battle for control of the multiverse. Lucid, like most of the games in its series, focuses on a group of humans who are able to summon forth powerful supernatural creatures to battle a variety of deadly foes. These creatures, known as demons, are taken from a massive variety of folk and religious traditions, ranging from piddling imps to almighty gods, and everything in between. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid features the technique of lucid dreaming, in which people who realize they're in a dream can conjure up anything they wish with their minds. It takes this technique and adapts it to the technique of demon summoning, allowing people to venture into dreams and summon forth increasingly powerful demons. The game's villains are a group of evil spirits who are attacking people in their dreams (quite similarly to Freddy Krueger, with the game's writers admitting that they were somewhat influenced by the Nightmare On Elm Street series). The heroes, a group of humans from various walks of life, are able to save themselves and each other by using the power of lucid dreaming to summon forth demons to battle the evil spirits and the demons they themselves conjure. The humans are able to do this via the use of Dream Energy, which is gained by performing various tasks both in and out of battle. Summoning, fusing, and capturing demons, as well as navigating the dream worlds, requires Dream Energy, putting somewhat of a time limit on the player as they venture into the various dreams. Spend too long exploring, or waste your Dream Energy trying to bite off more than you can chew, and it's an automatic Game Over. Fortunately, this time limit is somewhat generous (though as it's a Shin Megami Tensei game, it's not THAT generous, forcing players to carefully manage their resources). The game's villain is a powerful angel named Morpheus who seeks to carve out a Dream Domain on Earth as a way to establish himself as a god of his own realm. The protagonists are assisted by a dream demon named Nod who is the one who gives them the power to summon and fuse demons with lucid dreams, and serves as a sort of guide to the player throughout the game. The entire game's plot boils down mostly to a war between a rogue angel and a rogue demon for the control of the dreams of humanity, which are said to have a special power. While Nod serves as an ally, he's also playing his own long con, and in the end, the human protagonists must decide for themselves who will have control over humanity's dreams. In the end, Morpheus does serve as the final boss, while Nod is tricked by the protagonists into leaving humanity to their own devices, at least for the moment. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid is a fairly average looking JRPG, even for a late-era iTwin game. The controls don't really take advantage of the twin motion capabilities, and the game has a somewhat small amount of voice acting compared to other RPGs on the console. Despite the pedestrian production values, Lucid is considered a decent RPG with solid gameplay and good muusic. It's released in North America in May 2013 and is the last significant iTwin exclusive released in the West, before the full transition from the iTwin to the Virtua. It's a somewhat forgettable sendoff for the console, but for hardcore RPG fans, it's a decently liked game.

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    Shin Megami Tensei V

    The fifth mainline game in the Shin Megami Tensei series comes to the Connect as an exclusive in early 2013 in Japan and June 2013 in North America. The game ditches the demon infusion system from Shin Megami Tensei IV, but keeps the "press turn" system and adds a more complicated system for fusing demons, allowing for more unique fusions and even different versions of the same demon if different fusion requirements are met. The game's plot focuses on an average Japanese city inhabited by a group of teenagers whose lives are turned upside down after a mysterious loner student at their school begins using powerful demons to inflict violence upon others and gain control of them. They learn that this student has made a pact with the lord of darkness, and must forge their own pacts with spirits and gods in order to gain the power to stop him. At the same time, they must also learn why this student made the choices he did, which can only be done by embarking on a detective mission of sorts, going around the increasingly ruined city and talking to people and demons alike in order to gather information and power. As they do so, the student's demonic influence grows stronger and stronger, and he becomes somewhat of a demon himself, his powers stretching and warping spacetime and creating a vortex directly to hell, which the protagonists must eventually enter and defeat an increasingly powerful hierarchy of devils and dark lords, with the student himself at the center of it all. Shin Megami Tensei V features significantly improved graphics and presentation over its predecessor. In fact, it's the first game in the series to allow for full 3-D, rather than a top-down perspective. It enjoys a higher budget than Lucid on the iTwin, and many players say that the graphics of Shin Megami Tensei V are actually slightly better, despite being on a less capable system. The game also features full cutscenes and more fleshed out voice acting, with major voiceover personalities like John DiMaggio and Jennifer Hale providing character voices in the game, a first for the series (which primarily used anime dub voice artists before). The result is a Shin Megami Tensei game with a massive amount of time and effort placed into it, and one of Atlus' biggest localization budgets ever. The game is hyped as one of the Connect's big spring games, and despite being somewhat overshadowed by the release of the Nintendo Reality around the same time, good reviews and excellent word of mouth help to drive strong sales in North America (relatively speaking for the genre and franchise). It sells about twice as fast in its first week as Shin Megami Tensei IV, and though it's nowhere near a blockbuster, it's one of the biggest localization successes for Atlus in years. The success of the game keeps the Shin Megami Tensei series alive in the West, and helps to bolster Atlus' localization efforts as well, offsetting the mediocre sales of Lucid in North America.

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    Import Preview: Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor

    The Nintendo Reality had a mostly successful launch in Japan, and one of the big launch titles was Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor, a spinoff of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series and the only RPG to appear on the system's Japanese launch. Angel Factor isn't exactly a showcase for the Reality's graphics, though it's still a good looking game on the system, with a big world to battle in and smooth animations for characters and creatures alike. However, what makes Angel Factor so unique is the player's ability to summon forth hordes of angels to battle the game's powerful enemies. Unlike in a typical Shin Megami Tensei game, demons, while a part of the game's battle and growth system, aren't the most important fighters on the battlefield. Instead, the player calls forth angels to help them survive, with each angel having its own unique equipment, stats, and level growth. Angels can even evolve, Pokemon-style, into brand new angels, and some of these evolutions are incredibly impressive, with players able to grow their angels into creatures from obscure religious lore. With Angel Factor, Atlus aims to stretch its muscles on Nintendo's new hardware, and score some early adopter sales in the process. While it succeeds only marginally in the first goal, it proved quite adept in the second, becoming the #3 best selling game of the Japanese reality launch behind F-Zero: Firestorm and Wipeout Reality, even topping the acclaimed Cyberwar 4 port by a few thousand units. Angel Factor is a solid entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series thanks to its unique battle mechanics and characterization (giving each of the game's angels their own short story), and is an installment in the franchise that fans should try to grab once they score a Reality. A localization for North America has been announced for early next year.

    -from a July 2, 2013 article on RPGamer.net

    -

    Persona 5 Coming To Next-Gen, But Will Nintendo or Apple Score The Prize?

    Persona 5, the expected newest entry in the most popular and acclaimed of the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series, is already in development for a next generation console. According to Atlus, the game is quite early in development and is targeting a 2015 release. However, the company has yet to say which console will receive the game. It's expected to be released for either the Nintendo Reality or Apple Virtua, with a multiplatform release not being entirely ruled out. The Persona series has seen four entries thus far, with games released on the Ultra Nintendo, Nintendo Wave, and Nintendo Sapphire, and handheld ports of the first three titles released on the Game Boy Supernova (a port of Persona 4, called Persona 4 Aqua, has been announced for the Nintendo Connect and is expected to be released sometime next year). No plot details or gameplay information have been released, but Atlus says that the game will have a "darker" tone than its predecessor, and expects to hearken back to the older style of games, with modern quality of life enhancements. We'd love to see Persona 5 land on the hyper-advanced Reality so we can enjoy the game in full VR, but a Virtua release would have serious immersion and mini-game potential, and could also open the door for the game to be an action RPG. We're excited for Persona 5 no matter what console it lands on, and as soon as we have more details about the game, we'll be sure to reveal them here.

    -from an article on AnimeGamer.net, posted on July 4, 2013
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 5) - Fantasy Novels In The 2010s
  • A Song Of Ice And Fire

    A Song Of Ice And Fire is an action RPG game based on the popular series of novels by George R. R. Martin and developed by a company called Zoratech exclusively for the Google Nexus, with the game being the first to be published by Google itself under its new "Google Games" publishing label. Developed with the idea of being a major exclusive for the Nexus, in the same way that TTL's original Witcher game was ported to the original Xbox to be a major exclusive for that console, A Song Of Ice And Fire presents an epic story spanning the first three books in the series: A Game Of Thrones, A Clash Of Kings, and A Storm Of Swords. The protagonist is a new character original to the games, a young mercenary named Cather Keld, who initially serves in the army of Eddard Stark, but is separated from the army after a chaotic battle, and forced into mercenary work as he attempts to find his purpose in a world of danger and intrigue. Unlike many RPGs of its stripe, A Song Of Ice And Fire is grounded in realism, and Cather is unable to learn magic, but must instead become skilled with a blade or a variety of other weapons and skills. In this aspect, A Song Of Ice And Fire has many similarities to the Rise A Knight series, which this game takes a lot of inspiration from. A big difference between the two games is that in A Song Of Ice And Fire, Cather's actions have little impact on the larger world, whereas in Rise A Knight, the player can affect the fates of empires and kings. The player's main goal in this game is simply to keep Cather alive and to achieve the small goals that he is able to accomplish along the way. There are a few other original characters in the game whose fates Cather can influence via his actions, and thus, the player is able to carve out a small bubble of happiness and success in a dark and unforgiving world. Combat is also on the more realistic side, with Cather generally unable to take on large groups of enemies at once, and much of the combat being balanced toward one on one fights. Therefore, it's important to be able to sneak around and avoid large groups when one can. However, it is possible for Cather to recruit allies to his side, with the ability to travel with up to two companions at once, making these group fights much easier. Cather is able to perform jobs for a wide variety of characters, many of whom appeared in the books themselves, including Eddard Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Joffrey Baratheon. Who the player chooses to perform jobs for will affect Cather's later missions and who it's possible for him to ally with, influencing the direction of the game, particularly during the latter chapters. The game's main plot itself changes as the game progresses. Cather's initial main goal is to reunite with Eddard Stark, and it is possible to do that, though it's not possible to prevent his death (indeed, depending on the quests that the player chooses to take, it's possible for Cather to have a hand in it). Later on, Cather's main storyline revolves around meeting Daenerys Targaryen, and it's possible to align with, oppose, or even romance her. Later, Cather returns to the Riverlands, and the climax of the game itself revolves around the events of the Red Wedding. Again, it's not possible to save Robb Stark and his allies, but it is possible to save an ally of Cather's who finds themselves among the wedding party. Either way, the game's main storyline wraps up with the Red Wedding's aftermath, where Cather must choose to help avenge Robb Stark or to fight with Frey's forces against those who would seek to avenge it. Depending on what Cather has done up to this point, he can end up dead, imprisoned, or alive and either alone or living with friends and allies and continuing his mercenary work. The war for control of the Iron Throne continues. A Song Of Ice And Fire is intended to be a major RPG title for the Nexus, and as such, its graphics and scope are among the best and biggest on the console to date. The game's voice acting is performed by a cast of British actors, a couple of whom would even appear on the OTL show (though most of them are unknowns). A Song Of Ice And Fire is released in June 2013 to strong reviews praising it as one of the year's best WRPGs, with reviewers loving the game's scale, scope, voice acting, and skill with which it adapts the first three novels. George R. R. Martin himself is neutral toward the game, saying that he would have done some things differently but that he appreciates the work that was put into it, even if he himself doesn't plan to play it (or any video games for that matter). The game's early sales are quite strong, and help to drive up interest in the book series, which sees a notable spike throughout the second half of 2013. As the first major piece of media connected to the Song Of Ice And Fire books ITTL, it helps to raise awareness of them, but isn't nearly as successful as the OTL television series.

    -

    As Winds Of Winter Looms, ASoIaF Film On The Way?

    George R. R. Martin is said to be "hard at work" penning the sixth novel in his acclaimed fantasy series A Song Of Ice And Fire. Titled The Winds Of Winter, the novel will likely see winter arrive in Westeros, bringing forth the breaching of the northern wall and the start of the epic battle for the fate of the realm. The novel is expected to be finished and released sometime in 2015, but of course, could be delayed for any number of reasons, and Martin has already told readers "it'll be done when it's done". However, that doesn't mean fans of the series will be starved for new material. If you have the Google Nexus, you can buy A Song Of Ice And Fire right now and play your way through the first three novels in the series. And there's more. Though plans for a possible televised adaptation of the books seem to have fallen through, a production studio is attempting to get a potential movie off the ground that would perhaps serve as a prequel to the book series. 20th Century Fox, who distributed the successful films based off the Eragon books, now is in talks to produce a film centered around The Long Night, the generations-long winter that has become a legend in the annals of Westeros lore. Initial talks are centered around a single film, but if it's successful, they could look to make a trilogy, much like The Lord Of The Rings for Warner Brothers. Negotiations are still early, which means that a film would probably not see the light of day until 2015 at the earliest (and thus could be tied in with the launch of the sixth book?), but if it does get off the ground, it could become one of the biggest movies of the year and the latest fantasy book series to receive a successful big screen adaptation.

    -from a June 26, 2013 article posted on Yahoo! News

    -

    Kristin Kalavin's "Jester" Series Explores The Lighter Side Of Fantasy

    Modern fantasy novels are proving to be increasingly popular amongst readers of all ages, from the ultra-popular Harry Potter series for children to George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire for older readers, fantasy is big business in the literary world. However, many fantasy works intended for older readers have proven to be somewhat dark in nature, exploring grittier and more realistic themes and eschewing old fantasy tropes such as princesses, magic, and happy endings. Kristin Kalavin, a 26-year-old writer from Tacoma, Washington, says that she doesn't like the darker turn modern fantasy has taken, and she's begun writing her own novels that feature more classic fairy tale themes, while also telling compelling stories of complex characters. Her first novel, Jester, was released in 2011. It tells the story of Bethany, a young court jester to a spoiled princess who one day inherits magical powers from a mysterious source and is banished from her home by the jealous princess. She must now roam the land to discover the source of her powers while using her natural comedic talents to make people laugh. Along the way, she's caught up in intrigue, danger, and adventure, and though the story is definitely intended for adults, with off-color sex jokes and some surprisingly violent scenes, the subject matter stays fairly light throughout, and hearkens back to classic fairy tale traditions, with direct inspiration from works such as Disney films and the aforementioned Harry Potter novels.

    "Bethany's just a young woman caught up in a situation she doesn't understand," said Kalavin during our interview. "She's got these powers she can't control, the princess that she thought was her best friend suddenly hates her, and she's forced to perform for strangers for money, since she can't rely on her magic. At the same time, she finds out that she's having more fun than she's ever had in her life, and that maybe the people she thought were her friends are really just jerks and that she should try to find some new ones."

    The book addresses themes of mental health, social anxiety, and even LGBT issues, with Bethany realizing over the course of the story that she may have had an unhealthy crush on the princess she once called her friend and employer.

    "Bethany is confused, really confused, and she's got to process that confusion through the lens of her newfound freedom and the fact that she doesn't know what she's going to do with her life anymore. At the same time, she's got all these new people in her life and new feelings she didn't know she had."

    Meanwhile, Bethany is being pursued by a mysterious assassin who seeks to kill her because of her powers, but this assassin, like many other characters in the story, isn't as black and white as they initially seem.

    "The assassin, a man named Glint, we learn has two young kids at home who his wife won't let him see anymore because of the nature of his job. Glint is hoping that by bringing in one big score, he'll be able to convince his wife to take him back, but at the same time, he's got to kill Bethany, who he likes almost immediately because they share the same sense of humor. And of course, there's the princess, Priscilla, who starts out as a massive jerk but who also has these complex layers to her personality that will likely be explored further in future works."

    A sequel to Jester called Make 'Em Laugh was released in the fall of 2012, and Kalavin has a third installment in the series, The Lollipop Forest, set for release in the fall of this year. Kalavin's series has received praise from sources far and wide, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and film director Quentin Tarantino.

    "When I heard Quentin Tarantino liked the books, I about gasped, because I love his work, especially Kill Bill! I'm not sure if he liked the books because they're good or because of the scene in Make 'Em Laugh when I describe Bethany's feet getting stuck in some beeswax, but either way, I'll take it."

    Kalavin is part of a growing movement of young writers making waves in the fantasy genre. These include both literary authors and writers for film and television, and Kalavin says that because of the Jester series, she now has lots of friends in both groups.

    "We bounce ideas off each other sometimes for sure," said Kalavin. "I've been asked to write for TV, but I prefer books, it's what I know and I can just sit down and write without having to worry about a bunch of other people who might have different ideas. I don't play well with others when it comes to writing!"

    -from an article on Cressida Lane, posted on June 10, 2013
     
    Sports In 2013
  • The 2012-13 NBA season saw the rise of two dominant teams, one in the East and one in the West. In the East, the reigning champion Philadelphia 76ers continued on their tear from the previous season, playing their way to a 64-18 record on the back of Dwight Howard and his strong supporting cast, taking care of business in a conference that didn't have a single other dominant big man to contain him. The Detroit Pistons were a distant second at 55-27, with Carmelo Anthony still hungry for his first title win but his team merely very good and not truly dominant. The East also saw Stephen Curry's Chicago Bulls challenge the Pistons for the division title, but fall short with a 51-31 record, still good for third. The Boston Celtics returned to some measure of respectability, clawing their way to .500 on the season and winning a tough battle for eighth place with the Miami Heat, who were still reeling from Kevin Durant's departure in free agency.

    Speaking of Kevin Durant, he was now playing for the Seattle Supersonics, alongside Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and the three formed an incredible triple threat that helped the Sonics to a 69-13 record, the best the league had seen since the days of Michael Jordan's Bulls. The three combined for dominant offense, with Griffin's rim play opening up wide open threes for Durant all day long, and Chris Paul averaging an astonishing 15.8 assists per game passing to both of them, breaking John Stockton's single season assist record and setting a new standard for floor general excellence. This includes a game in which he had 34 assists, another NBA record. LeBron's Nuggets continued to play well, with a 59-23 record overall, but injuries to Lebron's supporting cast forced him to carry the load by himself more than he would've liked to. It was a tough season for LeBron, and with free agency coming up in 2014, the Nuggets knew the clock might be ticking on their dynasty. The Lakers, led by Dwyane Wade and Anthony Davis, also formed a potent duo, but regressed a bit from the previous year and landed in the #3 seed.

    Playoffs:

    First Round:

    Eastern Conference:


    (1) Philadelphia 76ers over (8) Boston Celtics, 4 to 0

    The 76ers didn't have much trouble putting away the young Celtics, with Dwight Howard doing most of the heavy lifting throughout the series, joined by midseason acquisition James Harden, who poured in lots of buckets. The Celtics barely put up a fight, only managing to finish within single digits in game 3. The 76ers advanced, and looked great headed into the second round.

    (5) Charlotte Hornets over (4) New York Knicks, 4 to 2

    The Knicks were still a good team, but with Deron Williams playing poorly, they just couldn't get their offense off the ground. Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook of the Hornets played circles around him, and helped guide the Hornets to a fairly easy first round win.

    (2) Detroit Pistons over (7) Indiana Pacers, 4 to 0

    Heyward and Thompson were sharpshooters for the Pacers, but against teams with good perimeter defense like Detroit, they had trouble scoring. Meanwhile, the young Pacers lacked an answer to Carmelo, and he was able to penetrate the lane and get open shots pretty much at will. The Pacers played tough, but couldn't get a win against the hungry Detroit team.

    (3) Chicago Bulls over (6) Atlanta Hawks, 4 to 3

    The first round's best series saw Stephen Curry pushed to the limit against a fierce and resurgent Hawks team, led by veteran scorer Adam Morrison, who had found his groove surrounded by players who could help him play to his strengths. Morrison's gutsy play almost led the Hawks to victory, and they led by six late in Game 7, but Curry made three clutch 3-pointers and the Bulls would come away with a 100-98 win and advance to the second round.

    Western Conference:

    (1) Seattle Supersonics over (8) St. Louis Arches, 4 to 1

    Remember the St. Louis Arches? Yeah, they're still kicking, though attendance has been down and the owners have considered moving the team to Louisville, Tampa, Hampton Roads, or even Vegas. However, the Arches showed a lot of spirit in this series against one of the league's best teams of all time, pushing them to overtime in games 2 and 3 before taking Game 4. However, the Sonics couldn't be stopped, and crushed the Arches in a 161-88 rout in Game 5, the biggest margin in a playoff game in NBA history.

    (4) Houston Rockets over (5) Dallas Mavericks, 4 to 3

    This fierce battle of two Texas teams saw the home team win every single game, and the defending Western Conference champs found themselves dethroned by a talented Rockets squad led by the rookie Kawhi Leonard and the scoring machine Damien Lillard. The Rockets were a bit faster, a bit bigger, and a bit tougher, and the Mavericks won't be returning to the Finals this year.

    (2) Denver Nuggets over (7) Golden State Warriors, 4 to 3

    Kobe Bryant has played with Golden State for 17 years now, and though he's won several titles, he'd like to win one more to close out his career. Though this wouldn't be his last season, he played this series like it was, with one of the gutsiest playoff performances of all time. He scored 56, 50, and 67 points in Games 2, 3, and 6 respectively to lead the Warriors to victory in those games, but LeBron was just too good and the Nuggets managed to win Game 7 in relatively dominant fashion. However, in winning close, the Nuggets had some of their weaknesses exposed, and would have an even tougher test in the second round. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant made an offseason promise to play his last few years in Golden State, where he hoped to bring one more title to the city.

    (3) Los Angeles Lakers over (6) Portland Trailblazers, 4 to 0

    The Lakers left absolutely no doubt who was the tougher team in this series, smashing the Trailblazers in a clean sweep. Anthony Davis ran Portland all over the floor, averaging four blocks per game and grabbing a slew of rebounds, while Dwyane Wade turned back the clock and showed why he's still one of the league's best scorers. The Lakers were headed for another showdown with LeBron's Nuggets, and hoped to go all the way to another title.

    Second Round:

    Eastern Conference:


    (1) Philadelphia 76ers over (5) Charlotte Hornets, 4 to 1

    The 76ers were once again too big and too good for their opponents to handle. Russell Westbrook tried to do it all, averaging a triple double throughout the five games of the series, but even he couldn't play his way around the big man Dwight Howard, who kept the rim clean while James Harden put up big points. The 76ers looked like the odds on favorite to win the East, but they had one more team to beat first.

    (2) Detroit Pistons over (3) Chicago Bulls, 4 to 0

    Once again, Detroit's perimeter defense shut down a strong shooter in Stephen Curry, and the Bulls were no match for the Pistons, who played dirty and mean to advance to the Conference Finals. This series hearkened back to the Pistons/Bulls rivalry of old, but with no Michael Jordan on the Bulls, this was a one-sided affair.

    Western Conference:

    (1) Seattle Supersonics over (4) Houston Rockets, 4 to 2

    The young Rockets put up a decent fight against the Sonics, much like the Arches had done but even better, with Kawhi proving that he'll be a star in the league someday. All but one game was decided by single digits, but in the end, the Sonics had enough offense and enough highlights to win this one.

    (3) Los Angeles Lakers over (2) Denver Nuggets, 4 to 0

    In a shocking series, LeBron's Nuggets found themselves swept out of the playoffs by Wade, Davis, and the Lakers. LeBron was visibly frustrated in this series, struggling to score on Anthony Davis, while Dwyane Wade lit up the injury-ravaged Denver squad. LeBron definitely seemed disgruntled after this series, and though many Nuggets fans were confident that they could keep him, some were starting to push for a trade to see what they could get for the star player before he left and they got nothing.

    Conference Finals:

    (2) Detroit Pistons over (1) Philadelphia 76ers, 4 to 3

    The 76ers were expected to win this series fairly easily, but those expectations were tempered by the surging play of the Pistons and Carmelo Anthony coming into the series itself. When the Pistons stole game 1 in overtime, that's when things really heated up. The 76ers roared back, taking the next three games in the series, and it was expected that they'd be able to close out the Pistons in Philly. However, Carmelo refused to be denied, scoring 44 points in Game 5 and leading his team to a 106-97 victory. In Game 6, the Pistons edged out the 76ers in a defensive war, 93 to 91. In Game 7, the Pistons jumped out to a big first half lead, but seemed to be gassed as the Sixers and Dwight Howard took over the game, roaring back to take an 80-79 lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter. As it turned out, that would be Philly's only lead of the game: Carmelo would hit a three immediately afterward, and would then gut the Pistons to a tough 106-101 victory, taking his team to yet another NBA Finals, where he and Pistons fans hoped that this, this finally would be the year.

    (1) Seattle Supersonics over (3) Los Angeles Lakers, 4 to 3

    Another close, gritty series between two star-packed teams, though it wasn't quite as exciting as the Eastern Conference Finals, with four games, including the decisive Game 7, ending in routs of 14 or more points. The two teams split games 1 and 2 before the Lakers took game 3, and Seattle won a close Game 4 that was probably the best game of the series, 120-119. Seattle then dominated the Lakers in Game 5, 130-107, before the Lakers squeaked out a close 112-109 victory in Game 6. Game 7 was all Kevin Durant, the superstar put up 38 points and the Sonics won by a score of 140-108, advancing to the Finals, where fans hoped that Lob City would finally bring home the trophy.

    2013 NBA Finals:

    Detroit Pistons over Seattle Supersonics, 4 to 1

    In a somewhat anticlimactic NBA Finals, Carmelo's Detroit Pistons finally earned an NBA Championship, the city's first since the Bad Boys' last title in 1990. Seattle was gassed after their tough Lakers series, while Carmelo and the Pistons were a bit more rested, even after their seven game war with Philly. They won the series the same way they won the other three, with hard-nosed defense, locking down Kevin Durant on the perimeter while Carmelo used his physical strength and sheer force of will to bully Blake Griffin on the boards while daring Dwyane Wade to beat him from midrange. The Pistons won in five and Carmelo Anthony won Finals MVP, while also dispelling any remaining talk about being a lazy or selfish player. He wept as he accepted the championship trophy, dedicating it to "his guys" on the team. The Pistons had won one of the guttiest playoffs in NBA history, and even though they were tired, there was already talk of a repeat in the locker room.

    -

    The 2013 NBA Draft was looking stacked, mostly with high school players like Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon, and Julius Randle. Other highly touted players headed into the draft included Anthony Bennett, Cody Zeller, and Michael Carter-Williams, but perhaps the most hyped player of all was an 18-year-old high school player from the Chicago area named Willard Jones. Considered the best player to come out of the city since Benji Wilson, who was tragically killed in his senior year of high school nearly 30 years earlier, Jones was a spectacularly gifted scorer and passer, drawing comparisons to players like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook. He'd pondered going to college at Duke, since he was a big fan of Coach K, but decided to head directly to the NBA to support his family, and was expected to be the #1 overall pick, a pick that was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who'd mostly struck out with Ben McLemore. The Cavs were wary about taking a risk on a high school player again, even one as talented as Jones, but the best player of the non-high school guys was considered to be Anthony Bennett, and he paled in comparison. Enter the Nuggets, who were looking to deal LeBron James. LeBron preferred going to a larger city, and was hoping to play for the Clippers, who held the #6 overall pick and were also looking to deal it. The Lakers, Knicks, or Bulls also would have been acceptable destinations. However, LeBron was willing to play for his hometown team, and so the Cavs put together a blockbuster offer that included the #1 pick in 2013, the #1 pick in 2015 (unprotected), Ben McLemore, and veteran player Luol Deng, who at the time was the Cavs' second best scorer and best defender. LeBron's presence in Cleveland would attract at least one other strong free agent to make up for the players the Cavs were giving up, and the deal was done, sending LeBron back home to Ohio after a decade playing for Denver. The Nuggets selected Willard Jones with the first overall pick, and had their new superstar. Wiggins would go second, to the Milwaukee Bucks, while Joel Embiid would go third to the Miami Heat (who held the Sacramento Kings' first round pick from a trade the previous year), and Julius Randle would go fourth, to the Phoenix Suns. The Brooklyn Nets held the fifth pick, and were still rebuilding, though their veteran center Greg Oden was still excellent when he could play, and Bradley Beal was a promising rookie. They decided to snag Anthony Bennett, pairing him with Oden for a potent young frontcourt combination. Zeller would go sixth, Jabari Parker would go seventh, Gordon would go eighth, and Carter-Williams would slip to the Miami Heat at fourteenth for their second pick in that year's lottery. The St. Louis Arches would have the fifteenth pick, and they would select Giannis Antentokoumpo, hoping his exciting play would bolster attendance enough to keep the team in the city.

    -

    Drew Barrymore: So your oldest, Natalia, she plays basketball, but Gianna doesn't?

    Kobe Bryant: She skateboards.

    Drew: Well that's pretty cool!

    Kobe: She's a big Avril Lavigne fan, so yeah, she loves skateboarding. Her seventh birthday is today, believe it or not.

    Drew: Well, happy birthday Gianna! *waving to her in the front row, the camera shows her waving*

    Kobe: She saw Avril skating in the Olympics last year and that's when she started wanting to skateboard. She asked for a skateboard, she asked about skate parks... there's a lot of 'em in San Francisco, so that's pretty lucky at least.

    Drew: And then your son who was born in 2011, Kobe Jr., is he going to be a skater or a baller?

    Kobe: Maybe both! Who knows, right? Right now I think he's gonna be a baller, here he is with his hoop... *shows a picture of 2-year-old Kobe Jr. playing basketball on a small hoop with a small ball* but maybe he'll see Tony Hawk on the TV someday and be like, "dad, I wanna be a skater now", and that's cool too. No matter what sport they play, they're competitors. Natalia plays even harder than me, and Gianna... I have to be careful with her, because she's already going for those really big tricks and I've got to remind her that she's just seven and she can't do the big tricks yet.

    Drew: Now, you and Avril both competed in the Olympics, she was competing for Canada, you were competing for the United States, did Gianna get to meet her while you were over there at all?

    Kobe: Actually, no, unfortunately... no, Gianna saw her live but we didn't get the chance to meet her, I didn't know she wanted to meet her until after Avril already left. You know, when we played the Raptors this year, I tried to set up a meeting there, but Avril was doing a video game or something so we couldn't meet then.

    Drew: Well, since it's Gianna's birthday, I've actually got a little surprise for her... a very good friend of mine is here-

    *Gianna jumps up from her seat, already knowing who it's going to be, Kobe starts laughing*

    Drew: It's 5-time X-Games gold medalist skateboarder Avril Lavigne!

    *Avril comes out and walks over to hug Gianna, who rushes over to her, then she goes over and hugs and high-fives Kobe, the crowd cheers wildly at this and Avril talks to the two of them for about 30 seconds before the three of them sit down, Gianna is still talking to Avril after they sit.*

    Kobe: *to Avril* Hey, this is real cool, thanks for coming out for Gianna.

    Avril: No problem! Sorry we couldn't meet at the Olympics last year.

    Gianna: I wish you had won the gold medal.

    Avril: Aw, me too, there's always 2016 though.

    -from the May 27, 2013 episode of Late Night with Drew Barrymore on CBS

    -

    Mike Joy: And there's Mihoshi Koizumi, the incredible young driver who has turned NASCAR upside down these past couple years, winning last year's Daytona 500 and now the current points leader, hoping to become the first female driver ever to win the NASCAR iPhone Cup. She's currently in eighth place right now, just behind Jimmie Johnson and just ahead of Martin Truex Jr.

    Darrell Waltrip: She's actually one of the most aggressive racers on the circuit, you can see her right there, right on Johnson's bumper, she's been trying to break through and catch up to the leaders, but no dice.

    Joy: Jeff Gordon still in the lead here at Dover, Harvick in second place and Ryan Newman in third on lap 271, just over two-thirds of the way through this race and Harvick's been dominating most of the day, but right now it's Jeff Gordon.

    Waltrip: He's got a really fast car, and he's been able to keep himself in it, and that's what you gotta do, race hard and stay with the leaders and wait for your opportunity. He's been doin' this for 20 years, he knows how to- oh, oh no!

    Joy: Big, BIG wreck on turn two, lots of cars and oh, goodness, that looks like Mihoshi Koizumi's car has gone airborne!

    Waltrip: Oh, no. No, no, no.

    *Koizumi's car hits the pavement hard and bounces up, rolls and is hit by two other cars as they swerve to avoid the massive wreck, Koizumi's car catches fire and continues to roll with parts flying everywhere, meanwhile there are two other cars caught up in the carnage and one comes to a stop upside down, nearly half the field is caught up in the massive wreck which spills all over one side of the track.*

    Joy: Tony Stewart's car hits the wall hard, Truex Jr. is still upside down, Mark Martin's car caught up in it, but oh... Mihoshi Koizumi's car is still rolling and it comes to a stop and it is completely engulfed.

    Waltrip: That's... oh, no. Pray. Pray.

    Joy: Fourteen cars were caught up and now we have a red flag, they're going to stop this race because there is debris everywhere, and Mihoshi Koizumi's car is engulfed in flames and we have not seen her come out. She took a hard, hard hit, that was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.

    Waltrip: I...

    *There's silence on the track and from the announcers now as personnel rush to help the drivers. Despite slamming into the wall hard, Tony Stewart is okay. Truex Jr. climbs out of his battered car. Other drivers are okay, but Koizumi hasn't emerged from her car, which is in pieces on the track. NASCAR officials rush to the car.*

    Joy: Mihoshi Koizumi, the current points leader... 23 years old, in her first full Sprint Cup season...

    *As officials surround the wreck, racing to put out the fire, an arm emerges.... then someone's head, then their entire upper body. Koizumi climbs out through the window, looking shaken but otherwise completely unharmed. The officials help her to get away from the smoldering wreck, and after she's a safe distance away, she takes off her helmet, looks back at it, and puts a hand over her mouth in shock. Then she bends over and it looks like she's hurt, but actually she's just amazed to have escaped, then she lifts both her arms up, signalling to the crowd that she's okay. The crowd roars with approval.*

    Waltrip: Oh, thank God. Thank God.

    Joy: Koizumi... is okay!

    Waltrip: These cars... these engineers... *he sounds like he's a bit choked up* They work so hard to make these cars safe, and we just saw that today. She walked away from... that was the most violent wreck I've ever seen.

    Joy: And waving to the crowd as she's taken to the infield care center, which, even though she does appear to be okay, is the standard precautionary measure, the doctors are going to check her out and she's going to be done for the day, but it looks like everyone is okay after that massive wreck, and we're going to get this cleaned up and hopefully get back to racing.

    Waltrip: I tell you what, I haven't been that scared about a wreck since my brother Mikey back in 1990.

    -from FOX's broadcast of the Stonewell Subs 400 on June 2, 2013
     
    Nintendo Reality Worldwide Launch
  • Nintendo Reality Technical Specifications

    The Nintendo Reality is a rectangular white console with black trim and a black logo/design on top that incorporates a sort of circular pattern along with the new sleek Nintendo lettering. It's slightly larger than the Virtua, but also shorter, taking up a few square inches more real estate when placed on top of something. It has the same Blu-Ray discs and inputs as its competitors, though the design of the box itself is somewhat “cleaner”, with the ports and disc drive more discreet, and no cameras to speak of. The console is the first Nintendo legacy console since the SNES that doesn't have backward compatibility with its predecessors. Nintendo and Sony cite cost-cutting as a reason for not including backward compatibility, though many believe it's a ploy to encourage people to purchase digital games, which are included on the digital store from day one (and if you've purchased Sapphire/Wave/Ultra Nintendo/SNES/NES titles, you can download them immediately, you don't have to re-buy them). The console does play Blu-Ray and DVD movies, but not music CDs. It has a 1TB hard drive, the same as the Apple Virtua, in both the base and VR versions.

    The Nintendo Reality is more powerful than the Apple Virtua by a decent margin, though practically, it's not that much more impressive in terms of graphics, except for specifically designed first-party exclusives. The Reality's custom CPU, codenamed “Integra”, is an octo-core setup with each core running at 2.3 GHz, and its GPU, a Radeon chip similar to OTL's PS4, runs at right around 1 Ghz. The Reality is capable of 2.75 teraflops of processing power, with a decent chunk of this used to power the system's VR suite (though this processing power can be shifted elsewhere if the VR isn't in use). This puts it almost halfway between OTL's PS4 and PS4 Pro, and the system is capable of taking advantage of that power with the 4K TVs coming into use around this time, though not to the same degree as OTL's PS4 Pro. The Reality utilizes a controller quite similar to the Sapphire before it, a controller not all that dissimilar from OTL's Switch Pro controller, complete with an enhanced rumble feature. However, the VR set includes a pair of motion controllers that are similar to OTL's PS Move controllers, though ITTL they do get compared to the iTwin controllers. These aren't intended to be used for non-VR games like the iTwin/Virtua controllers can be (though it is possible to use them since they share the same buttons). The Reality's controller lacks the L4/R4 functionality of the Virtua controller, but this does help save on costs, with the Reality controller priced at $59.99 MSRP.

    The Nintendo Reality is a beast, a powerhouse of a console capable of running games that look better than those of any other console on the market. However, because of the compromises Nintendo made, the company is able to sell the base console at $100 less than the price of the base Virtua at launch. Buying the VR-included model does bring it up to $499, but you get quite a bit included, including a VR game/demo suite, the extra motion controllers, and the headset itself. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the headset functions similarly to OTL's PSVR headset, with slightly less graphical detail, but also more fluid motion. Intended to be used with simpler games, Yokoi had years to perfect the headset, and initial reviews are extremely favorable. The Reality VR is no Virtual Boy: it's the next step in immersive gaming, and an excellent demonstration of the console's capabilities.

    -

    Launch Title Summaries-
    (The Reality's North American launch line-up consists of 18 games, plus a few more small titles not worth mentioning here.)

    F-Zero: FIRESTORM
    (Authors' Note: The following game summary was given to us by the reader HeX! We made a few edits to the development/performance details to fit in with the narrative, but the gameplay and plot descriptions are entirely by him.)

    F-Zero: FIRESTORM is a new entry in the F-Zero franchise, and entirely alien from any of its spiritual predecessors. Firestorm departs from the speedy, precise, and brutal racing that defined the series since its debut on the SNES in 1990, though the game is no less high-octane and intense. At its core, Firestorm is the happy marriage of an open-world adventure title, a 3D platformer, and a beat 'em up, taking the best elements of each and almost none of the bad. Players take control of the People's Champion himself, Captain Falcon, and have a deep combat system at their fingertips from the get-go, in a large part inspired by the characters moveset from the Super Smash Bros. series. Falcon comes equipped with all sorts of punches and kicks and built-in combos. A strong attack launches foes into the air, allowing Falcon to combo them up there, and giving him the ability to pull off the iconic "Knee of Justice". Some characters wielding blades or other blunt weapons may drop them upon death, giving Falcon a sword or bat to use for a short while; when fighting one such enemy, an input, if timed properly, will result in a brief-but-epic cutscene Captain grabbing the blade by its flat mid-swing and yanking it away from the foe for his personal use. To incentivize combat and the usage of these combos, the only way to regain health is by punching bad guys, which builds up a "Firestorm" meter. Once the meter is built up, it can be used in three ways: as a slow burn, boosting Falcon's attack power and engulfing him and his moves in flames; to regain health, based on how far the meter is filled; and as a finishing move, involving flashy flips and kicks and ending with a devastating Falcon Punch.

    Just as integral to the gameplay as combat is platforming, using a system not dissimilar to the momentum-based physics seen in Sonic the Hedgehog, but to a far less pronounced degree. Falcon's top speed is difficult to achieve, but once it has, his jump, double-jump, and climbing skills are amplified by an ability to temporarily run up or along walls or to leap great distances in a single bound. Keep max speed for a few seconds, and the Raptor Boost is engaged; Captain Falcon becomes engulfed in flames and leaves behind trails of fire as he runs extremely fast. If he keeps his speed up he can travel great distances quickly and even run straight up walls, but if not he'll gradually slow down. The tradeoff for such immense speed is the loss of most control, and hairpin turns immediately end the boost mode.

    During certain sections, Captain Falcon hops into his ship to race other characters on classic racing tracks in the F-Zero universe to prove himself or get something of theirs. These races are largely scripted, and rip their mechanics directly from F-Zero (2008).

    Development on F-Zero: FIRESTORM was a quiet affair. What would eventually become the game was conceived of in late 2008, when Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe bought, played through, fell in love with, and completed Fallout: The Boneyard on his Sapphire. As someone who had spent a bit of time playing the old isometric RPG Fallouts here and there, Tanabe was blown away by the shocking transformation the franchise had taken to morph into a first-person action-adventure game with an enormous world just begging to be explored. As the seeds of inspiration were being planted in his brain, Nintendo found themselves at a junction point: what to do about F-Zero? Back in the '90s, a mildly successful side-scrolling beat 'em up starring Captain Falcon had appeared on the SNES, but ever since, the franchise had stuck to its racing roots. Now, no F-Zero game was ever bad, per say, but Nintendo's creative staff was beginning to grow tired of repeating the same thing over and over again. Shelving the entire franchise became a very real possibility by New Year's 2009, even with the outstanding success of the last game in the series at that point still fresh in their minds.

    Enter Kensuke Tanabe.

    Development on A Chef's Tale for the Sapphire was winding down, and, in need of a new project, he caught wind of the situation with Nintendo's premier racing series (after Mario Kart, of course). There was a blinding spark of inspiration, and Tanabe went straight to Katsuya Eguchi's office with his idea: an open world F-Zero game, one part racing game, one part old '90s beat 'em ups, and one part Super Smash Bros. His ideas were big, but they were just what F-Zero needed: a shot of originality sent straight to the vein. Work began immediately, but concepts for the game just kept on getting bigger and bigger, until it was deemed the Sapphire would be far too underpowered to hold everything they had planned. As luck would have it, Sony was tinkering away at the console that was next in line to the Nintendo throne. The Big N decided that F-Zero: Outworld (as it was then called) would be the perfect fit for a next-gen launch title, then. Nintendo's must-have launch title. The console called "Reality" would not launch with Mario or Link or Pikachu or Samus leading the way. While Apple clung to Sonic or Commander Keen with a deathgrip, Nintendo wanted to prove they were still top of the heap by headlining their biggest, most ambitious piece of hardware yet with a little-known IP and an untested new game style. No pop culture juggernauts or instantly recognizable titles.

    Just a good game.

    And a good game it was. When F-Zero: FIRESTORM hit shelves, it could barely stay on them long enough for people to realize it was there. The spinoff title would go on to sell more than ten million total copies, almost as much as every previous F-Zero game combined. Firestorm was met with outstanding critical acclaim across the board, becoming the best reviewed game of the Reality launch and one of the best titles of 2013, with reviews averaging in the mid 9s and plenty of perfect scores from a variety of sources. The biggest complaint by far was that the VR aspects of the game felt a bit "tacked on" ...which they were, Firestorm was not developed with VR in mind until well into the design process. As a result, the VR was a mixed bag, highly immersive but at some times unnatural. Motion sickness became a real concern if players used first-person VR mode for too long, due to the speed at which Captain Falcon moved. This was probably why Nintendo, though hyping up Firestorm quite lot in the months preceding the Reality's launch, refrained from making it the console's pack-in title. Virtual Reality was the focus, after all, and Firestorm wasn't Nintendo's best foot forward into that field.

    Chapter One
    Race to Win

    The game begins in the heat of the final laps of an F-Zero Championship Race, with Captain Falcon once again competing for the title of "Speed Demon" and the coveted Champion's Belt. Though a serious competition the race is more good-natured and friendly than one might expect for a championship, given that most of the racers are all good friends. Captain Falcon volleys playful banter back at everyone, though he lingers in flirting with Lady LeChique, someone he's very clearly romantically interested in, while she's somewhat indifferent. Falcon easily wins the race, humiliating his on-again, off-again bumbling nemesis, Samurai Goroh by stealing victory from his grasp. After the victor's ceremony, Falcon throws a wild party at his Batcave-esque mansion and garage, and passes out on his couch. When he wakes up the next morning, a new holo-mail is queued on his helmet, which he watches, revealing a dark, cloaked figure. He calls himself the Hood, and claims to be a high-ranking underworld overlord in need of a bounty hunter. Falcon protests, saying he left that kind of life behind a long time ago, but the Hood threatens him with revealing the star racer's dark past to the F-Zero Racing Organization, which would result in the revoking of all of the Captain's awards and trophies and a permanent ban from racing. With no choice but to comply, Falcon is given a list of names, mostly his fellow racers, but mostly his fellow racers that were on the shady side. Captain Falcon is to incapacitate or, if necessary, kill, these targets in one week, or his past is to be revealed and his life is ruined.

    Chapter Two
    Shadows

    Sector I: Port Town
    Port Town is, as far as things go, the most straightforward and linear sector in the game, a pseudo-tutorial without any hand-holding. Captain Falcon's hideout is fully explorable, chock full of easter eggs from across the F-Zero series and other assorted Nintendo franchises. By far the most interesting part of his house are the Champion Difficulty and 100% completion bonuses, which are hidden away in the game room on the second floor of the building. For beating the game on Champion (no easy task), players are rewarded with a slightly slimmed-down version of the original F-Zero for SNES; for collecting every item and achievement and completing every side quest, a model F-Zero racer is unlocked that allows players to train for races on virtual, procedurally-generated tracks against ghost racers. The city of Port Town itself is decently big, dotted with towering skyscrapers and glass pyramids in a Blade Runner-meets-Ghost in the Shell aesthetic that carries on through the rest of the game, though the skyline itself is dominated by a massive R.O.B. construction robot and the space harbor that surrounds it. Blood Falcon, the Captain's much more dangerous evil nemesis, has taken over the usually peaceful city streets of Port Town, and has even commandeered the harbor and R.O.B. Captain Falcon must first clean up the ground level by taking down Blood Falcon's gang of crooks and hoodlums, then scale the R.O.B. to reach his foe's stolen ship. On the decks of the SS Eagleland, the two Falcons do battle. After defeating Blood, the way to Mute City opens.

    Chapter Three
    The Greatest City in the Universe

    Sector II: Mute City
    Mute City is massive. A metropolis the size of Hyrule City from The Legend of Zelda: Hero Eternal functions as the game's hub, though it's far more than that. The city is bursting with things to do, people to see, places to explore. Sidequests abound, many being simple fetchquests, but a few special ones stand out with the caliber of OTL Majora's Mask's Anju and Kafei quest. An entire subsection, Casino Royale Mute City is frequently cited as one of the best places in F-Zero: FIRESTORM to use the Reality's VR functions, not even to really play the game but to just walk around the immersive, carefully designed world. Upon entering Mute City for the first time, players are given a number of main story quests to accomplish: orders from Falcon's employer to take down the murderous Skull, who's been wreaking havoc across Mute City; to uncover more about the mysterious Shadow Million organization, which seems to have its grimy fingers in everything from Port Town to Mute City; and to collect bounties on smaller perps by going to police stations and looking them up on wanted posters. The last item on that list was specifically made with the goal of having players lose themselves in exploring Mute City and not simply skipping over huge (but otherwise completely optional) portions of the game.

    Captain Falcon eventually tracks down the Skull in a seedy part of town, but he's accidentally spotted. The Skull hops into a nearby hovercar, and the Captain does as well, following him on a high-speed chase into the heart of Mute City, Silence Square. Totalling his vehicle, the Skull manages to slip into the Shard, the city's most iconic building, leading Falcon on a chase up the elevator shafts to the roof. The two fight, and Captain Falcon ends up hurling the Skull over the edge to his doom. Following this, Mute City is able to reopen its ports to other planets, allowing the player to choose from a triad of possible next locations to go to: Red Canyon, White Slopes, or Big Blue.

    Chapter Four
    Worlds to Explore

    Sector III: Red Canyon
    While the order of the three new planets can be selected in any order, according to official canon Red Canyon is the next step. Here, Falcon must traverse a fairly linear canyon to find Samurai Goroh, who is revealed to actually be far smarter than previously thought. His bumbling, idiot self was a facade, a ruse to throw off the scent while he built his own secret criminal organization, the yakuza-esque Dragon's Claw. Thugs from this group line Red Canyon, armed with swords and some even clad in traditional samurai armor. Along the way, the Captain is assaulted with falling rocks, a raging river, and the remnants of a long-forgotten ancient civilization with all of its booby traps still intact and deadly. The boss fight with Goroh is straight out of OTL's F-Zero GX's story mode in a two-lap race around the canyon.

    Sector IV: White Slopes
    This is the next world in canonical order of selection. The section explorable is a massive ski resort complex, with a Swiss alpine motif. In addition to plenty of ski resort staples, there is also an indoor water park (with working slides and a few minigames) and the most impressive portion, the halfpipe and slopes. The former is reminiscent of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater stage, where Falcon can pull off tricks and combos to get high scores. The latter is made up of four separate slopes, leveling up from "Easy" (and the quote-unquote "tutorial"), to "Medium," to "Hard," and finally to "Expert." In regards to the story, when Falcon arrives the resort is in shambles due to the actions of Zoda, a mutant-android hybrid whose programming has gone haywire. The Hood reveals that Zoda is his creation, a first attempt at creating a loyal hitman from scratch that went horribly awry. He needs the Captain to put it down, not because of the havoc its wreaking but the fact that the havoc might be traced back to him. Falcon is joined for a large part of this sector by Lady LeChique, with the two flirting nonstop from beginning to end.Eventually, after Falcon helps clean up the resort a little, LeChique challenges him to a race down the slopes.

    Things soon go south, however, as about halfway down the mountain a distant explosion can be heard, followed by an avalanche that separates the two and sends Captain Falcon down a dangerous alternate path, snowboarding down the mountain ahead of the tumbling snow in a moment similar to OTL's Sonic Adventure. Soon enough, the Captain catches a glimpse of Zoda, who is skiing down the mountain and had set off the avalanche behind them both. This is where the boss fight begins, and the player must ram Zoda into obstacles on the mountain as they sled down. After doing so five times, Falcon tackles Zoda out of the way of the avalanche and captures him. He lies to the Hood about "terminating" the creature, having instead set it free in the woods a few miles from civilization.

    Sector V: Big Blue
    The same situation of stage chronology applies here. Big Blue, while usually a tranquil paradise, is marked with horror as the bounty hunter Beastman attempts to track down and murder Bio Rex, Falcon's next target, in cold blood, his mind having finally snapped under pressure. Their battles have left the 1950s retro-future themed city in tatters, with tourists and locals alike scattered and terrified. The Captain helps out many of these people, bringing the tropical Caribbean feelings back to Big Blue slowly but surely. This section has the only underwater portions of the game, where Octoman lends you his submarine to take down Bio Rex--but only after defeating Beastman atop the tallest ship in the city. While Beastman is a traditional hand-to-hand fight, Bio Rex must be hit five times with Octomissles to knock him out and take him in, all while dodging wreckage of a sunken spaceship all around them.

    Chapter Five
    Charbroiled

    Sector VI: Firestorm
    Regardless of the order Red Canyon, White Slopes, and Big Blue are selected before this point, this is where all three of the branches link up. This is supposedly the final level, with the player facing down the toughest platforming and combat segments in the game. Depending on how many side quests have been completed, Falcon is either sent here to get the villainous Black Shadow simply as his next bounty, or as the head of the Shadow Million organization. There are no NPCs here, making the area feel hollow and abandoned and turning every encounter into a jumpscare for the player. The Firestorm Facility was a place scientists were studying the effects of prolonged heat and sun exposure, and as such the facility is in actuality a space station orbiting frighteningly close to a nearby star. The facility seems to be collapsing in on itself around Falcon as he goes. Eventually, Black Shadow is taken on, first in a traditional hand-to-hand battle and then in a footrace to the entrance after Shadow triggers the self-destruction of the station (similar to classic Metroid) and the pair must get out before they die. Falcon wins, however, and returns to Mute City with Black Shadow in chains. But then, Falcon's mysterious employer reveals himself upon their arrival: Deathborn. It turns out that Deathborn blackmailed Falcon to not only get him to do his dirty work, but to also get the celebrity racer out of his house so he could steal the F-Zero Champion's Belt (an optional side quest investigates this matter). He combines it with his own Underworld Champion's Belt to turn himself into a demigod. He then busts out all of Falcon's captured bounties from over the course of the game (he wanted them all in one spot, that's why he hired Falcon in the first place) and injects them with superpowers, setting them out to wreak havoc on Mute City. Falcon must take them all down in hand-to-hand combat, absorbing their powers after doing so to power up enough and have a fighting chance to beat Deathborn. When the final boss is gone from Mute City, Falcon "Super Saiyans" into Golden Falcon (his outfit looks similar to OTL's Smash Bros. golden alternate costume), and heads off to fight his final foe in the most dangerous track in all of F-Zero: Outer Space.

    Chapter Six
    Endgame

    Sector VII: Outer Space
    This section of the game has two parts: the ending, and the true ending. Over the course of the game, there are six suit upgrades for Falcon to collect. If the player hasn't found them all, they will fight Deathborn hand-to-hand, and while they are able to escape, Deathborn is as well, and Falcon's return to Mute City and Port Town in the final cutscene is a bit more unfulfilled. However, if the player has found all six suit upgrades, there is a transition after the first fight into a deathrace on the Outer Space track. Falcon defeats Deathborn and hurls him out into space, supposedly killing him for good this time. Either way the player goes about it, there are very few differences in the end cutscene, where Falcon monologues for a bit, gets a date with Lady LeChique and a good time with his friends, and then hops into the Blue Falcon and speeds off through Port Town. But if the player got the true ending, they're treated to another scene of Deathborn floating out in space, motionless and covered in frost. The camera pans in slowly on his face, and just before the camera cuts to black, his blood-red eye snaps open.

    ---

    As stated above, F-Zero: FIRESTORM receives a flurry of critical acclaim. The company's boldness to go in such a strange direction with a mid-level property after the last game was so highly praised for sticking to what the series knew best was impressive. It also created a whole new generation of F-Zero fans. Suddenly, Metroid's most serious competition in the science-fiction market under Nintendo's vast umbrella was not Squad Four or Star Fox, but an unlikely entry in an unlikely franchise that was almost dead in the water. F-Zero: FIRESTORM would go on to become the highest-selling Reality game of the year, and would remain in the top ten for many more to come. Nintendo's focus on the franchise became serious. There were many sequels in store, not just to the traditional racers but also the Big N's newest, hottest open world video game.

    "F-Zero: FIRESTORM was one of the biggest games of 2013 (considered to be one of the best years for gaming in history). It was the biggest game on the Reality until the release of Squad Four: Betrayal. And it was the first true step towards harnessing the power of VR any company took. Sure, the motion sickness was a problem, but if you look past all that, you can see for the first time a truly immersive, living, breathing world that you can loose yourself in for hours on end, playing poker in the Casino Royale or racing time-trial ghosts in virtual F-Zero tracks. Pretty impressive for a game that wasn't originally supposed to be on the Reality at all."
    -MatPat, in the 2019 YouTube video Game Theory: Game of the Year? More like Best Games of the DECADE!

    The best game I've played in a long time, it combines open world action with fast-paced racing and is probably the most content-rich game of all time. It gets a perfect 5/5 from me, and it's the early favorite for my personal Game of the Year. What more is there to say?"
    -Alex Stansfield, in the GamesOverMatter review of F-Zero: FIRESTORM

    GameRankings Score: 95.01%

    Pandora's Tower

    An action-RPG developed by Ganbarion, this game has many similarities to the title released IOTL, but features significantly better graphics and a more fleshed out tower, as well as a more detailed story (due to the developers having more time to work on the game). The basic plot and gameplay are similar to OTL's title, with a protagonist named Atheron (name changed from OTL's Aeron due to it being too similar to the name of Sega's heroine Aerio) who seeks to rescue his lover Elena from a curse. In order to do so, he must ascend a tower full of puzzles and monsters in order to gather flesh for Elena to eat to free her from the curse. He wields a chain weapon that has a wide variety of uses, and is somewhat inspired by the whip from the Lash Out series, so its mechanics are somewhat altered from IOTL and it can be used in more versatile ways, which enables the tower itself to be more complex and larger. Like IOTL's game, the player is able to develop Atheron's relationship with Elena, which alters the ending and also the strength of the services that Elena can perform for the player, which include upgrading weapons and finding treasure. Pandora's Tower also draws inspiration from OTL's The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, which was the major launch title for the Nintendo Connect. This means that every floor in the tower is in some way its own small dungeon, and players can even return to previous floors to gather treasure and open up new secrets. The game features multiple endings, which are affected both by the player's relationship with Elena and their performance in the tower's various trials and challenges, with seven total endings in all, ranging from a completely happy ending to a very tragic one, and everything in between TTL's Pandora's Tower is a much more fleshed-out and developed game than OTL's Wii title. Graphics, sound, gameplay, and storyline have all been improved across the board, with the developers encouraged to create a “Zelda-like experience” due to the fact that there's no Zelda title at launch for the Reality. The game even allows players to use the VR to search rooms and battle certain enemies. Overall, the game is considered one of the year's best action RPGs, and is another major star of the Reality launch. North American sales are merely decent, but the game is a major hit in Japan.

    GameRankings Score: 86.90%

    Wipeout Reality

    Psygnosis developed this latest Wipeout game as their first next-gen foray in the series, intended to be a sort of tech demo game for VR racing. It's not nearly as content rich as recent games in the series, with only 12 total tracks and less cars than normal, but it's visually stunning and moves incredibly fast, and is considered absolutely breathtaking in VR. The game itself is fairly basic, with the standard grand prix and time trial modes, along with a few battle modes and of course online gameplay. There's no adventure or storyline mode to be had, but there are some character bios for the racers. Overall, Wipeout Reality is considered a good racer, if a bit bare bones, and scratches the itch that many people have for a full-fledged racer on the Reality, since F-Zero: FIRESTORM only has small racing segments and isn't a full racing experience. Sales are surprisingly strong, making it the second fastest selling Wipeout title ever, and Psygnosis begins work on a proper next-gen title that will be multiplatform and will include many more racers and tracks.

    GameRankings Score: 81.21%

    Lucky Once

    A title by David Cage, about a man who is tasked with stopping a terrorist attack, and has a number of ways to go about doing so. It's more heavy on story than gameplay, as is typical for a David Cage game, but does have some action/shooting sequences at pivotal moments of the game, with the protagonist's storyline responses sometimes affecting their performance in the action sequences, and vice-versa. The protagonist is able to choose from a variety of violent/non-violent methods to stop the terrorist attack, but each has its own set of consequences, and there's no right way to go about it (but there are a few wrong ways). The game attempts to explore the idea of morality in the face of a horrible threat against human lives, and what it's worth to stop such violent acts, but the narrative is somewhat clunky, and even the voice acting, which is performed by a mix of minor celebrities and voiceover pros, gets some criticism. Graphically beautiful and highly ambitious, the game has serious flaws and was rushed to launch, and ultimately ends up being a major disappointment that's overshadowed by the other launch titles on the system. Its initial sales at launch are actually fairly good, but the game can't shake the poor reviews and bad word of mouth.

    GameRankings Score: 59.54%

    Locked And Loaded

    A somewhat simplistic third person shooter with an arcade-style feel that's somewhat light on story but features strong action gameplay (in sort of an inverse of Lucky Once). It's intended to be a sort of Duality-inspired game and while it doesn't quite reach those heights, it's a nice little showcase for the Reality's capabilities, with some of the best VR of any of the launch games. Sales are fairly low but the game would remain a popular budget title throughout its lifespan.

    GameRankings Score: 79.10%

    Cyberwar 4

    Cyberwar 4 comes to the Reality at launch (and would be released on Apple's Virtua console on the same day). It includes some of the game's single-player and multiplayer DLC, though the biggest upgrade would be the graphics. The game has smoother graphics than the Nexus and Virtua versions, though it's not a huge difference. Cyberwar 4 doesn't include any support for VR at launch, but would get support via a major update in 2014 (Psygnosis didn't want the game to have crappy, rushed VR). Overall, this is the second best selling title of the Reality launch in North America, and is the best reviewed version critically as well.

    GameRankings Score: 94.71%

    MLB 13

    The popular baseball franchise comes to the Reality, appearing as a launch title (IOTL, the franchise called MLB isn't a Sony franchise, but an Acclaim one, and is a multiplatform game). It's an improved and polished version of the one released for the last-gen consoles and Nexus earlier in the year, and though it's a bit late for baseball season, it achieves good reviews and sales. It's not Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame, but it's good enough for the Reality.

    GameRankings Score: 83.90%

    Assassin's Creed III

    The same game as the Nexus and Virtua versions, with slightly better graphics. Ubisoft cheaped out on DLC inclusion, not giving Reality owners any extra incentive to buy the game: this is the base title. That knocks the review score down a bit, though this is still the best version of the game.

    GameRankings Score: 87.71%

    Call Of Duty: Coalition

    This one does get a bit of included DLC, mostly bonuses for multiplayer. It's an average Call Of Duty game and looks great on the Reality, though, like other launch titles, it doesn't support VR at first.

    GameRankings Score: 84.22%

    Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends

    Developed by Activision, this game is the latest in the rebooted Prince Of Persia series that began back in the 2000s, and is the first developed with eighth-generation consoles in mind. It not only sees the return of the Prince, but also features his queen Shana as a co-equal playable character. The two not only explore their own separate dungeons, but also team up to explore certain dungeons together, each with their own set of unique abilities. While the game is positioned as another sort of “Zelda-like” game in the absence of a real Legend Of Zelda at launch for the Reality (while also releasing on the Nexus and Virtua), it's a bit of a failure for a number of reasons. Though the graphics are great, they're not revolutionary, and other Reality titles, including games like Pandora's Tower, actually exceed it in most aspects in this regard. The game also suffers from “Donkey Kong 64 syndrome”, in that players are forced to go back with Shana to collect things that the Prince already collected, creating a lot of repetitive segments. The plot is also somewhat basic, involving a generic threat to the kingdom in the form of yet another evil ancient king seeking revenge, and though Shana gets some decent character development, the plot's progression is slow and predictable. This game is another disappointment, and is seen as a step down for the series in general.

    GameRankings Score: 67.03%

    Duke Nukem In Vegas

    This game launches on the Nexus initially, and then the Reality at launch a few weeks later. It's an FPS featuring Duke Nukem stopping an invasion of pigs who have interrupted his Las Vegas vacation, and features the typical Duke Nukem gameplay: ultraviolent and sexy FPS with lots of one-liners from Duke. There's the ability to gamble and hook up with hookers throughout the game, as Duke lives it up in Sin City while blasting aliens into next week. The game spoofs all of the famous Las Vegas attractions, and Penn Jillette even took time out from his job as a senator to appear as a parody of himself in the game, which generates some controversy in the news considering the game's violent and sexual content and the reprehensible (but hilarious) actions of his character. This is a sophomoric, generic, and predictable FPS title, but that's just what Duke Nukem fans have come to expect, and the game manages to get decent reviews.

    GameRankings Score: 70.50%

    Remember Me

    Developed by the same team as OTL's cult classic, but published by Ubisoft instead of Capcom (which enables it to remain a multiplatform game ITTL), Remember Me is an adventure title about a protagonist named Nilin seeking to recover her lost memories while manipulating the memories of others. The combat and puzzle gameplay from OTL are largely intact in this game, along with the game's primary gimmick of stealing and replaying the memories of others to advance in the story and enhance Nilin's abilities. The game features more RPG elements and a more narrative-heavy story, and delves even deeper into the characters of Nilin and her mother Scylla to make the player empathize more with both of them. It also introduces a few new characters into the narrative, including a young hacker named Russ and an assassin named Asuka. The combat is also improved from OTL's title, giving the players more components to use with which to generate combo moves, and also improving enemy AI to force the player to vary up their attacks. This, along with the improved graphics from being an eighth-generation game instead of a seventh generation one, make Remember Me a better received game than IOTL, and it does quite well commercially, selling around half a million copies in its first week of release (with around 80,000 of those on the Reality, 150,000 on the Virtua, and 250,000 on the Nexus). It's also much better received critically than IOTL, assuring the continuation of the series.

    GameRankings Score: 82.11%

    Batman: Dark Legend

    Quite similar to the Virtua version of the game. It does include VR in certain segments, but not the entire game.

    GameRankings Score: 83.82%

    Shadowrun: Archaica

    The Reality version, with its greatly improved graphics, is considered the definitive console version of the game.

    GameRankings Score: 81.14%

    Grapple: Settle It In The Ring

    Not much to say about this port. The Reality version gets some extra DLC, which is nice.

    GameRankings Score: 80.50%

    Guacamelee!

    Nintendo actually pushes this one fairly heavily on the digital store, and it sells decently in the first week of release.

    GameRankings Score: 89.00%

    Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra

    Identical to the Virtua version, and not a big seller on the Reality, with no included VR to speak of.

    GameRankings Score: 77.54%

    Child Of Light

    Actually looks a bit better and smoother on the Reality, but other than that, nothing's changed here.

    GameRankings Score: 86.71%

    -

    June 10, 2013

    The Nintendo Reality is launched worldwide, at an MSRP of $399.99 for the base console and $499.99 for the VR package. It doesn't come with any pack-in games, though the VR package has a disc with a few VR demos to help players acclimate to the VR capabilities of the console. The VR package is also sold separately for $149.99 so that players can upgrade to VR if they wish. The release is preceded by a wide advertising campaign, but not one as ubiquitous as the Virtua's. Nintendo and Sony reason that Nintendo fans will know all about the Reality launch thanks to extensive coverage online, and that they'll let their friends and family who may not be aware of the launch know. The Reality receives very good reviews from the gaming media, who are impressed with both the quality of the launch titles (particularly F-Zero: FIRESTORM, Pandora's Tower, and Wipeout: Reality, along with the Cyberwar 4 port) and the system's technical might, both in and out of VR mode. The console's $100 lower price also serves as an attractive sales point for the console, with gamers who just want to play and aren't yet interested in taking the VR leap impressed with the quality of the games outside of the VR functionality. The VR itself receives mostly positive reviews, though it's a bit of a mixed bag from game to game. It does help to further hype and push the console amongst intrigued casual players, some of whom are convinced to buy the system.

    The Reality has an extremely successful launch in North America, pushing nearly two million consoles there in its first week of sales, along with around 500,000 in Japan and around 250,000 in Europe, for a total of 2.5 million units sold in its first week of worldwide release. About a third of those are the VR unit, while two-thirds of purchasers buy the cheaper base unit. While Nintendo is slightly dismayed that their first week of launch in Japan wasn't as successful as the Virtua's, the huge North American sales make up for it, and the Reality enjoys one of the best first weeks of sales for a game console of all time.

    Here are the launch week sales figures for the 18 launch titles, based on North American sales (on a total of 1,705,886 first week units sold in North America):

    F-Zero: FIRESTORM: 890,115
    Cyberwar 4: 481,970
    Call Of Duty: Coalition: 204,614
    Assassin's Creed III: 166,302
    Wipeout Reality: 145,412
    MLB 13: 117,734
    Lucky Once: 100,216
    Remember Me: 81,515
    Pandora's Tower: 68,816
    Batman: Dark Legend: 68,240
    Duke Nukem In Vegas: 50,216
    Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends: 39,547
    Locked And Loaded: 32,496
    Nightmare Of Ammut-Ra: 24,316
    Grapple: Settle It In The Ring: 22,861
    Shadowrun: Archaica: 20,885
    Child Of Light: 17,350
    Guacamelee!: 13,054

    -

    June 10, 2013

    Nintendo's top brass were gathered at E3, preparing to watch as the company's keynote speech was delivered. The mood was a jubilant one: the Reality had launched successfully around the world, and Nintendo's E3 keynote would not just be a series of upcoming game announcements, but a victory lap in which the Reality's success would be touted to a waiting crowd. This success, hoped Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, would be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the console that would lead to more hardware units pushed and more software sales.

    The Nintendo executives were joined by someone who was no longer officially with the company, but who had returned to help work on the VR technology at the heart of the Nintendo Reality, while also working on one final game that would provide the perfect showcase for the Reality's tech and would hopefully provide millions of players around the world with hours upon hours of entertainment. Gunpei Yokoi's new game wasn't quite ready to show at this year's E3 (he estimated it would probably be finished sometime in 2015), but he was there to spend time with his friends, particularly Iwata, and perhaps he could even be persuaded to make an appearance on stage.

    “Thank you again for coming, my friend,” said Iwata, bowing slightly to Yokoi.

    “Thank you for inviting me,” replied Yokoi, who bowed lower to Iwata, a show of respect for the man who had gone from being a hard working game designer to being the head of Nintendo, and a show of continued friendship for the man who allowed him to return to provide one final gift to the company and to the video gaming world. “I'm glad the launch of the Reality has been a successful one.”

    “It wouldn't have been, without your help,” said Iwata. Yokoi gracefully shook his head.

    “No, I contributed very slightly, the Reality is an amazing console. It has a bit more technology than I would have preferred it to have, but the games are still fun, so I suppose I can live with all of those expensive parts inside the machine.”

    Iwata laughed, remembering Yokoi's love of simplicity. He too was as surprised as anyone that Nintendo was still pushing cutting-edge graphical power in its games, but 25 years of working with Sony had changed Nintendo's philosophy somewhat. Nintendo still considered itself an innovator in fun, but working with Sony, and Ken Kutaragi in particular, had shown many at Nintendo that amazing fun could be paired with cutting-edge technology. While it made for more expensive hardware, it allowed Nintendo to provide as much fun as possible with absolutely no compromises, and even Iwata had trouble imagining a world in which Nintendo and Sony weren't partners in the industry.

    And just as Iwata's mind dwelled on Ken Kutaragi, the man himself walked up to the two Nintendo legends, bowing and shaking both of their hands with an exuberant look on his face.

    “This is just incredible, isn't it? E3 once again! I can't wait to show off some of these games, I think they're going to really impress everyone, right?”

    “You're not the one making the games,” said Yokoi, with a more subdued expression.

    “Ah, but he did make many of them possible,” said Iwata. “Remember, he is the one who came up with the SNES sound chip. He's the one who made it possible for us to partner with Sony.”

    “I suppose so,” Yokoi replied. “So, Kutaragi-san, do you have any suggestions for the virtual reality goggles?”

    “I'd like people to be able to watch movies on them,” said Kutaragi. “There are devices that can do that already, but it'd be a nice feature for our goggles to have.”

    “Kutaragi-san imagines one day that people will be able to look around a movie like they're really there, but they would have to shoot movies differently to make that possible,” said Iwata.

    “It would be very expensive to add that capability to the goggles,” said Yokoi. “It would have made the console cost hundreds of dollars more.”

    “They can do it cheaply on a phone,” said Kutaragi, “though I guess that's not quite the same.”

    As the three men continued to discuss the Reality and Nintendo's future, they were approached by Nintendo of America's president Shawn Layden, who was getting ready to present the company's keynote speech. Iwata, Yokoi, and Kutaragi all greeted him and wished him well, and he took some time to go over one last time with Iwata some of the points of his address.

    “I'm planning just to give a really excited speech, thanking those in attendance who have already bought the Reality,” said Layden.

    “Be sure to thank everyone, even if they haven't played a Nintendo game since the Famicom,” Iwata reminded him. “We're trying to sell the Reality to everyone, not people who've already bought it.”

    “Of course, of course. I'll start by talking about the launch games, invite you on stage, you'll talk for a bit, then after a few minutes of launch hype, we go right into the new Star Fox.”

    “It's going to be fun out there,” said Iwata, smiling. “It always is.”

    “I'm jealous!” said Kutaragi with a laugh.

    As Layden headed toward the stage to deliver Nintendo's keynote, Iwata thanked Yokoi one more time.

    “Are you sure you don't want to join me on the stage?” asked Iwata. Yokoi humbly shook his head.

    “I'm fine with being the man behind the curtain,” said Yokoi. “Besides, most of the people out there don't even know who I am.”

    “Those who do really appreciate your work,” said Iwata. “As do I.”

    “Thank you, my old friend.”

    The two men exchanged one more handshake, then parted, as Iwata made his way to the backstage area to listen to the start of Layden's speech and prepare for his entrance.

    “Good morning,” began Layden, as the crowd cheered wildly. “Welcome to Nintendo at E3 2013, and welcome to the beginning of the Reality era!”

    The crowd cheered again as a brief hype video for the Reality launch played on the screen. When it concluded, Layden continued.

    “Just a few hours ago, the Nintendo Reality launched worldwide, and reports indicate that it was one of the most successful game console launches of all time. And that's all thanks to you, the Nintendo fans, who have made this amazing success possible over the last 30 years. Even if you haven't bought the Reality yet, and hopefully by the end of this presentation we'll convince you that you should, those of you who have supported us from the original NES all the way to the Nintendo Sapphire, thank you from the bottom of all our hearts.”

    Iwata listened and nodded in approval. It was another successful console launch for Nintendo. He didn't know it yet, but it would be the last one he'd get to enjoy.
     
    E3 2013 (Part 1)
  • Nintendo Keynote – E3 2013

    Nintendo's 2013 E3 keynote address began with Nintendo of America president Shawn Layden taking the stage. He immediately began hyping up the Reality, which had launched earlier that day, and after a 60 second sizzle reel showing off the launch titles and some of the upcoming games, he thanked Nintendo fans, not only the ones who had purchased the console that day, but all Nintendo fans from the very beginning, and promised that after today's presentation, everyone who hadn't bought the Reality yet would want one. He then introduced Satoru Iwata, who took the stage and thanked fans again, talking about the Reality some more and promising that the VR would continue to evolve throughout the Reality's time on the market. He then thanked Gunpei Yokoi, and reminded attendees that Yokoi was hard at work on one final game that would serve as a thank you to everyone who has played Nintendo games over the years. He then asked those in attendance to watch the first video presentation, about an upcoming Reality game. The screen then showed a brief trailer of a brand new Star Fox game, which began in space and then showed Arwings flying to an ice-covered planet, Fichina (which had appeared as Fortuna in previous games). The Arwings deploy fire weapons to battle the massive ice monsters that have taken over Fichina, including enormous ice-breathing dragons. Then, the Arwings are shown on a fiery volcano world, freezing everything in sight. Fox and his wingmen are even shown on a new planet, deploying flamethrowers as they run on foot in a fully 3-D environment. Two new playable characters are introduced, an ice-wielding gorilla man and a flame-wielding salamander girl, and then we finally get the game's full title: Star Fox: Fire And Ice. The game's launch window date was then given: 2014. The game looks extremely beautiful and visually impressive, while the gameplay seems to bring back the classic Star Fox feel, with a bit of Squad Four-style exploration mixed in (of course, Argonaut isn't working on this game, but there's some inspiration still there). Iwata then talked about Star Fox: Fire And Ice, saying that it will bring back classic Star Fox gameplay with plenty of high-flying shooting action, and also announces that the game will include a full VR mode with first person gameplay. Iwata then left the stage, and Shawn Layden introduced the next game, set to be released on the Reality later this year: Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince. We've already seen a bit of this one in Nintendo Directs and in the pages of Nintendo Power, but now we're getting our biggest look yet at the game. The game is a traditional, turn-based RPG, much like the classic Super Mario RPG games, with a unique artstyle that combines high-definition 3-D graphics with storybook-like images to create a truly whimsical world. It features timed hits and combo attacks, allowing skillful players to amp up their damage in battle, and also a wide variety of unique enemies, both original enemies and from the classic Mario games. This game features Bowser as what appears to be the game's primary villain, a departure from many of the Mario RPG games which cast him as a playable character. It sees Mario teaming up with Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and surprisingly, Wario, as well as the return of Geno and two more brand new characters: the royal retainer/bodyguard Talana (a sort of anthropomorphic frog who resembles Valentina from the original Mario RPG) and Wuggles, a friendly talking Wiggler. Of course, there's also Prince Cream, a brand new NPC whose special psychic powers drive the game's plot. A cute, playful young man whose design somewhat resembles a young Link with strawberry blonde hair, he's able to predict the future, and Bowser wants to use his powers to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, sending his troops to kidnap the boy. Meanwhile, the forces of good want to utilize his powers as well, and Mario and his allies will be able to use Cream both in battle and outside of it to aid in their fight. Cream's psychic visions lead Mario and friends from place to place, but also draw them into battles with a mysterious alien force known as the Starchasers, who Geno seems to remember but has forgotten. The Starchasers see Cream and his powers as an abomination, but their goals aren't entirely benevolent, and they play both sides during this massive adventure. Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince is huge in scope, featuring a mix of platforming and RPG action, along with full voice acting for every character except Mario, Luigi, and Bowser. We got to see a cutscene of Peach and Cream talking to one another, and another cutscene of Kamek (who is fully voiced) leading Bowser's troops into battle. This is the first traditional RPG on the Reality, and it looks like a really good one. It's launching in September. After the Super Mario RPG presentation, which took about eight minutes and showed off lots of gameplay, we then got to see a shorter but no less intriguing preview of Joanna Dark, the latest game in the Velvet Dark saga. After the events of Dark Humanity, Joanna is back working for the government, and is tasked with tracking down a dangerous sociopath who's been murdering both special agents and high-ranking government officials around the world, seemingly with no pattern. While the game cuts heavily back on the computer hacking, it's still a sci-fi FPS at heart, with plenty of futuristic weapons and sci-fi motifs. The game's style is reminiscent of a more straight-forward Cyberwar 4. Rare's graphical skill really shows with this game, it's easily one of the best looking Reality titles Nintendo previewed today. Joanna's sister Velvet was conspicuously absent from the preview (she's no longer in Joanna's head), save for a single voiced line at the very end of a cutscene to close out the segment, coming from the speaker in Joanna's room. Joanna Dark surely has some tricks up its sleeve, but even if it's just a typical sci-fi FPS, it looks slick and fun enough to be one of the year's biggest hits. We then got a preview for Pilotwings: Freeflight, and it looks absolutely amazing. It features the typical Pilotwings stunts, but now allows the player to venture forth into the world on parachutes and hang-gliders, performing rescues and finding treasure. It's a Pilotwings game with a full-fledged adventure mode, complete with cutscenes and voice acting, and with its VR functionality, takes full advantage of the Reality's capabilities. This game really impressed, more than almost any other Reality game we saw, and it's amazing to see that Nintendo's doing something new with the Pilotwings franchise. This game is going to compete with titles like Thrillseekers: Thin Air, but this one looks more polished and dare I say more fun, and could end up being the big holiday title for the Reality when it launches in November.

    Layden then introduced another game, being very cryptic about what it was before showing the trailer...

    -
    (Authors' Note: The following trailer was given to us by the reader jolou!)

    *“The Golden Age” by Woodkid plays in the background as the trailer begins.

    It’s been five years since the dramatic events at Atlia 7 on other side of Wormhole Alpha. The first battle of the war for the Neutral Zone had been bloody but the Selene and it’s coalition fleet has prevailed. And yet, the war was far from over. Hera Turianid had proven to be a master of war. Recently, the Taygetan forces has gone to the defensive giving hope to those still fighting to free the former Neutral Zone that one day they may win… The image goes from black to a grey moon taking much of the screen. We can hear only some noise that became slowly stronger until a spaceship appears. It is an upgraded NAUTILUS. It is quickly followed by several fighters and the camera follows them. As the Moon disappears, it is clear it has hidden a space battle that has a beautiful (and immense) gas planet as background.*

    NAUTILUS :
    To all SAF Follow my lead !

    *We can see inside the cockpit with Joe piloting.*

    FIGHTER #1 :
    Roger Nautilus

    *The Selene fighters regroup around the Nautilus as they go straight inside the fight. A group of Taygetan fighters are dispatched to fight them but the Nautilus launch a volley of missiles that destroy them. The small group goes without stopping to a Taygetan destroyer and manages to destroy several of the ship weapons.*

    NAUTILUS :
    Great to see you didn’t lost your skill Cass

    *Cass can be seen inside a fighter*

    CASS :
    Better look straight instead of joking Nautilus. They have dispatched their new T-B6

    *New Taygetan fighters arrive on the battleground and they manage to destroy several of Selene fighters and even a Selene’s Allied ship. The Nautilus barely escapes one of the missiles and fights back, destroying one of Taygetan’s fighters. We are inside the Nautilus cockpit (we can see the battle in the background). Joe answers to a mysterious source.*

    MYSTERIOUS SOURCE:
    ETA 3 Minutes

    JOE CLINTON :
    Acknowledged!

    *The Nautilus escapes two Taygetan Fighters by passing below a Taygetan ship and then doing a radical 90° upside which end with it destroying the two Taygetan fighters which were coming from above and didn’t expected such a maneuver. We are on the bridge of a Kepallian Ship, there is agitation everywhere and the captain sounds worried.*

    Kepallian Captain:
    Commander Clinton, we need you on the left flank now !

    *The Nautilus escapes several missiles, one of Selene Fighter having lost control and pass through a destroyed Ship still in flames.*

    Nautilus :
    To all Fighter still there, go to left flank of the Prince Anro !

    *As it arrives in position, only Cass' fighter is there. And a lot of Taygetan fighters and bombers are coming. As the duo of Selene Force still kicking, they stand side by side preparing for a fight they maybe don’t have the strength to win. Until two massive volley of missiles come from above, destroying them all. The Selene has arrived. We can see Mathew on Selene’s bridge giving order.

    Mathew Fullington :
    Saving your ass is becoming a worrying habit, Joe.

    *We can see all Taygetan Forces fleeing the battlefield, leaving behind them many freedom fighters dead in space, destroyed ships. Mathew is seen lowering over a map of the Neutral Zone with one planet being emphasized, Earth.*

    Mathew Fullington :
    We’re coming.

    *The trailer ends with a view of the entire battlefield with the gas Planet near it. A bunch of Selene Fighters goes straight inside the camera and the image fades to the title.*

    SELENE 3

    Coming to the Nintendo Reality.

    -

    As the crowd applauded the trailer, Layden announced that Arkane is hard at work on the last title of the Selene trilogy, exclusively for the Nintendo Reality. He then segued from the Reality segments to discussion of some games for the upcoming Nintendo Connect, and introduced several people from Game Freak and Naughty Dog to the stage to discuss the latest Pokemon game, Pokemon Order And Chaos. The game looks gorgeous on the Connect, a fully 3-D world with graphics somewhat better than those of the Gen 5 games, looking almost as good as a Sapphire game with more stylized graphics. The Ardon region features both bayside towns and a massive forest, and has a sort of “maritime” motif with a bit of Stephen King-style folksy horror mixed in. In fact, the professor, Professor Cedar, actually somewhat resembles the famous author, and he enjoys scaring his pupils (all in good fun, of course!) We also got some new Pokemon reveals, including the final stage evolutions for the starters. Burngle, the fire starter, will become Direflame, a wolf-like fire beast. Turnkey, the grass starter, will become Gallidor, a massive overgrown tree bird, and Dripin, the water starter, will become Ironclast, a massive metallic lobster with huge claws. We also got a closer look at the two evil teams players will have to contend with, Team Harmony and Team Dischord, who seek to sow authoritarianism and anarchy in the Ardon region respectively. Team Harmony utilizes powerful Steel types to enforce their will, while Team Dischord mixes it up with Dark types. We also got our introduction to the Light type, a brand new type of Pokemon that will be introduced in the game, and several classic Pokemon including Clefairy will have their type retroactively changed to it. We've already seen the version legendaries, the Light/Steel type Garandel (who has somewhat of a resemblance to the classic cartoon robot the Iron Giant) for Order and the eldritch Dark/Psychic type Ctharsis (who of course is basically the Pokemon version of Cthulhu) for Chaos, but we got to see even more footage of them in the presentation, as Team Harmony will be seeking to use Garandel to impose its will, while Team Dischord attempts to unleash Ctharsis to unleash chaos. There are lots of new mechanics in the game, including a vastly expanded and improved fishing mechanic, a Mystery Hunt feature in which players can look for random Pokemon deep in the forest, and an increased variety in the new moves and stats that a given Pokemon can have. We also got to see more segments of the game's story, with the protagonist and her friend/rival conversing with one another in a quiet spot in the forest. The bond between the game's protagonist and rival, both of whom will be girls in a series first, seems to lie at the very core of the game (they're clearly “just friends”, but we have no doubt the shippers will be in full force), and as the two of them work their way through the region and do battle with Team Harmony and/or Team Dischord, their bond will become closer than ever, despite their status as rivals. Pokemon Order and Chaos looks to take the series in an impressive new direction, and this might just be our most anticipated Pokemon game ever. After the long Pokemon presentation, we sort of got an abbreviated look at the other games coming to the Connect. These include Metroid Raid, coming later this year, which sees Samus taking the fight directly to an incoming Space Pirate army, invading their ships and causing destruction. This game is less heavy on exploration and more heavy on action and combat, and features customizable loadouts in which the player can choose what weapons and gear they want Samus to take into battle. It's definitely different from previous Metroid games, but it's not lacking for atmospheric sci-fi horror, as we saw a scene of Samus invading a ship only to come face to face with the latest Space Pirate abomination. Metroid Raid is coming in October. Then we got to see more footage of Donkey Kong Country: K. Rool Returns, a classic-style Donkey Kong Country title for the Nintendo Connect. It's a 3-D sidescroller with gorgeous graphics and plenty of levels, and gives the player the choice to play as Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, or Kiddy Kong as they explore a wide variety of lands in search of King K. Rool, whose Kremlings seek revenge against the Kongs. Next, we saw more footage of Kingdom Hearts: Fallen Monarch, coming to the Connect and Gemini in November. The game sees Sora's return to battle Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and a host of other dark and gloomy Disney villains, and goes full action-RPG for the first time in the series, rather than the turn based/action hybrid combat of the console games. We can't believe a new Kingdom Hearts is just a few months away, and this game looks every bit as impressive as the Sapphire's Kingdom Hearts III, even on the less powerful Connect.

    Following the Connect presentation, which was fairly light on games but all of which looked quite impressive, we got a bit of a “sizzle reel” segment of third party games coming to the Reality and Connect (and even a few Sapphire games). We saw the usual suspects, so to speak: Call Of Duty: Nightfall II, Thrillseekers: Thin Air, Assassin's Creed IV, and Amok 3 (along with an announcement that the Amok Double Collection) would be available for download on the Reality later today), but were also pleased to see the reveal of the Kingdom Quest HD Collection, with all three Kingdom Quest titles and their DLC available in a budget-priced package for the Reality, coming in November. We were also quite impressed with EA's Titanfall, which was announced at PAX West all the way back in 2011, but has been getting lots more polish and footage since then, and is almost ready for release on the Reality and Virtua. It's a first-person shooter with players decked out in full battle mechs, somewhat like Aquila or Techno Angel, combining the high flying gameplay of the former with the data-heavy interface of the latter, but also has an emphasis on multiplayer, both competitive and cooperative. It looks spectacular on the Reality, and while it PROBABLY won't be out this year (our money is on early 2014), it was one of the best looking games of the reel and stood out heavily from everything else. THEN we got a look at Grand Theft Auto III, which is also looking like it's finally going to be released sometime early next year. This game got its own presentation separate from the sizzle reel, and while Rockstar is saving their juiciest footage and info for their own presentation later in the week, we got to see the game's setting: a midwestern metropolis called Chattaqua, heavily based on Chicago and its surrounding environs. The protagonist (single, as it turns out, after some rumors that the game might have two or three) is a 30-something woman (a series first) named Lalaine Rodriguez, a career criminal who just got out after a five-year stint in state prison for an armed robbery spree. Seeking opportunity in a new city (while violating her parole), Lalaine ends up on the wrong side of a gang dispute while also running afoul of the police, and must start a criminal empire for survival and respect. Grand Theft Auto III has the same basic gameplay as its predecessor, but has received a total graphical overhaul, and the city is truly massive, making Chattaqua much larger than Harbor City, with lots more things to do. In addition to the typical third person mode, there's a brand new first person mode, and yes, Reality players will be able to explore the city in full VR. Grand Theft Auto III is expected to hit next generation consoles early next year. Next up, after a brief introduction from Layden, was the reveal of the return of Rare's Dreamers series, featuring a brand new protagonist and a brand new world, a world in which the sun is black and its light scours the landscape, and the protagonists must use the power of the moon to light the world and save their people. The trailer showed that this might be the darkest Dreamers game yet, but the gameplay looks like familiar action-adventure fare, with a highly drama-driven storyline and a pair of brother/sister protagonists, each with their own unique set of powers. The Dreamers: Dark Sunrise is set to be released in 2014, exclusively for the Nintendo Reality. The next trailer was the reveal of a game that seemed like a typical carnival minigame compilation, but then things take a dark turn after the sun goes down, and the protagonists (a group of teens hanging out at the carnival together) are forced to flee for their lives and band together to battle supernatural creatures, utilizing the same skills they learned in the carnival games. The horror/minigame hybrid title, called Fun Fair, was certainly one of the more unique looking games featured at E3, and it too is coming to the Reality in 2014, with a full slate of immersive VR features.

    After the Fun Fair reveal, Layden thanked the attendees for coming to Nintendo's E3, then lampshaded the fact that while Fun Fair will be an exciting game, he couldn't end Nintendo's first E3 presentation of the Reality era on that. Instead, he has more information about the upcoming Squad Four game, headed to the Reality next year. A trailer then starts, showing off the new presentation for the game, showcasing some truly incredible animation and beautiful HD graphics, along with what looks like a revamped new combat system. However, the trailer then segues into a plot reveal, beginning by showing how close the four teammates had become, but then revealing through ominous on-screen words that one member of the team would commit the ultimate act of treason, interspersed with voice clips of the team members expressing horror and disbelief. On that dark note, we got the title reveal for the new game: Squad Four: Betrayal, along with a “2014” release window. Layden announced that there was a demo of Squad Four: Betrayal playable on the show floor, and encouraged everyone in attendance to try the new game out for themselves. He thanked the attendees and viewers one more time, and then the presentation ended. We now have a roadmap for the first two years following the Reality's launch, and amidst all the new console hype are some truly incredible looking games, with Squad Four: Betrayal first among them. Still nothing about the new Mario or Zelda titles, but there's definitely plenty to look forward to from some of Nintendo's biggest franchises.

    -

    2013 might just be the biggest year for PC games ever, with E3 reveals and presentations for dozens of major games coming exclusively to PC over the next 24 months. First and foremost among them was of course Half-Life 3, which we have an actual, definitive release date for: November 5, 2013. That's less than five months away! And yes, Half-Life 3 picks up right where Half-Life 2: Episode Two left off, with Gordon Freeman in captivity and Alyx Vance leading a human resistance against the Combine, with a slew of new weapons at her disposal. While players will be starting the game as Alyx, they'll be spending plenty of time with Gordon Freeman as well, as he seeks to sabotage the Combine from within while Alyx battles from a ravaged Earth. The game's graphics will definitely push even higher-end rigs to their limits on max settings, setting new standards for realism and detail, while the gameplay, featuring a mix of first-person action and mindbending puzzles, will test players' skills, strength, and smarts. We played the hell out of Half-Life 3 on the show floor, and we went from leading a group of resistance fighters into battle with an enormous biomechanical hybrid to blasting back and forth with Gordon inside an enormous Combine ship, using something called a “portal gun” to shoot ourselves out of some truly sticky situations. Gabe Newell promises that Half-Life 3 will be a massive game that will include a variety of new gameplay experiences, making the Half-Life formula fresh and new while also hearkening back to the original games. He also says that while he has no plans to bring Half-Life 3 to consoles, a console port is not completely out of the question and that he was “surprised and impressed” by all three of the eighth generation consoles. Half-Life 3 will be released on, I can't believe I'm typing this, November 5, 2013. Of course, it'll soon face stiff competition from another long awaited FPS: the return of Wolfenstein in the form of Wolfenstein: The New Order. A more traditional FPS than Half-Life 3, the game sees B.J. Blazkowicz return to battle Nazis in an alternate 1960s in which Germany won the second World War. The game features some gorgeous graphics and has a heavy emphasis on storyline, and we can't help but think that this one might provide an alternative to players who don't like all the puzzles and exploration of Half-Life 3. Wolfenstein: The New Order is scheduled for February of next year. We'll also see a remake/reboot of the classic Commodore 64 life-simulation game Alter Ego. An obscure but highly critically acclaimed title, the original was a text-based game, but this new Alter Ego will have a fully 3-D graphical interface and allow players to create a new person and simulate their life from birth to death, with thousands of possible scenarios. With the original game's creator, Dr. Peter J. Favaro, helping to write many of the new game's scenarios, this could be one of the most interesting simulation titles since SimSociety, and will be released later this year. This year was also a good one for RPGs, with three in particular standing out. Dawn Comes To Venville, the sequel to 2009's mystery/RPG thriller Night Comes To Venville, was probably the most hyped of the three of them, but Corona del Sol, a game about magic and adventure set in a land based off of 1400s Central America, might have stolen the show. Featuring an incredibly rich character building system, allowing the player to level up dozens of separate attributes, this title from Obsidian features a mix of high fantasy and real-world grittiness, and one of the most expansive worlds ever featured in an RPG. We couldn't stop playing the demo, and it could challenge Half-Life 3 for the title of PC Game of the Year. The other great RPG we played, Pharaoh, won't be coming until next year (and we might even have to wait until 2015), but it's no less intriguing, casting the player in the role of an Egyptian pharaoh who must save his realm after learning of an extraterrestrial threat. It almost plays out like Rise A Knight in Ancient Egypt, and the game will combine palace intrigue with sci-fi adventure, creating a unique mix of gameplay styles that should make it one of the most original PC RPGs in recent memory.

    PC games are still growing strong, and even if you're not looking forward to Half-Life 3 (and while you should be, we understand if you aren't), there's still plenty on the horizon for all kinds of tastes, making 2013 perhaps the best time ever to be a PC gamer.

    -from an article on PCGamer.com, posted on June 13, 2013
     
    Thomas The Tank Engine, Season 4 Part 1
  • TTTE 2010's Season 4

    Enterprising Engines/Oliver the Western Engine
    This pair of books, considered by many some of the Reverend Awdry's best, were naturally very exciting when confirmed for 2010's fourth season.

    The first episode of the season, Tenders for Henry, details Gordon's grief as he learns all of his Doncaster brothers and many of his Doncaster cousins (the LNER designs by Nigel Gresley) are scrapped. The Fat Controller feels sorry for Gordon, and confides this in Edward, who then suggests they bring in the only other survivor. That survivor being his brother Flying Scotsman (Hugh Laurie), who visits him for a special event the day. Despite Duck and Donald explaining that the removal of steam facilities on the Other Railway necessitates it, Henry becomes jealous of "Scottie" because of the fact he has two tenders. Eventually, Duck and Donald decide to hush him up by tricking him into getting some dirty, sludge-filled tenders from Duck. Overall, it is a straightforward adaptation, but includes a scene where Duck explains to Donald that he collected unused tenders as a hobby back on the Great Western, and that his old controller let him keep a few of them as souvenirs when he left for Sodor.

    The following episode, Super Rescue, picks up a few days later, as The Fat Controller openly criticizes the Other Railway's management for their reckless disposal of steam engines. Despite aknowledging that steam doesn't have enough advantages over diesels in the long run, he is still enraged by how their wasteful policies have led to relatively new engines being scrapped. This in turn leads to an explanation via flashback of the main story's events, when D199 (Bob Golding), and D7101 (Keith Wickham) were leased to the NWR. The story is a fairly straightforward one, but it does include Scottie, Gordon, and Donald all mocking D199 as he waits for the Fat Controller's wrath, as well as D7101 earning his nickname "Bear" when Henry compares his engine to a bear's growl.

    Escape takes place after Donald returns home from taking D199 away. He speaks to Douglas about what he saw with most steam engines having already cut up. As well as mentioning his desire to try and save one more steamer before all are gone. That night, Douglas remembers what Donald said as he takes a goods train to the other railway. While he is preparing to return, he hears a pained "weesh", and discovers Oliver (Joe Mills), a GWR Auto-tank with his coach Isabel (Emma Tate) and brakevan Toad (Terry Jones). The rest of the story is a fusion of this one and Little Western. Albeit with the addition of Gordon and Scottie meeting Oliver together for the first time. As well Percy asking the Fat Controller about finding and engine named Molly...

    After that, Bear's Bargain acts as sort of a tweaked version of the 1984 series' episode Rusty to the Rescue. James and Mary complain about being overworked due to being assigned to suburban and slow passenger services in addition to his usual mixed-traffic work. Rita tries to soothe them but fails, and agrees with Bear that they should find another engine. That night, Bear takes a goods train including scrap metal to the mainland. There, he learns of an engine there, and agrees to trade his load of scrap in exchange for the engine. The engine turns out to be Molly, a blast from Percy's past.

    Returning to Great Western affairs, Duck is enjoying his new life on the Little Western in Donald's Duck. One night however, Donald compares his motor mouth to a duck laying an egg. As revenge, Duck has a duckling placed in Donald's tender. However, the duckling eventually takes a liking to Donald, and the Scottish Twin even gets his driver's help to have a song written about it (Donald's Duck). Aside from the music video for that song, it's straightforward retelling of the story. Aside of course from teasing Oliver's eventually arrival to the branchline.

    Before that arc however, we are treated to Oliver's new life in the story Toad Stands By. Where Oliver sharing his story has earned him much praise. However, this gets to his smokebox until some ballast trucks lose patience with him and push him into a turntable well. After constant derision, Oliver eventually retaliates by trying to pull a train of all the worst trucks including the leader Scruffey. However, Oliver only tears the rude truck apart by accident.

    Last but not least is a straight-forward adaptation of Bulgy. Thought it does stand-out by virtue of expanded dialogue, including a line where Oliver refers to Bulgy as a "Nazi Commie", which only makes Rex, Mike, and Bert the Small Engines cringe in embarrassment for Oliver. As well as the return of Danny DeVito as George when he yells at the titular bus (Roger L. Jackson) for being "an insult to the road revolution". Lastly there's the extended dialogue for the auto-coaches Alice and Mirabel (Duck's coaches), and Isabel and Dulcie (Oliver's coaches).
     
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    E3 2013 (Part 2)
  • Google's Nexus presentation for E3 2013 began with Google VP of interactive entertainment Eric Bright taking the stage and thanking the crowd for attending. He discussed the Nexus' success over the past eight months since its launch, and promised that the Nexus is just getting started, with many, many more amazing games on the way. He then discussed how Android integration with the Nexus has helped to push the console to more homes than ever would have been possible otherwise, and that as the Android OS evolves and changes, so too will the Nexus OS. He announced a major Nexus OS and Android update scheduled for today that would enable more gaming features, both for Android games and for the Google Nexus, including the ability to help friends play their games with Nexus FriendLink, which would enable friends to temporarily control another person's character to help them through a tough spot. After discussing the new Android features, Bright then announced that the Google Nexus would finally be releasing its long anticipated “BYOD” version (Bring Your Own Device), which would come packaged with the Nexus console and Nexus Grip, but not the Nexus Companion, allowing players to save money by using the Android devices they already own. It was already possible to use any compatible Android device as the Nexus Companion, but until now, all Nexus consoles came packaged with their own, at an MSRP of $299.99. The new BYOD model of the Nexus will retail for $199.99, and is scheduled for release in stores next week, starting June 17th. The original Nexus which includes the Companion will also be sold in stores at $299.99. Bright announced that via a partnership with several phone companies, the Nexus BYOD version would become the first home gaming console ever to be sold in Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint stores, and will also continue to be available wherever game consoles are sold. After these announcements concerning the Nexus console and the Android, Bright launched into a segue about the next wave of Nexus games, and began introducing them. The first game to be introduced was Deep Black, a sort of reboot/return of the popular Xbox-exclusive FPS series. This game takes players out of the jungle and into a government agency which directs assassinations and rescues, and casts the player as a new protagonist, special agent Nathan Keyes. The Deep Black presentation was fairly short, taking the form of a combination storyline/gameplay trailer in which the protagonist and the game's basic plot were revealed, and showing off the impressive new graphics and gameplay. Players will be able to use the Nexus' second screen to radio companions and call in help during battle, and the game's deliberative style of play has given way to something a bit more faster. Deep Black is scheduled to be released in November, and seems like a nice return to form for a fairly successful FPS series. We then got a more fleshed out trailer for the next game, Rogue's Story V, the fifth game in the popular series of adventurous role playing titles. In this game, you can once again choose your protagonist, and the game seems to center around a series of thefts of various ancient artifacts and treasures, set in the backdrop of a world caught between traditional society and an industrial revolution. Like its predecessors, the game seems much more light-hearted than a lot of other WRPGs, with the trailer emphasizing humor and adventure. The protagonist will be fully voiced whether the player chooses to play as a man or a woman, and it looks like there'll be plenty of human companions to choose from and a wide variety of quests and things to do. Rogue's Story V comes exclusively to the Google Nexus this December.

    Bright then introduced several Ubisoft developers to the stage for a complete presentation of the upcoming Nexus game Miraculous Ladybug, due to be released in October. We've been getting lots of information about this game over the past year, and the E3 presentation showed off even more gameplay while also giving us more details about the game's plot. This gameplay presentation was all about exploration and character development, with protagonist Marinette tasked with going all around Paris to help people and stop bad guys. The game's map showed off lots of icons and tasks, but unlike some games where many of those icons lead to pointless busywork, the developers showed how every single task plays an important role in the story, with each completed quest filling out some story information for a character. A quest that might be completely unrelated to a character at first will drop some information or teaser for another quest or some information that will help Marinette get to know another character better. We even got to see more of the game's combat system, in which most “enemies” don't have health bars, but something called darkness, and by fighting that character or talking to them, that darkness can be dispelled and the enemy can be cured of their evil afflictions. Ladybug tries to help pretty much everyone she meets, even her enemies, and even though she doesn't specifically “harm” her foes, the combat system had some extreme variation of tasks, making it one of the more fun and unique we've seen in some time, with literally hundreds of tricks for Marinette to perform. Many of these are context sensitive, meaning Marinette will rarely have the same battle twice. We got some plot reveals as well, with Hawkmoth, the game's villain, manipulating many of Marinette's friends, and the introduction of a new girl named Lila who despises both Marinette and Ladybug, not knowing they're one and the same. We also got to see some Cat Noir gameplay (yes, you'll play as him too), with his gameplay being based more on traditional beat-'em-up mechanics, but even he aims to help people more than hurt them, and he gets some incredible combos with Marinette. The presentation ended with a trailer that revealed the game's official theme song, a somewhat “poppy” number with a catchy chorus in which Marinette and Adrien each got a verse to sing about themselves and their secret identities. Miraculous Ladybug looks a lot like a game meant for kids, but it has some of the most unique gameplay we've ever seen in an open world title, and it could well be the Nexus' biggest exclusive of the year. Bright then returned to the stage to discuss more about the Nexus OS and some of the unique Nexus Companion-only titles that will be coming soon, including a fast-paced puzzler called Jorus and a Pokemon-esque monster catching title called Calamity Critters. None of these games seemed quite as intriguing as the best the Connect and Gemini have to offer, but they are exciting touch-screen games merging the best of mobile gaming with the best of handheld console gaming, and could be a unique selling point for the Nexus in the coming months.

    The next segment was a presentation for The Witcher: Shrouded Silence, which was first shown off at last year's Google keynote. We've seen a lot more of the game since then, and this was a fairly short presentation in which we saw more stealth gameplay, more complex sign magic from Geralt, and another quick character tease involving Yennefer, which shows her playing somewhat of an antagonistic role. This game combines open world gameplay and stealth in a manner that definitely calls the Assassin's Creed games to mind, but has more of a traditionalist feel compared to the Assassin's Creed games' more fast-paced approach. This game is coming out in November. Next, Bright revealed a brand new game, a game in which players can adopt their own pet and then transfer it to the second screen and raise it on the go. The game features dogs, cats, hamsters, and rabbits, and even exotic pets like snakes and tarantulas. There are specific things you can do on the big screen, but then an entire virtual pet mini-game for the small screen which affects gameplay on the larger console. The game, called Nexus Pets, will be out early next year, and though it doesn't look all that visually impressive, it could definitely help move some Nexus consoles amongst younger players. The next presentation was a trailer that started out with a tune that might be familiar to fans of a certain anime... it started with a common background theme from the anime Trigun, and narration by Vash the Stampede's english dub voice actor... yes, we're getting a Trigun game, exclusive to the Google Nexus! The game combines first person shooter elements with RPG elements, and will retell and expand upon the story of the original anime, while featuring a graphical style that looks quite similar. We'll be seeing Trigun next year, and yes, it is indeed coming to the West. The next trailer was actually for another shooter/RPG title, the highly anticipated game The Whispered which was announced by Squaresoft at last year's Tokyo Game Show. The Whispered is a game very reminiscent of the Parasite Eve series, and though it's also coming to the Nintendo Reality and Apple Virtua, it looks very good on the Nexus version that was shown in the presentation. The game's plot centers on an invasion of ghostly apparitions that can only be seen by a few select people, and battled by even less, while they cause horrific things to happen to the human population. It's nice to see Squaresoft games finally coming to non-Nintendo consoles, and it looks like the company is going all out with their multiplatform fare. The next reveal was a bit of a shocker, and like Trigun, is another game based off an established property. We only got a short preview for this one, at least initially, and the preview showed that we'll be getting a Nexus-exclusive Buffy The Vampire Slayer game, with most of the original cast returning to provide character voices. After the presentation, Bright then invited Buffy creator Joss Whedon to the stage to discuss the game further. Whedon revealed that the game will retell the story of the original series, but this time around, the player will be able to change things, with new characters and villains making appearances based on the player's actions, and a brand new plot and antagonist with much higher stakes than the original series. Whedon also revealed that the game will be an action-RPG, but not an open world game per se, more like a “guided adventure” with opportunities for the player to wander around and participate in side quests, but also sticking mostly to the main story. The game will include a special “Buffy Diaries” app for the Nexus Companion allowing the player to participate in social quests on their phone or Android device that can be carried over for experience and items in the game. Buffy The Vampire Slayer is still a work in progress on the Nexus, and won't be out until next year.

    After Whedon left the stage, Bright thanked the gathered attendees, and reiterated that the Google Nexus represents the best value in gaming, with hundreds of exclusive titles from all across the gaming universe, from a wide variety of companies and franchises. He encouraged the attendees to visit the show floor to play dozens of games that he didn't have time to show, and then asked them to watch two more trailers for games that will be coming to the Nexus later this generation. The first trailer showed off a young woman in a futuristic world, and after the gameplay interface was revealed, it became clear that this was a trailer for a new Techno Angel game, starring a now adult version of Sabine from Immortal. We see her battling enemies in a lighter version of the exosuit from the previous game, performing almost superhuman feats of agility. There's something else... the game is third person, and the HUD is completely gone... only for the trailer to reveal that all of that information is now displayed on the second screen, along with a first person viewpoint, allowing players to move on their TV and aim on their controller. It's also possible to switch between a HUD-less first person view and a traditional first person view with the HUD on the TV screen as well, giving players lots of flexibility. The trailer reveals that while the world is at peace thanks to the actions of Adriana (who is still alive and aiding Sabine and who she affectionately refers to as “mom” in the trailer) and Sabine, there are still powerful threats who seek to gain power, and Sabine must battle them as a heroic freedom fighter. The end of the trailer showed her standing triumphantly and looking at the viewers, asking them “what are you fighting for?” which seems to be the game's tagline, as the title is revealed: Techno Angel: Sabine. The trailer then ended to significant applause, and Bright returned to briefly introduce the final trailer of the presentation, a brand new IP from Bungie, creators of The Covenant. This trailer reveals a man walking amidst the ruins of a destroyed world, when he's suddenly attacked by powerful creatures, and the trailer shifts to a first-person view. The man fights the creatures by himself, then alongside others, who then turn and begin shooting at him, forcing him to run. The trailer also reveals that the destroyed world is Earth, but that the galaxy is full of technologically advanced planets, some of which the player will explore throughout the game. The trailer revealed the title of the game as After Time, and then displayed the message “Coming exclusively to your Google Nexus” before ending. The Google Nexus presentation definitely didn't show off as many games as Nintendo's did, but there was a bit of a feel of “quality over quantity” here, with almost every game generating a lot of positive buzz. Combined with the announcement of the long awaited BYOD version of the console, and Nexus might have just struck a major blow in the console wars, promising massive, high quality games at a much cheaper price than its rivals.

    -

    The third party presentations and keynotes at E3 2013 were somewhat subdued compared to last year's, with not as many big game reveals and not as many surprises on the show floor. However, that doesn't mean that the big players weren't lacking for great games, and like the Google keynote, a lot of the third parties this year went for quality over quantity.

    Rockstar's booth was all about Grand Theft Auto III, and the game was available in full demo form, with massive lines of people waiting to get their hands on the game. The graphics are absolutely fantastic, significantly improved over the great looking Grand Theft Auto II, and each console version had its own unique gimmick. The Reality version allows for full first person VR, the Virtua version allows for realistic movement and motion controls, and the Nexus' version allows players to use their phone as a map or even as the in-game phone itself. The combat is improved and there's just more to do. The Housers gave a presentation promising more features, and also saying that the game would not just include the Chattaqua area, but two more large cities based on Indianapolis and Detroit, called Speed City and Patois. Grand Theft Auto III is planned to be the most content-rich game in the series to date, and might just be the front-runner for 2014's Game of the Year.

    Electronic Arts was present at the show with their full contingent of annual sports games, and for the first time, Madden NFL 14 is built with eighth-generation consoles in mind, with improved presentation features and realistic animation everywhere. EA also managed to get the full graphical and music licenses from CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN, which will allow for realistic broadcast presentations and four different announcer teams (with Madden joining Al Michaels in the booth for Sunday Night Football games). We saw more footage of Gate 2, the sequel to 2009's hit sci-fi RPG, with detective Raymond Holmes returning to uncover a galaxy-wide conspiracy amidst destruction and disaster, and also to search for his friend Greta. The game's graphics and especially the combat system seem to be significantly improved from the last game, and the mystery aspects of the series return in full force, borrowing extensively from detective games for some of its mechanics. Gate 2 is expected to be released early next year.

    Activision's booth was once again one of the most popular places to be at E3 2013, thanks to the popular ongoing franchises owned by the company. Call Of Duty: Nightfall II was of course the main event, and we got to see some of the game's storyline and combat for the first time, with the previous game's protagonist, Craig Bone, returning under the command of a new leader, General Lana Strong. Bone's squad is tasked with covering up a botched special forces mission, and the characters are shown resorting to morally ambiguous means to accomplish their goals. Though this game is also coming to the iTwin and the Sapphire, it's been made with the eighth-gen consoles in mind, and looked excellent on the Reality footage that was shown to crowds and demoed at the booth. The combat includes a revamped AI for both friends and foes, and more realistic firing mechanisms on weapons. Missions are more complex, and the in-combat voice acting sounds a lot more realistic. Amongst the other promising games shown by Activision is Thrillseekers: Thin Air, the latest title in the company's annualized extreme sports series. The series has seen better days, but Thin Air looks promising, with the return of some of the most fun and exciting sports in the series, along with some brand new aerial based sports and gameplay that combines extreme sports game mechanics with those of rhythm games in certain sports. The game's storyline will focus heavily on Elissa, forcing her to confront her troubled past as she helps a few new friends find their wings. We're hoping this game will turn the series around, lest it go the way of franchises like White Mountain and Tony Hawk. Blizzard also had a major presence this year, and they finally revealed their long-awaited SimSociety-esque title, Sojourn, previously referred to as “Project Vesper”. It wasn't a full reveal of the game, which we'll be seeing later this year at BlizzCon, but it's a title that will allow players to build their own settlements, explore, and then either cooperate with one another or go to war in battles resembling a cross between the RTS gameplay of Starcraft and the fast-paced combat of an FPS. Sojourn is expected to be released sometime next year, and the demo we played, which allowed us to construct a small settlement, was quite fun, with gameplay that's quick to learn and will allow a player of any skill level to build a working town. The game is being helmed by Jeff Kaplan, who hopes to incorporate elements from his Rhapsody Of The Firmament series into the game as well.

    Ubisoft was here, showing off games such as the pirate-themed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and a familiar face was here at the show promoting the game: Brittany Saldita, who voices the game's primary protagonist, the pirate Elizabeta Azarola. We got to see Brittany herself demoing the game, skillfully navigating her character through several early missions, and it was nice to see her enjoying herself and having so much fun, even after recently undergoing more cancer treatments (she still has her hair, but was wearing a long wig resembling her character's hair). The game allows not only the classic assassin missions, but sea exploration and ship to ship combat as well. Ubisoft also showed off a few games in the Tom Clancy series, with the most interesting title being Tom Clancy Online, an MMORPG/shooter title that will allow players to become soldiers or agents and battle it out in a series of world-spanning missions, with all the action and intrigue of the classic games and novels. It's expected to be the biggest MMO launch in quite some time, and will be coming to both PC and console. Ubisoft was also showing off what they've been up to with Konami's gaming IPs, which they acquired late last year in a blockbuster deal. We got to see more of Silent Hills, a horror title meant to carry the series forward in a way only Hideo Kojima knows how. This is definitely the most cinematic game in the series to date, with Ubisoft giving the master complete creative freedom to make not only a scary game, but a very intellectual one. While still in the early stages of development, Silent Hills is coming along nicely, and could be ready to play as early as 2014.

    Acclaim continued to heavily push Destined 2, showing off more footage of the four new heroes that will star in the game. The new game is just two months away now, and we're already seeing some of the tie-ins begin to appear, with a brand new comic series and the new heroes showing up in the TV show as well. We then got a look at the crossover fighter Acclaimed Champions, which is packed to the gills with Acclaim and Dark Horse characters. We didn't get to see the Who Wants To Be A Superhero? winner Sonic Pixie show up just yet (according to the developers, she might end up as DLC depending on how long it takes to program her), but we did get several new character reveals, including the classic Turok villain The Campaigner, the Evil M.C. From Smash TV, and a pair of Dark Horse heroes: Miho from Sin City, and the kinky superheroine Empowered from the comic series of the same name. Acclaimed Champions is expected to include around 40 characters at launch, with a dozen more expected to come via DLC. We then saw another title reveal from Acclaim: an epic action game set during the Crusades. Called Sepulchre, it will allow players to become a soldier and participate in a series of epic battles during this time period in history. It will also allow players to control a soldier attempting to repel a Crusader invasion, and will likely tie both storylines together. The game features a focus on one-on-one combat and has a rival/champion system that will allow a player to come back and re-battle the soldier who defeated them, who has advanced in rank due to their victory. This is another game still early in development, and is expected to be released in 2014.

    Amongst the other third parties showing off various games and projects at E3, Psygnosis revealed that they're working on more spin-offs of their radically popular Cyberwar series, and that Cyberwar 5 likely won't be released for a long time, with focus shifting to side projects and smaller scale games. The company also revealed work on a brand new IP, an RPG-like game set in the Wild West. It doesn't yet have a name but is codenamed “Project Marshal”. The company is also hard at work on a mascot platformer that could become exclusive to either the Virtua or the Nexus. Game Arts was at the show to preview some games in Japanese that will eventually be localized, including Tale Subterra, the first Tale game exclusive to handheld consoles, which takes place primarily underground, and also Faerie Delivery, a sort of action-RPG/mail delivery simulation game which is early in development. Squaresoft was mostly promoting The Whispered, but also showed off footage from Final Fantasy Online II, which has been announced as a multiplatform game coming to PC, Mac, Reality, Virtua, and Nexus sometime in 2014 or 2015. The game features totally revamped graphics and a brand new storyline, but we won't be able to play the game until this year's Tokyo Game Show. Bioware had plenty of their upcoming title Bounty to show off, and also showed off some video of Necrocracy 3, another game still early in development but is expected to conclude the trilogy as humanity finally takes the fight to their zombie rulers. The game will feature massive-scale battles between armies of the living of the dead, and Latham must recruit zombie helpers willing to turn on their masters. Tecmo was at the show with a new Dead Or Alive game, but also had a new space shooter on display called Eternal Starfield, in which players will be able to venture from planet to planet, shooting ships as they go. The game combines elements of bullet hell and open world games, a strange but also unique combination, and is expected to be released in Japan in 2014 and in the West sometime later. Pyramid Games had their own booth at the show, and the company has a new mobile game on display, Legends Of Treasure, a Zelda-like adventure title in which everything, and I do mean everything, drops loot that can be sold, equipped, upgraded, or fused. It's a much smaller scale project than Terror Trip, but it looks quite fun and is expected to be one of the year's more popular mobile titles. Other indie games that appeared at the show include Abalone's Dynamic Bit, a game about a shapeshifting miniature robot whose form changes depending on the items the player has collected, Dress-Up Crusader, about a young girl with refined tastes in both clothes and armor who goes on a magical adventure, and Chasm, a game in which the player must carefully avoid holes that can open at any time.
     
    Spring 2013 (Part 6) - Crime Stories: The Written Tragedy
  • Crime Stories: The Written Tragedy

    April 17-July 24, 1927

    Background:

    This would be the last game in the series to be on the seventh generation of consoles. As such, the team decided to send of that generation with the same quality as they always did. However, things were starting to get contentious with the Housers. While things worked out (as Richards himself would say things were either talked to death or worked out), Richards got the feeling that his series was slowly being taken away from him. The Housers have disputed this and say that, while they own the copyright, Richards has the final word on all things Crime Stories.

    Cast:

    Troy Baker as Johnson "Jack" Wood, age 43-54

    Born: July 1, 1884.

    The agency is thriving. Though they have lost some members, mostly through resignations, they have been more than adequately replaced. Wood is even happy to welcome those who left back for brief periods should they so desire.

    Anya Garnis as Svetlana Konstantinevna Petrova, age 38-49

    Born: December 31, 1888 (N.S.) (O.S. December 19, 1888)

    While she has bloomed in her role at the agency, she would like to work in the coroner's office again. It has been a long campaign to get her old job back. Unfortunately, it's about to get longer.

    Ari Thomas and Daniel Radcliffe as Quentin R. Wood, age 8-19

    Born: December 14, 1918.

    A happy kid, he wants to follow his parent’s footsteps and go into the law in some way. Eventually joins the army when he’s old enough.

    Martha Hackett and Molly C. Quinn as Irena P. Wood, age 7-18

    Born: April 14, 1920.

    The middle child, and only girl, Irena loves her family very much. As she gets older though, she wants to set her own path. She starts dating Silas after graduating high school.

    William Holmes and Justin Bradley as David L. Wood, age 5-16

    Born: March 2, 1922.

    David is the youngest and also the most headstrong, especially as a teenager. However, he does help when he can.

    Tara Strong as Ethel Finch nee Wood, age 34-46

    Born: November 5, 1892.

    A lot has happened in Ethel's life. She has four children (a girl and triplet boys), a loving husband and a good job. Ethel has even started taking on cases of her own, though mainly robbery and financial crimes. She is quite happy right now.

    Jack Huston as Harold "Harry" Finch, age 36-48

    Born: November 30, 1890.

    Harry is also quite happy with everything, in spite of his disfigurement from the war. Though he sometimes has suicidal thoughts, overall he considers himself quite lucky.

    Joan Osborne and Allison Court as Millicent Finch, age 5-16

    Born: April 1, 1922.

    A happy child she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. She returns Isaiah’s affections.

    Louis Munson as Hugh, Thomas and Peter Finch, age 1-12

    Born: January 9, 1926.

    Three boys who are a handful. Fortunately they aren’t too annoying. Though that maybe because they don’t appear in the game all that much.

    Mae Whitman as Karen Harvey nee Sutter, age 35-46

    Born: March 8, 1892.

    Karen is rather unhappy with her marriage. They have one child and Charles had grown distant over the past few years. While she is happy with her job, she gets the feeling that it's the only thing that will make her happy.

    Matthew Ryan as Charles Loveday Harvey, age 46

    Born: March 12, 1883. Died: May 7, 1927.

    Charles takes more and more time away from his wife. He also takes to the bottle more and more. He often comes home late and drunk. He starts having affairs with prostitutes and, rumor has it, his patients.

    Kenny Irving and Bill Thomas as George Harvey, age 7-18

    Born: January 1, 1920.

    Closer to his mother than his father, George nevertheless wants to follow in his father’s footsteps.

    Sabra Johnson as Agatha Jones nee Esrom, age 27-38

    Born: February 4, 1900.

    Now married to Marcus, Agatha works as a chemistry teacher at a Negro college. She still helps the agency when she can. She and Marcus have twin boys: Isaiah and Jonah.

    Lee Thomson Young as Marcus Jones, age 28-39

    Born: January 3, 1899.

    Still works at the agency, though he is considering starting one of his own. He is happy with what he is doing.

    William and Tory Maxwell as Isaiah and Jonah Jones, age 4-15

    Born: March 9, 1923.

    Good friends of the Wood and Finch children, they are often seen around the house. As they get older, they both get a crush on a female member of the family (Jonah on Irena, though he backs off when her and Silas start dating, and Isaiah on Millicent).

    James Arnold Taylor as Finbarr "Finn" Collins, age 42-54

    Born: June 14, 1884.

    Still working at the Spectator, but now more cautious of whom he takes under his wing. Though he is looking for someone to mentor.

    Laura Bailey as Edna Hubbard, age 22-33

    Born: March 10, 1905.

    A recent graduate of journalism school, she chose Lancaster because she wanted to be close to Toronto but not too close. She wants to cover politics and crime, as they so often intersect.

    Adam Beach as Detective Sergeant Michael Cross, age 37-48

    Born: April 10, 1890.

    Unsure of his place in the force. He is thinking of leaving before the year is out.

    Clancy Brown as Chief Clarence Raceland, age 64-74

    Born: October 4, 1862. Died: January 5, 1937.

    Promoted several times he oversees one last case with Wood before his retirement. He is happy with what he has been able to accomplish in this job for the most part.

    Nolan North as Detective Inspector Leonard Ryan, age 38-49

    Born: June 5, 1890.

    Brought in from Toronto in 1924, Ryan is a competent investigator, though once he gets on a line of inquiry it’s hard for him to get off of it.

    John DiMaggio as Horace Burns, age 68-79

    Born: September 4, 1859. Died: October 17, 1938.

    Retired as Head Coroner, he has grown restless. He has taken up painting in recent years. He is still giving advice to our heroes from time to time.

    Nathan Fillion as Doctor Edward Morehouse Hughes, age 36-47

    Born: March 4, 1891.

    Doctor Burns’ replacement, he is quite competent. He has a begrudging respect for Wood and Petrova. Though he still has his complaints about them.

    Grey Delisle as Mary Crichton, age 43-54

    Born: August 31, 1884.

    She has grown into the role of a politician’s wife perfectly. Involved in all of her husband’s decisions she is seen as the real power behind the throne.

    Greg Baldwin as Wendell Crichton, age 43-55.

    Born: October 13, 1883.

    While he is worried about his father’s former company he knows that it is in good hands. He is concentrating on serving the city that he loves.

    Zelda Williams as Rachel Crichton, age 20-31.

    Born: April 7, 1907.

    Though still suffering from epilepsy, though the attacks are a lot less frequent than they were, she wants to help her Uncle Jack with his agency. She wants to help those who have suffered like she did. She is engaged to Giorgi Pinedo. They get married in October, 1927. They have three kids: Isabella, Samuel and June in the early ‘30s.

    Scott Menville as Henry Crichton, age 14-26.

    Born: May 6,1912.

    An aspiring author and journalist, he wants to help with investigations to an extent. Though he won’t volunteer to help.

    Wil Wheaton as Cole Crichton, age 12-24.

    Born: June 2, 1914.

    He is obsessed with soldiers. In fact, when he is old enough, he joins the army. He wants to do his country proud.

    Paget Brewster as Lillian Crichton, age 37-49.

    Born: August 1, 1889.

    Though she is still a part of her former family’s business, she still hasn’t gotten her family back. Though she is willing to fight, she is also losing. The rest of the family and her friends back her but it looks lost. (They wanted to bring Jennifer Hale back to play Narcissa Lonsdale but she was busy with other projects. Though she may pop up in the next game.)

    Gideon Emery as David C. Looney, age 56-68

    Born: November 5, 1870.

    Has gotten richer. However, he is worried about various Italian gangs infringing on his territory. He is hiring people to help him keep it but is he right to worry?

    Adrianne Barbeau as Charlotte Wood, age 60-72.

    Born: May 31, 1866.

    After mourning Arthur for years, she has finally decided to move on. By the end of the last DLC though she starts to develop Alzheimer’s.

    April Stewart as Lucy Collins nee Wood, age 52.

    Born: June 20, 1875.

    In her last appearance, she dies off screen in 1934, Lucy helps out where she can but would rather just sit on the sidelines.

    Colleen O'Shaughnessy as Paula Knight nee Wood, age 56-67.

    Born: June 3, 1870.

    The Grand Dame of the family, she dies in 1937 of liver cancer.

    Jim Cummings as Nigel Wood, age 69-70

    Born: June 20, 1857.

    Still the life of the party, he dies from a fall shortly after his 70th birthday.

    Yannick Bisson as Thomas C. Wood, age 71.

    Born: January 15, 1942.

    Now fully committed to this project, he hopes that he can has more stories to tell.

    Kevin Conroy as Hosea Potter, age 61-73.

    Born: March 5, 1865.

    He, and his family, arrived in Lancaster in 1925 from California as a member of the Crichton Steel Board of Directors following a merger with Inman Iron. He lost his wife in the Flu Pandemic of 1919 and he and Charlotte Wood start seeing each other soon afterwards. Jack and Ethel were worried at first but they came around. He brought his daughter, whom he loves even if he doesn’t always express it.

    Patroka Epstein as Sophonisba B. “Sophie” Potter, age 20-31.

    Born: April 5, 1907.

    An only child, this Sophie was stricken with Polio when she was 18. Stuck in her wheelchair, then in leg braces, she became an avid bird watcher. She manages to help Wood with any bird related questions. The character was always intended to be disabled. However, she was nearly written out due to Patroka Epstein still being severely disabled. Fortunately, Epstein and Richards fought for her to be kept and they were able to work around this difficulty by having mocap actors play Sophie’s body while Epstein herself provided her likeness and voice.

    Brittany Saldita as Rosa Maldonado, age 43.

    Born: March 18, 1884.

    Sophie Potter’s nurse and tutor. She does things that Sophie’s father won’t do for her. She is fun loving but strict. There were plans to bring her back in future games, but Brittany Saldita wasn’t able to play her and Richards wasn’t willing to recast the part so she ends up going back to California after the DLC happens.

    Juanita Velázquez and Jessica Alba as Thomasina Maldonado, age 4-16

    Born: April 19, 1922.

    Rosa’s daughter. She is shy and cautious, especially as a teenager, though she does develop an attraction for David Wood.

    Claudia Black as Elena Petrova, age 59-71

    Born: June 4, 1867 (N.S.)(O.S. May 23, 1867) Died: September 4, 1938.

    Though she still loves her family, she has become bitter in her later years. She laments the loss of the Russia of her youth, even though living there was harsh for her. Still she will be there for her family, no matter what.

    Jaleel White as Armstrong and Willis Lowden, age 40 and 40-51

    Born: February 6, 1887.One brother died: July 17, 1927.

    A pair of brothers one a preacher, the other a theatre director, they came to Lancaster in 1924. However, there is something about them that law enforcement can’t shake. Both brothers have dark secrets. Both are killers.

    Alex Hernandez as Abraham Jones, age 21-32

    Born: April 4, 1906.

    Marcus’s younger cousin from New Orleans. He recently came to Canada as part one of the few black men to enter the country. He joins the Agency soon after he arrives. He is a good worker who is willing to learn.

    Chantal Riley as Jennifer Fraser, age 28

    Born: June 5, 1985.

    Happier than ever with her success, she feels as though this will take her to new heights.

    Will Friedle as Jonas Evans, age 42-44

    Born: June 5, 1894.

    Now running his own show, Evans has now turned his attention to fighting both Fascism and Communism at home. The loss of Abraham Richards (he disappeared Moscow around 1925. Though the real reason was because Robson Greene’s schedule was full), has hardened him somewhat. And now he has his own protégée.

    Shawn Ashmore as Timothy Warren, age 22-24

    Born: September 2, 1916.

    Evans’ protégée. He presents himself as naive and straight laced though he knows how to get his hands dirty when need be.

    Patricia Thomas as Sofia Meyers, age 23-35.

    Born: October 4, 1903.

    Now the head of the female staff at the Crichton house she has come a long way. Though a good mother she is starting to have what’s called a “nervous condition”, she is never diagnosed in game though Richards has said that she would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder today (he, and Patricia Thomas, consulted with numerous mental health professionals to get the most accurate, and sympathetic, portrayal that they can get).

    John Will and Quinton Flynn as Silas Meyers, age 9-20

    Born: April 7, 1918.

    Despite not know who, or what, his father is, Silas is a happy child. He is good friends with the other children his age and he and Irena start dating. Near the end of the DLCs, his mother tells him of the circumstance of his birth, which causes him to promise to go to law school as soon as he can.

    Rick Pasqualone as Salvatore "Sal" Pinedo, age 37.

    Born: November 2, 1889. Died: April 17, 1927.

    The first victim of the game, he appears, so to speak, in various flashbacks to delve into why he was killed.

    Georgina Reilly as Maeve Pinedo, age 36-48.

    Born: June 13, 1890.

    Spared by being out of the house when the killer struck, Maeve now works as an English teacher. Though initially considered a suspect in her husband’s death, she is cleared. Soon afterwards she moves to Germany.

    John Ruben as Giorgi Pinedo, age 19-32.

    Born: May 7, 1906.

    He aims to be a journalist, though he is saddened by his father’s murder, he turns to his studies all the more. He is engaged to Rachel Crichton. They get married in October, 1927. They have three kids: Isabella, Samuel and June in the early ‘30s.

    Avery Brooks as Reverend Booker Jones, age 69-78.

    Born: January 8, 1858. Died: October 5, 1936.

    Reverend Jones is in an emeritus position in his church. He still gives a sermon on occasion. Active as ever, he is glad that everything is going well.

    Phil LaMarr as Reverend Thomas Michaels, age 36-47.

    Born: April 1, 1891.

    Taking over from Reverend Jones, he is a young light for his community. He is suspicious of Reverend Lowden when he first comes to town and works closely with Wood’s Agency.

    Erin Deer and Ashley Callingbull as Emily Wilson, age 8-20.

    Born: June 5, 1918.

    Michael Cross’s niece, he visits her regularly, especially after her mother took ill. Wood and Petrova sometimes go with him with their children. She and Quentin develop feelings for each other over time.

    Michael Fassbender as Major Horst Klimt, age 39-40.

    Born: October 12, 1886.

    Having been promoted since the last game, he is starting to get uncomfortable with the Nazis in power. At the same time, he is a loyal German. While he does reconcile those two things, he knows that it will get him in trouble.

    Willemijn Verkaik as Gertrude Klimt, age 38-39.

    Born: August 4, 1887.

    She too has concerns about the Nazis, though she is a bit more cautious about expressing those views. She is more worried about their son.

    Taron Egerton as Erwin Klimt, age 16

    Born: March 7, 1922.

    A member of the Hitler Youth, though not of his own accord, he is a bit more proactive than his parents in resisting the Nazis.

    Charlie Cox as Algernon Raymond, age 43-54.

    Born: March 6, 1884.

    Relieved to be free of his title, Algernon moved to Canada and started to work in the publishing business. He makes a good amount of money at it, though he and his wife never have children.

    Kelly MacDonald as Florence Raymond nee Macgregor, age 42-54.

    Born: June 17, 1884.

    While happy in Canada, she wants to return to England. Algernon promises that they will, though they never do in this game.

    Meghan Somers as Norma Jean Mortenson, age 12.

    Born: June 1, 1926.

    A young woman who wants to be an actress. She helps in some ways during a visit to L.A.

    Plot:

    Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.

    -F. Scott Fitzgerald.

    Thomas asks Jennifer if she really wants to know about this case. She agrees and Thomas tells her that it takes place in 1927, eight years after the main story of the last game.

    Prologue: Passage in the Silent Night.

    Ghost: Forthwith, Revenge, she rounded thee in the air,

    And bad thee lead me to the gates of horn,

    Where dreams have passage in the silent night.

    -Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy: Prologue.

    The prologue shows a first person view of someone running from a group of men and a bunch of dogs. Players are given several options on how to avoid capture, all of which lead to a railroad track and jumping onto a train.

    Act I: Lead into dangers.

    Brutus: Into what dangers have you lead me, Cassius,

    That you would have me seek into myself

    For that which is not in me?

    -William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene ii.

    The story proper begins with Wood and Petrova in their office in April 1927, learning about Sal’s murder (which is made to look like Coriolanus). They start investigating against Ryan’s instructions (though it is made clear that he does have a point). He arrest Maeve on suspicion of murder. Eventually, he does come around, though reluctantly especially after a Scottish lawyer named Heath is murdered like Macbeth.

    Act II: Hell not Heaven.

    Mephistopheles: When all the world dissolves,

    And every creature shall be purified,

    All places shall be hell that are not heaven.

    -Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Act II, Scene i.

    After releasing Maeve, Ryan sets about looking at how these two cases are connected. He throws out accusing Wood and Petrova (while it does cross his mind he realizes that they were both with him when both murders occurred). Eventually, he settles on Charles Harvey. Again, Wood and Petrova think something is off and again Ryan follows the evidence to reach the conclusion that Harvey did it. Eventually Harvey hangs himself in prison. At the same time, someone attacks Maeve and tries to kill her like Lavinia in Titus Andronicus.

    Act III: The way madness lies.

    Lear: O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;

    No more of that.

    -William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, Scene IV.

    It is in this chapter that the Lowden brothers really make themselves known (they had been in the background before now but they really come into the story here). Maeve thinks that one of them attacked her. There is a disagreement amongst the protagonists as to whether they could be guilty or not (a lot of the characters don’t want to believe it for their own reasons though Wood and Marcus aren’t sure which brother, or both brothers, are guilty). Then a body of a black merchant is found hanging in the woods like Timon of Athens.

    Act IV: Shrieking out.

    Bosola: Do you not weep?

    Other sins only speak; Murder shrieks out.

    -John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Act IV, Scene ii.

    While puzzling over the sudden change in victims, there is still debate over whether its society that made the Lowdens or whether they were always like this. Its left open ended but one thing everyone agrees on is that they need to be stopped. Trouble is there is no evidence. Ryan is all for just arresting them but the others want to make sure that the Communities of Color (though those exact words aren’t used) will trust the verdict.

    Act V: A glooming peace.

    Prince: A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

    The sun for sorrow will not show his head.

    -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene iii.

    With things looking grim, our heroes decide to go over each murder again. This time they manage to find the clues that point to one, or both, brothers being at the crime scene. When they get to where the brothers are staying, they run and a chase through the woods commences. This is where the prologue comes in with the brothers making their way to a cliff overlooking a river. Both Lowdens jump in and they only find one body. The question becomes did the other survive and if, or when, will he come back?

    DLC:

    Again, the DLC is a bunch of loosely connected cases released once a month after the game was released. They all take place in the 1930s.

    The Landlord's Game 1936-1938

    Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

    -Henry David Thoreau.

    1. Thimble March 13-21, 1936.

    In this case, Wood and Petrova are asked by Ethel to help her with a series of robberies. There is no apparent connection between them, though Ethel thinks that there is one: The safe company that was hired. They agree to help investigate and catch the culprits.

    2. Purse August 2-10, 1936.

    Invited to Berlin for the Olympics (the game making sure to hide any swastikas so that it can be sold in Germany) by Maeve, the family runs into Evans, Warren and the Klimts. Evans and Warren were watching over a potential security risk in one of the embassy staffers who turned up dead during the games. The Klimts help as they can. It turns out that the staffer committed suicide (it’s implied that he had help but…). Meanwhile, Maeve is helping Jews get out of Berlin and when nearly caught Gustav Klimt intervenes on their side.

    3. Cannon October 9-16, 1936.

    During a visit to see the German Embassies in North America, the Klimts visit to see about investigating the disappearance of German industrialist named Joachim von Keppel who was last seen in the area. The Klimts fear that he was kidnapped for ransom. After searching for him, they find him safe and take his abductors into custody.

    4. Boot December 4-19, 1936.

    The now retired Raceland comes to Wood and Petrova to help him solve his one case: a murder from 1885. Though he realizes that with all the participants now dead he can’t hope to convict anyone for it, but he wants peace of mind before he dies. They solve it as best they can and give it to him.

    5. Top hat January 1-19, 1937.

    Another robbery case, someone stole jewels from all over town and selling them to poorer (i.e. minority) people to pin it on them. It seems that the on the run Lowden brother has made his return but it turns out to be a man named Jerome Hatch, who seemingly has no connection to him.

    6. Battleship June 5-16, 1937.

    Receiving a telegram from Evans (though neither he nor Warren appear in person), Wood and Petrova look into missing battleship plans in Lancaster. They find them and find that they are for the purposes of blowing up a ship that’s docked in the harbor by a disgruntled former sailor.

    7. Iron November 6-18, 1937.

    Michael Cross, retired from the Lancaster Police Department for five years, calls Wood and Petrova in to look into a possible illegal bare knuckle boxing club. It turns out to be real and it gets broken up, but there is someone watching from the shadows.

    8. Lantern February 4-15, 1938.

    Algernon Raymond comes to Wood and Petrova about the possibility of Florence being kidnapped. They do find her (having faked her kidnapping) but she is heading back to England. Algernon tries convincing her to stay but she says no. A few days later Algernon leaves as well to be with her in England.

    9. Racecar June 7-20, 1938.

    Going with Sophie Potter to meet to Rosa Maldonado in Los Angeles, Wood and Petrova get involved in a case involving a stolen racecar from a local wealthy shipping magnate. During this investigation, they meet a young girl named Norma Jean Mortenson.

    10. Rocking horse October 5-18, 1938.

    Reverend Michaels, who took over the church when Reverend Jones died, asks Wood and Petrova to look into some break-ins at the church. Nothing is stolen, but the church is vandalized. They eventually find that the surviving Lowden is responsible. But he is nowhere to be found.

    Gameplay:

    Though similar in a lot of ways to the previous two games, it was a little more difficult than the previous two games in the franchise.

    Achievements/Trophies:

    The Jazz Age: Get all other Achievements/Trophies 150g/Platinum

    The Game is Afoot: Start the new case 15g/Bronze

    Pursued by the Police: Complete the Prologue 15g/Bronze

    So Long, Sal: Investigate Sal’s death 20g/Bronze

    Wait A Minute: Protest Maeve’s arrest the first time 20g/Silver

    Just Cause: Find proof of Maeve’s innocence 30g/Silver

    First is Worst: Complete Act I 70g/Silver

    Cry Havoc: Investigate Heath’s death 20g/Bronze

    Right or Wrong?: Look at the evidence against Harvey 20g/Bronze

    Unexpected: Investigate Harvey’s Suicide 25g/Silver

    Nothing is Alright: Complete Act II 70g/Silver

    A Real Fighter: As Maeve, fight off the attacker 10g/Bronze

    Traveling Salvation Show: See Reverend Lowden’s show 15g/Bronze

    The Real Deal?: Search for evidence at the show 30g/Silver

    Shun Madness: Complete Act III 70g/Silver

    The Death of the Merchant: Investigate the merchant’s death 20g/Bronze

    Alas, Detectives: Reach the lowest point of the case 30g/Silver

    Not In The Least: Complete Act IV 70g/Silver

    Come Again: Review the cases thus far 20g/Bronze

    Here We Go Again: Chase the Lowdens through the woods 40g/Silver

    Reichenbach Twins: Complete Act V 100g/Gold

    Bow Out: Complete the game and watch the credits 100g/Gold

    Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em: Collect all the cigarette cards 20g/Bronze

    All’s Well?: Find all theatre programs 20g/Bronze

    DLC:

    Not Safe: Answer Ethel’s call 20g/Bronze

    A Steel Box: Take a look into the most recent robbery 20g/Bronze

    Company Time: Go over the employee records of the Hardy Safe and Lock 20g/Bronze

    In The Cookie Jar: Caught the thieves red handed 20g/Bronze

    A Good Investment: Complete Thimble 20g/Bronze

    One Ring: Watch one Olympic event 20g/Bronze

    Top Marks: Get to the crime scene 20g/Bronze

    If You Save One Life: Agree to help Maeve 20g/Bronze

    Not Of Any Use: “Solve” the case 20g/Bronze

    Papers Please: Complete Purse 20g/Bronze

    Passing Through: Meet with the Klimts again 20g/Bronze

    Steel Yourself: Search the crime scene 20g/Bronze

    A Little Left: Find where the kidnappers are 20g/Bronze

    Forcible Rear Entry: Enter the kidnapper’s house through the back and take them by surprise 20g/Bronze

    Gasket Relief: Complete Cannon 20g/Bronze

    Out Of The Past: Meet with Raceland 20g/Bronze

    Too Convenient: Find a clue in the old file 20g/Bronze

    Knocked Down: Try to find the crime scene 20g/Bronze

    Knocked Out: Find the proof 20g/Bronze

    Time Well Spent: Complete Boot 20g/Bronze

    All That Glitters: Get the case 20g/Bronze

    Marketplace For It: Find some of the buyers 20g/Bronze

    Take A Minute: Find Hatch’s store 20g/Bronze

    Think On That: Arrest Hatch 20g/Bronze

    Happy Returns: Complete Top Hat 20g/Bronze

    Orders Over Wires: Get Evans’ telegram 20g/Bronze

    Lost At Sea: Search the Naval Office 20g/Bronze

    Between The Devil: Find the saboteur’s apartment 20g/Bronze

    And The Deep Blue Sea: Catch the sailor before he sets the bomb 20g/Bronze

    Didn’t Sink Her: Complete Battleship 20g/Bronze

    Hello, Old Friend: Meet up with Cross 20g/Bronze

    Just A Little Fun: Find the ad for the boxing ring in the paper 20g/Bronze

    Marquis de Knuckles Rules: Find and catch a boxer 20g/Bronze

    He Talked About It: Convince the boxer to turn over evidence 20g/Bronze

    Just Like Old Times: Complete Iron 20g/Bronze

    The Harried Husband: Meet with A. Raymond 20g/Bronze

    The Missing Wife: Search Florence’s room 20g/Bronze

    The Wary Group: Talk to Florence’s friends 20g/Bronze

    The Unhappy Wife: Find Florence at the train station 20g/Bronze

    The Noble Husband: Complete Lantern 20g/Bronze

    Golden: Welcome to Los Angeles 20g/Bronze

    Wheels: Get the case 20g/Bronze

    Engine: Search the garage completely 20g/Bronze

    Got Chopped: Find the racecar before it is destroyed 20g/Bronze

    A Future Diamond: Complete Racecar 20g/Bronze

    Patience: Meet with Reverend Michaels 20g/Bronze

    Persistence: Examine the whole church 20g/Bronze

    Charity: Donate to the church 5 times 20g/Bronze

    Wisdom: Search Lowden’s camp 20g/Bronze

    Virtues: Complete Rocking Horse 20g/Bronze

    Reception:

    Crime Stories: The Written Tragedy was released on April 11, 2013 for Nintendo Sapphire and Apple iTwin as the last game of the seventh generation in the series. There were plans to release it for at least one eighth generation console but Richards said that it could wait for the next game in the series. The DLC, as always, was released once a month afterwards. The game received the lowest review scores in the series in the high 7s to the mid 8s. A lot of the complaints were centered on the ending: it was confused. The reason for that was a very last minute one by Dan Houser who thought that there should be a Moriarty character for the characters for fight.

    The problem became that it was introduced so late in the process that there was no time to rewrite the script to accommodate this change. Houser forced it through anyways. Only after the game was released and reviews started coming in did he realize that maybe he made a mistake. As for Richards, he wasn’t against the idea of introducing a Moriarty character. He just didn’t like how he was forced into for this game and banned Dan Houser from the writer’s room. Sam Houser, while not exactly approving of what his brother did, still sided with him over Richards. It damaged the relationship between the two groups and, while they would remain professional going forward, both sides wouldn’t trust the other again.

    July 1, 2013

    Patroka Epstein and her sister Lana were at the door of Andrew Richards’ house. The two had gotten to know each other well during the filming of The Written Tragedy. The fact that he also needed a wheelchair to get around helped, though Richards said that he would have done it regardless. Lana rang the doorbell.

    The door opened to reveal Anya holding a little girl. She smiled. “Hey. We didn’t think you’d make it. Come in.”

    “Thanks. How’re Beverly and Erin?”

    Anya stood aside as a little hand reached up and grabbed a strand of her hair. “The twins are fine as are their older sisters like Sylvia here. Irena is running around here somewhere. She’ll probably come in on us in character demanding to know who you are.”

    Lana asked, “In character? She wants to be an actress like her mom?”

    Anya chuckled at that and started leading them to the back. “No. She has taken to playing pretend a lot. I think she just wants to get us to play with her.”

    As they went to the back of the house, Anya shook her head. “During writing and filming we’re busy. After that, I have more time but Drew…He likes to keep an eye on things especially now that the Housers interfered with the ending like they did.”

    Lana frowned at that. “Do you think that’ll change know?”

    “Hope so. But with executives you never know. So are you going to come back for another game, Pat?”

    “Probably not the next one. I’ll explain when we see Drew. Where is he?”

    Anya pointed out the backdoor. Outside was a small pirate ship with a deck and stairs leading up to it. A single person chair lift was on one side. There was a crow’s nest with a rope net ladder leading up to it. On a wood plank jutting out from that a rope swing going from the back to the middle. Andrew Richards was on the deck, in a bathing suit looking after his one year old twin girls.

    “When you said you had an above ground pirate ship pool, I didn’t think it would be like this,” Patroka said.

    “Didn’t we show you photos?”

    She shook her head. Anya opened the door. “Look who just arrived!”

    Drew looked at them. “Hey, Kid.”

    “Hey, Old Man.”

    They both laughed at the nicknames that they had given each during production of The Written Tragedy. Though Drew was four years older than Patroka, his habit of calling anyone younger than him “Kid” which, along with his taste in music, led to her calling him “Old Man”. It was a nickname that spread through social media thanks to a picture on Patroka’s Twitter feed.

    “How are you?”

    Richards gave a wan smile. “About as well as can be expected. Rockstar is considering hiring a new writer for the series to ‘help fine tune the scripts.’”

    Lana frowned at that. “You think they’ll interfere through the new writer.”

    He shrugs. “I certainly hope not but one never knows. I think after fan reaction to the ending of The Written Tragedy, they want to step away from writing our series and focus on their own projects. I just hope it won’t interfere with the amount of advertising we get.”

    Patroka smiled. “Speaking of, I wanted to tell you that I can’t come back for the next game.”

    Richards and Anya looked at each then back at Patroka. Anya smiled and said, “You were accepted into the trial.”

    “That’s right. I’m going to have to step back for a few years and not do much. I don’t know what that means for Sophie Potter though.”

    Richards said, “We’ll think of something. But one thing I won’t do is recast her. Like I told Brittany when she said she won’t be able to come back for a while, you are Sophie Potter no one else can play her.”

    Just then a five year old girl opened the door and came out. “Irena!” said Sylvia.

    “You forgot my title small one. I am Irena, Princess Warrior!”

    Anya put Sylvia down. “Well your majesty what are your plans for today?”

    Irena pointed at the pool. “I need someone to captain that ship so we can search for adventure.”

    Richards put on a pirate voice and said, “I’ll be your captain or my name’s not Cyrus Roberts! We’ll find adventure your majesty. Now, who’s with us?”

    Sylvia put up her hand. “Me! Me!”

    “Then come aboard.”

    As Irena and Sylvia went up the stairs to the pool, Drew turned to Patroka and said, “Don’t worry, Patroka. You getting better is what’s most important.”

    Patroka smiled, glad that everything seemed to be going right.
     
    Last edited:
    E3 2013 (Part 3)
  • Apple Keynote - E3 2013

    Apple's keynote for E3 2013 began with Steve Jobs taking the stage and thanking everyone in attendance. He then began to talk about the Apple Virtua and how it was one of the most successful console launches of all time, with enormous sales all over the world and amazing critical reviews for its biggest games. He then said that there's a lot more in store for the Virtua, the Gemini, and everything else Apple in the years to come, and that this year's presentation would show how Apple is about to change gaming forever. He then introduced John Carmack to the stage. Carmack thanked Jobs, who then left, and Carmack then launched into the next part of his presentation, where he introduced a dear friend of his, Tom Hall, to discuss his newest game for the Apple Virtua. Upon Hall's introduction, fans seemed to have a pretty good idea where this was going next, and cheered wildly. Hall then talked about Ion Storm's signature series, Commander Keen, discussing the recent spinoff games for mobile platforms, but noting that there hasn't been a proper full console game since the Reynard spinoff in 2010, or going back further, Billy's Brave Odyssey in 2008. Hall introduced a trailer for a brand new Commander Keen game, which started off by showing Billy playing with his new virtual reality game console, only for Becky to do something to cause Billy to get sucked in. Meanwhile, Reynard, who had been competing with Billy online, gets sucked in as well, much to the surprise of his friends Brianna and George. Billy, Becky, and Reynard end up in a mysterious virtual world, where they are forced to compete against other players, including Hardcore2001, a hardcore gamer who seeks to defeat everyone. However, in this world, defeat means death, forcing Billy and Reynard to work together to survive. At the same time, Billy and Reynard's friends and allies look for a way to get into the game themselves, and the two also look like they'll be meeting new friends and foes as well. The game's title is introduced as Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality, and is set for release on the Virtua sometime next year. Hall then shows off numerous features of the game, including the ability to transform and warp in mid-battle, to execute some fierce new moves by utilizing motion controls, and also introducing a massive amount of new collectibles that are necessary for powering up Billy and Reynard and making progress in the game. While the game is still early in the development stages, there's a playable demo available on the show floor, and we had quite a bit of fun with it when we got a chance to play. After the announcement of the new Commander Keen, Carmack then went immediately into the next trailer, which appeared to show off a new Pixelworld expansion... then, as the game's graphics began to transform from 8-bit into 16-bit, and entirely new gameplay mechanics began to reveal themselves, we got the sense that this wasn't an expansion... and the crowd went wild as it was revealed to be a trailer for a full-blown Pixelworld sequel, with a new story mode along with a vastly expanded creative suite. The game will allow people to import their old objects and creations from the original Pixelworld, and will also allow players to create platforming, RPG, and adventure games that can be fully experienced and lived in by other players. The game's release window was given as 2014, and then one last announcement appeared on screen: “Buy and register an Apple Virtua console before January 1, 2014 and you'll be able to download Pixelworld 2 for free at release.” This caused the crowd to cheer loudly, though it also led to some murmurs as people realized that anyone who bought a Virtua in 2014 would have to pay full retail price for the game. Carmack then invited a few of the game's developers to show off the new Pixelworld 2 features, and we got about a five minute demo of some of the game creation suites and new graphical power being shown off, along with motion controls to pick up and move around objects. Apple's E3 2013 began with two blockbuster announcements, but there was still about 45 minutes left to show off more.

    We first got a quick gameplay and story presentation for a new exclusive third person shooter game called Neutralizer Alpha, centered around the leader of a combat team in the near future, tasked with putting down criminal gangs and terrorists. The hero is depicted as an everyman-type figure who's morally conflicted about his job and cares deeply about his team, while the story snippets introduced plenty of interesting characters, giving the protagonist a pair of love interests: a tough but emotionally vulnerable teammate and a somewhat shy bureaucrat who doesn't agree with the squad's goals. The combat was also shown to be quite fluid and realistic, and the control scheme, which gives players the option to use the Virtua motion controls, was actually quite intuitive, and could send players rolling and crouching when this game's released in November. Neutralizer Alpha is a great example of the power and potential of the Virtua, but before we got to see the next big Virtua game, we got a quick little trailer from Capcom about a Gemini beat 'em up starring Chun-Li. Called Chun-Li Rising, the game features a sort of hybrid between Devil May Cry and Street Fighter controls, and tells the heroine's origin story. It looks plenty fun, and we'll enjoy playing it sometime early next year (Japan actually gets it in November). Then, we got a presentation for the next game in the acclaimed Phantasy Star series, Phantasy Star IX: Between Fact And Fiction. The game takes place on a space colony in the distant future, in which a set of storybooks are some of the last surviving artifacts of an ancient world. When the storybook starts interacting with the real world as the people of the colony explore and search for a new home, things take a strange twist, and adventure begins. The new Phantasy Star game will feature an action-RPG battle system that takes place in real time, with seamless battle transitions quite similar to titles such as Final Fantasy XII. The graphics look absolutely gorgeous and it looks like we'll be exploring numerous worlds in this one. After this segment, we got an announcement that Phantasy Star Online 3 is in development for the Virtua. Then, we saw another quick Gemini preview, showing off Duality Twin, the sequel to the popular iTwin game Duality. It features similar gameplay and stars the protagonists from the first game, but puts them in all new situations and features a new twin mode in which characters are able to duplicate themselves. This Duality sequel should be one of the top Gemini games of the year, and it's coming in November. Next, a preview for the Star Wars fighting game, Star Wars Masters. This game, which was announced last year at PAX West, is coming out for the Virtua next month, and plays much like the old Masters Of Juyo game for the SNES-CD. Of course, this one isn't developed by Rare, but instead by Capcom, so there are some notable differences. Some of the new characters from Episode VII show up, along with more than 20 favorites from previous entries in the series. Notably absent is Ahsoka Tano from the Clone Wars games, who's in Super Smash Bros. but not this. Then, we saw a preview video of a new platforming adventure game for the Virtua, called The Spectacular Rocket Ryde. Featuring a girl hero who uses a jetpack to fly around a big city and fight bad guys, this is a somewhat silly superhero game, and will probably draw a lot of comparisons to Miraculous Ladybug, though this game is a more straightforward action brawler. Its aesthetic can best be described as “cotton candy”, and its heroine, voiced by Lacey Chabert, is extremely bubbly and energetic. Girls will love this game for sure, especially if the gameplay is strong.

    After this string of previews, Carmack slowed things down a bit to discuss one of his favorite classic Sega arcade games, House Of The Dead. He talked about how much he loved playing the game back in the day when he was working on games like Quake and its sequel, and expressed disappointment that modern games don't live up to the horror and fun of the original back in 1996. He then said that with the Virtua, it's finally possible for Apple to make a game that lives up to the original, and that he's more excited for this game than he is any of the other games during today's presentation. He then shows a preview video that shows the game's familiar light-gun gameplay, but then after the player is attacked, they're thrown off the rails and forced to explore a terrifying mansion in first person, zombies attacking them on all sides. The trailer ends with a horrifying scene of the player being overrun, and then Carmack brings up a new production team, Studio Sever, that worked on the game for Apple. The Virtua's House Of The Dead, scheduled for release in October, will combine arcade-style rail shooting with 3-D exploration, and will utilize the Virtua's motion controls to allow for realistic movement around the mansion. The game will force the player to go off the beaten path and into scary situations to rescue hostages and learn the mystery of the house, and the segments have a time limit as well, forcing the player to stay constantly on their toes. House Of The Dead is set for release in October, and will actually be a budget-priced game at $29.99, indicating that it might be somewhat shorter than the typical Virtua title. After this, we got a preview for a brand new Capcom game... a remake of 1995's Victory, in a full 3-D view rather than the top-down original. The game will expand upon the storyline of the original game, with hero Nash Grieves forced to rally his old war buddies to fight a covert alien invasion. The game introduces new characters and some new mechanics, meaning that even for those who loved the original, there's definitely something here for players to enjoy. The remake Victory comes exclusively to the Virtua next year. We then got a trailer for Alpha Protocol 2, another 2014 title and a sequel to the original game. The events from the previous game can be carried into Alpha Protocol 2, and even if Michael died in the original, it will still be possible to play the game somehow, though the trailer didn't state how that would be possible. Alpha Protocol 2 looks beautiful graphically, and the plot looks quite intriguing, though the trailer didn't give us a huge amount of information and it's clear Apple's waiting for a future show to give us more information about this game. Then, another quick trailer, showing off... Downhill, for the Virtua! The popular motion controlled skiing game is coming to the Virtua with a slew of new features, improved graphics, and the ability to ski with just your body. The game is coming in January of next year, and we later found out that it'll be released at $29.99, another budget priced game. Then, we saw a preview trailer for Namco's later game in the Ace Combat series, coming exclusively to Virtua. Called Ace Combat: Infinite Skies, it's another gorgeous game, with incredible graphics, riveting combat, and a slew of new characters and missions. In fact, the game looks to be the most cinematic and story heavy Ace Combat game yet, making the stakes for the player even higher than ever before. Infinite Skies is coming next year. Next up, another Gemini preview, this time for a new game in the Aerio series. It looks like the series will be continuing exclusively on the Gemini from this point forward, and it picks up where the last game left off, with Aerio, now alive and more powerful than ever before, teaming up with a slew of old friends and new friends to battle a powerful new evil. The action looks spectacular, with Aerio slinging off a ton of spells, and not just wind elemental ones, but energy spells and fire spells too. This game looks like a nonstop action adventure thrill ride that's perfectly made for showing off the Gemini's gorgeous graphics, and we'll be seeing this one next year.

    After this segment, Carmack ceded the stage to some Apple programmers, who briefly discussed the iPhone and iPad and their newest updates for gaming. We saw a very Nexus-like feature for the iPhone, allowing players to use their iPhone as a controller, but without the second screen functionality of the Nexus (we did get some second screen features for certain games, but it's nothing compared to what Nexus titles are capable of). We learned about Apple's new augmented reality game Person People, in which players could generate avatars of themselves to explore and battle in various real world locations, and we also saw the introduction of a new achievement tracker/walkthrough tool for the iPhone designed to work in conjunction with SegaNet (yep, that's still a thing as the Virtua's official online service). Players can give each other hints in real time for tricky sections of games, and can also share their achievements and post videos to the service. The segment was pretty good at showing how Apple's other devices can be used to enhance certain games, but the crowd didn't seem as into this one as they were for the games themselves. Fortunately, John Carmack returned to save us by introducing Hideki Kamiya to show off an early in-progress action RPG title called Scalebound that would be exclusive to the Virtua. Scalebound will feature a man and a dragon roaming a vast world together, fighting enemies and gaining strength. Scalebound is somewhat reminiscent of Dragonwar, but much more combat focused, as is par for the course for a Platinum title. We didn't get much of this one, even a release window, but a demo was available on the show floor, and despite being quite basic was also quite fun. The next preview consisted of a story trailer for Land Of Enchantment 2, the sequel to Apple's 2011 hit cinematic action game. The trailer showed the game taking place in the early 1950s, and instead of getting the atomic bomb, the Soviet Union acquires something far more dangerous: alien supertechnology, just as the alien defectors from the first game feared. Arabeth is abducted into a future where Earth is ruled by the Soviet Union, which has morphed into something very similar to Oceania from 1984, and the other heroes must venture through time and space to save her. This new sequel, just like its predecessor, features incredible graphics, and the trailer promised that the game would take full advantage of the Virtua's motion controls as well. After the Land Of Enchantment 2 trailer, we got one more quick teaser trailer for an upcoming Virtua exclusive, a first-person shooter which seemed to combine elements with MMORPG-type gameplay, and featured a massive, and I mean massive, array of players (256 at once, perhaps?). The game was identified only as Project Echo, and Carmack promised more about the game at a later date, but that it will be an experience that will only be available on the Virtua. He then thanked the attendees, and that wrapped Apple's E3 presentation for 2013. Apple's presentation seemed much heavier on 2014's games than 2013, promising perhaps a lean rest of the year for Apple, though Neutralizer Alpha and Phantasy Star IX both seemed quite strong. It's great to see Commander Keen back, and we know Sonic 7 is coming to the Gemini, but where's the news about a Sonic Virtua game? We're expecting to hear news of Virtua Sonic sooner rather than later (it's rumored that a potential iTwin/Virtua Sonic title intended for the Virtua launch was scrapped after the unexpected success of Sonic The Hedgehog 6 and the disappointing sales of Elemental Friends), but the longer fans have to wait, the more restless they're going to get.

    -

    *A woman in her early-20s wearing punk inspired clothes is standing with some game developers who are showing off an interesting looking rhythm game.*

    Woman: What's up, this is Jagged Angel here at E3 2013, and I'm with the developers of the all new rhythm game Modern Beats, coming to a console near you. Guys, this game is really special, and that's all because of this right here *she points to a peripheral with a screen in the middle and two large haptic pads on either side* that will help you play this really fun game, what is it?

    Developer: This is called the Beatbox, and it actually differs depending on what console you're playing the game on. This one's for the Reality version of the game, but we actually have a slightly different one for the Virtua, and then on the Nexus, it doesn't have a screen because you can use your phone as the screen.

    Jagged Angel: That's really cool. I've already played this game and had a killer time with it, but for my viewers, show me how to play.

    Developer: You'll be using these pads here in conjunction with the screen, and as the song plays, you'll be tapping the pads, but you'll also be interacting with the screen to change up the song. You can use this screen to remix the song to flip across the stage, or you can use the screen to switch to an entirely different song.

    *Jagged Angel is shown playing the game herself, and the interface shows a game combining elements of titles such as DJ Hero, Amplitude, and Dropmix, with the player's performance transforming the stage that the player is interacting with and also changing up the song, giving the appearance of conducting a symphony as the icon moves back and forth. It's full of visual and auditory stimuli, and the points rack up quickly, making the game fun both to watch and to play.*

    Jagged Angel: I'm really loving how the controls actually help the player get more into the music as they're playing, I can feel myself swaying and rocking back and forth to the song as I'm playing the game. Now, I have a question for you, why bring out a rhythm game at a time when rhythm games like Guitar Hero are way down?

    Developer: We think the new consoles and their different approaches to controlling games really help to make games like Modern Beats possible. The flexibility in their control schemes allows us some flexibility when coming up with the Beatbox accessory.

    Jagged Angel: I've gotta say, this is more fun than playing a guitar. I feel like some kind of music wizard!

    Developer: *laughing* That really is the idea!

    Jagged Angel: What's cool is that this game isn't just going to have songs from modern music, it'll have its own unique songs and will also let players create their own songs just by playing with this device! That's really cool.

    Developer: Players will be able to share their creations too.

    Jagged Angel: This sounds better and better.

    -from the Videocean series Girlpunk Games, posted to Videocean on June 14, 2013

    -

    Alex Stansfield: Now for a very, VERY special guest with me here at E3 2013, it's my good friend and former GameTV co-host, Brittany Saldita!

    Brittany: *sitting next to Alex and smiling quite happily* Hey there, everyone!

    Alex: Are you having fun at E3 this year?

    Brittany: I am, I am, this is probably the most fun E3 I've ever been to!

    Alex: Now, you're here at E3 to promote the new Assassin's Creed, which you're a part of, but are you allowed to talk about other games with me? Are you allowed to play the other games?

    Brittany: *laughing* Yes, Alex, I am allowed to talk about other games with you today, don't worry. I've actually been having a really good time here, I've gone around and played lots of games. Corona del Sol looks amazing, and then Squad Four: Betrayal....

    Alex: We'll talk about Squad Four: Betrayal, because that's the one I really do want to talk about, but what did you think of Corona del Sol?

    Brittany: I think it's going to be my RPG of the year. It's such a deep game from what I played, the combat is really great, you can use swords or guns or magic, you can customize... pretty much everything, and go pretty much everywhere from the get go. Complete freedom in how you build your character and interact with the world, I could see myself spending a lot of hours on it for sure.

    Alex: I was really impressed with Corona del Sol too, I liked the combat, and I liked the level of interactivity and all the crazy dialogue trees. I can't imagine how hard they must have worked on this game.

    Brittany: It's not like Elder Scrolls, it almost reminds me of Neverwinter Nights or Baldur's Gate in the level of interaction there is. It's incredible.

    Alex: So I gotta ask, before we talk about Squad Four: Betrayal, how are you feeling this week?

    Brittany: Well, I'm a bit tired, probably some of that is from promoting Assassin's Creed IV, some of that might be from the medicine and the chemo, I dunno. It's a thing, I'm always having people coming up and asking me how I'm doing, and it's good to have people who are concerned about me, but, I mean, at the same time, I'm here, I'm having fun, I'm doing okay. *smiles* how are YOU feeling this week?

    Alex: I'm surrounded by video games, how do you think I'm feeling?

    Brittany: *laughs* Yeah, Chris is here doing his features for The Nerdist, and right now I'm pretty much just hanging out and playing games, taking notes so maybe I can do an article or two later.

    Alex: Let's talk about Squad Four: Betrayal.

    Brittany: Well, it looks amazing. The combat is really fun, I do notice they slowed things down a bit from Protectors...

    Alex: I noticed that too! It's a lot more deliberate now, it's not just hack and slash, you have to really think.

    Brittany: The combat animation is jaw-dropping. Whoever is in charge of the animation for this game deserves an award, because I've never seen something so realistic and so energetic at the same time. It's not just the Reality, because F-Zero: FIRESTORM looked great but wasn't nearly as good as this. This is like, I mean... *chef's kiss* it's spectacular.

    Alex: So, who do you think is the traitor?

    Brittany: I mean, Marcus is too obvious, right? I think it's gotta be Lane, who'd ever suspect the little dorky guy?

    Alex: Do you think it's a betrayal for real, or do you think they're pulling something?

    Brittany: I think... I mean, it can't be FOREVER, right? It's Squad Four, not Squad Three, so either they'd have to replace one or it's got to be a red herring.

    Alex: That's why I'm thinking maybe it's Rebecca, so they can replace her with Raquel.

    Brittany: Have we even seen Raquel?

    Alex: Wouldn't that be cool though, Rebecca betrays the team and we get this big blow-up fight between her and Raquel?

    Brittany: But women gotta stick together! I hope it's not her. Actually, I'm HOPING it's Shad, because that would be amazing, the leader betraying his teammates and they have to take him down.

    Alex: Honestly, I'm hoping it's Shad too. But who would they replace Shad with?

    Brittany: Raquel. Give us the team we should've had all along!

    Alex: I am so excited for this game.

    Brittany: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. Also looking forward to Grand Theft Auto III.

    Alex: You auditioned for it, right?

    Brittany: Um... yeah hold on. *checks her phone* Okay, yeah, okay, I can tell you.

    Alex: You were under an NDA?

    Brittany: I actually was until Rockstar's presentation, then they actually sent me something saying I can tell people I auditioned because they revealed that Camille Guaty actually is playing Lalaine. So yeah, I did audition in early 2011, but I had to pull out because of my diagnosis. The game has a lot of motion capture for Lalaine, so yeah, I couldn't do that with the heavy chemo I was doing at the time. I don't think I would've gotten the part though, if you've seen Camille she is REALLY good, so yeah, I don't think I missed out.

    Alex: Well, you're still gonna play the game though, right?

    Brittany: Of course! A Latina protagonist, are you kidding me? Lalaine looks like a badass too, I'm gonna have so much fun pulling massacres with her.

    Alex: *laughs* So, do you already have the Nintendo Reality?

    Brittany: Been playing FIRESTORM and Wipeout like crazy. That's the good thing about living in LA, I can just go home tonight and play with my kids. Arturo's probably playing it right now. Regan, I dunno, I think she's playing Terra Mystica with her friends. She's been playing less and less video games since she's gotten old enough to play some of the really complex board games.

    Alex: Well, at least your kids won't be fighting over the Reality!

    Brittany: That's true!

    -from a video posted on Games Over Matter on June 14, 2013

    -

    E3 2013 was focused on showcasing the games of the next generation, and ended up being one of the most game-heavy shows of all time, with all the focus devoted toward some of the biggest games of the next couple years. Nintendo, Apple, and Google were all eager to reveal new installments of their biggest franchises, and none of the three presentations disappointed, save for Sonic fans upset that their favorite blue hedgehog was a no-show.

    Nintendo's presentation on Monday, coinciding with the launch of their Reality console, was chock-full of big announcements, from the first formal reveals of the upcoming Selene and Squad Four games to in-depth looks at their next generation Pilotwings and Velvet Dark games, Nintendo gave attendees a look at just what's been cooking at their studios, and the promise that immersive VR will deliver. However, like Apple with Sonic, some of Nintendo's biggest franchises, including Mario and Zelda, were conspicuously absent. No doubt that Nintendo is working on the newest games in both of their biggest franchises, but their absence left a hole that even Squad Four couldn't quite fill. There was a slight consensus that Nintendo had lost E3, but the launch of the Reality overshadowed that somewhat, and the reception for Squad Four: Betrayal was such that most Nintendo critics kept their mouths shut this time around.

    Google's presentation was fairly short compared to the other two, but showed off lots of high quality content, and confirmed that third party studios and licensees really like working on Nexus games. Joss Whedon was a surprise guest who stole the show with the reveal of his Buffy game, and games like Miraculous Ladybug continue to look better and better, while Techno Angel: Sabine showed that yes, like it or not, the Nexus is the Xbox successor, with enough Microsoft exclusives to displaced Xbox fans. The tease of a promising new Bungie IP was also intriguing, and Google found themselves in an excellent position to steal the latter half of 2013.

    Apple continued to be, well, Apple, with Steve Jobs showing up just long enough to brag and boast about the Virtua's shockingly successful Japanese launch and some new iPhone gaming features. The games themselves weren't overly shocking, just a solid lineup of future titles, including a fun looking new Commander Keen and an exciting new Platinum Games title about dragons and fantasy and... wait, why not just let them work on the Dragonwar sequel? Apple's E3 presentation may have been the least exciting of the three, but it might have been the most effective, with a stronger lineup of games than Nintendo and a much bigger one than Google's.

    On the PC front... Half-Life 3 and a CONFIRMED release date were the biggest stories of the week, but many were also enchanted by Corona del Sol, and we can't forget the new Wolfenstein game that could end up challenging Valve's blockbuster for the title of the year's best shooter (don't forget Joanna Dark in that mix). The week also proved to be a good one for mobile games, and not just original IPs, but spinoff titles such as Star Trek: Federation Command, Sailor Moon Music Idol, and the Android exclusive The Covenant: Ashfall.

    We're now living in a next-gen world, and with the Sapphire and iTwin's lifespans dwindling down and the new consoles rising, we've now got a pretty clear picture of what all three new consoles are bringing to the table. For the most part, people who attended E3 liked what they saw, and now the only thing left to do is wait for these games to get into the hands of the people buying up the consoles. E3 2014 will likely see Mario, Sonic, and Link finally make their debuts on the eighth generation stage, but will the trends that have emerged already in this newest generation render the old guard obsolete? That could become the defining question of this generation of games.

    -from IGN's summary of E3 2013

    -

    Game Critics Awards E3 2013

    Best Of Show: Grand Theft Auto III
    Best Original Game: Neutralizer Alpha
    Best Console Game: Grand Theft Auto III
    Best PC Game: Half-Life 3
    Best Handheld Game: Duality Twin
    Best Peripheral/Hardware: Modern Beats Beatbox
    Best Action Game: Grand Theft Auto III
    Best Action/Adventure Game: Pilotwings: Freeflight
    Best Role Playing Game: Corona del Sol
    Best Racing Game: Vintage Speed Super
    Best Sports Game: Madden NFL 14
    Best Fighting Game: Star Wars Masters
    Best Shooter: Half-Life 3
    Best Party Game: Modern Beats
    Best Online Multiplayer: Pixelworld 2
     
    BONUS: A History Of World Of Warcraft, Part 1
  • Guest post: World of Warcraft in Retrospective(Part 1)

    Alright, Ry has given me via pms permission to post about alt-World of Warcraft, so this will hopefully be the first of a few posts about how the once former King of MMOs OTL develops TTL. Hope you all enjoy.

    It should be noted that I did seriously contemplating scrapping my ideas for alt-WoW. In part due to WoW being somewhat different from OTL due to butterflies(through not enough butterflies that the expansions become totally indistinguishable), the implication that alt-WoW is much more like Warhammer Online: Age of reckoning than OTL WoW and needing to line up my plans for the gameplay and the lore with what Ry had for WoW along with the belief I have(in part due to Blizzard's long list of fuckups that became even more apparent now) that Blizzard's decline was somewhat inevitable even without activision(in part induced by their recent fuckups)--my TL literally requires Blizzard to be a bit more compentent, particuarly in the story development(not helping is the fact that their most controversial story development is arguably planned by themselves). Unlike say Bioware, Visceral Games, or Westwood, which I believe could be in a much better situation had EA not gotten it's greedy claws on them, Blizzard had a lot of creative control and freedom over it's product and wasn't really "changed" or "corrupted" by corporate culture.

    So then, I went "screw it, let's go through with my ideas anyways". In part because.

    • Most of the gameplay/plot/lore differences TTL with OTL are either workable or easy to figure out and incorporate into a somewhat more familiar setting that I could work with.
    • A lot of Blizzard's most rash decision wrt WoW that made things worse on many levels were made to deal with the inevitable player loss of WoW. With Blizzard doing spin-off warcraft games other than big projects such as WoW and Starcraft and Diablo II TTL, I feel that Blizzard might have enough of a presence to starve off their decline or to control the population decline whenever it happens.
    • Blizzard has a disturbing trend to cater to the most toxic elements of their fanbase, especially once the numbers started to decline. The entire Warcraft III reforged fuckup was because people complained about the lore changes. There were also many lore characters turned into raid bosses because of vocal hatedoms on the fourms or killed off for the sole purporse of crowd pleasing. Also consider blizzard going all out to address a issue in a scorched-earth method(ie: nerfing something too hard because a large % of the population hates a class being op). I think in a world where the gamer dudebro mentality is deconstructed much earlier due to the game industry doing more to cater to women, the chudification or dudebrofication of gaming culture might be less intensive, and this may allow Blizzard to have less knee-jerk reactions to people whining on the fourms.
    • I could easily see another way that Blizzard falls from grace that would be fun to write (especially with the Dual expansions thing wrt Siege of the Forbidden city, which seems to be, or I am planning to link it to being, alt-mists, which can be easily abused if a corrupt person comes to power)
    So without further ado, here is alt-vanilla:

    Vanilla WoW

    World of Warcraft was released on August 17, 2004, somewhat earlier than OTL. It is mostly the same game as OTL, down to the same races and factions. However, it has some significant differences in contrast to OTL:

    • While there are two factions, there are four different "main storylines" for TTL's World of Warcraft. Three of the four races on both Alliance(Human ,dwarf and Gnome) and Horde(Orc, Troll, Tauren) share the same main quest line(through a Tauren or a Dwarf will have a different starting experience then, a human or a Orc due to different starting areas), with one race on both side having a different main quest line then the other races(Night Elves and Forsaken Undead).
      • The human/dwarf/gnome storyline deals with black dragon Onxyia's machinations-following the disappearance of Alliance King Varian Wyrnn(which she engineered herself)-in trying to isolate the Kingdom of Stormwind from the rest of the Alliance, as well as the threat posed by the Leper Gnomes and the Dark Irons to the Kingdom of Ironforge. Onyxia is weakening Stormwind in perparation for an attack by Rend Blackhand's True Horde from Blackrock Mountain, which has been backed up by a mysterious benefactor tied to the Black Dragonflight(revealed in the shared Horde storyline to be Nefarian). The plot of the human and dwarf/gnome campaigns converge after the Deadmines, and lead into human and dwarf/gnome adventurers putting a stop to the Stockade riots, and participating in the Missing Diplomat Quest Chain, which as per OTL remains unresolved until the World of Warcraft comic. The campaign then gradually segways into the Onyxia attunement chain, which sees Onyxia exposed as per OTL and forced to flee to her lair, and Bolvar taking over as reagent until Varian returns, reversing any policy Onyxia might have taken to isolate Stormwind from Ironforge. The players then take the quest to gain the Drakefire amulet and attack Onyxia in her lair, but the campaign dosen't end there. Upon slaying Onyxia the players receive word that the Dark Iron Emperor has kidnapped the Dwarf princess Moira Bronzebeard, and is planning to attack Ironforge, while Rend Blackhand has built up enough of an army to march on Stormwind. The alliance campaign ends with the alliance players killing the Dark Iron Emperor, rescuing the Dwarf princess, and venturing into Molten Core to stop the Dark Iron Emperor's master: Firelord Ragnaros, while the Horde takes on Rend Blackhand and Nefarian in Upper Blackrock Spire.
        • Onyxia and Nefarian's plan involves preventing Varian from going to a diplomatic meeting with the Horde. With Wyrnn's disappearance, Onyxia plans to pin the blame on the Horde for kidnapping King Varian while diplomatically isolating Stormwind from Theramore and Ironforge, ensuring Stormwind goes into any war alone. Meanwhile Rend Blackhand's sympathizers in Thrall's horde, using Thrall's supposed "weakness" in dealing with the Alliance as a pretext, will launch a coup and pledge their allegiance to Rend Blackhand; attacking Stormwind from the west via a naval invasion.
      • The shared Horde campaign deals with Thrall's efforts to settle the Horde into Durotar with the help of the Tauren. However, they have to deal with remnants of Proudmoore's fleet that refuse to lay down their arms following their defeat at the end of the Bonus campaign in the Frozen Throne. The Horde also seeks to expand into Ashenvale, but have been facing more and more resistance due to the intervention of a more militaristic Night Elven society under the guidance of Fandral Staghelm. Meanwhile they have to deal with internal attempts by demon cults such as the Burning Blade, seeking the re-enslavement of the Orcs and the return of the Burning Legion. These demon cults, along with militarists in horde ranks, seek to replace Thrall with someone more hawkish, through for differing reasons(the cultists think that a more hawkish Orc will be more vulnerable to corruption, while the militarists think that a more militant warchief will be more willing to declare war on the Alliance). Varian not showing up for the planned diplomatic summit with the horde(having gone missing thanks to Onyxia's machinations) soured ties with Theramore and the alliance further. The shared Horde campaign has the player deal with the Burning Blade, only to reveal that the Burning Blade and the Searing Blade aren't the worst internal enemies to the horde. Rather, it is sympathizers to the Dark Horde warchief Rend Blackhand, whom never recognized Thrall as the rightful warchief and is working with Nefarian to build up his army in Blackrock Mountain, while his sympathizers in the Horde seeks to overthrow Thrall in a coup and pledge allegiance to Rend's "True Horde". As with the Alliance campaign, the Horde campaign involves an attunement quest to confront Onyxia, and culminates in an attack on Blackrock Spire to assassinate Rend Blackhand, and a 40-man raid on Blackwing Lair to kill Nefarian.
        • Parts of the Horde campaign are adapted into the Xbox action RPG/RTS hybrid spin-off Warcraft: The Unwavering Horde, which has Rend as the main villain raising a massive army to attack Stormwind, and the protagonist must unify a squad of heroic soldiers to stop their advance. The relative success of The Unwavering Horde will encourage Blizzard to create the spin-off Warcraft: The Dreaded, which involves gameplay similar to OTL's Overlord series and retells the fall of Arthas Menethil into the Lich King.
      • The Night Elf campaign starts with a cinematic explaining how the loss of the Night Elves’ immortality left them lost, and alone. A charismatic druid known as Fandral Staghelm and his fellow druids attempted to grow a new World Tree off the coast of northern Ashenvale. The tree, of course, quickly grew and prospered, and this allowed Staghelm to seek to gain back all that they have lost. Their great empire, their powers over nature, all of it. Staghelm seeks to militarize Night Elf society and launch a war of conquest against the Horde. His ambitions are opposed by Tyrande, whom seeks more diplomatic initiatives, through with Malfurion lost in the Emerald Dream, Tyrande's influence is diminished in this power struggle, with many of the younger Night Elves backing Staghelm. The main antagionist however, is not revealed to be Staghelm, or the Horde in it's own efforts to expand into Ashenvale, but a surviving Doom Lord from the Battle of Mount Hyjal: Kaz'rogal. The finale of the Night Elf campaign sees a 40 man raid into Hyjal as the Night Elves, led by Tyrande, seek to prevent Kaz'rogal from absorbing the surviving magic in the former well of eternity. Before the final raid, the Night Elves sought to gather support from various races in Kalimdor such as the Furblog and the Mountain Giants, and even the Red Dragonflight(which involves killing Onyxia to gain the trust of the Red Dragonflight and thus their own version of the Onyxia attunement quest chain that is somewhat similar to the Horde variant), to launch an assault on Hyjal. The end of the Night Elf campaign sees Tyrande winning the power struggle with Staghelm and the latter's ambitions curtailed for the moment.
      • The Forsaken campaign involves the Forsaken battling the Scarlet Crusade, as well as Scourge remnants in the Plaguelands for dominance of what was Lordaeron, and seeking to join the Horde. The Scarlet Crusade has a much greater presence than OTL's WoW and are the main threat to the Forsaken, with the Scourge being side villains for the time being. The Forsaken campaign involves first clearing the SC and Scourge remnants out of Tirisfal Glades, and then allying with the Horde and later the Argent Dawn. It is noteworthy because it's the only campaign that does not involve a confrontation with Onyxia(probably because it being hard to justify the narrative involving the Black Dragonflight in any capacity), and it culminates in a raid on the Scarlet Citadel in Stratholme where the Forsaken, in a teeth clenched teamwork situation with the Argent Dawn first clear Stratholme of Scourge forces led by Baron Rivendare, and then attack the Scarlet Citadel and defeat the demonic puppetmaster pulling the Scarlet Crusade's strings: The Dreadlord Balnazzar, whom seemed to have survived the events of Warcraft 3.
    • The game's early and mid-game instances mostly remain the same with the exception of Gnomeregan, which has been retooled into an alternate low-level instance for alliance players (particular Dwarves and Gnomes) and is somewhat more linear than OTL. The late game content is much different than OTL, with Blackrock Depths separated into a 5-man section and a 10-man raid section. Stratholme is separated into a 10-man raid(Undead side) and a instance portal into the 40 man Scarlet Citadel raid. Scholomance and LBRS remains the same as OTL but narratively different to fit alt-WoW's lore and narrative. The Sunken Temple is not accessible at launch but added with the Rise of the Blood God patch.
    • The game ships with more 40-man raids than OTL, with the Scarlet Wing of Stratholme made into a 40 man raid, the Hyjal raid that Blizzard never got to creating OTL making the cut TTL, Blackwing Lair shipping on release rather than in a later patch, and Molten Core and Onyxia's lair as per OTL. The bosses mechanics are somewhat more simpler and easier than OTL classic(which isn't this hardcore nightmare to begin with despite what purists say tbh), and the raids have less bosses than OTL as well (to compensate for a larger range of raids). With regards to attunement, some races can attain raid attunement through progressing in their main campaigns or can attain attunement through various side quests if they have a different campaign.
    • Theramore is a neutral faction that both Alliance and Horde players can gain reputation with
    • Content Patches:
      • Patches 1.2 and 1.3 are mostly the same as per OTL, introducing Mauradon and Dire Maul respectively. Later down the line, Patch 1.8: Dragons of Nightmare and 1.10, Storms of Azeroth is also relatively similar to OTL.
      • Patch 1.4, The Call to War, introduces various landmarks and even cities that Alliance and Horde players can fight to control in contested territory(control of which gives a bonus such as buffs to the controlling side). This involves Night Elf ruins in Azshara, various ruins in the Plaguelands, as well as Tarren Mill and Southshore. The Paladin and Warlock mount quests are introduced here as per OTL
      • Patch 1.5, Battlegrounds, introduces Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley as per OTL, it also introduces Azshara Crater, a battleground that didn't make it OTL but which could be found in map files.
      • Patch 1.7: Rise of the Blood God introduces the Zul'Gurub raid as per OTL. It also introduces the Sunken temple dungeon and a quest chaing culminating with a 10-man raid facing Hakkar the Soulflayer. Hakkar's corrupted blood disease still causes the infamous corrupted blood glitch as per OTL, and this incident helps propel the game to notoriourity pop-culture wise as per OTL too.
      • Patch 1.9: The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj is somewhat different than OTL. It introduces a quest chain spanning southern Kalimdor introducing the player to Silithus and the lore behind the Old God C'thun, as well as recapping the original War of the Shifting Sands, while also filling in important backstory for Fandral Staghelm (and the story is mostly the same.). The war effort and the massive quest chain to open the gates of Ahn'Qiraj is also mostly the same as per OTL and it causes the same server lag issues as per OTL and it discourages Blizzard from mass world events as before. Lore-wise Tyrande and her warriors are part of the Alliance-Horde-Cenarion Circle coalition to seal away C'thun, and the Twilight's hammer take a bigger role as antagionists in Shifting Sands quest chain. Tier 2.5 dosen't exist OTL. Rather many of the Tier 2 items are acquired through AQ10 and AQ40.
      • Old Naxxramas is mostly the same as OTL, but the entrance is located in Stratholme's 10-man undead raid instead. There’s a lot more story about the bosses and things – especially Mograine. During the fight, Mograine slowly begins to regain his sanity the more HP he loses. He gives you his corrupted sword as he dies, telling you to find it a home with a Paladin worthy of wielding it, as he feels he is not. The Corrupted Sword is not wieldable TTL(through I have plans for Pure Ashbringer going into alt-Legion assuming I am still around then) and it is given to Tirion Fordring assuming the sidequests about his son(goes roughly the same as per OTL), who feels he is unworthy of the gift. Nevertheless he vows to find a way to purify the sword. Also Horde raids will have an additional challenge during the final fight with Kel'Thuzad--he will call on the powers of the Lich King to re-assert control of all Forsaken raid-members, forcing them to fight their allies. Simply using “Will of the Forsaken” will cure this effect.
    Well that's it for Vanilla. In part 2 I will be discussing alt Burning Crusade(seems to be called Eternal Crusade here) and an alt-third expansion in part 3.
     
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    Spring 2013 (Part 7) - The Rest Of The Games
  • (Here are the rest of the notable games from April 2013 to June 2013!)
    -

    Apple Virtua:

    Dead Midnight: Resurrection

    Capcom actually released an Apple-exclusive Dead Midnight game before, in the form of 2011's Dead Midnight: Double Shot, which focused on Damien and Alix and mixed up the series somewhat. It was a commercial disappointment, but critics received it well, and the company immediately decided to try again on the Virtua, this time with a game focused on Raya Mystic, the legendary agent who was killed in a previous title. The game is much the same as Double Shot, with dual wielding third person shooter controls and less of an emphasis on stealth, but with a new coat of graphical polish and a more streamlined main campaign. The game is a prequel (so Raya isn't actually brought back to life in canon), and focused on a mission where she finds herself behind enemy lines, forced to extract a double agent whose loyalty she's unsure of. She eventually finds and rescues him, and falls in love with him, but he betrays her, forcing her to fight her way back to a friendly base. This game features some of the smoothest controls of any Dead Midnight game, and since it's a stand alone title, it isn't caught up in any of the series' convoluted lore. Though it's not a blockbuster like the series used to be, it's a fairly well received game upon its release in June 2013, becoming one of the biggest early hits for the Virtua, with sales significantly exceeding those of Double Shot, and critical reviews in the mid 8s. Dead Midnight continues to slowly crawl its way back to respectability, and Capcom wants to do something with the series, but may need to outsource it to a different studio...

    Google Nexus:

    Shadowrun Tactics

    A sort of compliment to Shadowrun: Archaica released at a budget price on the Nexus, Shadowrun Tactics features the characters and settings of the popular sci-fi series in the frame of an SRPG, comparable to games like the XCOM series. Filled with lore and references to previous works in the franchise, including books, tabletop games, and other video games, Shadowrun Tactics is considered one of the best SRPGs of the year, and at a price of just $19.99 at launch, it's considered a must buy for fans of the franchise, even moreso than Archaica. The biggest disappointment about Shadowrun Tactics is that it's a Nexus exclusive, but it does eventually become playable on any Android device for just $9.99.

    Imaginary Friend

    A fully 3-D action adventure for the Google Nexus, Imaginary Friend tells the story of a young boy named Jacob who befriends a young girl. Only Jacob can see or hear the girl, whose name is Bethany, and though he's not at all convinced she's real, her arrival coincides with his acquisition of strange powers and some pretty momentous events in Jacob's life. The game's animation technique is a sort of hand-drawn 3-D that gives the game a sort of dream-like feel, making even the mundane seem extraordinary, and it's a technique the game receives heavy praise for. As Jacob explores his town, he opens doors to mysterious realms that the girl guides him through, while events from those realms spill into real world spaces in his school, his town, and his home. His powers include the ability to shoot out energy balls, to switch lights on and off, and a form of limited telekinesis and telepathy. As the game plays out, we learn Jacob and Bethany's life stories, and how interwoven they are with one another. Eventually, Jacob battles a cruel person who has similar powers but stronger, and learns that this person is also talking to a mysterious friend that only he can see or hear. We also learn that Bethany is indeed completely imaginary, and is the result of Jacob's brain trying to cope with his new powers. He manages to defeat the cruel man and dispels all the dangerous and weird things in his town, and finally realizes that he has to let Bethany go in a bittersweet ending. Jacob has managed to make some new friends and improve things with his family, so even though Bethany is gone, she still had a profound effect on Jacob's life. Imaginary Friend is considered one of the year's best Nexus exclusives, praised for its unique story and simple but strong gameplay, and it manages to score excellent sales, both at launch and later on after word of mouth spreads.

    Fated To Awaken

    The third and final game in the Fated trilogy of action adventure titles comes exclusively to the Google Nexus in 2013. While featuring much of the same action-adventure inspired gameplay as its predecessors, including the use of different weapons and elements in battle and the use of context sensitive attacks in combat, much of the elements of Fated To Fall, including the Metroidvania-style gameplay and the QTEs that seemed to define the previous game are gone. Fated To Awaken is a more linear quest, taking Fate and his friends from world to world, one step behind the galactic conquests of Evincar. The game is slightly less grimdark than its predecessor as well: it starts out fairly dark, but as Fate and his friends rally more of the galaxy to their side, it transforms into a more hopeful, optimistic adventure. The game has received a graphical overhaul, with improved graphics despite the lower budget, thanks to the Nexus' capabilities and the game's more limited scope. There are more boss fights (18 in all) than Fated To Fall, and a more action oriented style of gameplay, with less RPG elements and more beat 'em up elements. The game's voice cast has gotten an overhaul as well. Andrew Garfield, who voiced Fate in the previous game, is now too famous and expensive to hire, and Drake Bell was brought back to voice Fate a second time (he previously voiced him in Fated To Rise). Mae Whitman replaces Susan Chesler as Karina (who does indeed return) while Jason Isaacs returns to voice Evincar. The game itself sees Fate and his surviving friends launching an attack on Evincar and the New Sanctia forces as they try to conquer a new world. They fail to stop the conquest, but gain a valuable new ally in the process in the form of Chana, a soldier who once fought for Evincar but now seeks to join Fate's rebellion, disgusted with her master's actions. From there, Fate and friends continue to fight Evincar across the galaxy, learning that his ultimate goal is to unlock the Sleeping Star at the center of the universe, which grants its holder the power of a god. The only way to stop him, Fate eventually learns, is to restore Karina's essence, as she is still the holder of the Wheel of Destiny, which can seal off the Star. At first, Fate doesn't want to believe he can save Karina, thinking he'll just lose her again, but he eventually regains hope. The game briefly tries to trick the player into thinking that Karina won't be brought back after all, but in the end, Fate uses his own life force to restore Karina to life, and she uses the Wheel of Destiny to keep him alive as well. The two unite with their old and new friends to stop Evincar from getting the Sleeping Star, which instead lends its power to Fate and Karina for the final battle. They defeat Evincar, saving the galaxy at last, and while New Sanctia is destroyed, its people are able to find a new home on a new world crafted for them from the Sleeping Star's power, with Fate and Karina ruling as the benevolent king and queen. Fated To Awaken gets mostly good reviews, though they're worse than those for the last two games, averaging in the low 8s rather than the low 9s. It's criticized for its more linear and simplistic quest progression, but longtime fans enjoy the game and all the fanservice. Sales of Fated To Awaken are fairly disappointing, less than a million overall, but the game manages to make a small profit, and the trilogy itself is fondly remembered by its loyal fans.

    Nintendo Connect:

    SOCOM: No Easy Day

    A squad-based first person shooter for the Connect, SOCOM: No Easy Day is essentially just a SOCOM game optimized for handhelds, with a set of new missions for players to complete either in single-player mode or with friends online. It sees a team of Navy SEALs deployed to four different locations around the world, battling warlords and terrorists and rescuing hostages. It doesn't innovate much from previous games in the series, though it's quite visually impressive for a handheld game, and apart from the single player campaign being a bit short, doesn't do anything truly wrong per se. It's just a solid handheld shooter, and has a decent online community, being one of the games that popularizes the Connect's voice chat client (the Connect has a built in microphone, enabling players to enjoy the voice chat without a headset, though they can certainly use one and that's probably the optimal way to play). Sales are solid, as are reviews, and more handheld SOCOM titles will find their way to the Connect in the next few years.

    Forever War

    A tactical RPG title mixing elements of games like Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem, and Advance Wars, Forever War is a sort of spiritual successor to the latter (made by the same company) with a more realistic twist and a neat “connectivity” element which allows the player to build armies by connecting the game to different electronic devices. The game is meant for online competitive play but has a robust “career” campaign mode in which the player is able to build up an army by acquiring points and territory in single player missions. Forever War is a very well reviewed game and an excellent new IP launch, eventually selling three million copies across its lifespan.

    Apple Gemini:

    Mega Man Battle

    A sort of Smash Brothers-like game in which various Mega Man characters battle it out in massive, hazard-filled arenas, Mega Man Battle features over 50 different characters from across the franchise, each bringing their own unique weapons and skills to the table. Mega Man and Mega Man X appear, as do characters like Roll, Protoman, Sigma, Cognus, Melody, Vile, Zero, and Bass, and of course there are lots of Mavericks and Robot Masters from across the series, with Capcom picking not just fan favorites but obscure ones as well. The combat is a bit simpler than that of Smash Bros., and not quite as over the top wacky, but the game has its own unique charm, and also includes an extensive single player adventure mode. There's also DLC released later on that will bring 18 new characters to the game, with 6 of them coming free and the remaining twelve released across four different packs with three each. Mega Man Battle is good, simple fun and an homage to the series' history, and most Mega Man fans agree that it's a must buy, making it one of the most popular Gemini titles of the year.

    Valkyria Chronicles III

    Valkyria Chronicles III comes to the Gemini as an exclusive, being released in Japan in 2012 and getting a Western localization in 2013. It continues somewhat the story of the previous game, taking place a generation after the devastating war that ravaged the continent in Valkyria Chronicles II, and though it mostly features new playable characters, many characters from the last game return, either as NPCs in high ranking positions or as veteran soldiers. Much of the same gameplay systems from the previous game return, and the graphics are pretty much identical to the last game (as the Gemini and iTwin are quite similar in power). However, there are a few new gameplay mechanics present, including the ability to command aerial units in certain situations, the ability to customize weaponry, and a more detailed love/friendship simulation system for characters outside battle, which directly impacts their combat abilities and growth. The game's plot sees the continent recovered from the war, but the old political grudges and loose ends from that war returning with a vengeance to spark a new, more destructive war. General Loxar remains alive and imprisoned, and one army's quest to free him is a major point of conflict for the first two-thirds of the game. Eventually, Loxar is freed by the enemy army, only to be executed by the new villainous commander, Strategus. Strategus, who served as an infantry soldier in the previous war and was badly injured, now holds a grudge against the world for causing his personal pain, and he hopes to use the fires of war to purify those he deems unworthy of life. He eventually manages to conjure up an ancient evil force to amplify his army, making him a threat to the entire world and forcing the allied nations to defeat him. He is eventually defeated and killed in battle, and though some of his former soldiers idolize him, most of the world is glad to see him gone. Valkyria Chronicles III seems to tie up all the loose ends from previous games, and it's implied that the series' plotlines will start fresh in the next game. Reviews and sales for Valkyria Chronicles III are excellent, though the game sells the vast majority of copies in Japan, with North American sales merely decent. The series remains one of Apple's most successful and popular exclusive RPG franchises, and the series is poised to continue on the Gemini, though a possible Virtua installment also can't be ruled out.

    Multiplatform:

    Profoundly Mystified
    (Authors' Note: The following idea was sent to us by the reader Goldwind2!)

    Profoundly Mystified is a comedy/satire RPG developed for the Connect and Gemini, with a somewhat similar tone to games such as OTL's Citizens Of Earth. Its protagonist is a gardener who serves a family of snooty nobles to help pay his sister's way through sorcery school. One day, he notices a group of druids trampling his prized plants, and decides to pursue them, hoping to beat them up and turn them in to the authorities. However, the gardener isn't too bright, and is aided in his quest by the son of the snooty noble family and his sorceress sister, along with a few other comedy relief characters who join the quest later on. As the group ventures around the world, they see the druid dancers trampling more plants with their dancing, and become even more determined to stop them, even while getting into other adventures along the way. Eventually, they learn that these dances are actually cult rituals aimed at summoning forth a powerful demon, and the gardener's quest for revenge becomes a quest to save the world (though only the sorceress sister is fully aware of the cultists' plans, with nearly every other playable hero being somewhat dimwitted and oblivious). The game's art style is somewhat of a throwback to classic 16-bit games, though it utilizes full voice acting (from a cast of mostly obscure unknowns and anime dub specialists) and its combat system is fairly modern, a turn-based combat system combining timed hits and combo attacks. It's a very well received game in terms of reviews, averaging solid mid 8s, though sales are fairly low and it's more of a cult classic than anything else. It's still considered one of the best handheld games of the year, pushing out about three times as many copies on the Connect as it does on the Gemini.

    -

    Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):

    April 2013:

    1. The Avengers (Nintendo Connect)
    2. MLB 13 (Google Nexus)
    3. MLB 13 (Apple Virtua)
    4. SOCOM: No Easy Day (Nintendo Connect)
    5. Mega Man Battle (Apple Gemini)

    May 2013

    1. Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends (Apple Virtua)
    2. Prince Of Persia: Parallel Legends (Google Nexus)
    3. Imaginary Friend (Google Nexus)
    4. Forever War (Nintendo Connect)
    5. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucid (Apple iTwin)

    June 2013

    1. F-Zero: FIRESTORM (Nintendo Reality)
    2. A Song Of Ice And Fire (Google Nexus)
    3. Crime Stories: The Written Tragedy (Nintendo Sapphire)
    4. Crime Stories: The Written Tragedy (Apple iTwin)
    5. Remember Me (Google Nexus)
     
    Summer 2013 (Part 1) - Acclaim's Next Phase
  • Destined 2

    Destined 2 is an action/adventure title published by Acclaim for the next-generation consoles. It continues the story established in 2010's hit franchise starting superhero title, and also includes and continues plot elements from the comic books and television series that have been released over the last two years. Like its predecessor, the game puts the player in control of a superhero team who must fight to protect the populace in a world full of turmoil and danger. Destined 2 features similar beat 'em up gameplay to its predecessor, but features a more complex fighting system with more of an emphasis on team battles, with players needing to utilize their NPC teammates in battle to defeat tougher foes. The game also has a wider focus than its predecessor, which spent most of its plot introducing each individual character. Destined 2 has eight chapters, with only two of them used to introduce characters (the game features four new heroes, and the first two chapters introduce two heroes each), with the last six chapters bringing the ten heroes together against a series of dangerous new foes. Destined 2 gives the player considerably more choice about which hero they get to control, and almost expects players to have played the previous game, with much of the skills learned in this game building off the skills available in the previous game. Like Destined, players won't get to upgrade their characters' skills, though they do learn skills when the story calls for it. This is a game defined by its story, though it gives players a bit more freedom than the last game, with certain routing depending on the character chosen. The game is a bit less combat-centric than the original, with characters often needing to infiltrate narrower areas. Stealth is important, but also optional, with players able to eschew stealth if they wish and confront enemies head on (this works best with certain heroes). Destined 2 sees a significant graphical upgrade over its predecessor, though it keeps somewhat of a comic-esque visual style, adding more smoothness and detail to the characters, animations, and backgrounds. It's definitely the best looking game Acclaim has produced to date, especially on the Reality and the Virtua, with the unique visual style noted heavily by critics and fans alike as one of the game's strongest points. The voice cast from the original game, for the most part, returns for this title, with only Nathalie Kelley as Jillian departing from the main cast (she's replaced by Melissa Fumero). There are numerous other prominent voice actors in the game's cast, with David Strathairn voicing Lucent, the government agent in charge of the Superpowered Humans Program and the game's primary antagonist, while the game's four new heroes are also voiced by decently known actors.

    Destined 2 takes place three years after the original game. Matt, Sarah, Brazer, Canopa, Jillian, and Arty are now working for the government under the auspices of the Superpowered Humans Program, saving the world from dangerous threats. For the most part, it's an amicable arrangement. The government has so far avoided using superheroes for its own personal business, and treats the heroes under its employ quite well. However, tensions are starting to brew, with numerous superpowered humans rejecting government oversight and going rogue. The six heroes used to meet in secret and train together in case they had to revolt against the government themselves, but stopped doing that after an incident in an issue of the comic, which is referred to numerous times in the game. The first two chapters introduce some of this backstory, but mostly focus on four new superpowered individuals: Vargas (voiced by Max Arciniega), a hotheaded brawler with the ability to form and control metal, Krista (voiced by Tara Strong), a ghostlike girl who can phase in and out of matter but has trouble controlling it, Shadow (voiced by Jason Momoa), a man who can control darkness itself, and Astrid (voiced by Sarah-Nicole Robles), a hyperactive gamer girl who can transform parts of her body into stringy cables. When the game begins, Vargas is a wanted man attempting to free Krista from a government facility, a mission covered in chapter 1 of the game, and after Vargas succeeds, causes the government to crack down heavily on superpowered individuals, no longer seeking to recruit them voluntarily, but to capture them. Shadow and Astrid are two of the people targeted by this program, and their escape is chronicled in chapter 2, in which the two run headlong into the previous game's heroes, leading to somewhat of a brawl. Chapter 3 sees the six original heroes tasked with hunting down Vargas and Krista, a mission they're reluctant about completing. Jillian encounters Krista and befriends her (the two having somewhat similar powers), while Vargas meets Arty and the two end up fighting government agents together, while Astrid joins Matt, Sarah, Brazer, and Canopa on a mission, and despite her overeagerness, manages to succeed and convince the government that she should be allowed to join the team. However, tensions continue to rise, especially after a team of five rogue heroes (the leader of whom, an earth-manipulating superhuman named Marika, is an old girlfriend of Vargas') causes death and destruction at a large gathering of civilians. This leads to another crackdown on superpowered individuals, and after a brawl between Matt's team and Marika's team at the end of chapter four in which three of Marika's friends are killed and she is captured, the government puts all superheroes out of commission except for a select group of them who are tasked with hunting and killing rogue heroes. Matt's team refuses this order, and they become fugitives themselves. Chapter five mostly concerns the team freeing Marika from a government prison, but Marika is too far gone in her hatred of humans and immediately begins killing people as soon as she's freed, leading to more tensions that cause Matt's team to fracture. Chapter six is about a three way war between the government, Marika's faction, and the rogue heroes who want to protect humans but also want to keep their freedom. Chapter seven sees Marika finally defeated, dying in Vargas' arms, while chapter eight has the rogue heroes clashing with Lucent and his augmented superhero mercenaries (who we later find out have had their free will taken away by Lucent and his government scientists' experimentations). The final battle leads to an enormous disaster that Matt and his team have to stop after Lucent is defeated. They save the day and keep the loss of civilian life to a minimum, but after everything that's happened, the people no longer trust superhumans, and Matt and his fellow heroes have to go into exile, though they continue to protect the world from the shadows despite the hatred they get from most people.

    Released in early August 2013 for the Nexus, Virtua, and Reality, Destined 2 is the culmination of several years of ancillary material, including DLC for the original Destined game, a full comic series (plus a couple of spinoffs), and a television show still airing on Adult Swim (and will continue to air there until last 2014). It's Acclaim's biggest media franchise by this point, even moreso than Mortal Kombat, and is extremely successful, arguably the most successful multimedia franchise in all of gaming (Thrillseekers' popularity was at its nadir during this time, while Destined's was at its peak). The game itself, though praised for its graphics and storytelling, sees some criticism of its gameplay and pacing. Despite improvements to the combat system, critics and players decry the sometimes repetitive battles, especially a lack of really unique boss fights save for the fights in the last couple chapters. Destined 2 is certainly a flawed game, but not a bad one, and thanks to the popularity of the franchise itself, is still a major financial success and probably one of the biggest games of the year. It comes at a time when Acclaim has been lagging a bit, with Turok on hiatus indefinitely and Mortal Kombat not quite having found the success in its new generation than it did IOTL. Acclaim is also still paying back some of the money it borrowed to acquire its various multimedia franchises, so while Destined 2's success is welcome and helpful, it doesn't completely turn Acclaim's current struggles around, and the company will need more hits if it is to remain one of the most popular gaming companies in the industry.

    -

    Acclaim has enjoyed a big boost this year thanks to the successful release of Destined 2, and on the games front, 2014 looks to be quite strong indeed, with titles such as Acclaimed Champions and the massively hyped Sepulchre on the horizon. Now, rumors are swirling that the company is looking to acquire or merge with another game company, potentially one that could compliment its growing stable of franchised properties and help the company to achieve success in a genre it has yet to explore. Four possible companies have been cited as potential merger targets for Acclaim, and we'll briefly discuss the pros and cons of each one.

    Bethesda: Acclaim has been rumored as a potential buyer for Bethesda, primarily known for its Elder Scrolls series of games. The company has been hard at work on a new PC title, Aura Of Authenticity, coming next year, and despite being a fairly small studio, might be a bit too expensive for Acclaim to acquire at this time. However, bringing Elder Scrolls into its fold could give Acclaim a strong RPG franchise, something it's been lacking, and could potentially contribute to the Sepulchre IP should next year's game succeed.

    Bioware: Bioware has been fending off acquisitions for years now, and the company has found stable footing with its enormously successful Necrocracy series. However, a potential merger between Bioware and Acclaim has actually been bandied about before, around the time of the release of Necrocracy 2. Instead, Acclaim acquired Dark Horse to expand its multimedia footprint, but acquiring Bioware or merging with them could accomplish for Acclaim several of the goals it could accomplish by gobbling up Bethesda, and with arguably a much more popular franchise.

    Eidos: Acclaim and Eidos is perhaps the most likely merger of the four rumored ones to take place, as Acclaim and Eidos have worked together before on a series of Tomb Raider comics published by what was once Dark Horse. There's also the rumors swirling about Lara Croft showing up in Acclaimed Champions... could the announcement of an Acclaim/Eidos merger be accompanied by the announcement that Lara Croft is coming to Acclaim's 2014 crossover fighting fest? Acclaim and Eidos seem like they'd be a match made in heaven, and we could see this one announced by the end of the year.

    Psygnosis: Psygnosis is PROBABLY too big for Acclaim to acquire at this time (Microsoft recently had to jettison them to recover money after the Xbox 2's failure), but a 50/50 merger between the companies isn't out of the question. Psygnosis' coffers are flush with all that Cyberwar money, and the company appears to be majorly on the rise, announcing several new IPs for the next few years. Seeing Cyberwar crossover with other Acclaim properties would be a real treat, and we'd love to see some Netizen X comics. There's also the rumor of a potential three-way merger between Acclaim/Eidos/Psygnosis to form a massive gaming conglomerate, but we doubt something like that would happen, and if it did, it would likely mean the selling off or burial of a lot of low-performing IPs, something no self respecting gaming should want.

    Acclaim's fortunes are on a bit of a downward slope at the moment, but it's not a very steep slope, and with the success of Destined 2, the company is likely to rebound by next year. A risky merger may be something Acclaim wants to avoid, but if it would prove advantageous in the long run, we could see the company take on a drastically new identity in the next few years. Though there's a bit of truth to the Eidos rumors, any whispers of Acclaim acquiring any other company, at least at this time, are just that, rumors. In the meantime, as much as we love crossovers, we also like to see lots of competition in the game industry. Ubisoft's acquisition of Konami's gaming IPs generated big headlines, but also saw the end of an iconic gaming company as we know it, and another big merger would just shrink the number of game companies even further. For now, let's hope that all five of these companies stay independent and all of them continue to make great games for the systems we love to play.

    -from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on September 2, 2013
     
    Summer 2013 (Part 2) - Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince
  • Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince
    (Authors' Note: The idea for the Prince Cream character was given to us by the reader Andrew Boyd!)

    Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince is a turn-based RPG for the Nintendo Reality. The game has a somewhat strange development team: it's developed by Camelot, the team behind the last console-based Mario RPG title (The Mysterious Machine) along with Super Peach RPG, but with contributions from an offshoot team from Squaresoft, which collaborated with Nintendo on certain aspects of the game. It's the first proper console Mario RPG title in seven years, originally conceived for the Sapphire but then brought to the Reality, which allowed the team to widen the scope of the game and polish up the unique storybook graphical style. The game features gameplay that's quite similar to the original Super Mario RPG, with action commands, combo attacks, and timed hits and defense in battle. This time, the playable party expands to four characters, out of a total of eight playable characters in the game, which include Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Wario, and Geno, along with two new original characters: Talana, a bodyguard who serves Prince Cream, who joins the party to atone for his abduction, and Wuggles, a friendly Wiggler who will eventually turn into a butterfly. Mario and Luigi are sort of the jack of all trades characters, decent at attack, with Mario being bulkier and Luigi having more speed, and the two having the best combos in the game. Peach is a healer, while Daisy utilizes a mix of physical attacks and offensive magic. Wario is big, bulky, and slow, Geno is good at both attacks and stat buffs, Talana is a fast physical attacker who's somewhat frail, and Wuggles utilizes a mix of monster specials and offensive magic. The titular Prince Cream plays an important role in the game's plot and also in combat. Though he doesn't fight, he's able to predict the future and use ESP attacks on enemies that can help set up combos, and using Prince Cream to the fullest is the key to winning tough battles. Cream can grant multiple timed hits, enhance spell attacks, and even help dodge big attacks. After he's kidnapped, he's still able to provide limited outside support to Mario and friends, helping them find treasures and secrets, and eventually he's even able to help out in battle again as well. Though Cream spends much of the game in captivity, he remains in communication with Mario and friends most of the time, and his backstory and powers are critical to understanding the game's primary quest and also critical to getting the most out of the game's characters. Mario and his friends traverse the world via a map screen much like the one in the original Super Mario RPG, with a map divided into eight zones, and towns, dungeons, and points of interest located on the map and able to be selected as they're opened up and explored. The game also has elements of platforming, with Mario able to run and jump within areas much like he can in a classic Mario game. There's even a few minigames, and some of those use the VR functions of the Reality, which otherwise don't see any use in the game. Though Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince is a traditional JRPG, the Reality's advanced graphics make it one of the best looking console games to date thanks to its timeless graphical style. Characters and backgrounds pop in full 3-D visuals, with cartoony animations and vivid special effects. Every character in the game, save for Mario, Luigi, and Bowser, is fully voiced, though the game doesn't feature a huge amount of spoken dialogue compared to other RPGs. Charles Martinet voices Mario, Luigi, and Wario (with Mario and Luigi having some spoken lines but mostly their traditional grunts and yells) and Wario having a decent amount of dialogue. Most of the game's other voice actors come from the Los Angeles area, but Nintendo casts mostly obscure actors rather than voiceover regulars. Yoko Shimamura returns to compose the game's score, which is mostly original but does include some Mario and Final Fantasy throwbacks.

    The game is divided into eight chapters, much like Super Peach RPG. The primary antagonist of the game is Bowser and his powerful Koopa Army, aided by the wizard Kamek. However, a wrench is thrown into things beginning in chapter two, with the attack of the Starchasers, a mysterious organization of spacefarers who come to the Mushroom Kingdom seeking Prince Cream, whose powers are said to be extremely dangerous. The Starchasers consists of seven warriors, each corresponding to a different color: Starchaser Red, Starchaser Orange, Starchaser Yellow, Starchaser Green, Starchaser Violet, Starchaser Silver, and Starchaser Gold. We later learn that Geno was once Starchaser Blue, and Starchaser Indigo was tragically killed in an incident sometime after the events of the original Super Mario RPG but before the events of this game. Six of the Starchasers are male, while three (Violet, Silver, and Indigo) are women. The game begins with Mario and Luigi, along with Peach and Daisy, enjoying a picnic together, only for Bowser to once again attempt to kidnap Peach. However, the kidnapping is prevented by a mysterious vision from an unknown person (who later turns out to be Prince Cream), and though Peach and Daisy are separated from Mario and Luigi, the kidnapping is averted. Mario and Luigi eventually meet Prince Cream, a boy who looks a lot like Kid Link, with a button nose, strawberry blonde hair, and a royal blue outfit which features blue trousers, a sash along Cream's right shoulder, with a silver, spade-shaped emblem with an emerald in the middle. Cream (along with his bodyguard Talana) introduces himself to Mario and Luigi and says that a great evil is coming, and he's able to help them find Peach, who is trapped in a maze with a dangerous giant Monty Mole who ends up teaming with Kamek to be the final boss of chapter one. Mario and Luigi reunite with Peach, and the three team up to stop Bowser's invading army as Cream helps them out. The plot thickens in Chapter Two, which sees the arrival of the mysterious Starchasers, as well as Geno, who teams up with Mario, Luigi, and Peach, while the three of them also get to know Cream better. The final battle of chapter two is against Starchaser Yellow, who manages to slightly wound Cream in an attempt to assassinate him. In the chaos of the battle, Cream is abducted by Kamek, forcing the Mario Brothers and their allies to go after him. Chapter three sees Peach and Daisy reunite, and Talana joins the party as well after a battle against Mario and friends (blaming them for Cream's abduction). Bowser and his minions force Cream to use his powers to aid them, but Cream is also able to aid Mario and friends in a few small ways. Chapter three also sees the Starchasers Red and Violet temporarily aid Mario and friends in their quest. However, in chapter four, we meet Starchaser Gold, who is much more hostile, and Starchaser Silver, whose loyalties are conflicted. Chapter four primarily takes place in a big forest, and sees Wuggles join up with the team. Starchaser Green battles the team near the end of this chapter, while Cream manages to escape Bowser's clutches. Cream escapes to a big factory city, in which much of chapter five's action takes place. Chapter five sees Mario clashing with Wario, who also wants to use Cream's powers (mostly to predict the results of sporting events so he can bet on them), while Starchasers Green and Violet try to catch Cream as well. Wario eventually joins with Mario, and the final battle of this chapter is a fight against Starchasers Green and Violet, one of the toughest boss fights in the game so far. Lots of things happen in chapter six, including the revelation that Cream is Peach's long lost younger brother, while we learn of Geno's troubled past with the Starchasers and that he and Indigo were once an item, while we also learn that Starchaser Silver harbors a crush on Geno. Wuggles transforms into a butterfly toward the end of this chapter, while Kamek calls forth an ancient monster to do battle with the heroes in a massive multi-part boss fight. In the end, Cream returns to Bowser to save his sister from being zapped by Kamek. Chapter seven is somewhat less eventful in terms of story, and mostly features a series of battles between the Starchasers and Bowser's army across Star Road, while Mario and friends traverse dungeons in an effort to find Cream. We get more Geno/Silver/Gold backstory here, and the final battle of this chapter is a clash between the team and Starchaser Red, which sees Geno recover his full memories. To kick off Chapter Eight, we get a cutscene in which Cream is forcefully placed inside a giant power armor suit driven by Bowser, which Bowser then uses to launch his final assault on the Mushroom Kingdom. Starchaser Silver turns on Gold to help the heroes, and we learn that the Starchasers are in pursuit of Cream because Cream's powers directly led to Starchaser Indigo being killed after one of Cream's predictions turned out to be false. Gold believes that Cream is using his powers to benefit only himself, and that he's a menace to the universe because of this, while Silver believes that Cream made a mistake because he's a child and because he was afraid. Silver also believes that Gold might intend to use Cream's powers for himself. She promises to help Mario and friends stop Bowser, but first they must go through Kamek, who is commanding Bowser's entire army. They fight across Bowser's Battlefield and defeat Kamek, then pursue Bowser to the top of his castle. Along the way, however, Silver decides to kill Cream, both to stop Gold's plans and to stop Bowser, and Peach and Silver get into a fierce one on one fight before Silver taps into her Starchaser powers and beats Peach back, forcing the rest of the heroes to intervene in a bittersweet boss fight. Silver declares her love for Geno before dying, and finally, Mario and friends make it to the final battle against Bowser. The first phase of the fight sees Bowser utilizing Cream's help to attack the heroes, but Peach is able to shatter the mechanism containing Cream after Bowser takes a set amount of damage. Bowser seems thwarted, only for Kamek to return and give him a magical boost, amping him up with a super magic wand for the second phase of the fight. Once the heroes finally defeat Bowser, Cream panics, as Starchaser Gold is about to level the castle with a weapon from space. Bowser's castle is nuked from orbit, but thanks to Cream's prediction and Geno's powers, everyone makes a full escape. Then, they head up to Starchaser Gold's orbital base and confront him for the final battle, which also takes on two phases: first, a straight up fight against Starchaser Gold himself, then a fight against Starchaser Omega, what Gold becomes after he absorbs the essences of his fallen companions. Starchaser Omega is defeated, ending the threat to the Mushroom Kingdom once and for all. After the fight, Bowser laments his destroyed castle, promising to rebuild and vowing revenge on the Mario Brothers. Peach and the others say their goodbyes to Prince Cream, who decides to head back to his own kingdom with Talana, but promises to visit again. Wario tries to kidnap Prince Cream for himself, but is beaten up by Talana before he can do so. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy finally enjoy some relaxation time. Geno returns to his world, but not before paying a solemn tribute to his fallen comrades, even Starchaser Gold.

    Super Mario RPG: Visions Of The Psychic Prince is released worldwide in September 2013 for the Nintendo Reality. The game achieves some of the best reviews ever for a Super Mario RPG game, averaging in the low to mid 9s. Critics praise the game's epic scale, its beautiful graphic style, its battle gameplay, and its thematic strength, and the game is considered to be an instant classic and probably the second best game on the Reality thus far behind F-Zero: FIRESTORM. It achieves strong sales as well, far outstripping sales of The Mysterious Machine and ultimately achieving the best sales of any Super Mario RPG title ever, even more than the original SNES-CD game. Though it's not a full fledged platformer, it does satisfy the appetites of many hoping to play a Mario game on the Reality, and also satisfies RPG fans who likely won't be able to play a Final Fantasy game on the system until Final Fantasy Online II launches. As for Prince Cream, he becomes a popular character almost immediately, and would begin appearing in spinoff titles like Mario Party and the various Mario sports games, but it would be some time (if ever) before he'd appear in another RPG or a proper Mario platformer, with the game's developers calling him a "one off". Fan outcry, however, might change that in the future...
     
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