December 21, 2015

Staff Bio: Renee Gittins

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Hello dear readers, today we are going to do something a little different. The first in a new series of staff profiles of our writers and editors, Renee Gittins, Creative Director, CEO at Stumbling Cat and Onsite Reporter for Brokenjoysticks.net.

F: So Renee, what got you started on gaming, first system and first game?

gamedevHeadshotR: The first game I ever played was Wolfenstein 3D on DOS. First person shooters on the PC were really my introduction to video games. I played both Doom and Duke Nukem 3D on PC long before touching a console.

F: Ok, what is your favorite game of all time?

R: That’s such a hard question and I don’t have an answer that I’m happy with! Certainly, as a child, Half-Life was my favorite game. I just have so many good, fun memories associated with that whole series! Recettear is one of my favorite games, though it is so different from most of the games I play. It influenced so much that it was one of my main inspirations in developing Potions: A Curious Tale.

However, right now, I think that Overwatch is my favorite game (even if I can’t play it currently). Since I started working from home, games with social elements really draw me in. Plus, I started on FPS games and I was a big MOBA player for a while, so I love how Overwatch combines elements of both of those!

F: You talked about social elements, and I know you are a long time MMO gamer how do you think massive multiplayer games have effected you and your life?

scalebane

My guild, Scalebane, and our first kill of Archimonde. I am the feral druid on the left.

R: Oh, MMOs definitely have affected me so much throughout my life. When I was younger, I was an awkward girl that had trouble making friends. The rise of the internet and MMOs gave me a new medium in which I could work on developing my sense of identity in an environment without the biases of the peers who already knew me. I think they really helped me find myself and practice social interactions. While I’m so often know now as a super social, extroverted person, I really think it was MMOs that helped me get there! Plus, I’ve been in the same wonderful guild in WoW for the last eight years. They have been a huge support for me over those years and I definitely don’t think I would be where I am now without them.

F: Did you ever think you would be making games? What about writing about them while writing them?Read More

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Here Are The Free Xbox Live Gold Games For January 2016

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Xbox One

It might not even be 2016 yet but Xbox’s Major Nelson has taken the wraps off of the free games that Xbox Live subscribers will gain access to at the beginning of next year.

On the Xbox One front – Owners of Mircrosoft’s Xbox One can go for broke in an all out brawl with Killer Instinct: Season 1 Ultra Edition. This season pass is normally $40 and gives Killer Instinct players access to all 9 fighters and extra costumes included in Season One. Also coming to Xbox One is Zheroes an Indies @ Xbox game – basically a stylized side scrolling beat’em-up.

For owners of Microsoft’s last generation console, Xbox 360, Microsoft will be giving away DIRT: Showndown and Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Unfortunately this is the vanilla version and not the Director’s Cut re-release which includes New Game+, Improved Textures, Reworked Boss Fights and Developer Commentary.

As is the case with all Xbox 360 games released on Games With Gold – both DIRT: Showdown and Deus Ex are backwards compatible on Xbox One.

Here’s the full line-up with dates:

Xbox One
Killer Instinct Season One Ultimate – Jan 1st Thru 31st
Zheroes – Jan 16th Thru 15th

Xbox 360

DIRT Showdown – Jan 1st Thru 15th
Deus Ex Human Revolution – Jan 16th Thru 31st

[Source]

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Just Cause 3 | Review

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Chelsea Richards

Just Cause 3

Version Reviewed: PlayStation 4

Planning on blowing up DRM? You’ll need a Demolitions Permit, or a Just Cause.

The premise: The franchise’s protagonist, Rico Rodriguez, returns to his home, the fictional nation of Medici, which is now ruled by an oppressive militaristic regime under Generalissimo Sebastiano Di Ravello.

The results: Gloriously cheesy one-liners from a sexy man, and more explosions than the Fourth of July. What, that’s what “liberty” and “freedom” are all about, dontcha know?Read More

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Tales of Berseria Announced For PS4 and PC North American Release

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

In news that is sure to delight fans of the long running Tales of series, such as myself, Bandai Namco has confirmed via a brand new trailer that the latest entry Tales of Berseria will be releasing sometime in the west for PlayStation 4 and Windows PC.

In their announcement blog post the publisher briefly described the game like this:

The next game in the long running “Tales of” series is Tales of Berseria, a tale of emotion versus reason! Coming on PlayStation 4 and PC Digital including Steam, the story will focus on Velvet, the first female solo main character. You will embark on a journey and assume the role of Velvet, a young woman whose once gentle nature has been replaced and overcome with a festering anger and hatred after a traumatic experience three years prior to the events within TALES OF BERSERIA imbued her left hand with a special ability.

Berseria like other modern entries, like this year’s Tales of Zestiria, will bring some changes to the established combat formula. Here’s what the development team is trying with Berseria:

  1. The player’s default control is free run
  2. The player can rotate the camera freely
  3. The player can assign multiple artes to any of the four buttons: ○, ×, △ and □, allowing different artes to be linked together in attack combinations.

Are you excited for the newly announced western release of Tales of Berseria? The game was originally announced this past April for a 2016 release in Japan but it looks like it’ll be more of a worldwide affair!

[youtube id=”b2vt1MM2SyY”]

[Source]

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God Eater 2: Rage Burst & God Eater: Resurrection Confirmed for NA In New Trailer

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

A brand new title in the God Eater franchise – God Eater 2: Rage Burst – alongside an enhanced remake of the original have been announced for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Windows PC to be published by the folks at Bandai Namco Games.

In a brief announcement trailer we see cuts of garbled, possibly corrupted text, interspersed with anime cut scenes that tell a quite confusing tale about some type of infection that has ravaged the world.

The God Eater franchise is an action role-playing franchise that sees the player take the role of an unemployed warrior who decides to take on larger than life creatures. Originally debuting on the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2010 an enhanced port of the original God Eater made its way to North American PSPs in 2011.

What do you think of this announcement? Let us know in the comments or watch the reveal trailer below.

[youtube id=”JcgxraQxhj0″]

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BrokenCast Episode #8: Game of the Year 2015

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

It’s that time of the year – the time when we reflect on all of the great games that have been released over the last twelve months. The year kicked off with major releases like The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne. By mid-year we saw the release of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. By the end of the year we finally got several games that fans have been waiting years for – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and almost out of nowhere Bethesda’s Fallout 4.

Joining the discussion for our last podcast of the year is:

Rae Michelle Richards on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Kitsune86
Fionna Fox on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Just_Fionna
Renee Gittins On Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/RikuKat
Kenny Keelan On Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/ourwindsong

We’ll be back with more podcasts in the new year!

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Microsoft Says Xbox One Cloud Tech Available to Any Game, Including PS4 Exclusives

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Phil Spencer

In a move that most people would call confusing, Phil Spencer said yesterday that Microsoft will not prevent anyone from using its Azure platform for cloud computing for gaming. DualShockers is reporting  that a fan asked on twitter about Titanfall 2 and how they would “hate to see the franchise lose out on Azure Cloud computing and servers.” Spencer replied: “Azure services are available to any game, even other platform’s exclusives. We wouldn’t keep someone from using.”

oh, ok then, so basically what Phil is saying is Azure for all? This is pretty huge. He went on to tweet . “I know people want me to comment on specific 3rd party games, I just can’t. Sorry,” So we don’t  know what or when but I think its safe to assume that we are going to be getting some multi-platform games that utilize the Azure cloud computing features, at the very least.

Personally I hope this means that we get a lot of games with destructible worlds like Crackdown which runs part of its multiplayer on the Azure cloud to allow for enhanced destruction.

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