Category Archive

Previews

Paladins Impressions (Nintendo Switch)

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

At first blush Hi-Rez Studios Paladins is easily compared to Blizzard’s Overwatch – both games are bright and colorful, both games feature a large roster of heroes with different play styles and both games are all about co-operative teamplay. In the two years since launch Hi-Rez has worked hard to distance their game from Blizzard’s offerings so much so that they’ve revamped player progression twice and even cancelled entire game modes – Siege and Survival (that latter being spun off as Realm Royale).  Hi-Rez’s PR department sent me a Founders Pack code for Paladins on Nintendo Switch ahead of today’s

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Hands-On Preview: The Elder Scrolls Online – Summerset Isles Expansion

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

The total playable area of Tamriel grows larger with the early access release of the Summer Set Isle expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda provided me with a closed beta code which allowed me to venture onto the once closed island belonging to the High Elves. Join me for tales of adventuring and exploration through my first couple hours within this seemingly tranquil island paradise. As my adventures in Summerset were taking place on a closed testing server I wasn’t able to bring my existing level 45 Nightblade over from the North American region. No access to all of my gold? I can’t use my awesome wolf mount? – these are

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider Preview PT 2: Every Beginning Has An End

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

This is Part 2 of my comprehensive preview of the upcoming Shadow of the Tomb Raider based upon an hour long play session and interviews at last week’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider reveal event. Square Enix USA covered my travel expenses and accommodations to attend the event. If you missed my breakdown on how Shadow of the Tomb Raider is evolving the established Tomb Raider formula – check it out here. Later this week and early next week I’ll be publishing a pair of video interviews with a Gameplay Systems Designer and Producer from the game. Debut Trailer SotTR’s

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider Preview: Redefining Gameplay

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

This preview focusing on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s gameplay systems and their evolution between games is part one of a two part hands-on preview. A second part focusing on the plat revealed thus far, trailer and hands-on demo gameplay will be posted later on today. Square Enix covered accommodations and travel for me to attend the Shadow of the Tomb Raider reveal event. For the past half decade the Tomb Raider franchise has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity and fan interest since Crystal Dynamics / Edios Montreal successfully revitalized the series with their 2013’s origin story. With two

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Hands-On Preview: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Written By: Jeb Wrench “Problematic Punch Man” If ever the phrase “Problematic Fave” was to mean something, it would be to describe Sega’s Yakuza series. The acclaimed series of intense action, crimes, and large men being lumpy and glowering at each other is riddled with tropes that can range from irritating to uncomfortable, yet the care and thought that went into its writing can generally shine through. Yakuza 6, due out worldwide later this month, continues this tradition by quickly fridging Haruka Sawamura to motivate the long-running protagonist Kazuma Kiryu back into the world of large angry men being large

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SEGA’s Make War Not Love Promotion Is Back For Year 5

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

SEGA’s annual “Make War Not Love” promotion is back for another round of community earned freebies and deep discounts on some of their more recent titles.  This year SEGA has chosen a motif similar to the 1995 film “The Usual Suspects”, by titling this year’s giveaway as “The Unusual Suspects” and placing characters from Dawn of War III, Company of Heroes 2, Total War: Warhammer and Endless Space 2 in a police line-up, similar to The Usual Suspect’s theatrical poster.  By signing up with your Steam account and authorizing SEGA to send you promotional emails over the course of the

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Tanto Cuore – Deck Building Card Game Unboxing

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Les Major

Tanto Unboxing
What’s better than anime girls? Anime maids! Japanime Games has you covered with the deck building card game Tanto Cuore! While we were at Anime North this year a friend of mine introduced me to Japanime’s products and it really stuck with me. Thankfully those folks were nice enough to set us up with some materials so we can check out the game and share some brand new videos with you! As I’m sure you know, we’re relatively new to promoting physical game media like this. It is something we’re passionate about however and we’re happy to finally be bringing

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Heroes of the Storm 2.0 Launches With $200 of Free Content

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Blizzard has unleashed the largest update for Heroes of the Storm since their Multiplayer Online Battle Arena launched in the summer of 2015. After 22 months since the initial release,  HOTS’ loot system gets a complete rework, the in-game shop has been completely redesigned, changes to skins, dozens of brand new collectibles and two new heroes. To cap things off both returning players and newbies can score 20 free heroes and $10 of in-game currency for simply logging in. Loot Boxes & Overall Progression Overwatch’s popular loot box system makes its way to Heroes of the Storm with the recently

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GDC 17: Hands-On With VR Sports & Front Defence

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Vive Studios will introduce three brand new entertainment experiences for the HTC Vive this spring for owners of the headset. During the first day of the Games Developer Conference I got the chance to sit down with Joel Breton to discuss the three new products – VR Sports, a collection of room scale enabled mini games. Make VR, a tool that helps bridge the gap between Virtual Reality and the real world by bringing support for 3D printers into the virtual space. Finally, Vive Studios also announced Front Defense, a World War II inspired shooter that uses Valve’s room scale

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“Arms” Surprises As One Of The Best Games At Switch Press Event

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Les Major

We’ve all seen the footage from the Nintendo Switch Reveal. Gamers have questioned just what was going to be worthwhile with this new console. Was it going to be the big new thing? Then there’s all that footage of that wacky game “Arms” with various boxing fighters with extendable arms! What in the WORLD is going on? So today I got to check out the Nintendo Switch at a press event in downtown Toronto. Of course I was skeptical of Arms but I wanted to give it a go. If nothing else to have some video footage of myself flailing

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Rising World Is A Fun Minecraft Alternative To Explore

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Les Major

There are tons of Minecraft like titles out there and it’s hard to tell what isn’t just more of the same. Back in the earlier days of the series, many indie titles filled the gap of similar games on Xbox 360 before the titan of voxel building made the leap to consoles. There’s one thing that I always wanted in a game of this type though, and that was smoother landscapes. EverQuest Next: Landmark had a style like that, but unfortunately it seems to have gone through some complex times and won’t be around much longer. However Rising World is

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Yakuza 0 Hands-On Preview

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Broken Joysticks

Previewed By: John Bridgman The Yakuza games have always been a peculiar mix of gritty crime drama, bombastic martial arts, goofy side stories, and lots of minigames. Yakuza 0 is no exception, blending its cinematic storytelling with an almost overwhelming amount of side content to distract you from the game’s harsher elements. As the title suggests, the game is a prequel to the long-running franchise, set back in the 80s and showing off the early days of series protagonist Kiryu Kazama and his recurring rival Goro Majima. The two characters operate in different cities, and their gameplay while similar, are stylistically

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Everything Announced At The EVE Vegas Keynote

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

CCP Games will be bringing some major changes to the world of EVE Online with the launch of the Ascension expansion on November 15th. This latest update to the long running sci-fi MMORPG brings with it the much publicized free-to-play Clone States, balance changes to Tech 3 Destroyers, updates to asteroid belts and a new range of Engineering Complexes for corporations or enterprising entrepreneurs to build.   Alpha Clones (Free To Play) Alpha clones are a new way to experience EVE Online and this state allows new players as well as lapsed subscribers to return to the world of New Eden for

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GaymerX Year Four Preview: Luna

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Ellen McGrody

At last weekend’s GaymerX Year Four, we had the chance to play Funomena’s upcoming VR puzzler Luna. The colorful LGBTQ-focused games convention felt like a perfect fit for developer Funomena, founded by former Journey team members Robin Hunicke and Martin Middleton. Bouncing off the release of educational title Terra, Funomena is developing Luna alongside the games Woorld and Wattam, co-developed with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi. The studio is absolutely ripe with talent and I was endlessly excited to see what they had done in virtual reality. As with their games, Funomena’s booth was bright and eye-catching, with gorgeous signage

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Exclusive: 15 Minutes of Footage From The English Localization of World of Final Fantasy

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

At the 2016 Penny Arcade Expo Square Enix allowed select press to not only meet the director of World of Final Fantasy – Hiroki Chiba – but also get some hands on time with the upcoming RPG. Without further delay I’m happy to present 15 minutes of exclusive gameplay footage from the North American localization of the game which is currently under development. The protagonists of World of Final Fantasy are siblings Lann and Reynn who are trying to make their way through the world of Grymoire. Raising the stakes of their adventure even further –  the siblings have lost their memories and don’t remember their

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