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How Death Stranding Subverts a Common Gameplay Mechanic


Posted on December 14, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

There once was an explosion within a trailer that ignited a thousand online debates. There once was an explosion within a trailer that confused the hell out of us. The next explosion is brief details about how Death Stranding will play and how the game subverts a very common gameplay mechanic – death itself. 

In a recent interview with IGN.com Hideo Kojima detailed the place that protagonist Sam visits after the large explosion in the latest trailer for Death Stranding is actually a sort of purgatory.  In this world of beaches and water Sam will explore purgatory in a first-person perspective until it is time for him to return to his body. We don’t know how this dimensional travel is possible (is it the babies?? I bet it’s the babies!) but we do know it is due to a “special ability” that Sam possess. 

Kojima contrasted this mechanic with the arcades of the past, where death was a means to suck another quarter from the player: 

“Games started over 40 years ago with arcades. When the player dies, it’s game over. You continue, and time goes back to before you die. You can die as many times as you want, but you always go back to a little bit before you die. That was a mechanic made specifically for putting in coins, and it hasn’t changed since then.”

Aside from digitized versions of Norman Reedus, Guillermo Del Toro, and Mads Mikkelsen, the spotlight has been fixed on the various babies we’ve seen in each of the three trailers. During the interview with IGN, Hideo Kojima confirmed that the baby that washes up on the shores in trailer 1, the baby held by Del Toro in trailer 2 and the baby pointing finger guns in Reedus’ esophagus are one in the same. We also now know that the babies will tie into the purgatory mechanic somehow.’ 

Still no definitive answers about the mysteries of Death Stranding but certainly now we have a lot more pieces of the puzzles. We know that the game takes place in the near future and that the rapid aging rain and the monsters that attacked the corpse disposal crew are common knowledge. We know a little bit more about the babies. We also know that gameplay will be split between third-person open world action while Sam is alive and that death does not mean “game over” but will affect the overall game world. 

Perhaps we will see actually Death Stranding gameplay at next June’s E3 or perhaps Kojima will make a surprise appearance at GDC 2018, like he did at GDC 2013 to promote The Phantom Pain. Rumor has it that Death Stranding is currently targeting a Q4 2018 release window, so the hype should just keep building. 

Oh and all of our internet theories about the baby being a clone of Sam, Mads being the real protagonist or Del Toro being the game’s villain? Kojima eats that shit up and loves every second of it. 

“I think it’s fun, I really think it’s fun. It’s one of the unique things about games, that you can start having fun with people before you release the game. There are things I intentionally put there so that I can start this back and forth process with players, because I think it’s fun for everyone.” 

[Source]


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Bayonetta 1 and 2 Coming To Nintendo Switch On Feb 16th


Posted on December 8, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Platinum Game’s original hack and slash heroine Bayonetta is coming to a handheld system for the first time with a re-release of 2009’s Bayonetta and 2014’s Bayonetta 2 on Nintendo Switch. Due out on Feb 18th, 2018 these two witchy action titles will come packaged together, just as they did when Bayonetta 2 was released on the Wii U.  The sequel will come loaded on a Nintendo Switch game card with a special downloadable code for the original game packed inside. Fans looking for both games on a single cartridge might be a little disappointed with this news but fans of combo-heavy action titles have a reason to rejoice. 

Bayonetta was originally released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 by SEGA in 2009. It was re-released on Nintendo’s Wii U in 2014 and on Windows PC just this past August thanks to SEGA. Nintendo co-financed the development of Bayonetta 2 and it has remained a Nintendo exclusive, soon to be joined by the also announced Bayonetta 3. When the black-haired witch made her way to the Wii U she brought along quite a few extra pieces of wardrobe. Namely costumed based off of The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox and Metroid! 

According to USA Gamer Bayonetta 2‘s double pack will also receive a special edition which includes a collector’s box (cardboard), a steel case for the game, a Bayonetta 2 Game Card, Bayonetta 1 DLC code, collectible stickers and a set of collectible cards.


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Sine Mora EX Has A Date With The Nintendo Switch


Posted on September 12, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Sine Mora EX – the beautiful 2.5D shoot’em up co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality makes a pass at the Nintendo Switch in North America and Europe thanks to THQ Nordic. In this sometimes-brutal bullet hell title, players guide a three-dimensional ship along the X and Y axis while avoiding the sea of oncoming bullets. Complimenting the vibrant art style is a unique health mechanic where each stage has an allotted amount of time – taking damage speeds up the countdown while routing enemies adds time back to the countdown clock. 

Several enhancements have been made when compared with the 2012 original for the Nintendo Switch release including support for 16:9 resolutions, full English voice over, an improved rendering engine and 3 brand new versus modes – race, tanks, and dodgeball. Also new to Sine Mora EX is the ability for two players to take on the story mode at the same time! 

Sine Mora EX will fly by the Nintendo Switch on September 26th in North America and October 10th in Europe. It was originally released in 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with an iOS & Android port following in 2013. The Switch release of EX will be joined by a release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well. 


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New Kingdom Hearts III Trailer Still Lacks Release Date


Posted on June 11, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Square Enix released a brand new trailer for Kingdom Hearts III almost a full four years after it was originally revealed at E3 2013. My original headline about the game’s announcement so many years ago told readers that “no you’re not dreaming, Kingdom Hearts 3 has been announced” and now this latest trailer opens with “Don’t assume your dreams are just fantasy” – for the entire series fan base and enthusiast press playing KH III has been relegated to the realm of dream or fantasy since the title has yet to appear at a major industry convention or conference in anything but pre-rendered trailer footage.

As for the details about what’s going on in this trailer… well, I haven’t the slightest gosh darn clue. My wife and I are slowly playing through the series and I’ve still got three games left (Dream Drop Distance, Birth By Sleep, 2.8 Prologue) before I am completely caught up. So far the series plot (to me) is slightly disjointed but still enjoyable, if not a little off the wall.

If you want to see pretty visuals of Sora pulling off cool combo moves, Pete and Maleficent rendered in crisp PS4 HD and for the first time four party members active at once – watch the trailer below.

While there’s no release date the end of this trailer, Square Enix does promise the reveal of a brand new world and another new trailer at D23 this coming July.

Come on Square – can we have a release date now? Don’t let our dreams be dreams and give us a release date.. JUST DO IT


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Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Benchmark Reveals New Job Actions


Posted on May 1, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Adventurers in Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood will soon set sail for the land of Doma and Ala Mhigo. Before they set foot in these new areas it is best to make sure that one’s PC is up to the task. Both acting as a stress test for the upcoming expansion and a tease for keen-eyed players – offering a look at several unannounced job actions – the PC benchmark is a must download for any hardcore FFXIV player.

The official Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood benchmark takes players through several different pre-configured scenes including a bustling Doman city, a large scale battle on the outskirts of Ala Mhigo, into the heart of the uprising and even one of the new primal fights.

Astrologans can turn cards red:

Brand new Bard action complete with mid-air casting circles:

Ninja’s get to ride giant toads:

[Gifs via this IMGUR album]

In addition to the release of the downloadable Benchmark a Letter To The Producer Live was held last week. The broadcast was in Japanese only but thankfully FFXIV Community Manager Matt Hilton was on hand to provide translations of the several player questions asked on the live stream.

Regarding weather effects and aesthetic differences between A Realm Reborn, Heavansward and Stormblood:

Q: Heavensward areas were different from ARR areas in how the light and shadow were applied. Will there be a different scheme for Stormblood areas as well? Please let us know if there are any unique weather conditions or times of day that are especially spectacular!

A: Once again, the biggest focus is in the contrast between light and shadow. Many small specifications were made regarding putting the visuals together; one such detail was “air”, such as clouds, mist, and fog. The Other areas and dungeons are themed around “the feeling of air”.

There are also newly implemented weather conditions, so we’d be happy if players would take a step back and enjoy the sunrise/sunset occasionally.

Players got the chance to ask if there will be new hairstyles in FFXIV: Stormblood:

Q: I believe there are lots of NPCs in the Doman area with Asian-themed hairstyles. Would players be able to use these hairstyles? I want a top knot!

A: There will be two new hairstyles, but there’s no top knot. If there’s a lot of request for it, we’ll consider it.

Here is what Yoshi P had to say about how gear progression and procurement will work in Stormblood in contrast to 3.0 and ARR:

Q: Will there be job-specific gear in Patch 4.0? If so, I would like to know how we obtain them.

A: *The video showed CG artwork for the dark knight, dragoon, paladin, bard, and scholar job-specific gear.

In 3.0, players exchanged Allagan tomestones of esoterics to obtain their job-specific gear, but since they were job-specific, it was difficult to obtain them, and it also caused a situation where player item levels were not same when they hit level 60. We want everyone to look cool when they hit level 70, so we added a new system which offers a set of gear in a box, and players will be able to choose one. Additionally, I’m sure players will request this, so I just want to mention that once you take the gear out of the box, you won’t be able to put them back in.

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood offers adventurers a number of new features beyond the two new areas. As with every expansion we’ll get new 24 person raids, new beast tribes, new side-quests, new light party dungeons and more. One of the biggest features being promoted currently is the ability to swim, gather under water and even dive deep with underwater mounts. Stormblood will be out on PS4, PS4 Pro and Windows PC on June 20th 2017. A number of bonus items are also being offered as an incentive for pre-ordering the expansion. New players who purchase Stormblood will also gain access to 2015’s Heavansward.


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Capcom Releases Part 1 of Resident Evil 7 Development Documentary


Posted on March 22, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Get an inside look at the thought processes, early concepts and internal deliberations that took place in early 204 when Capcom Osaka decided to revitalize their long stagnant undead franchise. Featuring narration from Executive Producer Tsuyoshi Kanda and Director Masachika Kawata, this behind the scenes look at Capcom Osaka’s development process exposes some of ideas that lead to the successful revival of RE earlier this year.

Masachika Kawata sought to create a game inspired by the horror comedy classic Sami Rami’s ‘Evil Dead’ for Resident Evil’s more compact Baker Estate while returning to some of the elements introduced in the first RE title. When looking back at their previous games like 2011’s Resident Evil 6, both devs admit that while the game was well received by some of the series’ fans, there were others that felt that Resident Evil had lost its’ focus on tense and fearful interaction to make away for more Hollywood-esque action sequences. Capcom Osaka wanted to still the Resident Evil 7 experience to the most basic elements – making the player feel a sense of fear as they attempt to solve puzzles and survive encounters that might just take their lives.

It was surprising to learn that Resident Evil 7 didn’t start out as the first person claustrophobic adventure it became but rather an extension of Resident Evil 6’s more action oriented focus. Once they had decided on the confined setting and first person perspective the team at Osaka sent a pitch video in a similar style to the team at Capcom USA – who sent back a reaction video of the America team watching the pitch video for the first time. When the Osaka team watched their colleagues jump in fear they knew that they were on the right track.

No word on when Capcom will release the second developer documentary but if it contains as many interesting tidbits as this first entry it will be a must watch.

 


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Shadow Of Mordor Sequel Announced Today – New Trailer


Posted on February 27, 2017 by Les Major

Shadow Of War Trailer 1

The rumors are true! Middle-earth: Shadow of War is the official title of Monolith Productions next game in the series. I LOVED Shadow of Mordor and it’s certainly a title worth checking out to this day. The sequel continues the storyline and really begs to question if we’ll follow the canon at all, or if this really is a wild new tale of Talion versus Sauron where anything can happen. The original seemed to take liberties, but it’s still great just getting to explore a new vision of Tolkien’s fantasy world.

Check out the trailer below! The game is on the way for August 22nd in North America!


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theHunter: Call Of The Wild Reveals Layton Lake Trailer


Posted on February 10, 2017 by Les Major

theHunter Layton Lake

Continuing our coverage of Expansive Worlds beautiful woodlands simulator that I’ll be wandering through soon, we have a new trailer highlighting the Layton Lake district of the reserve. The hunting simulator which promises to be very immersive and detailed will feature a huge landscape for gamers to explore. Obviously the main goal is to track animals for sport, however the scenery is just too wondrous to ignore.

Built on the engine used in Just Cause 3, theHunter: Call Of The Wild boasts some very impressive visuals. Especially for an open world game. We’re eager to dive into the actual gameplay aspects but it’s hard to ignore the subtle things from this trailer. Even the nod to multiplayer at the end shows the group of hunters flattening out tall grass as they progress through it. Is this just cosmetic? It’s a nice touch.

With less than a week until launch, theHunter: Call Of The Wild is promising to be an ambitious title!


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theHunter: Call Of The Wild Has Some Amazing Visuals


Posted on January 26, 2017 by Les Major

theHunter Call Of The Wild

Sport hunting titles seem like they’ve been around forever. I remember back in the 90s playing Deer Hunting simulators that felt like DOOM mods. It’s a genre that has quite a history. Even GTA 5 had deer hunting, let alone the entire hunting section in Yakuza 5. That long lineage makes it difficult to create something new. theHunter: Call Of The Wild is a game that has been in development for a decade, with much of it’s development cycle coming from Expansive Worlds free to play version of theHunter.

One thing I find to be a wonderful addition about theHunter series that will hopefully carry over into this new release is that you are also armed with a camera. It may sound silly to mention with a game that is geared towards hunting very specifically, but it is a way to open up this amazing terrain to a wider audience. I don’t think there is any reward per say for photographing the wildlife and beautiful surroundings, but it’s such a large and lush environment that it is a wonderful option to give players.

The game boasts 50 square miles of varied terrain to explore. It sounds like this title is even rendered in the same engine as Just Cause 3! That’s a lot of natural splendor to take in. Anyone who knows me knows I just want to wander off and explore this vast wilderness. Just look at the trailer below! That’s all in engine content!

Naturally it’s not all exploring the forest and potential photography. This is a selection of rifles, handguns and even bows to use in the game that can be customized with scopes and various ammunition types. Your character can also unlock new skills and equipment along the way. As usual, the game allows you to track animals as well or even use scents and callers to lure them out. I haven’t experienced the hunting stealth aspects of the game yet but we do hope to get some hands on time soon to see how theHunter: Call Of The Wild plays.

The release date for Steam has been set for February 16th, 2017.


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Sekai Project Releases New Trailer For Upcoming Highway Blossoms Visual Novel


Posted on June 20, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Publisher Sekai Project has released a new trailer for their upcoming visual novel Highway Blossoms to celebrate the game’s release this past Friday. Set in an old gold rush valley town located in the US, Highway Blossoms tells the story of the budding romance between Amber and the lost hitchhiker Marina.

In terms of features, Highway Blossoms features around six hours of gameplay, handpainted backgrounds rendered in 1080p, accessibility options and the ability to skip forward if you’ve already played the game. Sekai Project also promises additional “silly content” for players who chose to experience the story more than once.

Highway Blossoms can be purchased on Steam for $9.99 CDN.


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Gran Tourism Sport Coming Out For PS4 This November


Posted on May 20, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Yesterday Sony revealed brand new details for its upcoming racer Gran Turismo Sport including a new trailer, a release date and new gameplay features.

Polyphony Digital is positioning the game for a North American launch on November 15th – the same day that Japan will get the racing title. Fans in the United Kingdom will have to wait a few more days, with Gran Turismo Sport launching on November 18th 2016.

In terms of new features a number of new details been announced for Sport including the presence of weather & damage effects, a timeline experience for events, a photo mode currently called “scrapes” as well as a companion app.  Developers are targeting the game to support full 1080p / 60FPS output in the final build and the final game will include 130 “super premium cars” with 19 locations (totalling 27 track variants).

When Gran Turismo Sport was announced last Fall Sony also announced that the game would have an open beta. Unfortunately this is no longer the case, as completing the beta would have added an extra three months to the development time – pushing GT Sport into 2017.

Speaking about the cancellation of the beta series creator Kazunori Yamauchi said:

“Just because it’s beta we can’t just throw it out there. It’s required that in order to do an open beta we have to create a proper master for it, and considering the release timing that we announced, we decided that we just don’t have enough time to do two gold masters for the game. By omitting that it saves us about three months of time.”

GT_Sport1

Gran Turismo Sport is currently available for pre-order on the PlayStation Network for $59.99 CDN. By preodering the game digitally owners are given the following perks upon release:

The 3-Car Pack includes:
– Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
– Ford Mustang Gr.B Rally Car
– Toyota FT-1 Vision GT Gr.3

 


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Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Teaser Trailer Now Live


Posted on April 30, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

The next entry in Activision’s popular FPS series is getting teased on their official channel thanks to the new teaser trailer titled “Know Your Enemy”. The end of the trailer mentions a “settlement defense force”, perhaps the rumors about this game being full of far-future space combat will be true. I also happened to pause the trailer at just the right moment and well – hey it’s ghost’s mask, which has been reoccurring in infinity war’s COD games.

[youtube id=”gaDJX0Ttsfc”]


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Space Hulk Deathwing looks amazing


Posted on April 29, 2016 by Fionna Schweit

Focus Home Interactive is killing it with the 40K license recently. First they published Blood Bowl, then Battle Fleet Gothic, and now they are publishing Space Hulk Deathwing. Not much info has been released about this game, but IGN has finally given us our first look, and holy wow, this game looks amazing. Hopefully its being demoed at E3 so i can get my hands on it, but untill then I will just have to salivate over trailers and other media. 


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Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter gets its first gameplay trailer


Posted on April 14, 2016 by Fionna Schweit

Bigben Interactive, the video game publisher and distributor, and the studio Frogwares are today pleased to reveal the first game play trailer for Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter. The game will be available June 10th on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and PC. The game features Sherlock and Watson on a never before seen adventure  where you will have to find out what led young Katelyn to 221B Baker Street. Could she have discovered the dark truth about her family? And who is the charming clairvoyant who has moved in to 221C? Is there room for séances and occult rituals in the bastion of logic and rationalism?

Find out in Sherlock Holmes: The Devils Daughter, while you detect, punch, and run alongside Watson and other great characters to solve the mystery.

 

For the first time in his prestigious career, the most illustrious of detectives must fight not to reveal a secret, but to keep one…


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Xbox One Version of ARK: Survival Evolved Gets A Major Update


Posted on April 9, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Ark: Survival Evolved

Studio Wildcard have released a major update for the Xbox One version of their popular prehistoric survival game Ark: Survival Evolved. This latest update brings  three new dinosaur types: The Wooly Rhino,  Dunkleosteus and the Eurypterids. It also brings the game up to parity with the PC release V238.3 which was released for PC players back in January. Add to all of this new options for game hosts and you’ve got one hell of a patch that will ensure that ARK doesn’t go extinct any time soon/

Improvements from PC V238.3 carried over to the Xbox One include the addition of new Cave-Dungeons for the Snow and Swamp biomes. Server administrators who host open multiplayer matches can now set an “administrator” class allowing other designated players to access the console commands, just like they can on the PC version. Single player sessions will also give players access to the console commands which can be accessed via the game’s pause menu.

In regards to the three new Dinos, here is how Studio Wildcard describe them:

Coelodonta utiliserro: Known as the Woolly Rhino, the Coelodonta is usually a large, friendly herbivore but can turn into a dangerous creature when charging its attackers. The Coelodonta builds up momentum as it charges, and depending on its ultimate impact speed, players can skewer the largest creatures in just one single gore

Dunkleosteus loricaruptor: Known simply as Dunkleosteus, this fairly large fish is covered head to tail in armored plates and has incredibly powerful jaws that make great work of stone and oil formations in the ocean’s depths.

Jaekelopterus eurypterus: Found only in the deepest watery depths on the ARK, “Eurypterids” are dangerous, adaptable Arthropods that, while not smart enough to be tamed, are rich in chitin and provide a debilitating poison that quickly renders its opponent unable to defend itself.

The developers have also released a new trailer for this Xbox One patch which you can check out below:

[youtube id=”tItAw8ECFP0″]


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