Microsoft Unpublishes NES Emulator For Xbox One

It was revealed earlier in the week that an emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System had been given the greenlight for release on the Xbox One App Store.

Good news everyone! #nesbox has passed certification and will appear in Windows Store for XBox One soon. pic.twitter.com/NSD3HnriLw

— NESBOX (@nesboxcom) September 9, 2016

This was a surprise to many, as it meant Xbox One users would essentially be able to transform their console into a modern day NES. Emulators themselves aren’t illegal, it is the ROMs they generally come hand in hand with that are as they breach copyright law. It’s clear Microsoft didn’t want to risk opening themselves up to any kind of lawsuit, so they killed the project at the last moment.

Microsoft says: "Your product was unpublished globally or from specific markets". They want me to remove xbox platform support and republish

— NESBOX (@nesboxcom) September 10, 2016

The developer of the app took to Twitter to deliver the news, however the silver lining for fans of the project is that it’s still available to download on the Windows Store for Desktop, Windows Phone and even HoloLens. Rules for PC have always been more lenient, and given the number of Emulators and ROMs all over the Internet, it wouldn’t be worth Nintendo’s time trying to take action against them all.

Not that they took action here either. It seems Microsoft wanted to be ahead of the game with this one, citing that the Emulator fell into the games category rather than apps as the reason for its takedown:

“Apps that are targeted to Xbox One and are primarily gaming experiences must be approved through the ID@Xbox Program.”

Ultimately I doubt this is going to cause too much grief. Emulators and ROMs aren’t exactly difficult to get a hold of online, but it’s clear many people were looking forward to the convenience of having one available on the Xbox One. Still, this was highly unlikely to ever last long. Had it not held the ‘NES’ name in the title however, who knows, it might’ve actually made it on to the store.

If you’re looking to get your hands on some NES games legitimately however, I suggest you take a look at this advert for the upcoming ‘NES Classic Edition’.

Sony Not Allowing Mods For Fallout 4 Or Skyrim On PS4

It’s common knowledge that Bethesda, the videogame studio behind such fan favourites as the Fallout and Elder Scrolls Series (special shout out to Wayne Gretzky Hockey, the obvious pinnacle of gaming), ships their games with obvious bugs and missing features. As a result, the modding scene around the games has become almost as famous as the games themselves. With dedicated fans working hard to improve where Bethesda themselves may have fallen short. It has even become so big that Bethesda now offers full mod support for select games.

The breadth of user generated content is known well to PC gamers. Having just entered that rabbit hole myself, the amount of mods on offer can be just as overwhelming as the games they’re trying to improve, but ultimately they can enhance gameplay so much. Well either that or add something hilariously insane, like this mod that adds Teddy Bear Nukes into the game. Yes you read that right.

Teddy. Bear. Nukes.

Unfortunately whilst PC gamers have a seemingly unlimited number of mods to play with, and Xbox One owners a slightly more limited number, Playstation 4 owners aren’t going to be able to use mods at all. Bethesda wrote a message to fans, explaining the reasoning behind the decision:

“After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim: Special Edition.

“Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience. However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available.”

The blame is definitely pointed in Sony’s direction then, but though it’s understandable for Bethesda to be annoyed, Sony likely has some valid concerns. Letting users make mods for whatever they want poses some serious problems when it comes to infringing on other companies IP. There are mods out there adding all sorts of things, from Thomas the Tank Engine to Toy Story, so it’s possible Sony is worried about this. That being said, rules are currently in place on the Xbox One version of Fallout 4, and the soon to be released Skyrim: Special Edition that prevent these kinds of infringements, so Sony’s stance here, coupled with their lack of clarification, is baffling.

This will only go towards damaging Sony’s image. Since the lackluster announcement of the PS4Pro, the domination Sony has held on the console scene seems to be wavering, something Microsoft was more than happy to capitalise on.

4K streaming & Blu-Ray ✅
HDR gaming ✅
Greatest games ✅
40% smaller ✅
Xbox One S from $299: https://t.co/GzguOUfMeV pic.twitter.com/vWb6r1x9PD

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 7, 2016

Bethesda ended their statement with an ominous “We will provide an update if and when this situation changes.” Not exactly hopeful then, but there’s always a chance it could turn around. In the meantime though, enjoy this video of nuclear teddy bears.

Diamond Comic Distributors Good Or Bad For Future Of The Comic Book Industry?

In the 21st century there many companies and industries are still stuck on business models and practices from decades ago that do not make sense in today’s market. The music and film industry have learned the hard way that you can’t beat the internet, you have to work with it. After making ridiculous profits for decades, they now find themselves dying and struggling to keep with the times.

With that said, I asked the same question of an industry I love comic books.

Is Diamond Comic Distributors good or bad for the future of the comic book industry?

That’s a question I had never really thought much about until having a great 2 hour Skype chat with indie creator  James Schumacher ( creator of the indie horror comic Inheritance. Stay tuned to Skatronixxx for news about it later this month) last week. So I thought I’d do some research and see what I’d find.

First of all Diamond Comic Distributors is essentially the only way to get your comics into brick and mortar comic book speciality stores. You might be thinking that statement can’t be right, surely there has to be some competition. No. In fact, Diamond has exclusive distribution deals with comic publishers Marvel, DC, Image, IDW and Dark Horse.

That accounts for more than 75% of the market, and they are the top 5 publishers regarding sales. Now whether you think it’s right or not, that is clearly a monopoly. If you’re a comic book retailer, you are forced to have an account with Diamond because they have control of the most popular titles your customers want.

If you remember In 1998  the first time, the US government was investigating Bill Gates, the former Chairman and Co-Creator of Microsoft for Manopaniolization and engaging in abusive practices it was big news and a serious issue at the time. The only one who can step in and say hey you’re creating a monopoly were going to investigate you is the government.

I get that the comic book industry is not even a concern to the US government and that the tech industry has a bigger effect on the economy, but the comic book industry is a billion dollar industry and it affects the lives of people. Are there more pressing issues at the moment? Absolutely, but isn’t breaking the law or the likely hood that it has been broken worth being looked into? At the end of the day, it affects the arts, creatives, and small business owners, which economies desperately need right now.

The next question that arises is, was it unfair of diamond to secure over 75% of the market with exclusive distribution contracts? Yes and no. On the one hand, Diamond came into the game in the early 80’s as a start-up that was the competition to marvels recently bought distributor Heros World in the early 90’s. At the time comic shops had to have two accounts which became confusing due to the different policies and discounts of each company. Once Diamond landed the exclusive contracts with DC, Image and Dark Horse, Marvel realised there was no point haveing their distribution company and would eventually sign an exclusive deal with Diamond. In a capitalistic market, you can’t blame them (even though it’s a prick move) for going from startup to full-fledged powerhouse in the industry.

On the other hand your the king of the mountain, you have no reason to change when there is no threat. I’m going to use the pro wrestling industry as an example. When WWE Chairman Vince Mcmahon bought the WCW and ECW in the early 2000’s his mainstream competition was eliminated. Only a few years prior there was an explosive era in wrestling (referred to as the Attitude Era in WWE) WWE and WCW were in a rating war. Each week the promotions would try to top each other which made for some of the best entertainment and storylines in pro wrestling history. Once Vince bought out WCW, the excitement and creativity slowly began to die and after only a couple years it was a joke. They resorted to competing with themselves by having a draft for wrestlers to join one of there two tv shows Raw and Smackdown. They then went to PG for their content which also hurt, and they were never the same. With no legitimate competition and no other perspective to the industry to challenge him, Vince, effectively damaged his own business.

Competition is always good, for industries, right? Is it okay for comic book distribution? It’s complicated. With the profit margins so tight for everyone involved the addition of competition, in this case, might raise the already inflated prices of comic books. Printing a comic is not cheap, and is what eats the majority of your profits. I have heard of some mainstream creators on Twitter say that single issues aren’t viable anymore and that we should just produce trades. This idea makes sense to me; it would reduce costs and save space for purchasers, but the single issues especially the variant covers would be missed, though.

I’m not sure how accurate the numbers are regarding 2016, but these were from a few years ago and should give you an idea how the profit of the comic is divided between the retailer, diamond and the creator.

 So the average comic is about $3.99. About $1.59 goes to the creator; $1.99 goes to the retailer, and the remainder goes to Diamond. Keep in mind especially for indie creators that diamond does not pay you in advance. So you have to have the money either saved up or borrowed to pay for your print run. Once the creator gets paid (30 days later) the majority of the profit made off the comic goes to recovering your printing cost leaving little to pay yourself and any of your team that you may owe money. Retailers also have the risk of ordering too much of a particular book and are stuck sitting on product that isn’t moving, as diamond rarely accepts over order returns, which can hurt the retailer’s profits a lot. Diamond makes a profit with no risk to the company at all.

There have been mixed reports on the customer service quality of Diamond, as is the case with every companies customer service. There are always good, and bad experiences told in person, and online, deciphering which are accurate and which are exaggerated or flat out wrong is tough. I have read and heard from retailers books being delivered in a horrible condition to stores. Diamond states on their site that their comics will be delivered in “mint condition.” I’m sure now and then that’s unavoidable, but the health of comics is important the retailer and the customer. It’s hard to sell a comic with bent corners or edges; it also makes the rest of the rack look bad. Collectors are also particular about the condition of comics for grading and resale purposes.

If you’re fortunate enough to get your comic into one of the top 5 publishers, the Diamond process is a little easier with publishing staff taking care of things or guiding you through the process. If you are an indie creator, it’s a challenge to get a deal with Diamond. You have already either pitched to an indie publisher or have created your publishing company and now you’re looking to test the direct market and play alongside the big dogs. You now have to convince a team at Diamond that your book is going to be worth them putting you in there all extensive Previews catalogue. If they like, you then have to sell your comic to them at a 60% discount off the cover price, and you are usually responsible for shipping costs from their distribution centre.

The sales statistics provided on Diamonds website I’m not inclined to trust 100% again they are the only player in the game, and I wasn’t impressed with the old look of their site. I also noticed the lack of conversation about whether Diamond is good or not by both indie and mainstream creators. I assume talking about this issue could hurt your relationship with the only major distributor available. So I understand wanting to be silent or biting your tongue. It’s a tough game and creators and employees in the industry all have responsibilities and loved ones to look after. It’s still somewhat surprising; not much is being said, and It undoubtedly affects everyone.

So is Diamond right for the future of the comic book industry? I don’t personally think it is. I also don’t know what the solution is. Thanks to Kickstarter it’s shown the industry you don’t need Diamond to reach a broad audience. Some Kickstarter campaigns have outsold Marvel and DC titles by 10’s and even 100’s of thousands. So perhaps the future is crowd funding and the direct market will eventually implode over time?

I’m no expert on this issue; I just thought it’s worth talking about. With all the information available in the information age, we have so much that it’s nearly impossible to decipher what’s legitimate and what’s not. There always seems to be substantial information to prove any viewpoint. It used to be you just had to check the date of the study or statistics, not so much these days; there is no regulation what so ever on the internet regarding the accuracy of posted information.

I don’t see there being a simple solution to this problem. The fact that it’s not a big issue in the industry today is quite disturbing. I get the mentality that it’s been this way for years, and it’s worked for the past few decades. Like the music and film industry though is Diamond going to have a rude awakening when sales start to dwindle and comics released outside of the direct market start to be more viable and frankly the better option for quality? Something needs to change, but determining that requires the veterans of the industry to come together and discuss that.

Questions? Opinions? Post in the comments below.

 

Rainbow Six Siege Is Free To Play For This Weekend+New Expansion Coming Next Week!

Because Rainbow Six Siege is getting a new expansion (Operation Skull Rain) on 2nd of August, Microsoft has announced that Siege will be free on Xbox One for Xbox Live Gold members from Thursday(today!) to Sunday. If you ever wondered if you’d like the game, now’s a great opportunity to try it out, especially since the game will be on sale now so you can continue gaming after the weekend for a reduced price.

 

 

Operation Skull Rain will add two Operators and a map, like the earlier expansions. The new expansion will take place in a Brazilian favela, and Microsoft has claimed it to be “most destructible map to date.” The new operators are from Brazil’s Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais or BOPE. There will be a female sneak type character called Caveira, she is a defense character and is equipped with an M12 or SPAS-15 as a primary weapon, a PRB92 secondary, and C4 or barbed wire. she has the “Silent Step” skill that enables her to sneak up on enemies to immobilize and then interrogate them to reveal their teammates’ location. The other character, Capitão, will be the offense character and he is equipped with n M-249 or PARA-308, PRB92, and frag or stun grenades. He also has a crossbow that fires “asphyxiating bolts that burn oxygen within a certain radius” or “micro” smoke grenades. The characters are available for the season pass holders exclusively for the first week. After that they are available to purchase for in-game currency. The map is going to be free for all players right away. Also the much wanted Tactical Realism custom game mode will be added.

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

What’s The Deal With ‘We Happy Few’?

E3 this year has given us a lot to look forward to from a range of both established and up-and-coming developers; from sequels to games we’re familiar with, to brand new IPs. One of the new announcements in particular caught my attention, and it comes from a little well known indie company called Compulsion Games. These are the same people that brought us the beautiful, dreamlike puzzler, ‘Contrast’ released back in 2013.

It’s fair to assume that since the release of Contrast, they have been busy creating their latest project – ‘We Happy Few’. The game was shown in a bit more detail at the Microsoft Press Conference, where we learnt that the world is set in a dystopian, 1960’s England that lost World War II, and in the town of Wellington Wells, we meet our character and soon to be hero Arthur Hastings. It was shown that everyone in this parallel universe is made to take a drug known as “Joy” that makes them happy, but more importantly – compliant. The story begins once Arthur decides to come off the pills and discover how bad things have become.

Things for Arthur go from bad to worse, as his aversion for the pill causes him to be labelled as a “Downer” – which is not tolerated by the citizens of Wellington Wells. There’s not much more in the way of details for this game, but it certainly looks to be a interesting one with it’s Bioshock art style, and storyline similar to that of 2002’s Equilibrium.

For those interested in this game, you can play it through the Xbox Preview Program on July 26th, but as of now, there’s no official release date.

If you’re like me and enjoy something a little different and quirky once in a while, then be sure to keep this on your radar!

SNIKT!

My Thoughts On Xbox One Scorpio & PlayStation Neo

So, the next-gen console upgrades are very much confirmed. Microsoft is promising that Xbox Scorpio will be the most powerful console ever made. The developers say that the games and the Xbox Live Community will work on both the original Xbox One and the upgraded version. Only thing is, we have heard that the games would run better on Scorpio so it feels like Xbox isn’t telling the whole truth. It does feel a bit unfair if the gamers who just bought the expensive next-gen consoles will have to play the new games with less functionality. In addition here’s an interesting statement coming from Xbox’s Phil Spencer :”Scorpio is designed as a 4K console, and if you don’t have a 4K TV, the benefit we’ve designed for, you’re not going to see.[…]If you own a 1080p TV then you should buy an Xbox One S”. At least we got this info before the consoles are released!

That was the official Project Scorpio video, which I personally think is a mental image type of advertising that will make the product (and why it’s made) sound more appealing than it is. One of the developers on the video actually said that it’s the “we heard you console”. Okay so what was the Xbox One then? “We didn’t quite listen to you, but don’t worry, you get to buy the console we promised you a few years late and you get to spend double the money, yay!” Well that’s what it sounds to me at least, don’t know how you people feel about all these semi-new consoles but to me that’s a bit too cheap.

PlayStation Neo is following pretty much the same idea. The new PS4 games will work on both the old and the new consoles, Sony President Andrew House is saying that PS Neo will”sit alongside and compliment the standard PS4″. PlayStation Neo too will support 4K streaming, but again you will need a 4K TV screen. The VR support should also work better than with the original PS4. It is also to be expected that the new games will run more smoothly on the upgraded version since it will have better specs. All in all the game experience should be better, just like with Xbox Scorpio. But again, you have to pay for it.

My apologies if this article sounds a bit too negative, I’m sure the new consoles will be brilliant and that people will have loads of fun with them. It’s just that this feels like the big companies are betraying the ever loyal customers. I personally can’t get over the fact that they would knowingly release consoles in full price just to sell better versions of them later. I feel like they should probably concentrate more on their new concoles so that they wouldn’t need to make these “upgrades” in the future.

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

Dead Rising 4 Is Coming In Time For The Holidays!

One of the most fun zombie games is back, and you don’t even have to wait for it that long! Dead Rising 4 is promised to be released on 6th of December this year, so if you’re a zombie fan, you know what to put on that Christmas list. The game series has always been Xbox exclusive(excluding Dead Rising 2) so I doubt that us PlayStation users will get a chance to play it, unless we want to get it on PC. The trailer of the game is super fun, at least in my opinion. I love the Christmas theme mixed up with zombie hordes and weird weapons. The protagonist will be Frank West, the freelance photographer we know from the first Dead Rising game. This is something that I’m totally loving right now, because Frank was(and probably still is) an amazing character for a zombie apocalypse game. He isn’t a generic pretty boy like so many characters in video games are, he is realistic, sassy and unique. The upcoming game has many new features, among which are an exoskeleton suit, 4 player co-op, and the ability to take selfies. Dead Rising will be brought closer to our era, and Frank is actually browsing Twitter in the official trailer, which you can check out right now!

P.S. This bit of game news really makes it hard for me to resist buying Xbox One!

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

Microsoft Press Conference Recap Part 1

Hello everyone! I hope you all caught the Microsoft Press Conference yesterday. May I say that it was generally quite good and Microsoft walked out with a strong showing of exclusive titles and new content for their Xbox One gaming console. This article opens up a dialogue about their new games and projects, so join me as I provide some of my opinion and anticipation. We have a lot to talk about and please feel free to comment with your thoughts. Let’s cover the biggest game releases first.

Gears of War 4

I really wasn’t impressed with last year’s showing of the new Gears game. Honestly, it looked like more of the same with better graphics and a more diverse cast of characters than our famously muscle-bound protagonists. This year’s E3 showing for Gears gave me a bit more hope. It appears as though The Coalition has put a great deal of effort into crafting this latest title in the Gears franchise and much like 343 Industries and Halo 4 before them, perhaps they can truly reinvigorate a genre of games that has become a bit stale over the years.

The characters seem engaging enough and the environments have an air of destructibility to them, though to what degree you can actually modify the enemy’s cover or if we simply saw a very scripted scene during the press conference remains to be seen. There’s an impressive amount of violence and a wide variety of ways to utterly annihilate your opponents. Hopefully the story can match Gears of War 4’s powerfully dynamic combat. Oh and we can’t forget about Old Man Marcus! I’m curious to see what role he will play in this game and I very much appreciate that John DiMaggio returned to voice the character. Gears of War 4 is slated to release on October 11, 2016.

Forza Horizon 3

I used to play the Forza series of games religiously. There was something about being able to modify some of the best vehicles in the world and then race them against the AI or friends that just spoke to me. Eventually, I stopped playing Forza and focused my interests elsewhere but now that Microsoft has announced the new Forza Horizon 3 for the Xbox One, I find my interest piqued. Playground Games has clearly taken a heavy emphasis on the Australian setting and the visuals look absolutely staggering, easily the best of any Forza game so far. Now set in an open world, players can travel around and enjoy the scenery or join up with friends to engage in a variety of races.

Microsoft also announced that Forza Horizon 3 would have a four-player co-operative multiplayer campaign. I never really knew that Forza games had a “campaign” per se, but I am interested in seeing exactly what they’re talking about. Do you like beautiful graphics? How about off-road racing? What about phenomenal supercars? Forza may be for you. It is set to release on the 27th of September, 2016.

ReCore

Last year we saw a short trailer involving a dynamic young woman and her mechanical dog companion fighting off other mechanical creatures. After they won, she discovered that her friend perished in the fight. Unwilling to settle for this, the woman sets her friend’s core into another body and it awakens once again. And that was it.

Finally, we have more information about ReCore, the newest game by Keiji Inafune and Comcept. Designed as an action-adventure/platformer, ReCore takes a heavy emphasis on level design as well as gives the protagonist a wide variety of ways to get around the different levels; from rocket boots to a grappling hook to a robot companion that can climb the walls, movement and mobility seem like essential concepts in ReCore. While we don’t have any details about the story, the game mixes combat and adventure much like Metroid Prime (in fact, Comcept was formed by designers who worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate). It looks like ReCore has an all-star cast of developers. Hopefully they can deliver a well crafted title worthy of action-adventure and platformers everywhere. ReCore is set to release on September 13th, 2016 in North America and on the 16th in Europe.

Battlefield 1

A few things remain constant in the gaming world: Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, and Battlefield releases. We will probably never see the end of these franchises and sometimes, that’s a bad thing. In the case, however, we may have a unique title on our hands. Called “Battlefield 1” by its developer Electronic Arts, the newest Battlefield game takes place during World War 1. This alone sets it apart from many other games as World War 1 hardly has any video games set during its climactic battles because a vast majority of the war (at least in Europe) saw both sides fighting along various trenches that changed quite little until 1917 when Russia’s government eventually collapsed and the Germans, now freed from the Eastern Front, launched a gargantuan Western Front offensive and were subsequently pushed back.

The trailer, however, seemed filled with intense action and the following gameplay demo during regular E3 hours had furious warfare between 64 players. EA seems to have developed a relatively unique (for a Battlefield game) addition to their franchise; players can use a variety of melee weapons, gas attacks, artillery, and even horses to wage war! Environmental destruction still exists and watching that zeppelin come crashing down into that village definitely looked impressive. EA plans on an October 21st, 2016 release for the entire world.

Scalebound

THAR BE DRAGONS!

In development by Platinum Games, Scalebound is an action role-playing video game set in the third person perspective that takes a heavier emphasis on graphical fidelity and role-playing. You control Drew, the protagonist, and with the help of his dragon Thuban, you must go about and defeat the enemies that stand in your way. Much like any RPG, you can upgrade and gain new abilities that affect Drew, Thuban, or both and significantly alter how you approach combat. While Thuban is controlled by the AI, players can order him to do particular actions or even use Thuban as a mount and directly control him.

Scalebound doesn’t have a linear storyline so players are encouraged to explore the world of Draconis and discover its many secrets. Enemies will not scale (Get it? Because Thuban’s a dragon?) based on Drew’s level and you can invite your friends to four-player co-operative sessions. It reminds me a great deal of the newest Final Fantasy XV in the sense that its an action RPG, but it clearly has significant differences. I’m really looking forward to Scalebound and while Platinum Games hasn’t set an exact release date, they plan to release their latest title in 2017.

Final Fantasy XV

The latest title in a long running series of titles by developer Square Enix, Final Fantasy XV is yet another action role-playing game shown off by Microsoft during their press conference. Set in the world of Eos which resembles a relatively modern day Earth, the evil empire known as Niflheim has invaded the nation of Lucis. The heir of the Lucian throne and our protagonist, Noctis Lucis Caelum, must set out to defeat Niflheim and make the world right once more.

Final Fantasy XV has suffered from a troubled development. Originally set to be released on the Playstation 3 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Square Enix decided to rework the game and announced their latest Final Fantasy title in May of 2006. 10 years later, we finally have a release date and even more information. Set for a September 30th worldwide release, XV uses the “Active Cross Battle” system for its combat sequences. If you’ve played a game like Kingdom Hearts, then you will be intimately familiar with how this works. Instead of the traditional JRPG turn-based combat, players will be able to select particular actions for Noctis and watch as those actions are carried out. They may move and jump around the battlefield and Square Enix promises that players will seamlessly enter into combat without loading scenes.

A surprising first for the series, using magical abilities will not cost MP but instead, the player must focus on the environment around him or her in order to maximize the use of a particular spell. For example, if a player is currently fighting in the heat of day, fire spells will have a profound effect and may even harm allies. I really appreciate this change and while XV isn’t really on my personal list of hyped titles, I do look forward to its release.

Halo Wars 2

In development by Creative Assembly and 343 Industries, fans of the first Halo Wars will finally see a continuation of the original story. Set 28 years after the original game and directly after Halo 5: Guardians, Captain James Cutter and his crew aboard the Spirit of Fire discover the Ark. They run into a Covenant Splinter faction known as “The Banished” lead by the Brute warlord Atriox and must fight for their lives in order to halt Atriox’s grand plans. Just like the first game, Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy game set to release for the Xbox One and Windows PC.

We can look forward to seeing new units and abilities in this iteration and judging by the CG trailer, there are a wide variety of new ways to destroy your opponent’s armies. We can’t really glean a great deal of information from trailers such as these, but the overall design of the game looks solid and hopefully it lives up to the commercial success of the first game. Microsoft released a week long beta for Halo Wars 2 and I plan on playing some of that later today. I’ll report back with more information as soon as I am able! Some features we do know about:

Players can engage in multiplayer matches with up to six players or can skirmish alone or with friends against the AI. Creative Assembly also plans on adding a Deathmatch mode that involves a “Last Person Standing” type of victory and a Stronghold and Domination mode reminiscent of Company of Heroes’ control points. A new multiplayer mode called “Blitz” is also in the works. Halo Wars 2 is set for a February 21st, 2017 release.

Ok everyone! Those are the biggest titles Microsoft showed off at E3 this year. Stay tuned for part 2 where I go over some of the new indie games set to release as well as detail the Xbox One S, Project Scorpio, and Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere concept. Thank you for reading!

Happy gaming!

-Valiant

Microsoft E3 Press Event

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all having a good Monday because we’re about to see what Microsoft has to offer at E3. There’s a great deal of information out there; from the new, slimmer Xbox One to more information about new triple A titles such as Halo Wars 2, Dead Rising, or Forza, I am expecting a pretty big set of releases. Microsoft always likes to hide a surprise at the end of their conference, so definitely stay tuned until the end!

If you’re interested in staying up to date on some of the new releases for games, please be sure to follow me on Twitter @ValiantAngel25 and watch as I unleash my inner nerd (ok, more like unleash my super nerd) or offer my absolute disdain for what Microsoft shows us.

The Microsoft Press Event begins at 9:30AM PDT or 12:30PM EDT. Kotaku made this helpful chart that details all of the upcoming events. I’ll try to keep you all updated on all of events as the day goes on. Stay tuned and happy gaming!

-Valiant

Mid Generation Upgrades: Yay Or Nay?

Before I begin let me say that the information I’m putting here is not yet confirmed, I have picked up pieces of rumors and info from different sources but we have to wait untill E3 to get anything solid about the matter at hand. Nevertheless the topic is quite interesting and somewhat controversial, so let’s begin.

There has been a lot of talk about playstation and Xbox releasing upgraded versions of the newest concoles only 3 years after the PS4 and Xbox1 became available. “Upgrade” is a misleading word here, since it is most likely the case that the existing consoles can’t be upgraded and the gamers will have to buy newish concoles for approximately the same price as the originals. This is something that will get many console gamers(especially those of low income) quite angry if it truly is happening, since the major bonus for being a console gamer has always been fixed price, stability and being able to play games without all the fuss, extra effort and money spending that is characteristic for PC gaming. If we are going to have to spend 400-500 euros/dollars/pounds every 3 years we would probably do better to change for PC gaming all together, since even if we weren’t able to work with computers ourselves, paying someone to help would be as (or less) expensive. I have always loved console gaming because of the effortless and relatively affordable way of doing things, so I really hope this won’t be the future of console gaming. Well, at least Sony has said that Playstation 4 won’t be replaced my PS4Neo(even though PS4 owners would have to settle for less), but we will see about that when they announce the upgrade.

Anyway, here are some specs and info on the upgrades. Playstation 4 Neo should be capable of 4K output and enhanced visual fidelity over the original PS4. The upgrades include a 1.3 times faster CPU, an improved GPU, and a 24% increase in memory bandwidth. There has been talk about the new games being required to have a ‘base mode’ and ‘Neo/upgrade mode’ so that gamers without the upgraded console could still play the new games(more work for the game developers, why not?). Also the online gaming should be shared so that PS4 an Neo gamers could still play together. Well I sure hope so! It would be rather ridiculous if it wasn’t going to work like that, so I personally am not giving any credit for this pseudo benevolence.

I couldn’t find as much data on the Xbox1 upgrade, but I heard they are also upgrading their controller. Why is it so hard to come up with a controller(and hardware) that could last for the whole of this generation(6years)? I know technology is developing fast but c’mon people, this is really stinking of greed. I think it would be better to focus on the actual next generation consoles properly than releasing something that has to be almost immediately improved. What’s really funny about this is that most gamers haven’t even thought that they would need “just a liiiittle bit more power” in their consoles. If console gamers were thinking like that, they would be PC gamers(exceptions of course exist). I know I am being quite the pessimist right now, but I want to be  positively surprised rather than negatively. I’m sure you know what I mean.

Here are some links for more info:

usgamer.net

eparisextra.com

gottabemobile.com

Play with passion!

auburn.geek