Gamescom 2015: Cologne, Germany – EA Press Conference

Posted on August 22, 2015 by iRogan

ELECTRONIC ARTS Gamescom 2015 Media Briefing:

Wednesday, Aug 5th – 1am.

-EA’s press conference starts with a quick sizzle reel showcasing The Sims 4, Need For Speed, FIFA 16, Star Wars Battlefront, and Mirrors Edge Catalyst, along with their tag line “Live to Play”.

-ANDREW WILSON – EA CEO, takes the stage. Thanks German for hosting one of the largest game conventions, and points out that the games discussed today will feature on the game room floor. Introduced Need for Speed first.

Need For Speed

-MARCUS NEILSSON – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, takes the stage and shows a quick trailer highlighting the 5 pivotal styles found in Need For Speed: Speed Icon, Style Icon, Build Icon, Crew Icon, Outlaw Icon.

-This years’ Need for Speed is 20 years of history to make the definitive NFS experience. 5 ways to play, and each way is based of a real world icon.

–Need For Speed this year will showcase real-time compositing into the Frostbite engine, merging real world actors with in-game footage. NEILSSON leaves the stage with the new trailer showing.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

-SARA JANSSON – SENIOR PRODUCER, takes the stage to discuss Mirror’s Edge and her love of the character, Faith. Mirror’s Edge has the freedom to explore combined with an immersive experience. With a hero at the center of everything: Faith.

-JANSSON states that Faith doesn’t need guns. Faith is the star of the game and its an origin story. Faith is a carefree runner, but a little bit reckless. The story will see Faith grow into the person we know.

-The world of Mirror’s Edge includes free-roaming, collectibles, and the companies that spark’s Faith’s journey.

-Trailer: Pre-alpha footage shows free-running and traversal similar to the first game. Wall running, and sliding, big jumps and rolling. Levels look less linear and more open, although less colour, and colourful flares highlight the objectives. More destructive elements: glass walls, lighting fixtures. Fast melee combat.

Star Wars The Old Republic

-JAMES OHLEN takes the stage, and discusses the new expansion to The Old Republic called Knights of the Fallen Empire. “Become The Outlander” is the tagline. The ability to recruit companions and change destinies is mentioned. Choose the Light Side or the Dark Side is an option. The expansion includes the first 9 chapters and then the rest of the story will be released episodical.

-Game will carry over your existing character, or you can choose to create a brand new one. Release date is Oct 27, and is free for all current subscribers. OHLEN states that this expansion is a return to Bioware’s storytelling roots. A quick trailer wraps the segment.

Sims 4

-“You Create. You Control. You Rule” Live action trailer is shown to start the Sims 4 segment.

-RACHEL FRANKLIN takes the stage to discuss the new expansion.”Everything is up to you, you rule.” Sims 4 gets bigger and better every month. New expansion this November: Get Together. New world. Quick in-game trailer is shown.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

-JEREMY VANHOOZER – SR. CREATIVE, takes the stage and states the in Garden Warfare 2, the script has been flipped and the Zombies have taken over, and plants are now on the attack.

-Recalls the previously noted 3 Zombies introduced at E3: Captain Deadbeard, Superbrains, and the Imp. Now introducing the 3 new plants: Rose, a sorceress, Kernal Korn and his dual machine guns, and Bouncing Orange, a citrus tank.

-Game now has solo-play and couch co-op across all modes. and introducing the new Playground Battleground. An open-world in-game hub. You can introduce friends into your game and then go to a warp game to start a new game.

-Pre-order’s get a Grass Effects spoofed Z7 mech custom armour for the Imp. Game is available Spring 2016. Gameplay trailer is shown, showcasing the space map on the moon.

Unraveled

-PATRICK SODERLUND – EA EXECUTIVE VP, comes to the stage and is thankful for video games as they allow creativity, innovation, and passion. Making the next truly awesome game also involves risk. Screenshots are shown of some of the early concepts in development that could lead to the next awesome game.

-To show an example of creativity, innovation,passion and risk, Unraveled is up next.

-MARTIN SAHLIN comes to the stage and says he is just overwhelmed and stunned by the response to his game and Yarny. Slide show of the art, drawings, and Yarny dolls is shown. He encourages people to keep sending in their submissions.

-SAHLIN discusses games and how they can do proper good, and that they’re not just escapism. He says he is glad to be a part of this trend, and he wants to show us more Unraveled footage, promising this is still very early pre-alpha gameplay.

-Level: Sea. All the levels take place in Norther Sweden. The purpose is to make it to the end of each level without running out of yarn, but you can find more yarn throughout the level, The gameplay is all physics-based.

-The game looks gorgeous so far, and is all about overcoming obstacles and is really all about the wonder of discovery and beauty. Will be available on the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Star Wars Battlefront

-SIGURLINA INGVARSDOTTIR – DICE, takes the stage to discuss Star Wars.The weapons and vehicles, the characters. Star Wars Battlefront is all about the thrill of living out our Star Wars fantasies. The game is all about fun, and the thrill of fighting for survival.

-Introducing new game mode: Fighter Squadron.

-Fighter Squadron is a 20 player dog fight mode. Game mode includes Tie Fighters, X-Wings, A-Wings, and Millenium Falcon. The game mode also supports an additional 20 AI fighter so that the action is always intense. This game mode has the most intense dog fights in video game history.

-Promises that Dice and EA still have a lot left to show before the November release. Trailer is shown for the full game including Walker Attack and Jedi fights.

FIFA 16

-DAVID RUTTER – EA, takes the stage to discuss FUT Draft 16, the Fantasy Ultimate Team Draft. A quick trailer is shown with two legends picking a team and arguing and then playing the game. “What is the best choice: Best Players or Best Chemistry.” And you can bring your fantasy team online.

-New introductions to the game include: Pre-season tournament in career mode, and Player Training in career mode including up to 30 drills.

-Also new to ’16 includes 12 of the National Women’s teams, and promises more innovations across the entire pitch. ’16 promises to be the most balanced and most beautiful FIFA football game.

-9 iconic stadiums, new weather conditions including rain and fog. And 900 new crowd chants. A quick trailer is shown.

And that’s all for Gamescom 2015 press conferences. I’ll be attending PAX Prime 2015 so I’ll have lots of news and insights when I return. Aug 28-31.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – No New Games, New News, and How Time Flies

Posted on August 18, 2015 by iRogan

Where does the time go? All of a sudden it’s What i’M Playing Wednesday, then it’s the weekend, then I play Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for 24 hours over the weekend, then it’s Tuesday? Where is my mind?

So it’s Tuesday and there’s not really any new games to report on, so that’s lame. But there’s lots of news to discuss. Starting off with sad news. 😥

Rainbow Six Siege Delayed
Sometimes it’s sad sometimes it’s for the best. Ubisoft has announced that Rainbow Six Siege has been delayed from October 13th until Dec 1st for all regions to improve the co-op experience across all game modes and other improvements and adjustments.

Xbox One and Xbox 360 Deals With Gold
Xbox One

Grand Theft Auto V – 25%
Batman: Arkham Knight – 25%
LEGO Jurassic World – 25%

Xbox 360

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – 75%
Splinter Cell Conviction – 75%
LEGO Jurassic World – 25%
Modern Warfare 3 – 50%
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron – 50%
Bully Scholarship Edition – 75%
L.A. Noire – 75%
Midnight Club: LA – 75%
Max Payne 3 – 75%
Red Dead Redemption – 75%
Grand Theft Auto 5 – 75%
Grand Theft Auto 4 – 75%
Plus others…

Windows 10 Xbox App Update
High quality streaming has been added. Which is good

to see. 1080P 60 fps very high quality streaming. And comparing achievements with a friend is supported and recently played list has been added to show which or your friends are playing what.

Destiny The Taken King Teaser

Note Ghost’s new voice talent, Nathan Drake– I mean Nolan North.

Halo 5’s lack of split-screen

Halo 5: Guardians developer 343 Industries has responded to the outcry from fans in response to the news that its upcoming Xbox One-exclusive shooter won’t feature split-screen support.

343i franchise development director Frank O’Connor explained that adding in the feature simply isn’t possible. “If we could do it, we would do it. But it is what they call ‘nontrivial,'” he said.

So tomorrow I have another What I’m Playing Wednesday, as I’ll go into further details about my 24 hour Assassin’s Creed IV bleeding-eyes marathon, and what I’ll be playing next.

I’ll be writing more of a proper review for the title as well, about its good’s and bad’s and why it takes me 6 months to beat a Ubisoft open-world game, where I usually resort to a complete shut-in weekend to get it out of the way. Actually tomorrow’s column might just be a What I’m Playing/iReview.

I also really didn’t get up to doing anything last week in the way of a review or achievements. I hope to change that this week. They’re my favourite parts after all.

Makes sense to me.

-iRogan

WHAT i’M PLAYING – LEGO Batman, Shiftlings, The Crew + News

Posted on August 12, 2015 by iRogan

So, What I’M Playing is back to Wednesdays? Ok? Has a better ring to it.

So, since I have come back from my two week hiatus, (if you can call it as such since the reviews didn’t stop) I have picked up LEGO Batman 3, and Shiftlings. Batman was on sale during the BIG summer Xbox sale, so it was hard to turn that sale down.

LEGO Batman 3
Lego Batman 3 has been pretty fun thus far. TTGames has perfected the formula, and have just been applying it to new franchises. The game itself is a lot more fun in co-op, obviously, so I’m sure I’ll be playing it often enough with ILLESTRADER. That being said, the game seems to have decreased the difficulty curve, and have become extra bloated with characters.

In prior LEGO Batman games, a lot of the puzzles required different suits. And that is still retained, but what I have noticed this time around, is that when you approach the puzzle, or the interactive area, the character will automatically change into the suit required. That, and for pacing purposes, the rooms and puzzles are extra bloated this time around, extending the duration of the level. Checkpoints aside, you still need to beat the level before you can save and exit. I haven’t noticed any save spots like in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.

Shiftlings
I also gave Shiftlings a try, in couch co-op, again with ILLESTRADER. The premise is like that of a game show. The goal is for the two joined space dudes to traverse the level to get to the door activation switch, and then on to the exit. The game is a fun platformer and the levels are small enough that you can zoom out the camera to see it in its entirety, to plan the trip.

The mechanic for this game though, is one of the space dudes has farted within the suit making it balloon shape in size, so one of the players at any given time is not able to jump high or fit through small areas, however you can transfer the air to the other players suit whenever, and the pair are attached by a semi-long breathing tube.

Its a fun little physics platformer, and super frustrating at times playing with a co-op couch partner. I’ll have more info about the game on Sunday as I’ll be dedicating my Achievement of the Week to it, and expect a review sometime later.

Xbox’s First Party Strategy
At Gamescom 2015, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke about first-party exclusives, and his vision going forward.

“My strategy is more around our own first-party franchises, and investing in franchises that we own and probably fewer deals for exclusive third-party content,” said Spencer. “I want to have strong third party relations, but paying for many third-party exclusives isn’t our long term strategy.”

Gears of War Ultimate Edition and Backwards Compatibility
Microsoft and The Coalition have announced that Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Gears of War: Judgment will be backward compatible on Xbox One this fall.

In addition to that, it was revealed that anyone who plays online in Gears of War: Ultimate Edition between launch on August 25 and the end of 2015 will gain access to every backward-compatible Gears game for free.

Doesn’t help me none since I own them all.

Destiny Sans Peter Dinklage
Bungie has revealed it has recast the role of Ghost in Destiny. Citing availability as one of the main reasons. Ghost will be reappearing in the next expansion The Taken King, and will feature Nolan North as the voice talent. All the original lines have been re-recorded as well.

Destiny’s Leveling System
More Destiny news as Bungie has announced that in the next expansion, they will be removing the Light system for leveling up. Players can level from 1-40 by completing missions, killing enemies and completing bounties.

“The conflation of gear and character level led to this place where your identity was determined by things outside of your control,” creative director Luke Smith said. “We don’t want to do that.”

Star Wars Battlefront’s Fighter Squadron and Mode
EA and DICE have announced Fighter Squadron, a new aerial vehicle-only multiplayer mode for Star Wars Battlefront.

The premise of Fighter Squadron sees the Rebel Alliance hunting down an escaping Imperial transport shuttle, which the Empire team must protect. Each ship has its own abilities, giving the A-Wing and its homing-missiles a different role than the X-Wing, for example.

Tomorrow I’ll catch up with more news, and hopefully prepare a review before the week is over, and then Sunday is an Achievement Update.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – News Catch-up, New Games and Games With Gold

Posted on August 11, 2015 by iRogan

Ah, Tuesday, the best day of the week. It’s like the first day of the week for all things new. Including Games, DVDs, Comics, and Music. But not theater releases.

Today I’ll discuss the new game releases, and look at the notable ones I missed for the past 2 weeks, plus Deals with Gold and Games with Gold.

Games With Gold
Xbox Live Gold members on Xbox One will be able to download Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes for free throughout August. How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition will also be free from August 16 to September 15.

On Xbox 360, Metro 2033 will be free for Gold members from August 1 to August 15. The sequel, Metro: Last Light, will then be free from August 16 to August 31. I have the bundle on the Xbox One, but have yet to start it up.

I am excited to go through Ground Zeroes again before the full release of MGS V, and now with it available for free, I don’t need the disc anymore. This, by far, is the best benefit of the GwG feature for those who already own the games.

Deals With Gold
The Xbox One and 360 weekly deals have been announced; notable ones listed below:

Xbox One
Thief – 60% off
Project CARS Digital Edition – 30% off
Mortal Kombat X – 25% off
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood – 80% off
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – 75% off
The LEGO Movie Game – 75% off
Never Alone – 50%

Xbox 360
Hitman HD Pack, or Absolution and Blood Money separately – 80% off each
Mafia II – 80% off
LEGO Indiana Jones 2 – 70% off
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – 75% off
The LEGO Movie Game – 75% off

The LEGO games are always a blast to play alone or in split-screen. Thief was recently made available for free on the 360, so I might just try out that version. I am interested in Mortal Kombat X though, we’ll see how much the discount brings it down too. And check out my review for Max and Never Alone if you’re interested.

Notable New Game Releases Extended Edition: July 28 – Aug 11

RARE Replay (Xbox One) – The RARE Replay is a collection of 30 hit and classic titles from the historic developer. Included into one package for $30.

Prototype 1 + 2 Bundle (Xbox One, PS4) – I played the first Prototype game on the Xbox 360, and wasn’t really impressed. Its great as a mindless sandbox game, but the story and quests and any direction whatsoever was lost on me, so I lost interest quick. This is an unnecessary HD remaster package.

Goat Simulator (PS4, PS3) – PS4 and PS3 consoles finally got Goat Simulator. My review.

Goat Simulator is the latest in goat simulation technology.

King’s Quest Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4) – A puzzle adventure game with stylized visuals akin to TellTale games. Chapter 1 is available now with more coming, or you can purchase the complete collection. The game looks pretty interesting, and there’s less dialogue and more puzzles than TellTale’s games, so I’ll likely pick it up.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss more news, and what I’ve been playing.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – The Catching Up Week, and Windows 10

Posted on August 10, 2015 by iRogan

Hi again! If you’re back reading this, it means I’m a decent blogger, right? I’ll add it to my resume!

So this week will be a combination of new news and old news as I start my catch-up from the past two weeks. While I was gone, I published a Top 10 Xbox 360 list and published a new short story. As well as started the run-down for Gamescom 2015. I’ll be adding new articles to that page as I get to it.

That said, the rest of the week should be the usual: News, New Games and Deals, What I’m Playing, possibly a review, and achievements.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Exclusivity
Square Enix has announced that the console exclusivity for Rise of the Tomb Raider would last one year. The Steam/ PC release would be early 2016, and the PS4 version likely available holiday 2016. No exact dates were revealed.

World of Tanks
Released on the Xbox One on July 28th, World of Tanks supports cross-platform play between the Xbox One and 360. Additionally, the Xbox One version features enhanced graphics and battle damage, and a new PVE mode for newer players. It’s free-to-play, so I’ll be providing my opinions of the Xbox One version when I jump in.

Xbox’s Reverse Streaming
More on the Window’s 10 features and impressions later on, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that Microsoft is currently looking into making it possible for Xbox One owners to stream PC games to their console now that the infrastructure is in place to do the opposite. This functionality would eliminate the need for a Steam Box.

New Battlefield Game in 2016?
EA has confirmed that a new Battlefield game will be released next year. EA has confirmed that a first-person-shooter over the next few years will be one of the core titles. Battlefield Hardline was released earlier in the year, and Star Wars Battlefront is late this year. I still haven’t completed Battlefield Hardline but I hope to soon, to remove it from my ever-growing list of incomplete games.

Star Wars Battlefront News
A new multiplayer mode has been confirmed for Battlefront, in Blast, which will give the players smaller, close-quarters encounters instead of the featured large-scale battles.

10 versus 10 team deathmatch face-off between Imperials and Rebel forces. Winning team is the first to reach 100 kills or lead the way after 10 minutes. Maps won’t be scaled down version of the regular modes, but specifically designed close-quarters maps taking place within interiors of several key settings.

Destiny’s Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught is a brand new playable environment coming with the next Destiny expansion, The Taken King. The Dreadnaught is the home of the Hive enemy class. It will proved the setting for the upcoming campaign missions as well as Patrol and public events too. The new strike and strike boss, Darkblade, will be fought aboard the Dreadnaught. Expect more destiny news as we approach the September release.

I upgraded to Windows 10 when I came back, and so far I’m really impressed. It has a cleaner interface, and improved navigation, especially for tablets (which I use primarily). Now I haven’t used it to its full potential, and never will, but the Xbox App was the most important feature to me, and it’s incredible.

It has a very impressive feature set and works seamlessly with the Xbox One in the same room. It’s more robust than the smart glass app, and supports Xbox parties and game DVR. The last feature I tried was the Xbox Streaming, and with a Xbox controller wired in, it nearly works seamless. A little graphics loss, to be expected, but it did glitch out when I tried plugging in headphones to the tablet. Could be a hardware issues, so I’ll have to look into it further.

The Xbox app drops you into the Home screen when you log in. This looks similar to the Xbox One home, where it shows you the activity feed and friends list on the right. It will also show you your current party, last played game, and menus for customization, Achievements and friend options.

On the right is your menu: Home, My Games, Messages, Activity Alerts, Achievements, Game DVR, Store, OneGuide, Connecting to the Xbox One and Settings.

It’s not 100% polished yet, but it’s very impressive already with more TV DVR options in the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue with the news catch-up, new game releases, game deals and Games with Gold discussion.

-iRogan

Idly Playing the Waiting Game

i·dle – Adjective: without purpose or effect; pointless. Video Game News, Reviews, Achievements, and Art

Category Archives: News

Gamescom 2015: Cologne, Germany – EA Press Conference

ELECTRONIC ARTS Gamescom 2015 Media Briefing:

IDL NEWS – No New Games, New News, and How Time Flies

WHAT i’M PLAYING – LEGO Batman, Shiftlings, The Crew + News

IDL NEWS – News Catch-up, New Games and Games With Gold

IDL NEWS – The Catching Up Week, and Windows 10

ELECTRONIC ARTS Gamescom 2015 Media Briefing:

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