Category Archives: News

IDL NEWS – Destiny, PAX, and New Games

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I posted earlier today (and updated), the Xbox Ultimate Summer Game Sale, but there’s also more Xbox Deals With Gold to discuss, Destiny rewarding their most dedicated fans, and some PAX news. 

No new games were released, but they made up for it I guess by unloading a ton of sales.

Bungie Rewarding Dedicated  Fans
Bungie has announced a special reward for first-year Destiny players who complete a certain set of challenges, called The Moments of Triumph, before September 9th. Some of the hardcore fans out there will have already completed some of these, as the data is being pulled retroactively, but here’s the list for those who want to strive for the exclusive emblem:

TriumphEmblem

The Moments of Triumph are:

  • Apprentice of Light — Reach level 20
  • Light of the Garden — Finish the Black Garden mission
  • Light in the Soul  — Finish The Dark Below story
  • Light of the Reef — Finish the House of Wolves story
  • Bane of Skolas — Defeat Prison of Elders on hard
  • Bane of Atheon — Finish the Vault of Glass raid on hard
  • Bane of Crota — Finish the Crota’s End raid on hard
  • Public Servant — Complete 50 public events
  • Crucible Gladiator — Win 100 Crucible matches
  • Chest Hunter — Find all 20 golden chests

PAX Prime 2015 – Kim Swift
Prime’s Keynote speaker will be none other than Kim Swift, one of the creators of a little game called Portal.

Kim Swift is currently a Senior Game Designer at Amazon Game Studio and her resume shows she previously worked on another little game called Left 4 Dead, among others. She’ll be telling stories and sharing insights about her career.

PAX Prime runs from August 28-31. I’ll be at the event itself, and adding a section up top, as we near the event. So stick around for further coverage of the event.

E3 Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards results for E3 have been revealed, and I’ve chosen a few of the notable ones, shown below:

  • Best of Show – Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
  • Best Original Game – Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/SCE)
  • Best Console Game – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SCE)
  • Best PC Game – Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
  • Best Action/Adventure Game – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SCE)
  • Best Independent Game – No Man’s Sky (Hello Games/SCE)

Deals With Gold

Xbox One
Lords of the Fallen – 60%
Destiny Expansion Pass – 25%
Destiny DLC I – The Dark Below – 25%
Destiny DLC II – House of Wolves – 25%

Xbox 360
Monaco – 60%
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men – 75%
Kane & Lynch 2 – 80%
Destiny Expansion Pass – 25%
Destiny DLC I – The Dark Below – 25%
Destiny DLC II – House of Wolves – 25%

Hopefully some more news tomorrow, but it’s definitely slowing down on the overall news front, and new releases as we hit the summer lulls. It’s all just sales while we wait for September, and then the holiday season.

This would probably be the time for me to start expanding the different features of the site, like articles, shorts, and E3 opinions. Or maybe play some games.

-iRogan

IDN News – Xbox Ultimate Game Sale *UPDATED*

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The Xbox Ultimate Summer Game Sale has started.

Here’s a list of the Xbox One games so far:

  • Battlefield Hardline Deluxe – 40% off
  • Borderlands: THC – 40% off
  • Diablo 3 – 50% off
  • Dragon Age Inquisition & Deluxe – 50% off
  • Dying Light & Ultimate – 30% off
  • Far Cry 4 & Gold – 60% off
  • FIFA 15 – 10% off
  • Game of Thrones Season Pass – 40% off
  • Geometry Wars – (50% off)
  • Goat Simulator – 33% off
  • GTA 5 & Great White Shark – 25% off
  • Halo: The Master Chief – 40% off
  • Killer Instinct Complete – 60% off
  • Killer Instinct S2 – 40% off
  • Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris – 60% off
  • Lego Batman 3 – 75% off
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – 50% off
  • Mortal Kombat X & Premium – 25% off
  • NFS Complete – 50% off
  • Ori and the Blind Forest – 25% off
  • Outlast – 50% off
  • State of Decay – 33% off
  • Slender – 50% off
  • Sniper Elite 3 – 50% off
  • Sleeping Dogs – 50% off
  • Saints Row 4 – 60% off
  • Tales from the Borderlands 1-5 – 50% off
  • Terraria – 60% off
  • ESO Premium – 17% off
  • Legend of Korra – 50% off
  • The Telltale Collection – 50% off
  • The Walking Dead S1&2 – 50% off
  • Titanfall – 60% off
  • Tower of guns – 40% off
  • Watch Dogs – 50% off
  • White Night – 50% off
  • Wolfenstein bundle – 45% off
  • WWE & Deluxe – 50% off

Notable ones for me include Mortal Kombat, WWE 2K15, and possibly Dying Light. Everything else I have :p. Pretty much. Sadly.

Here’s the list of the Xbox 360 games so far:

  • The Orange Box – 67-75%
  • Mortal Kombat – 67-75%
  • Far Cry 4 – 50-60%
  • GTA IV – 75-80%
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – 67-75%
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us – 67-75%
  • State of Decay – 40-50%
  • WWE 2K15 – 40-50%
  • F1 2014 – 50-60%
  • Mass Effect – 75-80%
  • Dragon Age: Origins – 67-75%
  • Dragon Age 2 Games – 75-80%
  • Assassin’s Creed Revelations – 40-50%
  • Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – 40-50%
  • Assassin’s Creed III – 40-50%
  • Watch_Dogs – 40-50%
  • Prototype 2 – 67-75%
  • Dead Rising 2 – 75-80%
  • Sleeping Dogs – 67-75%
  • Goat Simulator – 40-50%
  • RISK – 40-50%
  • The Legend of Korra – 40-50%
  • Need For Speed Rivals – 40-50%
  • Need For Speed Most Wanted – 67-75%
  • Slender: The Arrival – 40-50%
  • Trials Fusion – 50-60%
  • Monopoly Plus – 40-50%
  • Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved – 40-50%
  • Titanfall Deluxe Edition – 40-50%
  • Crysis 3 – 67-75%
  • Game of Thrones: Season 1 – Season Pass – 33-40%
  • Tales from the Borderlands – Season Pass – 33-40%
  • Fable Trilogy – 67-75%
  • Destiny – 60-67%

-iRogan

IDL News – Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, WWE, and Mortal Kombat X

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Summer. What is it good for?

Super Hero Movies? Bugs? Forest Fires? Encouragement to sit inside and play games, thanks to the Xbox Ultimate Summer Sale?

batgirl-720x720Batman Arkham Knight First DLC
Warner Bros has announced that the first story driven DLC for Batman Arkham Knight will be Batgirl: A Matter of Family. Available on July 14th for season pass holders and a week later for the rest.

The DLC takes place after the events of the main game, and allows the players to play as Batgirl, in an all new location, and will include multiple missions, side quests and secrets.

Mortal Kombat X Updates
Warner Bros has revealed new details regarding Mortal Kombat and its new updates. The Predator character will be made available tomorrow as part of a DLC bundle, which also includes 3 new skins: Commando Johnny, Infrared Scorpion and Carl Weathers as Jax. Available tomorrow for those who have the season pass, or $7.99 on July 14th.

Predator will be made available on his own on July 14th for $4.99.

Warner Bros also announced the Klassic Fatality Pack. For free. Four classic fatalities from Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonja and Johnny Cage.

WWE_2K16_FOB_AGNOSTIC_ENG-720x1018WWE 2K16’s Cover
2K has revealed today that the cover star for this year’s WWE game, will be Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Over the weekend, 2K had some problems with their digital WWE 2K15 as it was accidentally removed from the Xbox marketplace. Normally, no real problem, besides a potential loss of sales, but the removal caused the game to fail to start for all the current digital owners of the game. Issues lasted about 4 days.

Xbox’s Ultimate Game Sale
Microsoft has lifted the lid slightly, on its upcoming Xbox Ultimate Games Sale. The sale kicks off tomorrow, July 7.

The sale will discount over 70 different titles by 40-50 percent. Plus those with Xbox Live Gold will be able to save an additional 10%.

Featured titles on the Xbox One include: Mortal Kombat X, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, among others

Featured titles on the Xbox 360 include: Injustice: Gods Among Us and The Orange Box. More info will be made available tomorrow.

Some news on my front:

Extra Life 2015 campaign is going strong. To date, the charity has raised almost $500,000 which is double what was raised by this time last year. The big day is coming up in November, so I’ll have new info leading into that. The Extra Life team has joined with Ubisoft to help promote Rainbow Six Siege. Starting July 1st, 2015, anyone who donates $6 or more will receive a Guaranteed Access code to the Rainbow Six Siege Closed Beta. Beta Starts Sept 24th. I’ll be adding more info the Extra Life page as the event draws closer.

extra-life-splash

Started my playthrough of Batman Arkham Knight this weekend past, and boy, is it incredible. Very streamlined with some minor changes. But it is gorgeous to look at and play. I only noticed slight stuttering when driving the Batmobile at a few intersections, but otherwise very smooth. I’ll be leaving my thorough first impressions on Thursday.

Arkham-Knight

I’ve also been dabbling in Evolve and TitanFall again. Now that TitanFall has been added to the EA Access subscription, it’s received some new life. And I’ve completed The Crew’s campaign so I’ll be writing a review for that in the near future.

Tomorrow is new games and news, when we get to see the first batch of games in the Xbox Summer Sale.

Stay tuned.

-iRogan

IDN News – Post 100, Arkham Knight, Gamescom 2015, and Deals With Gold

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So E3 is over, and Gamescom is now the next stop on the video game hype train. Gamescom takes place in Cologne, Germany in August 2015. I’ll be keeping my eye on the event and posting the news and conference details. I’ll add another heading by the E3 heading. Once PAX and Extra Life roll around, I might just turn that link into an Event’s drop down, to conserve space.

There hasn’t really been a ton of news, I guess because everyone has just been playing Batman Arkham Knight. My copy has arrived, so I hope to get the chance to play it, and then share my thoughts, next week.

Tomorrow is game night, so there should be some Twitch streams to checkout.

Beyond that, I’m still playing The Crew, and wrapping up BADLAND. Evolve has been a fun getaway into multiplayer mayhem, and Illestrader got himself a copy, so we’ll have some Let’s Plays of that.

Gamescom news and Gold Deals of the week conclude today, and I’ve still got some more to post over the next few days, to wrap up the week.

Microsoft Gamescom 2015
Following Microsoft’s E3 2013 press conference, they’ve announced that their upcoming Gamescom press conference in Cologne, Germany will focus on Scalebound, Quantum Break and Crackdown, with new game reveals for Xbox One and Windows 10.

Deals With Gold

Xbox One
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare
Peggle 2
Tower of Guns
Thomas Was Alone

Xbox 360
Burnout Paradise
Crysis 2
Mirror’s Edge
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare
Skate 3
Peggle 2
Fuse
Syndicate
MX vs ATV Alive & Reflex

Peggle 2 and Plants Vs Zombies are free for those who have EA Access. Fuse was a lot of fun as a co-op game and Syndicate was an interesting game, with unique mechanics.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – Mafia 3, Free Games With Gold, more News, and Evolve

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The weekend is over and a new week begun. I posted a review for BADLAND, but forgot about the achievement of the week. Oh well. Maybe I’ll add an extra one during the week?

Achievement

Typically the Achievement of the Week is related to what I’m actually, currently playing, so not always current or relevant. Additionally, I already have the Notable Achievements in the iReviews, so going forward, I might make the Achievement of the Week more relevant by including it in the New Games of the Week article on Tuesdays, or keep it as its own post later in the week, but related to the new game of the week? Hmm, says I.

MAFIA3 Registered
June 25th, Take-Two registered a number of domains related to the potential sequel, Mafia 3. These include: Mafia3TheGame.com, MafiaIIITheGame.com, MafiaThree.com, and MafiaThreeTheGame.com. This is obvious fuel to the fire that is the potential sequel, Mafia 3. Mafia II was a pretty great game, and was recently one of the free Xbox 360 games with Gold game of the month.

The Last of Us 2?
More rumours surfaced today, as very recognizable video game voice actor Nolan North may have just outed Naughty Dogs sequel – The Last of Us 2. In a recent Q&A panel, Nolan North casually mentioned the sequel.

“For now, last one,” North said on the video, when asked if he has any upcoming projects with Naughty Dog aside from Uncharted 4. “I know they’re doing a Last of Us 2 but my character in Last of Us kind of had an untimely demise.”

Xbox Live Gold Now With Two New Xbox One Every Month
Starting in July, Microsoft will begin offering TWO free Xbox Games to Gold members through the Games With Gold program every month. For the month of July the games will be as follows:

Xbox One
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – July 1-15
So Many Me – July 16-31

Xbox 360
Plants vs. Zombies – July 1-15
Gears of War 3 – July 16-31

Games can be claimed through the console or through http://www.Xbox.com.

This week, Evolve and the Season 1 hunting pass was for sale on the Xbox One. I personally picked it up and started experimenting with it last night. I did the tutorials, and played a few matches in solo, and tried a couple multiplayer Hunts and Arena modes. Haven’t tried extraction yet.

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The game has been fun thus far, if not a little frustrating at times. Some matches have been slow burn, tracking the monster an exercise in futility, for 15 minutes until he was stage 3, and then just destroyed us quickly. Another match just had the monster play with us, killing all hunters save for Daisy, letting us respawn, only to do it over again, ad nauseum.

What I’ve noticed is an influx of new players due to the sale, but the veterans out there play the monsters. Playing with a pick-up group isn’t as fun either as there’s not a lot of people playing with mics.

Lastly, in arena mode, within the trapper shield is actually a small environment. It requires clear communication otherwise you’ll get stomped by the stage 2 monster. Especially facing against Behemoth, who is like half the size of the arena map :p.

Either way, I expect to keep playing, trying out new characters and classes. So stay tuned. Check out Cro0ked’s review of Evolve when the game originally released. I may do my own irrelevant iReview too ;).

–iRogan