Tag Archives: Call of Duty

E3 2015 – Sony Press Conference – Live

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SONY E3 2015 Press Conference

*Live blog. Please refresh*

-Just a few minutes till the show. Some quick hopefuls: Uncharted 4, LOL THE LAST GUARDIAN? 

-6pm – Press conference is live. Showing a sizzle reel for all the upcoming Sony games.

-Please welcome Shawn Layden. New reality of gaming is boundless. More than traditional gaming with the social connectivity. First game of the night, highly anticipated by the Sony community. Heroism and companionship, poetic story telling. Alluding to Uncharted? Nope, The Last Guardian. WTF!!?!?

The Last Guardian

-Trailer shows gameplay. The child and his beast. His giant, winged griffon thing. The child mimics jumping and the beast jumps across the valley, and waits. The player traverses down the ladder and makes the jump himself, but won’t make it, so his beast catches him on the other side. We command the beast via the child we play. Very much like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. More like ICO with map platforming puzzles. Incredible level physics destruction. We need to make the run as the platform starts to come apart. The griffon misses the catch but uses its tail. Incredible emotional puzzles involving both the player and out beast, as we climb on its back and assist its climbing the ruins. The beast act and whines like a dog, has horns and feathers and little wings.

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– Sony has reintroduced The Last Guardian. 8 years after the first announcement. 2016. Acknowledge the visionary director behind the title.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

–Guerrilla Games Herman Hulst is up next. Makers of Kill Zone. Latest franchise. Captured on the PlayStation 4. Trailer starts in a cave covered in cave painting and hieroglyphics. Showcases Native Americans. Alludes to a time after the fall of man, of the big cities. Of the re-birth of a new planet as the cities faded away. New life. New tribe.

“The first to hunt, the first to raise our bows.”

The animals are now robots. A new take on the battle between man and machine.

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-Game looks gorgeous. Huge techno dinosaur-like creatures. Smaller techno deer-like creatures. Traditional bow and arrow, but with arrow mods. Awesome destruction elements. Game play shows the huntress taking on a large robotic dinosaur with the bow and arrow, one on one. One bow mod is a grappling tether that can attach to the ground. Then highlighting the weak point, takes it down. Horizon: Zero Dawn.

“A storm is coming”

From the creators of Kill Zone, this game looks absolutely incredible.

Hitman

–Square Enix. Pre-rendered trailer showing an impressive future, celebrities, important people, and then cut with an agent running, cut to a sniper. New Hitman. The agent running in the woods was Hitman. Beautiful trailer.

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-World premiere of the new Hitman. Exotic locations. High profile targets. Agent 47 returns. Most ambitious title to-date. Starting with a digital release.

-PS4 exclusive beta to PS4 first.

Street Fighter 5

-Starts with a gameplay trailer. Showcases some of the iconic fighters. Very cool gameplay with the same art style as the previous game. PS4 beta starts July 23rd.

No Man’s Sky

–Hello Games, Sean Murray. No Man’s Sky. Gameplay starts in the ship, and leaves the space station to space. Shows that we’re on the boundary of two warring factions where we can join in and take sides.

-Zooms out and shows our current location in the current solar system. Pulls back and shows more stars, that can be reached. Pulls back more! Forever more. Every point is a sun, and each sun has a solar system with planets and life. The map zooms out forever. Sean says most of these places have never been visited and may never be.

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-We’re gonna pick a place at random, and travel to a place we haven’t been to. Procedurally generated galaxy, undiscovered. Scans of the solar system shows points of interest. Beacons are found, and this is where you can upload discoveries, as we land on the planet. Not the prettiest planet he jokes. “I’ve seen better”. Every planet is fully destructible. The planet’s sentinels show up and we walk away under water, and fish are shown. The beacon is found to upload our discovery. Every planet is new and unique.

-Will announce a release date soon. Trading, fighting, exploring, survival. It’s a huge game.

Dreams

–Media Molecule, makers of Little Big Planet. New game challenges our ability to create. Think of a dream like world. Share the dream space of others and share you creation to others. Game is like a moving painting. Using the controller at the paint brush. Quick, intuitive, and fun. Piece together a painting and then act it out, using controller performance capture as puppeteering. Quick trailer shows some of the dreams made with the tool: piano player, polar bear, space battles, teddy bear vs ground monsters, back to the piano player who  is now a polar bear. Game doesn’t have typical polygons or animations. Art is fluffy looking.

Firewatch

-Intense mystery in the Wyoming wilderness. Firewatch. Blocky models and very colourful. Trailer is narrated by a woman’s voice and we talk to her throughout the adventure. First person forest adventure game. Dark and mysterious adventure.

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Destiny

-Next great adventure in Destiny. Trailer announces Orix, the Take King. Follows the Crota Raid. Orix is out for revenge, as we killed his son, and is bringing a dark army to hunt us. Shows the new subclasses for each guardian. New enemies, new planets?

“Orix is coming. You’ve got his attention, now go get his head”

Destiny: The Taken King coming September 15th, 2015. Exclusive content on PlayStation.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

-Trailer starts with Jocob Frye’s voice, but the main focus is Evie Frye, his twin sister. Shows the new weapons for Evie, the cane-sword, and throwing knives. Exclusive missions called the Dreadful Crimes, for the PS4.

World of Final Fantasy

-Cute little trailer with cartoony characters.Welcome to Grimwoir. Show’s tiny monsters. Adorable enemies and heroes. Small in stature with a grand fate. Small and cute. PS4 and PS Vita. World of Final Fantasy.

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-Very special treat from Square Enix. Trailer shows a revolutionary city, with ominous music. Jaws-like. Final Fantasy 7 Remake. First to Playstation 4. People are flipping out!

-4 new games from Devolver Digital:

  • Ronin – assassin-like 2-d sidescroller.
  • EITR – pixel hack and slash.
  • Mother Russia Bleeds, pixel gore brawler.
  • And Crossing Souls, cartoony adventure game.

–Shenmue 3? “Time to unfold the story.” Announced via Kickstarter. Yu Suzuki comes to the stage to discuss the project. Countdown to the kick off of the kickstarter. 5,4,3,2,1.

-Start funding. 2 million dollar goal.

Batman Arkham Knight

-Steam works type trailer, with old music. Joker. Batman Arkham Knight. :).  Joker is in a furnace getting torched. Flames turn into the bat symbol.

-First person perspective of Officer Owens in a diner. Gets attacked by scarecrow and starts to seen crazy enemies. Scarecrow Missions exclusive for PS4.

-This game looks especially dark. and comes out next week. WOo!

Project Morpheus and Playstation Media

-VR landscape look awesome, providing such innovative game options for developers. Morpheus will allow co-op game play with other people. Multiplayer game Rigs is shown, 3 vs. 3 multiplayer arena game. Morpheus is a choice, add value to the console.

-Partnered Playstation Music with Spotify. Expanded Playstation View, live TV streaming service. Allow users to subscribe to individual channels, not ties to bundles. PS Plus members get discounted rates.

-Playstation is partnering with Activision to bring Call of Duty. Playstation gets COD first now.

Call of Duty Black ops III

-Deepest and most engaging COD ever, campaign, multiplayer, and zombies. Gritty campaign, redesigned from the ground up. Load-out available before the mission starts, and supports 4 player co-op.

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-Game looks good, and smooth. Starts in a ship, and we find the pilot with reenforcing bar stabbed through the chest. The ship falls and we need to leave. Very futurist looking. New powers available with the suit. Advanced battleground with lots of spider tanks and walkers. Ability to control friendly walkers. Level destruction looks amazing. Lots of digital HUD elements. Story sizzle reel trailer wraps up.

-David Vonderhaar – Treyarch. Introduce Black Ops III multiplayer. Game play trailer shows new powers and mobility, and female fighters. Underwater parts to the maps. Multiplayer looks fast and epic.

-New era with Call of Duty and Playstation. New home of Call of Duty, getting all dlc map packs first.

-Sizzle reel of upcoming titles. Hitman, Batman, Dues Ex, Mad Max, Uncharted, Horizon, Destiny, Metal Gear Solid, MLB, Street Fighter, LEGO, The Last Guardian, and Until Dawn. Ratchet and Clank too.

-PS Vita sizzle reel up next: Tearaway, Dreamers, Tony Hawk, among others.

Star Wars

-Star Wars music blasts into the arena. Shawn Layden is back to discuss Disney Infinity, Twilight of the Republic. Epic light-saber combat. Rise Against the Empire playset. Disney Infinity 3.0. Wold premiere trailer – Rise Against the Empire. Ends with Boba Fett.

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–Star Wars Battlefront. Patrick Bach – DICE, comes to the stage. Here to discuss the co-op and solo game modes. Battle game mode, hero encounters, trials, and survival are the solo and co-op options for the game. Trailer debut for Survival – wave based gameplay. Shows storm troopers and shock troopers. Gameplay looks amazing with authentic sounds and blasts. Lots of sparks, like the movies. Split screen support. Tag line – Live out Your Fantasies.

Uncharted: A Thief’s End

-Small title up next, which requires no introduction. Only on PlayStation. Long delay here….

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-Starts with a statue of Black Beard. Naughty Dog. Nate and Sully enter the shot, and open a large wooden door into a market. Gameplay shows lots of people milling about the market. Looks like the demo is having controller malfunction though. Nate’s not moving.

-Demo restarts with the Pirate statue. LOL. Woops. Visuals look amazing at least. Lots of interactions with the civilians.  Gun fire in our direction, and the real demo begins. Amazing physics, and level destruction. Great animations as expected. Gun play looks a little more consistent and refined. Still Triangle to pick up ammo. Witty dialogue still apparent between Sully and Nate. Great dialogue.

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-Amazing level platforming and the ability to drive vehicles. Different paths can be taken to avoid enemy gunfire. Great level destruction while driving. Seems we can drive anywhere. Come across a construction site, and have to go off-road. Enemy truck drives through the wall. Camera zooms in on Nate and Sully to show highlighted points of interest.

-Driving sequence is amazingly detailed. Following a convoy now, off-road. Nate jumps up front and tell Sully to grab the wheel. We grapple on the truck and swing under the bridge and the truck attached to the convoy. Demo ends when we are about to crash into a wall.

*breath*

-Press conference over.

-Phew. Typical with Sony’s Conferences, there’s no room for breathing, just game after game. They’ll probably break the internet with FF7 and The Last Guardian, and Uncharted 4.

-E3 Day Zero is over. Tomorrow I’ll talk about Square Enix’s conference. Hopefully more info about Hitman and Dues Ex.

-I’ll prob discuss a little more about my thoughts and opinions on each announcement, and what has me most excited.

-iRogan

iReview – CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS – Stop. Shoot. Stop. Shoot.

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How many Call of Duty games have come out before Call of Duty: Ghosts? How many will come out after?

Title: Call of Duty: Ghosts
Developer:Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Neversoft
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Wii U, PC
Publisher: Activision
Reviewed on: Xbox One

Call of Duty is Activision’s most profitable IP. A new version of this first-person shooter is now released annually, and it’s hard to say if this train will ever end. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of Call of Duty.

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What is it that makes the brand so recognizable, let alone appealing?

This wasn’t always the case, and Call of Duty wasn’t always a household name. That trend started around 2007 with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the franchise’s first step out into the modern world of war, leaving the World War II era behind (like everyone else). This was also at the time that Activision started releasing annual editions of the series, with a two-year development cycle, and two developers concurrently working on titles. With the next-gen, this has been bumped up to 3 developers, with a 3 year dev cycle. Spin-cycle, initiate.

All that notwithstanding, this franchise has always been popular, with its engaging, sometimes confusing, yet linear story, that pushes you along large action set pieces at breakneck speeds and controls every step of your experience, lest you start to think you have any semblance of authority. You don’t really play, you’re along for the ride. So strap in!

CALL OF DUTY’S MULTIPLAYER FAN BASE IS NOTHING IF NOT PASSIONATE

Call of Duty’s true bread and butter is, for some reason lost to me, the multiplayer. This keeps the people coming back. Typically portrayed as the scum of the internet, Call of Duty’s multiplayer fan base is nothing if not passionate for their Doritos and Mountain Dew infused FPS. The fan base has become so large and rabid, that these games are typically world record setters on launch – usually selling over a billion dollars worth of units each year, and most of these gamers won’t even start up the single player campaign. 

So if that’s been the case for 12 years now, why change what’s clearly not broken.

Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces us to a new story arc. Over is the Modern Warfare days, about to start is the Advanced Warfare future, and in a separate arc entirely, we have the Black Ops story. 3 different story arcs for 3 different developers.

Everything is exactly the same!

Everything is exactly the same!

Developed by Infinity Ward, with assistance from Raven Software (multiplayer) and Neversoft (Extinction), Ghosts is technically Call of Duty 10, and the 6th title developed by IW. And for all the experience therein, it seems to be the least innovative title to date.

Partial blame would be leveled at the restructuring of IW itself. After Modern Warfare 2, and the very public firing of IW’s CEO and Creative Lead, Vince Zampella and Jason West respectfully, IW has never really been the same, and has since required the assistance of other developers to pad their games, notably Modern Warfare 3. Another blame can be the result of the conversion to the next generation of consoles, as Ghosts marked the first launch title for the Xbox One and PS4, and first of its kind on the Wii U. So a butchered team, the shell of its former self, coupled with new, next-gen hardware leaves Ghost as a game that tries nothing new.

SO IF THAT’S BEEN THE CASE FOR 12 YEARS, WHY CHANGE WHAT IS CLEARLY NOT BROKEN

The story is set in a time that follows the nuclear destruction of the Middle East, and the formation of a global superpower, in South America, called “The Federation”.  The Federation captures an American Orbital Defense space station and uses the weapon to destroy the southwestern United States.  The surviving American astronauts self-destruct the space station before it can fall into the enemy hands permanently. America, Fuck Yeah!

10 years later, the war continues between the Federation and the remaining United States, as the game follows the Ghosts, a force of U.S Special Ops personnel trained to conduct secret missions behind enemy lines. The Ghosts are tasked with operations to take out key sites to turn the war in the favour of the Unites States. These elite few discover plans for a new Orbital Space Station designed by the Federation, and as a result, all remaining forces are pooled together in a synchronized assault on the enemy space centre on the ground, while a smaller team attempts to take over the Federation’s satellites in space.

The gameplay follows the same format as previous games, with the story told mainly through the perspective of one character.

...Only now they've added a dog!

…Only now they’ve added a dog!

This Call of Duty iteration, however, does add a few changes to formula. We’re given a German Shepherd companion for a portion of the story, and there are a few stealth levels where we play the dog, and take down enemies. The game also features underwater levels and missions in space, mixing up the run, crouch, shoot, run tactics, but the segments are still very much: stop, shoot, stop, shoot.

All the multiplayer modes are back with some new mechanics that allow certain areas of the maps to be altered or destroyed, not unlike Battlefield 4’s “levelution”. There is a new nuke-like kill streak perk, and the sniper rifle now features dual-render technology, which allows the player to see around the outside of scope, although blurred, when zoomed in. Was this not around before?

STOP. SHOOT. STOP. SHOOT

Lastly, in a new co-op mode called “Extinction”, has 4 players pitted against aliens in a horde-type base-defending survival mode. The main goal, besides surviving, obviously, is to destroy all the alien hives scattered around the map, and escape. Players get to choose from 4 different class types with unique traits and loadouts.

While not a bad game by any stretch, the run and gun gameplay mechanic is predictable. The quick-time prompts during the story events are frequent, and laughably unoriginal – Press X to feign interest.

Call of Duty: Ghosts can be commended for its action sequences, as they are visually impressive – always throwing larger and louder destruction our way – but a lot of time there isn’t a lot of interaction required from the player. We’re essentially along for the story/ride IW wants to tell/drive, and the game will just sit and wait for you if you try to be difficult, and decide to pout in the corner.

“You WILL play the game like we want you to play it, and you WILL like it.” – Somebody within IW, probably.

With Call of Duty's new engine, you'll have fish move away from you when you get close to them.

With Call of Duty’s new engine, you’ll have fish move away from you when you get close to them.

The next-gen editions are a step up in the graphics, but nothing notable. The lighting, character modeling and animation is the only true difference, but its hard to notice it with the same blurry screen-shake mechanics trying to infuse realism into the experience.

For those who like linear first-person shooters, German Shepherds, or pressing “X” to have the game played for them.

Notable Achievements:
Blimey O’Riley (Pounce on 10 enemies whilst controlling Riley) – 10G
End of your rope (Cut a grappling hook rope with an enemy on it) – 20G

-iRogan

NEWS – Paint it Black

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Hey there, internet. We have some news today, which includes new info from Metal Gear Solid Online, Mad Max, Destiny, Telltale, Just Cause 3, Wolfenstein, and Call of Duty.

Metal Gear Online Support 16

The Phantom Pains’s online component, Metal Gear Solid Online, has been announced that it’ll support up to 16 players on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and up to 12 players on PS3 and Xbox 360. The game will be released on Sept 1st on all the 4 consoles, and on Sept 15th on the PC.

“Why are we still here? Just to suffer?”

Destiny – House of Wolves Expansion

New news started coming about Destiny’s latest expansion, House of Wolves, and how they’ve learned from The Dark Below:

  • New upgrade system allows you to upgrade all your existing gear to the new stat thresholds, without erasing the previous progress, and you don’t need to buy the new DLC to do it.
  • You wont need to buy the new DLC to explore the new social hub: Vastian Outpost.
  • You can now reforge weapons through the gunsmith. Previously only able to do so during the Iron Banner event.
  • The speaker can exchange raw materials at a 1:1 ratio.
  • New NPC vendor and two new modes: Prison of Elders and Trials of Osiris. These two are intended as highly replayable end game content. Prison of Elders is PvE and Trials of Osiris is PvP.
  • New gear and new ships
  • The new outpost on the Reef has room to expand, like the tower’s social hub.

Mad Max Gameplay Overview Trailer

This game has me pretty excited. Reminds me of 3rd Person Rage. Also reveals the Thunderdome.

Telltale Partners with Marvel

Marvel Comics has partnered with Telltale Games for a future console and PC series coming 2017. No info yet on what the title game will be, but I’m sure more info will be released soon.

Just Cause 3 Teases and Disappoints

Square Enix has revealed a new gameplay trailer will arrive on Tuesday, April 28th, so expect more info about that tomorrow, along with the new games of the week, obviously.

Yolo

Yolo

Avalanche Games had also announced that Just Cause 3, releasing later this year during the holiday season for PS4, Xbox One and PC, will not include multiplayer. No-Co-op :(.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Available for Pre-Order

The Wolfenstein standalone DLC is available for pre-order. The game includes 8 chapters and a handful of new weapons available to B.J. Blazkowicz, The game is available May 5th.

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Reveal

New trailer, and a release date: November 6th, 2015. Set to The Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black, the trailer discusses how soldier are becoming less and less human. How far can technology go? Developed by Treyarch, this will be the first COD meant for next-gen only consoles.

  • Pre-ordering grants multiplayer beta access on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
  • New Multiplayer options, as you pick a specialist before each match which has its own unique power and weapon
  • New zombies
  • and new Campaign, obvs.

Maybe I should play through Call of Duty Black Ops 2, to get caught up.

That’s all for today. Enjoy the videos and get excited. Tomorrow is new games. Wednesday I’ll discuss Far Cry 4 and Assassin Creed Chronicles: China. Thursday I’ll have a review up for Call of Duty Ghosts.

See you then.

-iRogan

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE WEEK – Call of Duty Ghosts

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This week’s Achievement of the Week goes to Call of Duty Ghosts, a game I completed a couple of weeks ago, late, and well past its relevancy, I know.

That’s my thing.

This game takes a little bit of a different route to its achievements than its predecessors. Previous games had an individual achievement for each mission, a veteran difficulty specific achievement for each level grouping, and usually a few skill based achievement (kill so many people in a row with a knife, or 5 guys simultaneously with a grenade).

This time around, each level has 1 or 2 unique achievements, and does away with the Veteran difficult achievements. It’s nice to see they’re not going with the same old tiresome routine. And I’m always glad that they exclude the multiplayer achievements, but this time around they included so new gameplay modes.

I’ve jumped back into the game to wrap up some of the achievements I had missed, and I’ll also be posting the review for Ghosts on Thursday.

So I present my choice for my Achievement of the Week from Call of Duty Ghosts:

Carbon_Faceprint_CoDGCarbon Faceprint – 10G
Catch the photocopier with your face

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On Mission: Federation Day, after repelling out of the building for the 3rd segment, and enemy will trow a photocopier out the window. Just catch it with your face.

I found this achievement pretty funny in name and concept. It’s not necessarily something you’d unlock naturally either.

New news tomorrow, and then the rest of the week happens. See you when I see you.

-iRogan

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE WEEK – Goat Simulator

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So I started thinking of different ways to arrange my week. I believe I play games almost every day, at least in some respects. I at least talk about them or think about them about as much as any normal guy talks about . . . other things . . .

Usually every day I talk about some newsworthy things, that’s usually the main purpose of Monday, talk about news and the week to come. Tuesdays in news and New Games, Wednesday I usually talk about what games I’m currently playing and plugging away at, and Thursday’s I try to throw up a Review if I can. This is what I try to do every week, assuming something else doesn’t intervene.

But this also got me thinking about what I can do achievement related. In the reviews I try to include the notable achievements at the bottom. Something I felt was particularly creative or had a cool name. But I wanted to do more, since they are a true motivation for me. So I think every week, on Sundays to end the week, I’ll be including an Achievement of the Week post. Something quick and painless, to get me motivated for the week to come. These posts will be specific achievements that I’ve acquired throughout the week, and usually lead up to a screenshot gallery, or upcoming articles.

This week will be GOAT SIMULATOR. Released late this week, April 17th, and it’s only $9.99. It’s not really much of a game, but a fun sandbox physics simulator to play around in when you’re bored. It also has some easy achievements to chase. The game is somewhat of a parody of itself, and has some pretty entertaining moments in slow-motion. Thursday I’ll throw together a quick review from the Xbox One version.

This week’s Achievement of the Week (AotW) is from Goat Simulator:

100646-hiGoat Of The Hill – 15G
Everything the light touches is your kingdom

And all this will be mine?

And all this will be mine?

The goal is to reach the very top-most part of the crane in Goat Ville.

In other news, I’ve also started to export some of the screenshots from Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Far Cry 4. Would you kindly check them out here. -iRogan