Tag Archives: E3

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 – 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 GAMES – New Game Tuesday and some News

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Well, we all know the big game this week, so lets jump right in.

Following the break, we have the new games and deals, and we’ll talk a little about the news and what we have coming later this week on the site.

Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, PS4, PC) – The game is finally here, after only a few delays. Probably worth it. I posted the launch trailer yesterday, and I’ve been excited about this game for a while. It’s on order and will be arriving into my hands shortly, so I’ll be leaving my impressions soon. I don’t anticipate waiting on this game, letting it grow stale on my shelf like some undeserving others. 😥

Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 3 – Catch a Ride (PC, X360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One) – I really enjoyed Episode 1, and now that 3 is out, I should get started on Ep 2.

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Dishonored 2’s Path Chosen To Go
Dishonored 2 is another game high on my anticipation list, and will be added to the E3 page for ongoing opinions. Recently out of E3 was the announcement of a secondary female character. After about 20-30 minutes into the story playing as the new female, Emily, we’re given a choice of continuing as her, or doing the remainder of the game as Corvo. This change is permanent for the remainder of the story but doesn’t change the missions, just the perspective and commentary.

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Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
Xbox One
The Crew and Season Pass each 50% off
Evolve and Deluxe Edition each 50% off
Wolfenstein Bundle 35-45% off

I’m currently playing through The Crew, and I’m really liking it. It’s everything I wanted for a social racer. The season pass, which includes 4 monthly car packs plus 2 exclusive cars, might now be worth it.

Evolve, unfortunately, I have not had a chance to try, save for PAX 2014 where I played the monster. Might be time to give it a shot now that it’s on sale. Maybe it’s too late though? This sale comes in time for The Hunting Season Pass 2.

Xbox 360
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 75% off
Splinter Cell Double Agent 75% off
Grand Theft Auto V 58% off
Grand Theft Auto IV 80% off
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas 75% off
Skyrim 60-66% off
Fallout New Vegas 60-66% off
Dishonored 60-66%
The Evil Within  60-66% off

I’m currently working on adding new material to the E3 page as info continues to surface. I’ll also be working on a PAX Prime 2015 page for the convention in September, and a Extra Life page for the 24 hour video game marathon in November.

I’m continuing to play The Crew and Badland, and streaming those games on Twitch occasionally. I should have a Badland review up this week as the game is a hell of a lot of fun.

I also recently dropped back into Destiny, so I’ll be posting a little summary of the House of Wolves DLC and more info about Year 2 and The Taken King expansion.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – E3 Recovery

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So with E3 2015 over and done, it’s time to sit back, relax, and dissect all the news. What happened? What’s coming out? Aside from all the notable news, what about the notable omissions from the show? Keep an eye on the E3 page, as I’ll still be posting opinions and thoughts there. At least until PAX Prime 2015 and Gamescon in September.

So, onward and upwards unto the news, as it never slows down.

Red Dead Redemption Leads Xbox Backwards Compatibility
Hot off the news that come holiday season, Xbox One will support Xbox 360 backwards compatibility, Xbox.com currently has a vote for the most requested games to be ported first:

https://xbox.uservoice.com/forums/298503-backwards-compatibility

Currently Red Dead Redemption tops the list, followed by Call of Dutys, Skyrim, Halo Reach and Gears of War 3.

Evolve’s Second Season Pass
Evolve is getting a second season pass, titled Hunting Pass 2, will be available June 23. The latest pass will introduce four new hunters and new monster, and some exclusive skins.

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Batman Arkham Knight Day One Patch
The release game will be a whopping 45GB install and the day one patch size has been revealed to be an additional 3.5GB. By the time the 1TB PS4 and Xbox One consoles hit the market it’ll already be too late. 2TB will be needed.

Arkham-Knight

Tales From The Borderlands: Ep 3 – Catch a Ride
TellTale Games has announced that episode 3 of Tales from the Borderlands, titled Catch a Ride will be released this week on its respected platforms. Means I should get on that Ep 2.

GameStop Retro
GameStop will be increasing its product lineup to include more used copies of retro games and refurbished game consoles. This will include more NES, N64, SNES, Sega Dreamcast, PS1, and Sega Genesis games.

Batman Arkham Knight

‘Nuff Said.

Looking ahead, I’ll be posting some more E3 stuff regarding Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dues Ex (among others) as these are two of the games I am looking forward to the most.

I recently started playing the indie hit BADLAND, and I’ll be posting some impressions of that soon.

What doesn't kill us, definitely reduces our numbers.

What doesn’t kill us, definitely reduces our numbers.

I’m still playing through The Crew and Splinter Cell The Blacklist. So, new games tomorrow, and then more news and further impressions on Crew, SplinterCell, and Badland to round off the week.

It’s summer . . . go outside!

-iRogan

E3 2015 – Square Enix Press Conference

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SQUARE ENIX E3 Press Conference

*This one is coming a bit late as I wasn’t able to watch Tuesday’s conference’s live*

-Quick predictions or hopefuls before it begins: Hitman, Dues Ex Mankind Divided, and Just Cause 3 are top of my list.

-Conference starts with a fast montage for Just Cause 3, showing lots of carnage, explosion, grappling and gun fights. This is a smaller and personal press conference for Square Enix.

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-Phil Rogers takes the stage. Square’s first solo press conference in a long time at E3. Company is proud of the massive work and achievements in FFXIV Online.  The company is more open to helping their teams and listening to fan feedback. Always interested in improving their company.

-Company is proud of its uniqueness and variety of their brands.

Just Cause 3

–Avalanche Studios very proud of their huge open world games. Wanting to redefine the open world games. Sand-box gameplay driving development. Announces the new wing suit. Wing suit stabilizes the parachute. Upgraded grapple hook and multiple grapple lines.

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-400 sq miles. Launch Dec 1st, 2015, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

-Just Cause 3 gameplay: starts with our main man, Rico, driving a car out of a huge cargo plane. Trailer showcases lots of level, factory and bridge destruction. Showcases the new wing suit mobility. The new Mediterranean island location is greater than 400 sq feet from skybox to seabed.

-Multiple grapple tethers. Manual retract function to slingshot soldiers and vehicles. Tear objects apart or create wrecking balls. Two handed weapons can be used while parachuting. Unlimited C4. 80 land, sea, and air vehicles.

NieR

-New project early in development. Platinum Games. Yosuke Saito.

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-Teaser is meant to show the art. NieR is the title of the game. More info in the Fall, 2015, on the Ps4.

-Producer and Game Director take the stage to discuss the game further. 5 years since the previous installment. Platinum Games very willing and welcome to take on the challenge and provide their own take, and showcase what they’re known best for, action.

-Subtitle of the game still a secret.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

-Quick trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider is shown, similar to what we had already seen during the Xbox Conference. “Discover the legend within.”

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-Brian Horton comes to the stage, game director at Crystal Dynamic. Discusses the gameplay world premiere. Wanted to make Lara Croft as human and believable as possible. Wanted to make the most believable as possible. Behind the scenes creation video is shown discussing the making of Lara Croft. Details are the most important part: pores, eyelashes, scars. Micro details on the clothes. Lara can get dirty and bloody during fights. Will gather snow on the clothing.

-Beautiful, hostile world. Large world environments. Tombs are back.

Lara Croft GO

–Square Enix Montreal to discuss mobile games. Hitman GO and Hitman Sniper. Trailer for new game. Purest one-touch form. Mobile Tomb Raider game in the same gameplay format as Hitman GO. Lara Croft GO. Cell shaded and colourful. Turn-based experience, with an amazing soundtrack, and challenging gameplay.

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-Sizzle reel for new game and expansions, Life is Strange, Dragon Quest, Final fantasy XIV Online.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Kingdom Hearts III and 

World of Final Fantasy

–Kingdom Hearts series: Shinji Hashimoto comes to the stage, no translator. Woops. Trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Remake starts to play. “Play it first on the PS4”. Years of anticipation, Square is remaking the game, more information in the future.

-Original FF VII coming to PC and iOS later this year.

–Kingdom Hearts series: new trailer. Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key – Android and iOS. First Kingdom Hearts for mobile. Connects to KH 3 world.

-Next up, Kingdom Hearts III. “Instead of talking about it, lets watch some footage.”

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-Brand new world. World premiere for Kingdom Hearts III. Gorgeous colour world, fast combat, lots of vertical platforming, and mountainously large enemies. Game is not turn-based, but still includes the team dynamic. Thank you for the continued patience and dedication, it’s greatly appreciated.

-One more project to announce: World of Final Fantasy. Initially announced yesterday during the Sony Conference. Trailer is shown. PS4 and PS Vita 2016. Hoping to bring in a wider audience to the genre as the bigger FF games seem to be less welcoming to new fans. Chibii characters.

Hitman

-Everything in this game lays the foundation for the series. A live, and ever-expanding world of assassinations. New hits and new locations. Game will adjust gameplay and events based on player feedback. Digital release to start.

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-New systems allow developers to do things that are bold and entirely new to the series. “Imagine a target appearing for a 48 hour window. One chance. Outcomes are final. Hit is gone forever. How he dies, is how he dies.” Very organic.

-Core of the game is still the campaign, organic gameplay in exciting locations. Locations are mode detailed and every NPC has a name and every room matters. Where you go, when you strike, and when you kill is up to you. Use brute force or orchestrate a stealth masterpiece. Numerous ways to take out targets.

-Community contracts return. Trailer. “Keys to the game are: freedom of approach, where you how you infiltrate, who you become. Some disguises are key, but some enemies are more observant. Improvisation is key. Experimentation is important. Mastery of levels is rewarded.”

-December 8. 2015 or 2016?

-Another sizzle reel: Hitman, Triad Wars, Final Fantasy XV

–Square Enix x tri-Ace New Project: StarOcean – Integrity and Faithlessness. Previously announced in Japan, and now coming to Europe and North America on the PS4 in 2016. New Gameplay trailer. Evolved form of a classic Japanese RPG

Dues Ex Mankind Divided

-No compromise of quality. Same team as Human Revolution, with a new engine.

-Takes place in 2029, 2 years after Human Revolution. World has changed. Augmented people are outcasts. Many branded as terrorists. Adam Jensen has left Sarif Industries. Is now an anti-terrorist agent, but also secretly a double agent.

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-New enhancements to Adam Jensen. Pistol and detachable blades as projectiles.

-Choices and consequence are at the heart of the series. Choices made will change the game, how it’s played, and determine the end of the story. Want to be one of the best action RPGs out there.

-World Wide Exclusive Gameplay Preview. Quick story trailer. Gun modifications still present. First-person and 3rd person gameplay. Early 2016. PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

–Final Fantasy Portal App, this summer.

-One more announcement… New RPG project, newly establish studio: Tokyo RPG Factory. Dedication to Japanese RPGs. Colourful concept art shown. All new console RPG. Completely new IP. Project SETSUNA. Global release in 2016.

–Square Enix is very proud to be such a diverse creative company, always wanting to amaze and excite gamers. Very proud of their teams and partners.

-Quick sizzle reel showing the games we saw during the press conference, and they bring the content creators back to the stage for a final goodbye.

-iRogan