Tag Archives: Games

2016 and all that jazz – IDL NEWS

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Hello, once again, internet.

Rocket League’s Xbox Release
Rocket League will finally make its debut on the Xbox on Wednesday, February 17th. Bundled with the game will be the three previously-released content packs: Supersonic Fury, Revenge of the Battle-Cars, and Chaos Run. The Xbox One will also include two unique vehicles inspired by Halo’s Warthog ad Gears of War’s Armadillo.

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Rocket League Hype Everywhere

Star Wars Battlefront Double XP Weekend
Star Wars Battlefront will host a double XP weekend February 12-14 after the SWB community successfully completed the recent Community Challenge.

I’ve found the game to be quite fun, and will try to log sometime this weekend to help rank up.

Tom Clancy’s The Division Umpteenth Beta
Ubisoft has announced another Division Beta, this most recent one running Feb 19-21st. I played the closed Alpha, and enjoyed what it had to offer, but NDA prevents me from discussing it further. And unfortunately I slept through the most recent closed beta, but I heard that it included the same missions and Dark Zone. I will try to take part during this new window to see where the game has improved, this close to release, and then share my opinions.

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Titanfall Sequel Will Have Single Player Campaign/Multiplatform
The sequel to 2014’s Titanfall, expected to release late 2016/early 2017 is confirmed to have a single-player campaign and will no longer be exclusive to the Xbox One.

“One of the shortcomings of the first game was we just did not have the mechanism to tell everyone ‘here’s who you are, here’s where you are, and who’s around you,'” Stern said. “We knew all the answers; we just could not deliver it.”

I loved Titanfall, and still play it from time to time. I felt that its lack of solid single-player was its only lacking element. That being said, I wouldn’t have played the online component as much as I did, if it had.

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New Releases – Feb 9

Assassins Creed Chronicles – Russia (Xbox One, PS4)
Wrapping up the trilogy, Russia has come out, just a few weeks after part two, India, came out. I played ACC China, and thought it was a unique 2.5D game, beautiful art and fun runner sequences. As I progressed through the game, it did become quite difficult in parts with a couple insta-fails parts. From what I’ve read India and Russia is very similar, but Russia has some unique sniper gameplay mechanics and a 2nd character, so I am looking forward to giving both of them a try. Here were my initial thoughts on China: ACC CHINA

Unravel (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
Unravel caught a lot of eyes at E32014 as this little indie darling being revealed by a very nervous dev showing off his baby for the first time, and not really know what to expect. The game has garnered quite the emotional response over the year that followed with fans sending in photos of their own little Yarny dolls. The game is finally out and I got to try the first two levels last week and found that the game was very pretty with some unique puzzle ideas. Excited to play through the full release.

Firewatch (PS4, PC)
Locked away as a PC and PS$ exclusive right now, Firewatch looks like a unique story driven game with brilliant voice acting. Not my typical genre but I’ll keep my ears peaked to news of any Xbox ports. One of the unique features of the PC version is you can order physical prints of the photos you take in-game.

Dying Light: The Following Enhanced Edition (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Dying Light’s big expansion is here – The Following – and alongside it, comes the full Enhanced Edition package. Myself and Illestrader will be picking this up as we’re in need of another lengthy co-op game.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (PS4)
Lovers makes its PS4 debut. Here’s my impression, for the Xbox: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

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In somewhat of a gaming rut, trudging through some and hesitant to start others, I recently sat down and played through the Beyond Good and Evil HD re-release. This was in-part because I wanted something fresh, but also because I wanted to give the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility a try, as I hadn’t to date. I’m going to put up a review for it later this week.

I’m also still working on the website re-alignment to include art and other projects. It’s been slow as other priorities have shuffled my website obligations some.

-iRogan

 

Hideo Kojima, Games With Gold – IDL NEWS

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Kojima’s New New Studio – KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS

Ko-new
So it’s officially official. As been reported on for quite some time, lots of rumours, lots of different parties telling different stories, a lot kept secret. Hideo Kojima has officially split and a new company has been formed: Kojima Productions, partnered with Sony.

Kojima and Co. will be starting up a new studio in Tokyo with some new staff, and lead producer and lead artist in tow. They’ll be working on a new IP with Sony, an edgier project, now that Kojima has more freedom.

This split has been a long time coming. Things started sliding down hill after the Silent Hills cancellation, and then reports showed him leaving after the Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain release. Konami and Kojima had noted that Kojima would be leaving after the release. But then he was just on vacation, but Kojima Productions had been shuttered.

Konami came out the worst through all of this, at the peak when during the 2015 Video Game Awards when it had been announced that Kojima had been barred from attending, and preventing any acceptance of awards.

But now all is well. He’s signed with the family he knows, in Sony, and he’s making new games. I’m excited to see what his next project holds.

Games With Gold

December 2015 has The Adventures of Van Helsing and Thief 3, free on the Xbox One.

Originally Van Helsing was released in 2013, and has now come to the Xbox One. By Neocore Games. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet, but I hope to over the holidays.

Thief 3, seems they’ve had a hard time selling this game, but now, after the Xbox 360 free Games with Gold version, is finally on the Xbox One. To date I haven’t tried it, but I will. Reviews were middling initially, as it doesn’t have the same impact as prior Thief games. We’ll see.

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I have wrapped Metal Gear Solid V and will be working on the review soon. Among my many other reviews. Currently I’ve been playing Star Wars Battlefront, and GTA V Online. Tomorrow I’ll be playing ARK, and will be discussing that over the weekend.

Smaller games I’m still working on Tales From The Borderlands and Valiant Hearts: The Great War. And big game is in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Next in the queue though: Arkham Knight. Finally. And its 30+ DLC items. Assassin’s Creed Unity and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare eagerly hang out too, hoping to get noticed.

I have a busy December, and hope to wrap some of these up.

On that note, time to go outside.

_iRogan

New Games, Games With Gold, and Oh Yeah, Destiny – IDL NEWS

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Oh, The Taken King is out? OK, I’ll leave you alone forever now . . .

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Just kidding. New games, new deals, and news: Uncharted 4, Mortal Kombat X, and Metal Gear Solid V.

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New Releases – Sept 15

NHL 16 (PS4, Xbox One) – EA’s annual NHL game is back for a new season, and thankfully fuller than last years bare bones edition. Online Team Play has returned, and EA has bolstered the Be A Pro mode. A new training mode is also available, as a new feature to catch new fans up to speed. NHL is an annual pick-up for me so expect some more impressions.

Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One) – Microsoft’s big simulation is back in a big way. 24 opponent races, rain and water physics and night-time races. The career still feels like a checklist and needs an overhaul, but the game is as gorgeous as ever with 1080p 60fps races.

Grand Theft Auto V Online – Freeworld Events (PC, Xbox One, PS4) – Today marks the new Online update. This has me interested in stepping back into the GTA world, and I already own the game.

Destiny: The Taken King (Xbox One, PS4) – The big 2.0 addition is finally here now, with actual story-telling, new missions, a new raid, new weapons, new playable area, new player sub-classes. All the things that will change Destiny is a big way. I’ll be jumping in tonight to transfer everything over  and check it out. Check out future impressions in the weeks to come.

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Deals With Gold

Xbox One

  • Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island
  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
  • Jet Car Stunts
  • Unmechanical Extended (My Review)

Xbox 360

  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • Grant Theft Auto IV
  • Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
  • Darksiders
  • Darksiders II (My Review)

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Some newsy type stuff:

Uncharted 4 – Uncharted 4: The Thief’s End will be released on March 18th, 2016. Sept 29th will mark the release of The Nathan Drake Collection on the PS4, remastering 1-3 into one nice package, and to catch everyone up on the series before 4’s release. Uncharted is a great series and one of the real reasons to own a PS3/PS4.

Mortal Kombat X – NetherRealm Studios has confirmed that it is still working on DLC for Mortal Kombat X. This includes new playable characters, skins and a new stage, due out in the first half of 2016.

Metal Gear Solid V – Konami has confirmed it has fixed the bug that plagued the game on all platforms, causing saved games to become corrupt when Quiet was brought along as a buddy on either Mission 29 or 42. The fix is available on the PS4 and PC, and will hopefully be coming to all platforms soon.

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This week I will continue to plug away through Metal Gear Solid V and will be jumping back into Destiny: The Taken King. I’ll be leaving my impressions of both, and possibly even writing another story, this one set in MGS V land. The game just lends itself to so many awesome encounters and creative experiences. I’ll also be picking up NHL and I know I’ll be dumping a ton of time into that, maybe even doing my first NHL review. And lastly, GTA V’s Online is calling.

This week’s Preview will focus on one of those games, and the What i’M playing feature will definitely be more MGS V. This is an exciting week to say the least.

-iRogan

TGS 2015, Nintendo’s New President, Halo 5, and Need For Speed – IDL NEWS

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Monday, Monday, Monday.

The day the new week starts and new news starts coming in. E3 is over, Gamescom is over, PAX Prime is over. Tokyo Game show is coming up this weekend, and then the year’s shows should be done. Luckily I’m almost caught up on the news as those shows take up a lot of time. I’m not sure yet if Tokyo Game Show actually has press briefings or not, or if it’s just a game showroom. Will continue to investigate. <- *Update at the bottom*

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Onward though, to news:

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

Night Dive Studios has announced that it will be restoring and publishing modernized versions of Turok 1 and Turok 2. Both Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will be getting graphical upgrades and other improvements. Unsure yet if this is only PC, or console release.

Mad Max 1080p and the Map Isn’t Finite

Avalanche Studios has revealed that Mad Max is 1080p which is nice to see, as a lot of the games to date on the Xbox One have not been true 1080p. And the map is also not finite.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Release Date

Square Enix and Eido Montreal have announced the release date for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The sequel to Human Revolution will be released on Feb 23rd, 2016 and is set 2 years after the events of HR, in the year 2029 with augmented people separated from normal residents. I’m super excited for this sequel, and should probably replay the first at some point. Hopefully it’s backwards compatible before February.

Borderlands Backwards Compatibility

Speaking of backwards compatibility, the original Borderlands is among the games that will be backwards compatible day one in the upcoming update in November.

GTA V Online Freemode

GTA V Online is getting a new feature update that will have structured events pop up in the open world for the players to join and play, with entering a lobby first.

Released tomorrow, the goal is to blend the freeform gameplay with structured events that offer rewards. Every 12 minutes in the open world, a new Freemode Event will start, with a countdown alerting players. If you miss the start or opt not to join, you can still spectate. Over 200 variants will be available at launch including cooperative battles, stunt challenges, king of the hill modes, and damage and speed limit tasks. Two new adversarial modes will be made available as well.

Nintendo’s New President

Nintendo has announced that Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, will assume the role of President and Representative Director for the company. The election will be for a 1 year term.

Kimishima’s appointment as the new head of Nintendo comes two months after the sudden death of former president Satoru Iwata from a cancerous bile duct growth. Iwata was 55.

Halo 5’s 60 FPS

SIMG_5039tudio head at 343 Industries has confirmed that Halo 5 will consistently run at 60 frames per second. The goal from the outset was to deliver 60 fps across all game modes. This meant re-engineering the gameplay systems at the core and uses a “progressive resolution system” that scales the games resolution based on what’s on the screen at that time.

“This enables us to deploy resources where they have most impact across a diverse series of experiences throughout the game while delivering the most visually stunning Halo game ever.”

PC Need For Speed Stalls

Ghost Games has announced that the latest PC installment of Need for Speed, titled Need For Speed, has been delayed. Expected to be released alongside its console counterparts in November, the PC version wont be seeing its released until “Spring 2016”.

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Well, that enough news for today I think. Tomorrow we’ll talk about some more news, and new games and deals, and awesome things. Wednesday will be a Metal Gear Solid V wrap up: part 2. More game previews around the corner and then Tokyo Game Show 2015 stuff around the weekend.

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Tokyo Game Show takes place from September 17th-20th, and is getting kicked off with Sony’s keynote tonight at midnight, so I should have a wrap-up later in the week. Sony, Square Enix, and Capcom are some of the main companies in attendance, so there should be some exciting news coming soon.

Stick around!

-iRogan

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE WEEK – Lovers In a Dangerous Spacetime

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Last Tuesday I picked up Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime as my Tuesday game of the week. It’s a fun little co-op game built around relationships and communication, in space. You can check out my review for it here: iReview – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

The nice thing about the game is it’s designed around co-op, so both participants in the game get achievements, which is nice, and sorely lacking from other co-op games: Rayman, and Chariot, to name a few.

Also, there’s co-op centric achievements, like playing the game in co-op, augmenting a turret while it’s being used by your partner, and having two missile turret weapons collide. All original, fun achievements.

The rest of the game’s achievements are dedicated to defeating bosses, and boss specific actions, and collection types. All pretty expected.

I’ve chosen two achievements of the week though, for this game, and both dedicated to the co-op portion. I chose two because they’re similar: play one way with a friend, and try to play the exact opposite.

Achievement of the Week – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

106008-hiCouples Dance Lesson – 10G
Pirouette 15 times in a single level.

To get this achievement, you have to cross paths with your partner 15 times during the level. It may not come naturally. Every time the two players cross paths, they perform a little pirouette dance before moving on.

105998-hiCooties – 50G
Finish a level without crossing paths with your partner.

This one is a lot harder to accomplish and will require an effort. Essentially it’s the exact opposite of the achievement above – do not cross paths with your partner. It’s a lot harder than one might think, and both people have to be on the same page to accomplish it – as the levels can get hectic at times.

The rest of the achievements this past 2 weeks were mainly in Lovers, WWE2k15, and Metal Gear Solid V. There was a break for a bit when I went down to PAX 2015.

Wednesday, Sept 2nd – Sunday, Sept 13th

Halo: Master Chief Collection

  • Bro Hammer (Complete any co-op level on Legendary) – 10G
  • Gunslinger (Halo 4: Beat the par score on Dawn) – 10G
  • Dawn (Halo 4: Complete Dawn) – 10G
  • Dark Fortress (Halo 4: Beat the par score on Requiem) – 10G
  • Requiem (Halo 4: Complete Requiem) – 10G
  • Lord of Admirals (Halo 4: Activate Terminal 2 on Forerunner) – 5G

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

  • Awakening (Completed “PROLOGUE: AWAKENING”) – 15G
  • Captured (Captured an outpost or guard post) – 15G
  • Phantom Limbs (Completed “PHANTOM LIMBS”) – 15G
  • Extraction (Fulton extracted an enemy soldier) – 15G
  • Interrogation (Interrogated an enemy soldier) – 15G
  • Undertaken (Completed a SIDE OP) – 15G
  • Platoon (Increased Moth Base staff to 50 or more personnel) – 15G
  • Beekeeper (Completed “WHERE DO BEES SLEEP?”) – 15G
  • To The Rescue (Extracted a female prisoner) – 15G
  • Enhancement (Developed 50 or development items) – 15G
  • Battalion (Increased Mother Base staff to 250 or more personnel) – 15G
  • Cry Havoc (Made D-Dog available for deployment) – 15G
  • Gears Turn (Completed “HELLBOUND”) – 15G
  • Apprentice (Completed a mission using a Combat Unit staff member) – 15G
  • Trusty Steed (Raised bond with D-Horse to the maximum) – 15G

WWE2K15

  • Ringmaster (Strike or wrench an opponent in 5 different chain hold positions) – 15G
  • Tap! Tap! Tap! (Make an opponent tap out with a submission that is not a Signature) – 30G
  • Gas tank never on empty (Win a match without reaching Stamina Level 3) – 15G
  • One foot in the grave (Win a match by a leverage pin) – 15G
  • True Champion (2KShowcase – Complete Hustle, Loyalty, Disrespect) – 20G
  • You’re so desperate! (Win a match using a Desperation Pin) – 15G
  • Read for the big leagues (MyCareer – Completed the NXT part) – 20G

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

  • Romantic Getaway (finish the tutorial) – 10G
  • Seat Warmer (Use every station in a single level) – 10G
  • Generosity (Throw a gem into a station that is being used by another player) – 10G
  • First Date (Beat any level in two player mode) – 10G
  • Clearing the Air (Finish a level after removing all fog of war) – 50G
  • Couples Dance Lessons (Pirouette 15 times in a single level) – 10G
  • Bear-Knuckle Boxing (Defeat Ursa Major) – 50G

Back to newsy type stuff tomorrow, new games Tuesday, What i’M Playing wrap-up, Preview, potentially not a Review (depending how much further I get in MGS V) and all that good stuff.

Bye…

-iRogan