Tag Archives: IDXBOX

WHAT i’M PLAYING/iReview – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

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Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

“Wanna go to – wanna go to space.”

Publisher: Asteroid Base
Developer: Asteroid Base
Platform: Reviewed on Xbox One
Availability: Out on Xbox One and PC September 8th.

On a whim I picked up Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime last night, as my New Game Tuesday ritual dictates new games forever and always.

I’d previously seen the game at PAX Prime 2015 on display, but didn’t give it its due, instead only acknowledging its existence, and moving on. But after mentioning its launch yesterday in my wrap-up, and watching the trailer, I picked it up.

Sitting down and handing the 2nd controller to the person that lovingly sits beside me, we dove in together to this wonderfully coloured space game about rescuing lost bunnies. The game is part of the ID@Xbox initiative, and is about relationships.

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A relationship between you and your cumbersome spaceship traveling through tight corridors, gravitation orbits and asteroid fields. You must first manage your ship’s movements, but also simultaneously manage your character inside the ship’s interior, running from one terminal to the next, up and down ladders, trying to manage the engine, shield, and 5 different weapon booths.

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“WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT SPACE?
MINE IS SPACE.”

Your view is a side interior shot of an ill designed ship. The steering wheel is in the middle and this maneuvers the engine when maned. The 4 weapon turrets reside at 4 fixed points on the border, in their own rooms. A power weapon, which rotates around the circumference of the ship is controlled in a 5th area. And lastly, there is the flawed shield – only covering about a quarter of the ship’s hull – and, again, is controlled from a separate corridor. You are well tooled to fight space, but are drastically understaffed. Crucial decisions are constantly being made in where to sit.

Because of these choices, the game is also about human relationships. Play with a friend or loved one, and you’ll both assume your astronaut roles, and together must wrestle the clunky ship through space and enemies alike. Success hinges a lot on communication, but almost instinctually, you might find that you’ve resigned yourself to a set routine – one controlling the weapons, the other controlling the engine and the shield when in defense, and a spare turret when overwhelmed. Sometimes it doesn’t work out as smooth, especially when utterly surrounded or on the run, and this is when the game gets frantic. In solo mode, you’re tasked with commanding the AI buddy around to man certain stations.

“WELL TOOLED TO FIGHT SPACE, BUT ARE DRASTICALLY UNDERSTAFFED”

As you find and save the kidnapped bunnies, and progress through each level you can find upgrade gems for the ship and terminals, and each gem can augment its respective station in unique ways. Power gems add more power or higher frequency turrets; Beam gems will change the weapon to a beam type or change the engine to a beam propulsion engine; the Metal gem with change the weapon into a morning star type or change the shield into a metal spiked shield, or augment the engine to lay spike traps in your wake. The game encourages experimentation as each terminal supports a gem, and upgrades to your ship will eventually allow dual gem augments, adding more variety.

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The game is equally fun and stressful, colourful and challenging. Make sure you bring a loving partner along for the ride, as this is a game best played in pairs, but even then, love is far from guaranteed.

-For those who like bunnies, stressful micromanagement games, or doing pirouettes aboard a space ship.

Notable Achievements
Space-man’s Best Friend (Beat any level with the help of your trusty space-pet) – 10G
Cooties (Finish a level without crossing paths with your partner) – 50G

-iRogan

Gamescom 2015: Cologne, Germany – Xbox Press Conference

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MICROSOFT Gamescom 2015 Media Briefing:

August 4th, 2015 – 7am.

-Press conference starts with a highlight reel trailer featuring Rise of the Tomb Raider, Halo 5 Guardians, Forza Motorsport 6, and Gears of War – with the tag line: “Jump in”.

-From Microsoft’s Headquarters in Germany, Gregor Bieler takes the stage and thanks publishers and fans alike for attending the show, and announces that Gamescom 2015 kicks off with the Microsoft Press Briefing here in Cologne, Germany. Says thank-you and announces the head speaker, Phil Spencer.

-Phil Spencer takes the stage and reaffirms that Microsoft and the Xbox Team are committed to delivering the games that fans want to play, on the devices we want to play them on, whether we are an Xbox Gamer, a PC gamer, or both. Microsoft has the most anticipated games, and best hardware, accessories, and social environments, with Xbox Live.

rareware-4e26145007227RARE Replay

-Phil Spencer announces that the Rare complication, RARE Replay is available today. The game showcases three decades of hit games and iconic franchises across multiple platforms. The compilation is a testament to the studio and heritage of their games.

-Phil Spencer reiterates that 2015 has been and will continue to be the best line up in the history of Xbox with a growing investment in first party franchises like: Fable, Gears of War, Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport, and Halo.

Quantum Break

-An Xbox One Exclusive trailer starts: Shawn Ashmore, Aidan Gillen and Dominic Managhan. This is Quantum Break.

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-Gameplay reveal showing a warehouse facility, with the hero, Shawn Ashmore’s character, being flanked by enemy soldier. Gameplay  shows area time freezes, directed time freeze bombs, sped up attacks and navigation. Gorgeous cinematic gunplay.

-Gameplay against enemies that also have the time changing ability, and can move within the frozen zones. All world objects are affected by gunplay, and move realistically, but in slow-motion. The whole area warps and shifts while in the frozen zones. Time lapse gameplay and time puzzles are mentioned.

-Sam Lake, Remedy Director takes the stage to discuss Quantum Break. Remedy has always made cinematic story-driven action games. Quantum Break breaks into new territory with a game and a live-action TV show fused together. Shawn Ashmore takes the stage to discuss the show. The game is about the heroes, and the show is about the villains. Quick TV trailer showing Aiden Gillen’s bad guy character. Release date: April 5th, 2016.

Crackdown 3

Crackdown+3+Teaser+Art-Dave Jones – Reagent Games Director comes to the stage to discuss Crackdown 3.

-Jones discusses the massive new city,  and the new vision for the game. A development video is shown, showing some behind the scenes development, the new city, and how everything is connected. Jones announces that the new online multiplayer modes with showcase 100% destructible environments.

Scalebound

– Hideki Kamiya, PlatinumGames, takes the stage. Game Director for Scalebound. Kamiya announces that Scalebound is the largest open-world game that PlatinumGames has ever built. Gameplay trailer:

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-Demo starts with the hero flying in on a huge dragon, and then unceremoniously dumped off. Snarky talk from the hero to his dragon. Sword play and bow and arrow gameplay are shown, and dragon attacks are at the command of the player. Hero takes out a few enemy garrisons with the help from the dragon.

-Dragon bounds off through some trees and then a huge monster shows up. The hero has a dragon arm, and can take on a scaled, armoured form to fight large monsters. Hero and Dragon take on the monster with aerial sword attacks and large mines with explosive bow and arrow gameplay.

-Demo ends with the announcement that the game will support 4 player co-op. Release Holiday 2016.

-Xbox Platform Hardware time. Free-to-air HD Television will soon support DVR to record live TV. Through the Xbox TV Guide, you can select a show, and record an episode or series. Supports Instant-On to schedule recordings. Once recorded, shows can be streamed to a supporting Windows 10 device, or can be downloaded onto a Windows 10 device to take on the go. From a Windows 10 device, you can also schedule recordings away from home. Subscription free, coming early 2016.

-Xbox Chat Pad available soon. Has audio controls similar to the Xbox controller media adapter, and has 2 programmable buttons as well. Chat pad also has the microphone adapter plug-in.

-Backwards Compatible available for everyone November 2015. All Games With Gold will be backwards compatible available at launch.

-Shannon Loftis – Head of Xbox Publishing takes the stage to discuss Killer Instinct and cross-platform play. Season 3 kicks off March 2016 and will support cross-platform with Window’s 10 devices, and will support all fight sticks. In conjunction with RARE Replay, Rash from Battletoads is available now in Killer Instinct as a playable fighter.

ID@XBOX

-Chris Charla, ID@ Xbox head comes to the stage to discuss some of the new indie titles coming soon. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a cross-play 2.5D side-scrolling action game with heavy RPG elements. City: Skyline will makes its console debut on the Xbox One, as well as Train Simulator. A new Worms game, titled W.M.D will be released by Team17, and goes back to its 2D animated days.

-Two new games for Xbox Preview were announced. First: Sheltered, available for Preview today, and ARK: Survival Evolved will be available for Preview this holiday. We Happy Few – super creepy game from Compulsion Games was also announced for Preview.

-More hardware and engineering stuff. Jasmine Lawrence hits the stage to discuss more Windows 10. Windows 10 supports DirectX 12 and it’s built into the architecture to support game developers. A tech-demo from the Final Fantasy team is shown, highlighting refraction and bloom light effects, time lapses, hair and face design, textures and hair opacity, and field of view.

-Windows 10 will support game DVR similar to the Xbox One, without any addition software or hardware. Announce the Xbox App, and she discusses Cloud Saves that work cross-platform. Cross-buy and cross-play both supported on Xbox and Windows 10. And streaming Xbox One over to a Windows 10 PC on the same network.

-Director of the Windows 10 version of Minecraft came out to discuss the game a bit, and announce his own new game – Cobalt. A 2D side-scrolling shooting game that has couch multiplayer.

lfihx3yuplrl4pibk0ujDark Souls III

-New trailer showing some of the new locations and enemies for Dark Souls III – From Software. Release is in 2016.

Homefront: The Revolution

-This is the game that has me the most excited, as I loved the story of the first. C.J from Dambusters Studios hits the stage to show off the new open-world Homefront game. Trailer shows a child reach the stage and to prepare a speech thanking the glorious republic of Korea and the Korean People’s Army. The game is an open-world shooter, and we play the role of the resistance. Following the events of the first game with North Korea invading the United States and takes over.

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-The trailer and gameplay showcases guerrilla warfare. Multiplayer beta available first on the Xbox One this Winter. Single player campaign gameplay reveal:

-First person shooter. Demo starts on a motorcycle driving through the open world. Lots of ramps to drive over. Definitely a makeshift revolution town supporting lots of maneuverability. Player reaches an enemy checkpoint and brings out the RC bomb car to blow up the blockade ahead. Demo shows on-the-fly weapon modification where you can add or remove scopes, or silencers.

-Capturing areas and checkpoints unlocks new support in the region, and reveal hideouts and weapons caches. Game looks awesome.

FIFA 16 & EA ACCESS

-Quick promotion for the upcoming FIFA title which now supports the Woman’s National Teams. Promoting the FIFA Ultimate Team mode which supports FIFA Legends, and the benefits of being an EA Access subscriber.

h5-secondary-teaser-thumbnail-542x305-b415c449330045f7bbb09db7cb6caab7Halo 5: Guardians – Multiplayer

-Halo 5 Guardians promotion time, focusing on Multiplayer and eSports. Two of the Halo shoutcasters hit the stage to discuss the making of the multiplayer, the 2 new modes, and new abilities. While testing the multiplayer, the top USA team and the top Europe team were brought in to test of the new game and play a series of competitive matches. The last round replay was shown:

-Arena Mode for eSports – 4 V 4. Playing Capture the Flag on the new Coliseum map. Primarily magnum pistol use. Flag juggling has returned.

-Josh Holmes, Executive Produce from 343 Industries hits the stage and announces the new Halo World Championship eSports tournament with a grand prize of 1 million dollars.

–Just Cause 3‘s new destructive gameplay trailer is shown next. Dec 1st release date. The game is starting to look quite enticing with the new abilities. Might have to pick it up after all.

Forza Motorsport 6

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-Forza time, as Turn 10’s head hits the stage and states that 2015 is the 10 year anniversary of the Forza franchise.

-Forza Motorsport 6 will have 450 cars supporting full cockpit view, full damage and customization. 26 world famous destinations and 24 player online races supporting dedicated servers.

-The new career mode supports night-time racing and real world rain physics. 1080P, 60FPS.

-Quick Germany based trailer for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Release is Oct 13th.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

-Brian Horton – Crystal Dynamics – hits the stage to discuss Rise of the Tomb Raider. The open-level design and traversal space is 3x larger than any locations in prior Tomb Raider games.

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-New gameplay trailer shows Lara sneaking up on a team of mercenaries in the middle of a stormy night. The gameplay shows swimming take-downs, aerial take-downs off shacks, and new distraction techniques by throwing cans and bottles.

-New double arrow kills and poison arrows. And a new crafting mechanic is introduced. Similar to The Last of Us, you can build little nails bombs from a car, or molotov cocktail.

-Brian Horton comes back and says that the new guerrilla combat encourages experimentation and choice. The game also has a heavy focus on tombs. Release Nov 13th, 2015.

-Phil Spencer comes back to the stage to close up the show. 2015 has the best lineup of Xbox games in the history of Xbox, with some greats to close out the year: Halo 5, Tomb Raider, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Fable Legends, Forza Motorsport 6, Gigantic, and RARE Replay. And 2016 is only looking better with some new exclusives: Killer Instinct Season 3, Gears of War 4, Crackdown 3, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, Quantum Break, and ReCore.

-One last announcement…

Halo Wars 2

-Bonnie Ross, head of 343 Industries hits the stage to thank all the fans for their passion and support. She states that Halo 5 is not the only Halo game that continues the story, as there’s another story that needs to continue, one highly requested by fans: Available on the Xbox One and on Windows 10 in the Fall of 2016 – Halo Wars 2.

Quick sizzle reel to wrap up the show.

-iRogan.

E3 2015 – Xbox Press Conference – LIVE

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MICROSOFT E3 2015 Press Conference:

*Live blog. Please refresh*

Halo 5: Guardians

-The show starts with Halo 5 Guardians. We are playing as Spartan Locke, and are introduced to the new squad based gameplay showing squad commands.  Game is fast, and smooth. Similar enemies are shown with some new weapons.

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-Josh Holmes comes to stage, from 343 Studios stating that Halo 5 Guardians is the most ambitious title to date. We play as two different squads in this campaign, one as Master Chief and the other Spartan Locke.

-New multiplayer mode coming with Halo 5. 24 players and 4x the size of previous maps. Game mode is called Warzone. Player vs Player vs Everyone. Teams of 12 vs 12 plus campaign enemy AI in the map.

Recore

-Xbox Exclusive World Premiere – Trailer. Sandy planet. From the creators of Metroid Prime. Showing a scavenger girl and her robot dog. The dog sacrifices itself to defend of the encroaching enemies, but its energy globe remains. The spark gets put into a new robot, and the dog’s personality is back. Game is Recore. 2016. Exclusive first-party franchise.

Backwards Compatability

-The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer takes the stage.

“Xbox continues to innovate, and we have the greatest lineup of games in Xbox history.”

-Xbox continues to put out monthly updates, and the latest one right around the corner is Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility. That’s huge. Xbox 360 and Arcade games will work natively on the Xbox One. 100 titles will be supported this holiday, with more coming. Our retail discs will work. All the Xbox One framework will be supported in the 360 titles: Screenshot, DVR, Broadcast. Won’t be charged to re-play the games we already own.

-Quick showcase of the new Xbox Elite Controller

Fallout 4

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–Fallout 4 is up next. Added story trailer that wasn’t shown last night. Showcases the laser musket rifle and the power armour in action. In the streets, we come across a huge baddie that climbs out of the sewers, named Deathclaw. Power armour uses VATS as well.

–Fallout 4, with Xbox One will support the PC community mods for free. Checkout the Bethesda Press Conference for more Fallout 4 info.

Ea Access

-Peter Moore, from EA comes out and starts to talk about EA Access. Rehashes Early Access to EA titles with EA Access, and play for less. The Vault has the best of EA on Xbox One. Madden 16 will have early access, and Titanfall is going to be released in the Vault later this week, and later this summer, Dragon Age Inquisition will be available.

-Peter announces Plants vs Zombies Garden Warafre 2. Arriving next spring. Quick trailer showing some new plants and zombie. Welcome to Zomburbia.

Forza Motorsport 6

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-New GT drops drown from the ceiling and Forza Motosport 6 is on display next. Discusses the 50th anniversary of the GT and the win at the 24 Le Mans. New trailer is shown showing upgraded visuals, 24 car multiplayer, day and night races, and weather. Sept 15th, 2015 release date.

Dark Souls III

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-World premiere. BANDAI NAMCO, FromSoftware, Dark Souls 3? Desolate medievil setting. Yup Dark Souls III. Coming 2016.

Tom Clancy’s The Division & Rainbow Six: Siege

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–Ubisoft is up next to quickly discuss Tom Clancy’s The Division. I’m guessing we’ll get more info during their press conference. Laurent Detoc is on stage. Bonjour. The Division is a deep realist RPG with a personal touch. Exclusive Xbox early Beta this December.

-He moves onto Rainbow Six: Siege. Quick trailer. Coming out this October, now included in the bundle, thanks to the Xbox One backwards compatibility will be Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 for free.

Gigantic

-Windows 10 and Xbox One exclusive. Very cartoon and stylized art. Colourful. Game is called Gigantic. Free to Play arena combat style game. Choose your hero, choose your guardian.

ID@Xbox and Xbox Early Access

-ID@Xbox games showcase next. Sizzle reel of upcoming titles.. Introduction to some of the ID teams showing the exclusive Xbox games coming later this year and next year: Tacoma, Ashen, Beyond Eyes, Cuphead.

-Xbox Game Preview announced. Like Steam’s Early Access. While the game is still in active development. You get a free trail before you decide to pay for the game’s early access. 4 games available later this year: The Long Dark, Sheltered, Elite Dangerous, and DayZ. 2 titles start today for early access.

-Dean Hall – from DayZ to announce his new game. He wants a simulation MMO that explores space. New trailer for upcoming Early Access Game. ION.

riseofthetombraideroxmRise of the Tomb Raider

-Brian Horton. Crystal Dynamics. Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay reveal. Holiday 2015. Starts with Lara in a mountain cave with a flare. similar walking mechanics where Lara braces herself against the wall. Snow traversal. Jonah from the previous game is back for the ride. Cinematic mountainside climbing. Avalanche starts and Lara books it, leaving Jonah behind. Level based destruction during running sequences similar to the previous game, but expanded. Hunting is back. Bow and arrow are back. Bigger, detailed tombs. More ambitious game. November 10, 2015. EXCITED!

rareware-4e26145007227RARE Hits Collection

-Xbox One Exclusive:

“You never forget your first game. Remember Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie, Concur’s Bad Fur Day”

–RARE. 30 hit games. called Rare Replay. Aug 4th collection. Pretty cool.

-New exclusive game from Rare. Fantastical world. Very colourful. Called Sea of Thieves. Pirate and pirate ship game.

Fable Legends

-Up next, new trailer. Adventure game. Colourful forest with fairies. Free-to-play. Fable Legends, coming this holiday. Cross-platform.

Oculus, Valve VR, and Hololens

-New relationship with Valve VR for Windows 10. Xbox partnership with Oculus. We will be able to play Xbox One through Oculus Rift. Microsoft Hololens powered by Windows 10.

-Lydia Winters from Mojang (Minecraft) comes to the stage to show up a live demo of Minecraft using the Hololens. From playing minecraft right on to wall, to having a game overview right on the table. Hololens and Minecraft look very cool. Ability to watch players in the world with an overview. Scroll the wold, pinch to zoom. Very cool technology.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition & Gears of War 4

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–Gears of War Ultimate Edition finally confirmed. Updated and modernized for the next-gen. August 2015 release. Rebuilt for 1080p 60 fps. The original trilogy.

-Xbox One World Premiere: New Gears of War trailer. It’s a night time level, like the original reveal waaay back when. With flashlights. Gears music. New weather elements and level destruction. Chainsaw gun is back. New monsters. Very dark ominous level. Feels very much like Gears. Gears of War 4, holiday 2016.

-Phil Spencer is back to rehash this years line-up, backwards compatibility, ea access, virtual reality gameplay. Announces that at Gamescon later this year we’ll have new info about Crackdown, Scalebound, and Quantum Break.

Quick sizzle reel for the biggest blockbusters on Xbox One coming later this year and next.

Microsoft press conference is over. Up next is EA’s at 1PM. Stay tuned.

-iRogan