Tag Archives: Star Wars Battlefront

IDL NEWS – The Catching Up Week, and Windows 10

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Hi again! If you’re back reading this, it means I’m a decent blogger, right? I’ll add it to my resume!

So this week will be a combination of new news and old news as I start my catch-up from the past two weeks. While I was gone, I published a Top 10 Xbox 360 list and published a new short story. As well as started the run-down for Gamescom 2015. I’ll be adding new articles to that page as I get to it.

That said, the rest of the week should be the usual: News, New Games and Deals, What I’m Playing, possibly a review, and achievements.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Exclusivity
Square Enix has announced that the console exclusivity for Rise of the Tomb Raider would last one year. The Steam/ PC release would be early 2016, and the PS4 version likely available holiday 2016. No exact dates were revealed.

World of Tanks
Released on the Xbox One on July 28th, World of Tanks supports cross-platform play between the Xbox One and 360. Additionally, the Xbox One version features enhanced graphics and battle damage, and a new PVE mode for newer players. It’s free-to-play, so I’ll be providing my opinions of the Xbox One version when I jump in.

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Xbox’s Reverse Streaming
More on the Window’s 10 features and impressions later on, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that Microsoft is currently looking into making it possible for Xbox One owners to stream PC games to their console now that the infrastructure is in place to do the opposite. This functionality would eliminate the need for a Steam Box.

New Battlefield Game in 2016?
EA has confirmed that a new Battlefield game will be released next year. EA has confirmed that a first-person-shooter over the next few years will be one of the core titles. Battlefield Hardline was released earlier in the year, and Star Wars Battlefront is late this year. I still haven’t completed Battlefield Hardline  but I hope to soon, to remove it from my ever-growing list of incomplete games.

Star Wars Battlefront News
A new multiplayer mode has been confirmed for Battlefront, in Blast, which will give the players smaller, close-quarters encounters instead of the featured large-scale battles.

10 versus 10 team deathmatch face-off between Imperials and Rebel forces. Winning team is the first to reach 100 kills or lead the way after 10 minutes. Maps won’t be scaled down version of the regular modes, but specifically designed close-quarters maps taking place within interiors of several key settings.

Destiny’s Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught is a brand new playable environment coming with the next Destiny expansion, The Taken King. The Dreadnaught is the home of the Hive enemy class. It will proved the setting  for the upcoming campaign missions as well as Patrol and public events too. The new strike and strike boss, Darkblade, will be fought aboard the Dreadnaught. Expect more destiny news as we approach the September release.

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I upgraded to Windows 10 when I came back, and so far I’m really impressed. It has a cleaner interface, and improved navigation, especially for tablets (which I use primarily). Now I haven’t used it to its full potential, and never will, but the Xbox App was the most important feature to me, and it’s incredible.

It has a very impressive feature set and works seamlessly with the Xbox One in the same room. It’s more robust than the smart glass app, and supports Xbox parties and game DVR. The last feature I tried was the Xbox Streaming, and with a Xbox controller wired in, it nearly works seamless. A little graphics loss, to be expected, but it did glitch out when I tried plugging in headphones to the tablet. Could be a hardware issues, so I’ll have to look into it further.

The Xbox app drops you into the Home screen when you log in. This looks similar to the Xbox One home, where it shows you the activity feed and friends list on the right. It will also show you your current party, last played game, and menus for customization, Achievements and friend options.

On the right is your menu: Home, My Games, Messages, Activity Alerts, Achievements, Game DVR, Store, OneGuide, Connecting to the Xbox One and Settings.

It’s not 100% polished yet, but it’s very impressive already with more TV DVR options in the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue with the news catch-up, new game releases, game deals and Games with Gold discussion.

-iRogan

E3 2015 – EA Press Conference – LIVE

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EA E3 2015 Press Conference:

*Live blog. Please refresh*

–Just a few minutes away. Quick hopefuls: Mass Effect 4, Star Wars Battlefront and Mirror’s Edge 2. I’m also expecting all the sports line-up 2016. More info about NHL 16. Hopefully more info about the Need for Speed reboot too.

Mass Effect Andromeda

-1:00pm: Time for EA. Starts with Mass Effect 4 concept art trailer, and zooms out to our new Shepherd with the Omnitool. Show’s space.

“Discover a new Galaxy”

-Shows the planet vehicle and new combat. Mass Effect: Andromeda. Holiday 2016.

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– Sizzle reel to showcase 3 new original IP. New sports titles, and Mirror’s Edge later in the show, and finally Star Wars. Games for console, PC, and mobile, with the finale of the show is Battlefront.

Need for Speed

-Up next is the return of Need for Speed. Live action story trailer. Definitely Need for Speed underground feel. Night driving in an open city. Inspired by the history of the series. Customization of NFS Underground, and open world of Carbon. Multiplayer and connectivity of Rivals. 2x the size of the Rivals map. Realistic world and iconic cars. Richest customization ever in a NFS game.

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-Fully open world. The 5 pillars of a Need for Speed game combined into one game: Speed / Style / Build / Crew and Outlaw, all combined into one game. November 3rd, 2015.

-In-game cutscenes are live action, transitions into the customization window for the car. Dozen of points of customization for the vehicle. Transition into the open streets and racing. Game looks gorgeous. Cinematic chase camera. Cops get involved almost immediately. Minimal HUD. Very much on the DICE Frostbite engine with particles and HUD artifacts. Race ends and the play needs to escape the cops.

Star Wars The Old Republic

–Star Wars The Old Republic – New expansion: Knights of the Fallen Empire. Bioware style story. Free expansion for all subscribers. Quick pre-rendered story trailer.

Unravel

-EA plans on having more trials and Betas to get more fan feedback earlier. New IP up next.

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-First one up: an emotional and creative experience centered on a character with a huge heart. This is Unravel.

-Yarn game, sort of like Sackboy, Little Big Planet. Yarn unravels as we move. Yarny is the main character. Exploration game to find the proper path. Physics based gameplay to overcome obstacles. Quick trailer to show the story and gameplay. Very heartwarming game. player uses the yarn to swing or pull objects, and is always leaving a trail of yarn.

Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2

–Plant’s Vs Zombie mascot hits the stage to music. Gets quickly escorted off the stage.

“You can’t take zombies anywhere.”

–Plants vs Zombie Garden Warfare 2. Plants on the attack for the first time in game’s history. New strategic layer of depth to the levels. Game game play demo. Shown the ZomBoss factory, a new level. Zombies have taken over and created Zomburbia. Now plants are on the attack to get their world back.

-New class – Imp. Playing as zombies, defending the factory from the invading plants. Live gameplay being shown. Smallest and fastest class. Next up. SuperBrainz, new melee class. CaptainDeadbeard is shown next, the zombies new sniper class. New power ups and weapons are shown. Imp calls down a Titan, and now its time to evacuate after the level has been completed. Sensing  a Titanfall vibe here :).

-GW2 now supports a solo play against AI or local split-screen. Transfer characters from GW1 over to 2 on launch. GW2 will launch Spring 2016. Game will support free content updates after launch. Game promises to be fun, and hilarious. Quick trailer sends us off showing a slew on new maps.

EA Sports

–NHL 16 up next. Voiceover of a coach behind the scenes hyping up the players in the dressing room. Team is at the heart of NHL 16. EA Sports Hockey League is back.

–Rory McIlroy PGA Golf now uses the Frostbite Engine. Real course and fantasy courses.

–NHL and Madden incorporate training modes to help you become a better player

–NBA Live 16 up next. Gameface HD scanning tech. You can use a mobile phone to capture the face, incorporates into the game. 5 secs to generate a preview. Pretty impressive. Sept 29th release for NBA Live 16. new free-flowing movement engine, 1000’s of new animations. Completely rebuilt passing and dribbling animations. New shot system to release the ball when you want. New game mode to be revealed later this summer. Quick trailer – captured in-game.

-Mobile games time. Need for Speed No Limits. Fifa 15 Ultimate Team 2nd screen on the Apple Watch.

–Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes CCG card playing game. Across the whole Star War Universe.

–Minions Paradise. A builder game. Quick trailer about the main character, Phil, who ruins everything. Seems like a mobile micromanagement game. Available later this year.

FIFA 16

–FIFA 16 is up next. Quick historical trailer is shown. Pele comes to the stage – “the greatest football player of all time”. Story time about the history of the sport and the introduction to the sport in the USA. Football – the beautiful game.

-More innovation this year. Compete at a higher level, and new ways to play. better defense mechanics. Interception intelligence. No-touch dribbling. New trainer also incorporated into FIFA.

-For the first time ever, women’s teams are now in the game. More news throughout the summer.

-Quick trailer wraps up the FIFA portion- Play Beautiful.

Mirror’s Edge

-Experience the rise of faith. Mirror’s Edge is an origin story for faith. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. More colour. Shows a new city. Trailer shows the backstory to Faith. New traversal and parkour.

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-To be released February 23rd, 2016. In-game footage trailer.

Madden NFL 16

-Draft champions discusses Fantasy Football. Similar to Madden mobile and Ultimate Team, but incorporated into the console version of Madden 16. Taking fantasy to another level. Can bring your drafted team solo or online.

-Passing mechanic has been overhauled.  Focused on 3 new positions. Quarterbacks has new body relative passes. Receivers has new catch types: possession catch, run-after-catch, and aggressive catch. Defenders. We can now play the receiver, and can interrupt passes as defenders. Game launches August 25th. E3 Trailer player – captured in-game.

Star Wars Battlefront

-An array of multiplayer modes. Ability to fly X-Wings. Play as one of the legends. Solo and Split-screen missions also available.

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-Gameplay: Walker Assault one of the largest modes. Empire must escort the AT-AT walkers. As the rebels, you must stop them. Captured from PS4 from both perspectives. Battle of Hoth. Shows the rebels running around the Hoth base defending incoming enemies. TIE fighters overhead and AT-AT incoming. Game is a first-person shooter or 3rd person shooter. Can call in orbital strikes. Can fly as the bombers. Looks amazing and sounds authentic. Bombers have the tow cable to trip the walkers. Can fly as the TIE fighters. Pilot the AT-AT. Explosions seem authentic. Lots of sparks. First person and 3rd person flying. Legends are on the battlefield too. Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are shown.

-Coming November 17th, 2015.

EA’s press conference is over. Ubisoft is up right quick at 3PM.

-iRogan

NEWS – Some Catching Up to Do

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Alright, we have some catching up to do, so let’s stick to the big stuff, shall we?

Today we’ll talk more about: Star Wars Battlefront, Dishonored, Assassin’s Creed, The Last of Us, Rainbow Six Siege, DOOM, Need for Speed, Halo MCC, and Evolve.

 I’ll also briefly talk about the games I have on the go and up-coming, and plans for E3.

Star Wars Battlefront: No Ironsights, Squads or Classes
EA and Dice are doing away with some of the expected FPS features included in their previous games like Battlefield. Star Wars Battlefront won’t have ironsights for its common blasters, but some rifles will still have scopes. Looks like you’ll be shooting from the hip. Also, there will be no more Classes or Squads. You can outfit your character however you see fit, with the items you’ve unlocked, and there will be a “partner” system, that will allow you to see your friend on the UI, and will allow you to spawn on them.

Dishonored Next-Gen Release?
Looks like there might be a Definitive Edition release of 2012’s Dishonored; a fantastic game that I’d like to play through again. Fingers crossed.

New Details on the next Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will feature two main playable characters, one of whom is a woman. Brother and sister duo – Jacob and Evie Frye. The game will take place in Victorian London in 1686. The brother will be taking the lead in the story in terms of playtime, approximately 75% of the story. October 23rd, 2015 release date on the PC, Xbox One and PS4.

The Last of Us’ Left Behind DLC Now Standalone
Playstation and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was one of 2013’s greatest games. The Left Behind DLC featuring Ellie is now available as a standalone package, no longer requiring The Last of Us game.

Rainbow Six Siege Release Date
Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege has found its release window: October 13th, 2015.

DOOM Gameplay Teased, Full Reveal at E3
Bethesda has revealed that it will be showcasing its DOOM reboot at its E3 press conference on June 14th. I’ll discuss my E3 plans at the bottom.

Need for Speed 2015
Electronic Arts and Ghost Games are rebooting Need for Speed, and it’s titled just that: Need for Speed. EA promises “deep customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative that pulls you through the game”. Seems like it’s going back to the Underground days? Release date is November 3rd, 2015, and will require an online connection.

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“It’s been going from studio to studio, and creatives were creative, but there wasn’t really a strategic way of thinking of what the brand is and what it stands for,” EA Executive Producer Marcus Nilsson. “For sure, it’s been delivering great experiences, but not experiences that can build on top of each other to become better and better necessarily.

“If you look at the last few games – Hot Pursuit, The Run, Shift, Rivals, Most Wanted – and you asked people, ‘What does Need for Speed stand for?’, you’d get a million different answers.

Halo 3: ODST Re-mastered Now Available
The re-mastered edition of Halo: ODST for the Halo Master Chief Collection, is now available for those who played the game during the launch window.

Evolve’s New Arena Mode Free
Evolve has a new update and it’s free, and it’s a new mode: Arena. The 4 Hunters face off against a stage 2 monster in that typical 4 v 1 method. The change is that it’s in a small enclosure now, and it’s best of 3. No longer are the hunter’s required to  track down and chase the monster. Take-Two recently announced that Evolve is permanent franchise for the publisher, joining Borderlands, Grand Theft Auto, among others.

So I recently went through my queue of games that I currently have on the go:

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China
Assassin’s Creed IV – Blag Flag
Battlefield Hardline
Borderlands – The Pre-Sequel
Contrast
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Splinter-Cell: Blacklist (Xbox 360)
State of Decay
Tales From the Borderlands
The Crew

Contrast I should be able to wrap up pretty quick. Unmechanical is a quick puzzle game I just finished recently, and there’s a review for that on Friday. I recently completed Sniper Elite III as well, with a review around the corner.

I have a few games on the shelf waiting to be played: Metro 2033 and Last Light bundle, Badland GOTY that I picked up today, Assassin’s Creed Unity (after IV), Shadow of Mordor. I’d like to give The Evil Within another shot, but who knows. Also, out in the wild is Evolve, Alien Isolation, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. These are homeless, out on the streets, looking for a nice warm home on my hard-drive.

Lastly, E3 is just around the corner. I’m going to be posting a new section for E3 news on the title bar, and I’ll be watching the press conferences on Sunday, June 14th, and Monday June 15th, and live blogging those all day.

Exciting stuff is just around the corner: New Games and deals tomorrow, early reviews and What I’m playing on Thursday, an iReview on Friday. Stick around, as I’m back.

-iRogan

NEWS – New Games: News of the Week Edition

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Ahh, that new video game smell . . . mmm.

Today in the news we talk about Xbox’s Deals of the Week, Mortal Kombat X, and Star Wars Battlefront.

And of course, the new video games released this week, notably one that frustrates me. I’ll give you a hint:

One does not simply NOT play Shadow of Mordor

One does not simply play Shadow of Mordor

 

Mortal Kombat Reinforces “M” Rating
Today, to celebrate the new DLC character, Jason Voorhees, WB Interactive and NetherRealm has posted the DLC trailer, and yep . . . it’s um . . . bloody.

Star Wars Battlefront Multiplayer Maps
EA and Dice have now confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront will include 12 multiplayer maps at launch, and 2 more have been announced so far as DLC.

This Week’s Xbox Deal With Gold
On the Xbox One:

  • Far Cry 4 & Season Pass
  • Assassin’s Creed Unity

On the Xbox 360

I think I’ll definitely be picking up Assassin’s Creed Unity while it’s on sale, and I think I’ll pick up the Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea DLC as well, as I missed it during my first play through. I think Infinite alone requires a second play through as it’s a fantastic game. Yep. Add it to the queue.

Onto to the new games this week:

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Xbox One, PS4, PC) – The Old Blood is a two-part standalone prequel to the incredible Wolfenstein: The New Order, featuring the hero – B.J Blazkowicz. The game is released digital only. I’m excited.

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Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor – GOTY (Xbox One, PS4) – This release kind of bugs me, only because I haven’t had the chance to play it yet, as I’ve been waiting now for over 6 months. And now the Game of the Year edition is released with all the DLC, for the same price I originally paid for it. I do, however, intend to get to this game sooner rather than later. Procrastination has worked against me? WHAT?

Forfeit your money.

Forfeit your money.

Game of the Year edition includes additional story missions, additional challenge series, and skins. I do believe that the photo mode is a free update, so I’m excited about that :).

Lately I’ve been playing some games on Twitch, and you’re welcome to come hang out – www.twitch.tv/irogans.

I recently wrapped up Goat Simulator (and by that I mean I unlocked most of the achievements) and Sniper Elite III, and I’m currently playing through Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (and loving the art style), Far Cry 4 (and getting tired of the repetition), and Battlefield Hardline (and feeling frustrated towards the lack of time I have to dedicate to it).

I’ll discuss these a little more in detail on Thursday, and new games in the queue. And then an iReview will be up for Sniper Elite III on Friday. The “i” stands for irrelevant.

-iRogan

NEWS – And the Monday’s Have It…

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So I was finally able to export some of the screenshots from my time in Far Cry 4. Sadly, I haven’t gotten around to completing the game, but I’m getting there. The only frustrating thing so far with the Upload studio on the Xbox One, is you’re only able to Upload one photo at a time. This alone, coupled with the fact that I had approx 300 screenshots saved, was quite time consuming. I’ll have to make an effort to export them daily, instead of building up a queue. Check out the screenshots here.

Moving onto some news for the week: Star Wars, Cities: Skylines, Destiny, Dues Ex, EA’s Free-To-Play, 2K Australia,

Star Wars Battlefront

Lots of news came out over the weekend regarding all things Star Wars. Check out the launch trailer below. The game will be first available to Xbox One users who have EA Access (me), so that’s exciting. The game looks really exciting, although disappointing is the exclusion of any type of campaign. There are smaller co-op/split-screen missions that can be played, but the main point of the game will be the large scale battles online. Also excluded are any type of space battles as all flying segments will take place in-atmosphere. Also announced was that this game with be the original trilogy, before the prequel era.

The first 4 planets were revealed to be Endor, Tatooine, Hoth, and a previously unexplored planet Sullust.

First DLC will be free for those who pre-order, and will be The Battle of Jakku, from the new movie, The Force Awakens.

Release date November 17th, 2015, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Cities: Skylines

Paradox Interactive announced that Cities: Skylines has sold 1 million copies within the first month. This is obviously exciting news for the brand and genre. I should get back into my city, as I’ve been neglecting it.

6GB Destiny Patch

Destiny’s latest patch, 1.12 is a whopping 6GB. Included in the fix is some online multiplayer changes, bug fixes to the Raid bosses, and a new Colourblind mode. The House of Wolves Expansion is just around the corner, dropping on May 19th.

More on the patch, Data miners have discovered the plans for two more social spaces to be added to Destiny. To be included in the Expansion, or at a later date, who knows?

Dues Ex: Ghost Mode

The director of Dues Ex: Mankind Divided announced last week that the ghost option will be available throughout entire levels and even the boss fights. Ghost option is the ability to make it past all enemies and levels completely unseen.

EA’s Free2Play Games Getting Shut Down

EA announced that they will be stopping development and support for several of their free-to-play games, including: Battlefield Heroes, Need for Speed World, FIFA World, and Battlefield Play 4 Free.

They did announce, however, new story content and continued support  for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

2K Australia Closing

The Borderland: The Pre-Sequel developer has been announced to be closing. 2K Australia is Australia’s only remaining AAA studio. Previously they were apart of Irrational Games,, best know for the Bioshock series.

“We can confirm we have taken steps to begin the studio closure process for 2K Australia in order to better manage ongoing development costs while improving the working proximity of our creative teams.  We are very grateful for the team’s valuable contributions to numerous 2K projects, and are working with affected staff to explore reassignment opportunities where possible.”

Stick around for the new game releases tomorrow, we’ll talk more about Goat Simulator, Battlefield Hardline, and Far Cry 4 on Wednesday, and I’ll have a quick review up for Goat Simulator on Thursday.

Going outside now….

-iRogan