The Gamescom 2014 Closing Ceremony - Best Game of the Show, Surprise of the Show, Disappointment of the Show, And More!

Written By: Tyler

Gamescom is over for another year, and like any respectable gaming website (ha), I need to give out a few awards. Let's get right to it.



Game of the Show
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

I gave Evolve the award at E3 this year because it does look like a special game, and I don't know if it's just because I'm starting to get burnt out on it or what, but I'm not giving it to Evolve this time around.

I think I have to give it to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor because while I am well aware of the game and what it is promising, getting to see it in action more just left me more excited. I don't feel like I'm getting burnt out on it. Both Middle-earth and Evolve are revolutionary to some extent, but I dig Mordor more.



Surprise of the Show
Silent Hills/PT

It's really hard to beat a new Silent Hill announcement, especially when it's done suddenly and in the form of a seemingly unrelated teaser trailer.

Aside from that, I was really intrigued by Wild and I'm curious by what it's going to offer.



Press Conference of the Show
Sony

Even though the Microsoft press conference felt bigger with the emphasis on bigger titles, Sony had two of the biggest surprises of the show for me -- as mentioned above -- and it was just a solid collection of lesser-known games. There is a time for AAA titles and a time for indies, so I'm not really putting more importance on either, so it is literally just Wild and the announcement of the Silent Hills teaser that put it over the edge for me.



Disappointment of the Show
Dead Island 2 Has No Story, Assassin's Creed Unity Has Microtransactions


I was wondering why we had Dying Light and Dead Island 2 coming out fairly close to one another, but Gamescom has shown that they are a lot different. Though they have some similar elements, Dying Light has more parkour and more story, so it'll be more like the first Dead Island but better.

Dead Island 2, on the other hand, seems to be endless with no real narrative to drive it forward. Even though the first Dead Island, and Riptide, didn't have amazing stories it was still something. So unless I'm completely misunderstanding, I think Dead Island 2 will get boring because doing missions is not what it's all about. Give us something else.

I'm also disappointed with Ubisoft because there is no fucking reason for a AAA title to have Microtransactions. I always thought Ubisoft was a company we could love, but they seem to be going down an EA route in some ways. They aren't nearly as bad, but Ubi... don't mess this up. There is no justification for this, even if they claim it won't affect gameplay and you can acquire all the stuff without spending money. How do we trust that progression hasn't been tweaked to accommodate the cash grab?


Unrealistic Desire For Gamescom
An Announcement of a New Perfect Dark

Before Gamescom, there was talk of a new Rare game that wasn't focused on Kinect. I'm all for that. While other people said a new Conkers (which would be awesome, don't get me wrong), Banzo-Kazooie or even a Diddy Kong Racing, I wanted a new Perfect Dark because I loved the first one and Perfect Dark Zero, even if Zero was a bit of a step down. Alas, no such luck. I knew this though, because PD doesn't seem to be the series that people want to see Rare revive. I don't get it though, because Rare became truly legendary with Goldeneye for the N64 and Perfect Dark is actually a better game.


The Trend of Gamescom
4 vs 1 Multiplayer, Player Invasion In Single-Player

There is no doubt that this year, the trend of Gamescom was a focus on 4 vs 1 multiplayer. When Evolve was first shown, everyone thought it was really cool. It still is, but games like Shadow Realms, Dying Light and I think a couple others are now jumping on the bandwagon. I'm not criticizing it, I'm just simply saying that it seems to be the newest trend in gaming.

There is also a focus on having multiplayer that blends seemlessly into the single-player experience. We've seen a few games in Gamescom like this, such as the new Metal Gear, Dying Light, etc. I'm iffy on this because when I'm playing a single-player game I want to enjoy the single-player without fearing that I'm going to miss out on stuff in my campaign because I'm not playing multiplayer. It's still a very cool idea, however.

Gamescom 2014, Day 4: Project Cars Bought IGN! Mario Maker Is Mario, Super Smash Bros Looks Awesome And This Just In: Evolve Still Looks Awesome. Plus More Stuff!

Written By: Tyler

Hello peoples, and welcome to another day of Gamescom 2014 and my coverage... which consists of me watching IGN streams. I'm truly a hero.

This post consists entirely on my impressions of the streams I watched for various games, and it seemed to be pretty Nintendo focused today. Unfortunately, Gamescom is coming to an end, but never fear because tomorrow I will be putting up my Gamescom Awards post where I give meaningless -- in the grand scheme of things but dammit they're important to me -- awards to developers and games that will probably never see it anyway. Let's get into this.




Project Cars -- Project Cars is a sandbox motorsports racing game coming this fall.

The demo showcased the driving, obviously, and it looked pretty. Unless I played it I couldn't really comment on how it feels, and that's pretty important in something like racing. I'm probably one of the worst people to cover racing games though because unless it's Kart racing or something like Blur that has Kart elements, I probably won't play it.

The IGN stream restarted so I didn't get to see a lot of it. Then I watched the beginning of it a second time and it restarted... again. And again. And once more for good measure. Oh wait we aren't done yet, let's repeat again. What just happened? That's right, another repeat. Oh hai Project Cars... another repeat. I'm just going to stop writing something every time it repeats because this is ridiculous. I feel like I'm in Groundhog Day. Way to go IGN.

The worst part is, Daemon Hatfield has to keep reliving his screw-up on pronouncing Germany at the beginning, over and over again, so nobody will ever forget.


Then after they finally realized that we were onto them, they took down the stream and this was the last thing we ever saw:

IGN: Brought to you by Project Cars.

IGN decided to finally show the stream, so while it wasn't live anymore, I could still watch the games in action.



Evolve -- A lot has already been said about Evolve. It's got incredible looking and exciting multiplayer, and I think it's a game that will do very well for itself. The 4 vs 1, hunter vs hunted, multiplayer where the environment is also dangerous, will be a lot of fun.

I just wonder how much replay value it will actually have. I thought that the game was going to have a single-player campaign to beef it up, but it turns out that you can do the same thing offline but with AI. I don't see myself playing this mode over and over again for hours upon hours, so unless I'm missing something I think it'll be a lot of fun for a short period of time.



Ori And The Blind Forest -- In the demo for Ori, they showed off one of the abilities: bash. Basically it allows you to slingshot yourself in any direction you want and it seems to be an important mechanic in the game. Because the person playing helped design the game, he's really good at it so it's interesting to see what a pro can do once they've mastered bash.

And my Lord, Ori is a beautiful game. The environments are detailed and colourful, though the level in this particular demo has a darker atmosphere. However, that doesn't stop it from having purples, greens and blues in certain areas to lighten it up. I love the visual style in this.

It also has light RPG elements in the sense that it has a skill tree. You are able to get all the abilities in the game in one playthrough if you explore and collect all the ability points.

The end of the demo is Ori escaping from the dungeon as water gushes up. This is something used a lot in games but it was pretty terrifying to watch.

Ori should be a special game.



Splatoon -- I pre-ordered this because I generally support Wii U exclusives, and I thought the multiplayer looked interesting. My fear going in is the same as Evolve, where I don't know if there will be a lot of replay value... because if you're just playing the same one or two modes over and over it'll get boring. Apparently there will be some sort of single-player mode but they didn't really talk about it.

If you are unaware, it's a third-person multiplayer game where you have to spray the ground with your ink. It sounds silly but looks prett fun and original.

The game uses the Gamepad as a map and a way to "super jump" to your team mates. You can tap on their image and you will instantly go to them.


I really like the concept so I hope it grows into something great that offers hours of value, because as far as I know it is a full-priced game.



Bayonetta -- Next we got to see Bayonetta. No, not the second one... the version of the first that ships with Bayonetta 2.

It has Nintendo elements to it, such as a hand cannon and the Master Sword. This demo has her dressed up like Samus, Link and Peach for a while.

I dig Bayonetta and I have since it originally came out. I love its brand of third-person, insane action.  Bayonetta 2 is a no-brainer purchase for me, especially since you got two games for the price of one.



Mario Maker -- Here is a game that I'm really excited for, and I'm sure a lot of other people are too. The idea of being able to create a Mario level is an awesome one that should have been done before.

The creation tool is very inspired by Mario Paint, which just adds to it because Mario Paint was the shit. It makes me wonder why we haven't gotten a new Mario Paint, since the last one was on SNES.

In the demo we got to see some of the ways that the interface works, and it's very easy to do stuff so you won't get bogged down in useless crap. It's as easy as simply selecting things with the stylus and placing them, or shaking it to make Mario become Super Mario. Thelook of the game can change. The demo has two graphic styles; the classic style and the New Super Mario Bros. style. That's a nice touch I reckon.

My main concern is level sharing and it infuriates me that they still refuse to comment on it. This is an extremely important aspect of the game and it should be announced. It will literally be the difference between cancelling my pre-order (though now they aren't sure if its retail or digital only) or keeping it, because if you can't share it online with people and download the levels made by strangers across the world then it's not worth buying. And yes, I go on record saying that, because it doesn't matter how great the creation tool is, if you can only play it yourself or with your friends then it defeats the purpose.



Kirby And The Rainbow Curse -- Geez, more Nintendo, not that I'm complaining. Here we have a new Kirby for Wii U.

You use a temporary rainbow line to traverse the levels while collecting the stars. What this means is that you will spend a lot of time using the gamepad and drawing lines, which is great in a way because it's going to give the gamepad more of a purpose... but I don't think I'm terribly interested in a game build almost entirely around doing that.



Mario Party 10 -- I haven't played a Mario Party in years. I can't even remember the last one I played, so it's interesting for me to see where it's at now.

The demo started with a battle with Bowser, and the player was controlling Bowser and shooting fireballs at the other players. Then it showed a mini-game where the player controlling Bowser had to tilt the gamepad to move the world and hit the other players with the rows of fireballs. We got to see a bunch of mini-games where one person controlled Bowser. It's an interesting mechanic, and it plays into the recent trend of new games in development that do this "4 vs 1" multiplayer.



Super Smash Bros Wii U -- When you play a Smash Bros you basically know what you're going to get. They can tweak and change things, but the core gameplay is fundamentally the same. That's fine because they don't milk the series at all.

I actually don't bother watching Smash Bros videos most of the time because I know what I'm going to get, so outside of learning what characters are in it... it doesn't really matter. They got my money and I know I'm going to love the game.

They talked a little bit about Mega Man, showed off a new stage that's more open than other ones, and showcased the insanity that is Smash Bros.

You can also unlock different sets of special attacks in a variety of different ways.

August 12, Gamescom 2014: The Microsoft Press Conference -- Apparently Microsoft Likes Halo, Plus We Get To See Quantum Break, A Bunch of Cool Indie Games And Evolve!

Written By: Tyler

I'm a little late to the party on this one because by the time the replay hit I had to watch Sony. Damn you work!

But finally I'm here to talk a little bit about the Microsoft Press Conference from Gamescom 2014. Did they succeed? Find out here.


We start with Ubisoft and their new Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Unity. After a slow build-up, we see our hero running and platforming around the city, while we get a pretty cool piano track. It is coming on the 28th of October.

I can't understand a word of what this guy is saying but there's scrolling text on the bottom of the screen instead of a translator, then we get Phil Spencer. Hey Phil.

After the normal corporate spiel about how Xbox and gaming is awesome, we are told that they are going to bring the Xbox to 29 new markets on September 2.

He mentions Grand Theft Auto 5, and you can carry your character over. He then mentions Destiny, FIFA 15, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, Ori And The Blind Forest and the Master Chief Collection.

Phil then announces that there are some new bundles coming.

We move onto FIFA 15, and it will have exclusive content for the Xbox. With the new EA Access, you can play it before anyone else on Xbox One. People in Europe will be able to get a FIFA 15 bundle.  They bring out a legend to create a FIFA Ultimate Team. I actually enjoy FIFA despite not loving soccer/football, and I guess why Microsoft chose to talk so much about this while they're in Germany but is this really the best way to basically start the press conference (I mean after the opening speech)? This is way too long and not very exciting. As a rule I don't think spending a lot of time on an annual sports title is a good idea. I mean, gamers know what to expect, and because of being bored it's giving me a lot of time to complain.

ah good, we're moving on.

Chris Charla struts onto the stage, and talks about how they have a lot of indie games in the works. Then we get a quick preview. Yay montages of games: Blues and Bullets, Cuphead, Dungeon of the Endless, Fruit Ninja Kinect 2, Funk of Titans, Ghost of a Tale, Goat Simulator, Gunscape, Massive Chalice, Inside, Knight Squad, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, #IDARB, No Time to Explain, Plague Inc: Evolved, Rivals of Aether, Smite, SlashDash, Space Engineers, Spectra, Pneuma: Breath of Life, Threes!, The Escapists, Volgarr the Viking, SpeedRunners, Superhot.

I'm already really high on a lot of these, like #IDARB, and Goat Simulator is already awesome. I won't talk about all of these but the future is bright on the indie game side of Xbox.

He talks about Space Engineers a bit and we see a video. On console, it will arrive first on Xbox One. I saw it on Steam and it looked interesting there so good for Xbox One. I would call this a victory.

Then, first to console on Xbox One, we got Superhot. I've never actually seen it but time only moves when you do which is neat. The trailer is really annoying because it keeps repeating SUPER... HOT. I get it. Outside of that, I dig the style and idea of this. I wonder if it's super hot though?

Then we get a preview of The Escapists, and I got into this game when I did my feature of new games releasing that week. It's already in Alpha on PC, but it's also coming to Xbox first when it hits consoles. This is a game worth checking out for sure.

Then we get to see Smite, another first to console on Xbox One. It's a MOBA that apparently will be fun to play with a controller. You get to play as a God. I like playing as Gods. I am a God. On the Godly. Okay I'm done, I just don't have a lot to do while I watch this footage. In all seriousness this is shaping up to be a good MOBA.

Chris leaves the stage and we see more of Below. There's no way around it, and I've seen saying it since I saw it the first time (before we even knew much about it): this game is going to be awesome. This new footage adds a lot of intrigue to the whole thing, not that it didn't already have its mysteries.

Hey Phil is back! And he's talking about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare! Sony focuses on Destiny and Microsoft focuses on CoD... I think Sony wins that. Maybe not financially, but artistically. Anyway, I hope the two co-founders of Sledgehammer Games don't just razz each other awkwardly like they did yesterday during the multiplayer reveal.At least they brought new footage, this time the single-player.

The new footage shows player actually driving a vehicle  and then once it crashes they proceed on foot. Looks like CoD, smells like CoD. There is an Advanced Warfare bundle that you can pre-order today. Of note; the add-on content is available first on Xbox One. Now, moving on.

Here we go... Evolve. We get to see a new map called The Distillery. Evolve is going to be a lot of fun and the idea of the 4 vs 1 multiplayer is awesome. I like it being described as "boss battles where a player controls the boss." I just don't know how much replay value it will have and that scares me a bit.

There is an open beta in January only on Xbox One. It will be out February 10, 2015.

Next we have Rise of the Tomb Raider and it is now an Xbox exclusive. It will be coming in "Holiday 2015." It's a new month that Microsoft is creating.

From now on, every game here is exclusive.

We get a world premiere demo of Quantum Break, and it looks cool. In the video we see the main character walk around a bit, but we get to see some of the time manipulation when he runs during a gunfight and they lose track of him. He can also freeze time or even catch bullets and throw them back at the enemies. I don't think this game is going to be completely mind-blowing, but I have faith in Remedy that they will give us a great game. Or at the very least solid. Quantum Break looks to be that right now.

Next on the agenda is Fable Legends. I'm still not sold on this. I like the co-op idea and being able to play as a villain but it didn't grab me at E3 and it isn't doing it now either.  Sign up for the beta October 16 if you are interested.

 Now whatcha gonna show me? It turns out that they partnered with Frontier and in Spring of next year we are going to have a new game where you make roller coasters, titled Screamride.

Next we have Forza 5. We get new cars... today! For free!

Forza Horizon 2 is up in our grill next. It has an open-world, lots of events and a shit-ton of cars. They're encouraging you to play with friends, and there are driveatars. You can join a car club and earn Forza Fuel and unlock stuff.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a pretty game. I enjoyed it at E3 and nothing has changed. It's a gorgeous platformer and the footage they showed (with the character being chased by water) was pretty intense, with some neat platforming mechanics. I imagine this will get a lot of praise when it drops because it looks to be critic bait: amazing visuals, fun jumping and a lot of intrigue. I'm not saying "critic bait" as an insult because I'm ridiculously excited to. Pick it up on Xbox One and PC this holiday season.

Ted Price, the President of Insomniac Games, rocks onto the stage knowing he's about to talk about something we're all already crazy for. I don't even need to know more about Sunset Overdrive to know I need it. And neither do you, but we get more info and footage anyway.

The big news is that there's a special edition Sunset Overdrive bundle. You can pre-order it today, and you get Day One weapons and stuff.

Hey, that attractive girl from 343 Industries is back. What's better than an attractive girl if you're a straight male or a gay girl? Or a bi? An attractive girl who wants to talk about Halo. On December 29th, there's a Halo 5 multiplayer beta. Along with the Master Chief collection, there will be a Halo channel. It's like the WWE Network but with Halo! Or not. But it does seem really cool. Immerse yourself in that shit because there seems to be a lot of content and different things to watch.

You can watch things like Halo: Nightfall, explore the universe or join friends across any game in the Halo universe. There's also Twitch integration.

I know it's been said before, but damn the Master Chief Collection has a lot of content. They showed off part of the campaign in Halo 2... first they start off in classic mode and then they switch to the updated graphics.

Next we get to hear about the ranking system. Fans were vocal about liking the ranking system in Halo 2 so the ranking system in this is identical to that. People there can play some of the game on the floor. I can't because I suck, but have fun if you're there!

Next we got Halo 5. The focus on the beta will be 4 vs 4 arena combat. They have seven maps, three modes, eleven weapons and some armor customization. They will have small maps and no different loadouts. It will be sixty frames per-second. You can unlock some things in the beta that will carry over to the full game.

You will be able to pre-order and pre-download games too.


Microsoft definitely had more of a focus on AAA titles than Sony, and they definitely have some really interesting indie games that are going to show up on their system. I don't know how many of those are exclusive, though, so it may not matter that much in terms of competition. However, the new Tomb Raider being an Xbone exclusive is definitely big news. So after a really slow start, they kicked it up and did a good job.

E3 2014 Closing Ceremony/Awards

Written By: Tyler

 

Well, this is it, ladies and gentlemen. There's only one more E3-related post to be made and it's one to celebrate the whole event. I will not be doing individual awards like, "Best Action Game" or awarding games for being the best game on a particular system. Unfortunately, since I'm not there, there are a lot of games I never got to see because I had to rely on feeds.

I appreciate anybody who tuned in and read my numerous articles throughout this entire thing. Now let's get on with this.


Game Of The Show

Winner: Evolve

Before I talk about the winner, I have to explain that I had a hard time choosing this. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with the game that I am most excited for, because then Metal Gear Solid V would have gotten the nod because I've been excited for that since before it was even announced. Or maybe I wanted to go with the game that had the best presentation... not necessarily the game that I think will be the best, but the game that had the best video. Battlefield: Hardline might have won that because the one video where we actually watch a heist was so intense I couldn't wait. Games like Super Smash Bros. didn't get the nod because I know I'll love it but E3 did nothing to further that... Smash Bros. is Smash Bros. and it will be glorious. So, to get my winner, I kind of put the two elements together and came up with Evolve.

Evolve was not a game that I was super into before E3. I watched the videos, saw the gameplay, but it was during E3 that I came to love it. It just finally clicked with me how original, daring and exciting it is. It's still not the game I anticipate most, because there are a bunch of games in the honourable mentions that I'd rather play, but Evolve totally won me over, and that's reason enough to make it Game of the Show in my eyes.


Honourable Mentions
Sunset Overdrive
Battlefield: Hardline
The Witcher 3
Batman: Arkham Knight
Rainbow Six: Siege
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Super Smash Bros.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Far Cry 4



Surprise Of The Show

Winner: Let It Die

My logic for why this won is more simplistic than my logic for Game of the Show. I love Suda51 and I didn't know this game was being made. So thus, I am excited to see what the crazy bastard does. It beats out the announcement of Star Fox because I had read articles about it beforehand, and I didn't mention the Zelda announcement because that was pretty much a guarantee. Mursaki Baby looked lovely, and #IDARB has one of the neatest concepts of the entire show. Splatoon is also an interesting concept and the fact it's a cool Wii U game made me care more.


Honourable Mentions
Murasaki Baby
#IDARB
Splatoon
The Star Fox Announcement




Press Conference of The Show

Winner: Nintendo followed by Sony, then Ubisoft, then Microsoft... then a distant EA

When I first wrote about the Nintendo Digital Event (yes I know it isn't technically a press conference), I was more warm about it than hot. But then I have thought about it since and it was an excellent mixture of games and theatrics. It was funny, but all about the games, and Nintendo did a great job.

Sony is my primary system so I was emotionally invested in it, but it lost some momentum throughout, until it eventually came back in a big way.

Ubisoft is a great company with interesting games and their presentation was extremely theatrical. It was kind of a nerdy concert.

Microsoft did a great job and made it all about the games.

EA was boring and they didn't focus enough on actual gameplay.



Disappointment of the Show

Winner: No Metroid

Nintendo killed it anyway, and announced two big franchises, but damn it Ninty, where is my Metroid?


Honourable Mention
No mention of The Last Guardian



Unrealistic Desires For E3

Announcements for Timesplitters 4, The World Ends With You 2 and a new installment of The Last Vikings. I knew none of this would happen but I hoped that they would be announced.


As a closing statement, I would just like to say that I noticed a lot of co-op games, whether it was new IPs, or old IPs that are now implementing co-op, it seemed like there was more of a focus on it, which is thrilling for me because I'm a huge fan of that. I also noticed that they're bringing a lot of "old" games to new systems. In cases such as Grand Theft Auto 5, that's exciting, but what do you think about it? Will you re-buy games you already own just because they're now next-gen? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @ArtBathednCrime.

With that, I close down my last remaining feed (a Gamespot wrap-up show) and bid you farewell, and goodbye to E3 until next year. Now it's time to go outside. Well, maybe I'll sleep first.

E3 Day 2 - Did You Know That E3 Has Games? Bayonetta 2, DubWars, Rainbow Six, Payday 2 And More!

Written By: Tyler

Here we are ladies and gentlemen, the second day of E3 2014. Today I will just be doing impressions of some of the games I watched today.



Evolve -- Evolve is really shaping up to be a great thing. I know I've been pretty positive throughout E3, but a lot of these games just look so good. Of course, I'm really digging the premise of Hunters vs Monster in this game, but the fact it has an ecosystem where the monster you're hunting isn't the only threat is wonderful. I enjoy that the other creatures within the ecosystem can eat the food that the monster needs. If this game ends up sucking, which it doesn't look like it will, there will be a lot of disappointed people.


Broforce -- It looks like a chaotic, retro romp through the shooters of days gone by, with a sense of humour to boot. It should be entertaining. I don't think it's going to do what Mercenary Kings did with the genre, but this will be a blast to play with friends.


Dead Island 2 -- Am I the only one who isn't excited for a Dead Island MOBA? I actually enjoy the Dead Island games, flaws and all, but this? No thank you. Dying Light is where it's at for me.


Dragon Age: Inquisition -- I was pre-ordering some games during the demo of it, so my attention was divided, but Dragon Age looks pretty and it may be my first journey into the world of Dragon Age.


Star Citizen -- This is a game that a lot of PC gamers are hyped for. They showed a demo that was mostly flying through space, and the mechanics of the ship when you are flying. The game is shaping up very nicely.


Lara Croft & The Temple of Osirus -- This is a sequel to Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light and I have never played that. I've seen some videos, and it looked fun, but I just never took the jump and bought it. However, I have a bias towards co-op games and Temple of Osirus looks like it is going to be bigger and better, with completely solid puzzle/action co-op where you can troll people and have them fall to their death in spikes (seriously, we saw that for a while during the video).


H1Z1 - We're in a time where we have a bunch of MMO survival games, but none of them are done. H1Z1 is no different, and it's very much like DayZ and Rust. They didn't show us a lot of actual gameplay because it's still early, but I'm excited for this, more than I am DayZ.


Guns Up! -- From the video I saw, this game succeeds despite its title. Seriously, what a god awful name for a game. However, don't judge it based on that because it actually looks like a need little tactical/strategy shooter.


Rainbow Six: Siege -- The biggest fear of a new Rainbow Six is that it'll just be another dumb shooter. Despite the fact that it's very early in its development, Rainbow Six looks like it's a real Rainbow Six -- tactical with a need for teamwork. That's all R6 fans want.


The Evil Within -- I think The Evil Within will be scary because it's very easy to scare me. I'm sure there will be some memorable gore and jump scares, but I am not psyched for the game. I just don't see it as being a horror game that ranks among the best. It kind of looks like just another scary game. I hope I'm wrong, and perhaps other people see things I don't, but I haven't gained any new appreciation for it over the course of E3.


Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age -- This looks a bit like a Left 4 Dead but with a more Southern Gothic feel -- not in the way it feels or plays because it's 3rd person as opposed to 1st, but because it's set-up like L4D. I am glad it isn't just zombies we're shooting, and in the video shown we got to see them fighting a witch. I think that in itself, changing the scenery up, is reason enough to at least keep an eye on this one. So many shooters look alike that it's hard to tell at this point if it'll be just that, but I have some hopes for this one.


Hohokum -- Here we have a colourful indie game that appears to be you just flying around. But that's the point. The world reacts to you, and since there isn't anything telling you what to do, everything you do is right (I can get behind that logic). It's got a simplistic visual style, but the blend of colours makes it a bright and gorgeous game. It strikes me as a very relaxing game, and the type of experience that you want when you just want to unwind after a tough day... like when you want to watch a movie but you really don't want to have to think about it so you watch something dumb. I'm not saying this game is dumb, I'm just saying it looks like it'll have the same affect. It will be released on August 12th of this year on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita. I will more than likely get this.


Payday 2: Big Bank Heist -- Payday 2 is a good game, and much better than the first. I'm not as obsessed with it as I should be, since I love the concept, because there are little things that would make the heists better that they just haven't included. It's a big improvement over the first but there's room to grow. This DLC looks like more of the same, but more missions is a good thing.


Bayonetta 2 -- I didn't even need to see videos because I have it pre-ordered. It's still as zany and nuts as the original... but what happened to her hair! I'm excited for this.


DubWars -- A shooter where you're character shoots based on the sounds of the song, so if it's silent, you can only avoid enemies. This music-based gameplay makes this a game worth playing and while the graphics are really not that appealing, I love the concept. I could be wrong here, but apparently the launch is Friday... only I thought I heard that the "launch" was actually not the full game, but early access. If I'm right, I have to ask... is that what is considered a launch these days? I won't rant about this, because maybe that's a post for another time, but I'll leave it at that.


Well readers, this is all I got for the day. I know I've missed games over the past few days, but video game journalism is hard and I quit! No, not really, I don't quit, but it is quite difficult to catch everything, especially when you factor in that there are some games I just don't care about.

Anything I missed that you're into? Message me on Twitter @ArtBathednCrime or leave a comment below, and I will see you tomorrow, where I'll do another post like this, and do an E3 Awards post.

E3 Day 0 (Part 1) -- The Microsoft Press Conference

Written By: Tyler

Image taken from http://e3expo.com

First thing's first, I have to do the obligatory Eminem reference when you've been gone from something for a while. Guess who's back? Back again, Tyler's back, tell my friends (because seriously, they have assumed I'm dead). Yes ladies and gents, I have been gone for almost a month. I went away, and I wasn't sure if I'd even bother writing anymore, but once in a while I'd check out the stats on this blog and I was still getting some views so I figure why not?

And now, what better time to come back than the Superbowl of gaming? It's E3 time, and here's my game plan: I am not a professional blog -- if you can't tell by now -- so I have no E3 press credentials or anything, and I have a real job to go to, but I intend on watching as much as I can during the next few days. At the end of each day, I will make a post talking about the day. Now, because of my work schedule (I have some really early mornings), there may be some press conferences or news I miss, but if I do, I will talk about that the next day.

As the Microsoft Press Conference went on, I realized just how big it was. I don't want to bombard you people with one completely massive post, so I tell ya what... this post has just become a Microsoft-only post, which means you will be getting multiple posts each day, depending on how long the posts are. I imagine EA and Ubisoft won't be as huge, so I might pair them into a single post. We'll see how it goes. Look at me adapting.



The first press conference of the day was Microsoft and it was great.

When the lights went down we were bombarded with a lot of flashy images and a countdown. Once the countdown hit 0, the Xbox symbol came up and Phil Spencer got beamed down from space (okay he walked out). After the typical corporate talk about how awesome games are and how great we are, he said that this presentation is all about the games this time, which is welcome because we all remember how bad last year went.

The first game that is shown is, of course, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Xbox owners will be the first to play all additional content for the game. I'm glad that Call of Duty is going a little more Sci-Fi this time around, and the footage looked like it could breathe fresh air into the franchise, but to be honest, I'm like a lot of gamers at this point where I'd need to play it and see how it is because I'm just not hyped. It definitely looks more interesting than the previous few, though.

There's a new, free track for Forza 5... and you can get it now. So, you know, do that.

Then there's Forza Horizon 2. It's 1080p and has stuff like dynamic weather. It also apparently has no lobbies so you can get right into the action. You can get it on September 30th of this year. I've never actually played a Forza and I'm not a huge racer fan so I'm not real excited, but it does look like it'll be a good time so I think any racing game fan should be excited.

And here we go... Evolve. It gets its beta and DLC first on Xbox. A lot has been said about how incredible the potential is for this game, with original multiplayer, and I really hope it's good because the trailer they showed was exciting. We get to see a new monster -- and oh yeah, it's the Kraken.

Assassin's Creed Unity is next and I'm not an Assassin's Creed guy. You can join with up to three friends on Xbox Live, which might actually be a selling point for me. I mean, I don't own an Xbox One, but I'm assuming it will be this way on PS4 and whatnot.

I'm not expecting the series to be completely re-designed and the footage shown doesn't indicate that it will be. However, I have to admit, seeing the co-op in action has me jazzed for Assassin's Creed for the first time... ever. This will add a whole new dynamic to the experience. It really looks like they're doing this right... if you can play through the story completely in co-op, I am all in.

Then we get a feature about the first games of people. Then people are burning. No this isn't the opening scene of Parasite Eve, it's Dragon Age: Inquistion. Confession time: I've never played a Dragon Age. But I want to play it.

From Fantasy to military shooter. Oh wait no, it's SUNSET OVERDRIVE... the game I'm most pumped for. Nice trickery, Insomniac Games. They show us a fun little teaser trailer before Ted Price comes out and introduces us to some actual gameplay. His favourite game is Super Metroid which makes him okay by me.

So what does Sunset Overdrive play like? It's fast, chaotic and silly.  It's colourful and fluid, and I cannot wait. You can play co-op with up to 8 friends, which would be awesome for me.

Next is Dead Rising 3 DLC. It has a really long name but it could definitely be fun. I know, I'm positive.

Here we go with something I really don't care about at all. On October 21, we have Disney Fantasia Music Evolved. You remix your favourite songs through "impressive motion play." In September, there's a digital-only title called Dance Central Spotlight. To anybody who likes this kind of thing, good for you, but it wouldn't see my money if I had an Xbone.

Fable Legends has joined the fight. I'm all for any game that allows me to play the campaign/story with friends, so the game is of interest for that reason, but Fable is not something I'm emotionally invested in. However, you are able to play as the villain and control the world from up above. This is an interesting gameplay mechanic, which I think is a nice addition because the rest of the game looks fine but not awe-inspiring. Looks like another solid Fantasy third-person action title where teamwork might actually be important.

Project Spark is up next, only for Xbox and PC. It looks like there's a lot of variety to the type of games you can make with it. I'll have to see what comes out of it... oh crap, is that... Conker? That's interesting. While I'd rather just have a new Conker, he will apparently be in Project Spark. As I was saying, I'll have to see what comes out of Project Spark but it definitely has a lot of potential.

Moon Studios is coming out with what appears to be a very artistic, side-scrolling platformer called
Ori and the Blind Forest (I think, as I was looking away briefly and I'm not sure if I read the title correctly).

The Halo music that everybody is familiar with hits, and we actually get some real footage of a new Halo. It's pretty epic and it appears that there's someone like Master Chief out there. Bonnie Ross comes out and she's pretty. Hey, I'm a guy.

On November 11th, you can get Halo: The Master Chief Collection and play all the core Halo games (featuring Master Chief of course) on Xbox One. I'm not really excited because I've played them all and I'm not the type of guy who buys this type of thing, but there's no doubt that this is a huge release. It does look like they're putting a lot of care into it... retouching "every part of the game," and they're keeping the Halo 2 multiplayer exactly the same. It has every map in all four of the games, running at 1080p, on dedicated servers and on their original engines. It will also ship with 4000 gamerscore if... you know, that matters to you.

Halo: Nightfall is a digital series and that's included in the collection. Okay, I said I'm not the type of guy who would buy this kind of thing but as the presentation goes on, I'm into it.

 In December, the Halo 5: Guardians beta shows up as well. There's a whole lot of Halo in your life.

After people were done filling the cup (Kevin Smith orgasm reference), Phil Spencer shows up to cuddle everyone with some upcoming 2015 games.

The follow-up to Limbo, Inside, is dark, moody and it looks like you're trying to escape from somewhere. I was sold on it before I saw anything just because Limbo was great.

There's a lot of indie games coming, and we see a little bit of some of them. There are too many to talk about, but I will say, there are some truly incredible looking indie games coming. This is why the indie scene is a hotbed for creativity.

Then we have a world premiere of the new Tomb Raider. It doesn't show any gameplay, so it's really hard to tell what it's going to give us.

Then we're treated to some new gameplay for The Witcher 3, one of the most hyped upcoming RPGs.
I don't know what to even say... it just looks like a big, bad RPG. The combat looks solid and the hunting looks fun.

Then Ken Lobb comes out and starts talking about Killer Instinct. But wait, he's bringing sexy something else back. What is it, you ask? None other than Phantom Dust, and I feel really ignorant because I don't even know what that is. The footage only shows us a cinematic of two people throwing fireballs at each other, basically, so I don't know what to think.

Oh man, now we talk about The Division, one of the games I'm most excited for. The video starts with some pretty Christmas music, but I'm going to guess that something goes wrong. You know, just a hunch. Christmas Day is treated so poorly in fiction.

After the squad meets up, we get to witness a battle. I'm well aware that the people playing it are going to play more "professionally" and thus cooler than a lot of players, since they're trying to hype the game up and make it more like real team work (as opposed to a lot of gamers just playing stupid), but damn it looks like a lot of fun. The combat, of course, doesn't go as planned and things get chaotic. Cover gets blown up and the enemies seem to be relatively intelligent. I still don't get how the multiplayer is going to work in the sense that where do opposing players fit in?

Next Scalebound gets shown off with a nice cinematic that once again really tells you very little about the actual game. All these games look cool.

The next exclusive Xbox One game is Crackdown 3. I've always wanted to play Crackdown but haven't gotten around to it. Again, it's all cinematic with lots of explosions so Michael Bay would be proud. What is it going to be like as a game? I'm sure it'll play like the others, but you can't tell much from it.

Oh hey, Phil Spencer is back to wrap it up. He talks about how awesome Xbox is going to continue to be. The press conference ends with a montage of games in a variety of genres


Closing Statement: I think it would have been hard to mess up this press conference because of the focus on games. We know that Microsoft was bound to get some awesome games, and they did a good job of giving the stage to what gamers truly care about. It was a successful conference to me and made me want an Xbone even more than I already do, as its the only next-gen console that I don't currently have.


What do you think? Did I report anything wrong? Don't kill me if I did, because I have a hard time multi-tasking so watching video and writing made my head explode and I was replaced by an incompetent robot. Tell me what you think in the comment section below or yell at me on Twitter @ArtBathednCrime