Of Spartans and Men (2) - Gaming Thoughts

Halo: Infinite by developer 343 Industries and publisher Xbox Game Studios—Microsoft Xbox Series X gaming thoughts written by Pierre-Yves with a Game Pass subscription.

Check out the first Of Spartans and Men in regards to Halo: ODST.

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Continuously having big shoes to fill, 343 Industries have continued Master Chief's saga through the likes of Halo 4 and Halo 5 without missing a beat. With a long break in between however, Halo: Infinite is finally here and I've found myself wondering if it has been worth the wait.

I've now been playing games for over three decades and while I have a tendency to lean towards Role Playing Games, Strategy Role Playing Games, Turned Based Role Playing Games, Action / Adventure Role Playing Games and blowing up a sentence for no good reason, blame the French in me, I love a good shooter. Starting all the way back when games fit on 3.5" floppies with Doom II, I've shot my way through hell, space and the apocalypse numerous times.

Doom II, Wolfenstein, Hexen, Quake, Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, each had their own charm until this revolutionary first person shooter called Halo was released for the original Xbox. Not having had an Xbox myself, Halo is what I constantly found myself playing with friends whenever we got together either in co-op against the forces of the Covenant or those of the Flood. The controls were slick and smooth and on a console! Move towards Halo 2, Halo 3, I had originally missed out on ODST (check out the original Of Spartans and Men) before all we ever did was Halo Reach which is when I finally had my own Xbox.

Each entry into this series showed a bit more of what could be achieved and while this originally left so many others in the dust, by the time Halo 4 and Halo 5 released under a new studio and direction, the name of the game had already been defined and redefined and the big players had moved past what Bungie had put into place all those years back before they themselves moved onto another Destiny. Heh... see what I did there?

This is not to say that at least Halo 4 wasn't something else for the series as I absolutely loved the integration of a real story on top of solid gameplay mechanics, but with other stellar adventures out there such as Bioshock, Borderlands, Bulletstorm and the new Wolfenstein(s) that would come later amongst others, it was a solid experience but not one that redefined anything. Again, this isn't a bad thing as sometimes having a good experience is better than to be left wanting.

This however is where I'm finding myself so far with Halo: Infinite. Starting off with a heavy enough narrative even though Master Chief is not really doing the talking, there's soon a shift from the straight lines into an open world arena which lets you decide where you want to go first. Do you save captured marines? Take over a forward operating base (FOB) or stick it to the Banished and their seemingly endless amounts of troops?

Getting into the swing of things, I started to poke and prod at each type of situation while blasting my way through each with kinetic, shock and energy weapons before squeeing a bit at getting my hands on both a sword and a rocket launcher within minutes of one another. Looking around each place as the fire fights died down and looking around for audio logs to find out what's been going on, finding upgrade tokens to make our Master Chief that much scarier and armored lockers for cosmetics to bring into multiplayer I found myself wondering... is this it?

In the past year I've gone and platinumed both Horizon Zero Dawn and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, finally playing both past the introductions when I had picked them up for other people in my life. These worlds were huge, plenty to do, plenty to see, plenty to upgrade, and loads of story to carry you along from opening to closing credits. Master Chief's adventure so far within Halo: Infinite looks grand but feels like a basic attempt to create the current fad of an open world and I don't know if that should have been the direction.

While it's great to be able to fast travel, call in new vehicles and load up on custom weapons from each FOB, it's really when you get to a story mission where things are in a linear fashion that Halo: Infinite really started to shine. This isn’t just because it felt like “Halo” with either tight or open environments, plenty of enemies old and new including flying space octopus monkeys, it’s that it felt like a properly calibrated experience that is the reason I showed up for. As a bonus, the suit upgrades are great but I really couldn’t stop thinking of Doom 2016 as I picked them up.

The other big thing and that has been a point of contention is the coop, local or otherwise. While Halo 4 still supported a local co-op, Halo 5 demanded separate consoles having stripped away the local aspect that made this series a great couch partnering experience. Halo: Infinite, while now having launched both the multiplayer and the campaign, it still does not have any co-op at all attached to this campaign. Wanted to get together with a few friends or your partner for a romp against powerful alien foes? Unfortunately that feature isn’t here yet and it makes me wonder if it will or not come around in the future.

Finally, an issue that I doubt that I’m alone on, is the fact that I’m playing this latest adventure through the Xbox Game Pass. Where this starts to give some issues is that the main “install” was a tad misleading as while it was ready to go, I had to then open it up on day 1 and install the actual title. Fine, it was only twenty or so gigs which on my connection gave me time to whip up something quick in the kitchen before getting started. Where I’ve been having some issues however is that when I put my console into rest mode and re-open it all good to go, if the link to the servers are too slow I get kicked right out of the game because I’m not “authorized” to use this content. It’ll eventually clue in that yes, yes I do have access to this content but then I also had to restart whatever I may have been in the middle of.

Xbox Game Pass issues aside that I’ve just gone around by simply not “stopping in the middle of something”, I obviously still have plenty to see and do before making a final opinion on the matter as I’m still only about 5-6 hours in. While it looks gorgeous, it feels empty as even with multiple side missions to be tackled, there’s no extra story attached, there’s no side plotlines, there’s only a few unlockable items to make things a bit more fun and in your favor before getting to the good stuff of the main storyline missions.

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Xbox Game Pass and I how I learned to re-love my XB1 - Gaming Thoughts

Xbox Game Pass by developer and publisher Microsoft—Microsoft Xbox One Gaming Thoughts article written by Pierre-Yves.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

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Sometime last month around the time that Gears Tactics launched on Steam I remember talking to Robert and saying something around the lines of while I was really excited to play it as a fan of the Gears series, with everything else on the go right now I can't justify that price tag for it to maybe sit in my Steam library untouched. May as well wait for a sale I thought to myself. Then Robert brought up that it was part of his Game Pass subscription and that got me thinking, how much is that a month up here in the North? Turns out the first month was $1.15 CAD, then about $16-$20.

Now was it worth it? While I have yet to actually play Gears Tactics at the time of this writing as I do plan to Stream it for ExtraLife on June 24, I would say that it has been more than worth it.

Since spending that whole $1.15 for the first month on the Xbox Live and Game Pass package, I've gone through Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Sonia's Review on her site) and Halo 5. I've finally got around to playing JumpForce, State of Decay 2, Indivisible, Crackdown 3, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, West of Dead and a few other things on top of finally having Xbox Live and getting together with some friends to play Gears 5's Horde Mode that we had all been meaning to since finally having gotten pretty good at Gear of War 4's.

Just there alone would have cost a pretty penny and while I'm not a stranger to Games on Demand services such as Utomik and Stadia, Stadia has a LONG way to go and while the libraries are different, Utomik is PC based while the Game Pass touches both the XB1 and the PC offering a lot more flexibility.

If I had to rate my console choices from first to last, it would be based off of personal gaming preferences more than the actual consoles themselves. The Nintendo Switch has really been catching up to the PS4 and the XB1 in the past year with a solid library and a new home for indies and ports such as Mutant Year Zero and the latest XCOM 2 Collection. Combine that with other solid releases such as the Xenoblade series and its portability, and I often find myself curious as to whether I want something on my PlayStation or would I rather the Switch as it allowed me to just take it with me and play on the go. Less now with Social Distancing, but that's a different story.

So just from that you can see that my XB1 was barely in the equation for when I've been thinking of picking a game up. I own the Halo series which just last summer I decided to go through most of them in about a week to take the Master Chief Collection for a real spin and finally play ODST once it was added. I own just about every Gears title short of Judgement. But outside of that? My XB1 library contains Quantum Break and ReCore and I have yet to play either. I just haven't gotten around to them. I've honestly used it for Reviews as most titles I could get for the other platforms where I generally have solid libraries for. It's not that it's a bad system, and hell, I love the controller over the rest, but I love my obscure JRPGs and they can't really be found here.

And this is really where the Game Pass has come in. State of Decay 2, JumpForce, Hellblade, these were all titles that I figured I would eventually get around to playing but I just never did. With more time now than we had before though, I figured why not take these titles out for a spin since the most it's going to cost is the time to download which even there isn't long with my internet connection.

The catalog itself has a decent range of titles from small indie games from Kemco to large AAA Microsoft blockbusters and the only thing you need to do is view it and download it. Hell, there's even "an app for that" as the Game Pass lets you handle everything from your phone. It's not like trying to get things off of Sony's PSN app which can be a bit of hassle sometimes or browsing Nintendo's site in mobile, it takes seconds and then it's done. To top that all off, when I found out you could even be rewarded for it I was shocked. Gaining points for logging in, playing Game Pass games and getting achievements? If it gives me money to spend off Xbox’s Marketplace and I’m doing it anyways? Why not?

Speaking of the catalogue though, I was surprised that there’s such variety for both the XB1 console and for Windows. Sometimes a title is available for both, sometimes it’s already rotated out but in either case, there’s a solid selection of old and new keeping it fresh which is amazing as it lets people experience tons for an extremely low price. Added bonus is that I’ve noticed a title could be cheaper to buy for yourself if you do currently have the Game Pass to keep it after it’s gone.

Now while everything that I’ve seen and played was under an amazing value, in today’s sphere you do kind of have to pick and choose. My internet package leaves nothing to be desired as it’s a 1GB connection. Let’s be honest, we review and I don’t want to wait forever to review the title in question. I want to do it now. I have Netflix that I pay for my mother. Through Amazon Prime my partner and I got an addon that lets us watch the Food Network and HGTV. These all add up. So with the cost of about 20$? It was going to be a time to time affair unless I splurged for a year’s worth. Subscribe when I need to, don’t when I’m overall too busy. It’s what I do with Utomik which has a great catalogue.

And that WAS the plan until we were amazingly treated to a full year’s worth of Xbox Live and the Game Pass in order to cover Minecraft Dungeons. So with that said, we’ll be back with plenty of other reviews such as JumpForce, West of Dead and Indivisible shortly as well as others over the course of the year.

So a big thank you to our PRs for that one, I’ve been having a blast and my console has actually been running more often than not!

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Memorable Music in Gaming #42

So Memorable Music in gaming. It's selective and what inspires or gets one person pumping may not exactly be what gets another moving. Recently between some larger titles like Dragon Quest XI, Tales of Berseria, the new God of War and Mortal Kombat 11 between the various reviews, I've loaded up Halo: The Master Chief Collection and started from the beginning and that opening theme? Damn still gets me every time.

With a bit of Gregorian chanting to give it a haunting tune, it's enough to lead onto the unknowns of space and when starting off for the first time, the unknown that you'll find as you start to face off against the Covenant forces before even ever seeing the Flood, the Brutes or the Forerunners. Spun off of the main theme's upbeat portion you have hear a bit of tribal like chanting as you either sprint for your first Banshee run or just a really good firefight sequence.

While in effect these two are basically the same musical entries, the difference is in how they start and how they are used. The intro is used to lead in while the combat music, named The Warthog Run, is used to basically tell you to "Nut up or shut up". Got a love Zombieland for all the usable quotes. Skipping done quite a few from the very beginning of what Bungie started to where they finished, Halo: Reach's opening is still one of my favorites and I'm disappointed for it not being in the collection.

And finally from the end of Bungie to the start of 343, which I finally realize may be named after the damned traitor from the very first making it a very Halo like company name, the opening to Halo 4 is something that I love to have on in the background because of the range from soft and haunting to the more upbeat while still staying close to what made the original opening so good.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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State of Decay 2 - XB1 Review

State of Decay 2 is the sequel to 2013's fantastic zombie survival game, State of Decay. True to the original formula, State of Decay 2 is focused on base-building, resource collection, relationship management (to a limited extent), and some good old fashioned zombie slaying. While I have long professed being burnt out on the oft-overused zombie trope, State of Decay 2's focus on scavenging in a weary yet highly detailed world has brought new life to the zombie genre for me. Wonderfully colorful graphics, a draw distance that goes for miles, and some excellent zombie-crushing melee attacks are all packaged neatly together in a rather intense and thrilling adventure. State of Decay 2 is 2018's zombie game to beat.

Admittedly, I have shown no real interest in anything zombie-related; in fact the only real game I play that involves zombies (outside of fantasy RPGs) would be Rebellion's utterly excellent Zombie Army Trilogy. So when the opportunity arose to review State of Decay 2 I was a bit concerned that the theme would be a bit tired and I would find little enjoyment in it. Boy was I wrong. Prior to firing up State of Decay 2 though, I loaded State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition on Xbox One to try and get a feel for the franchise.

Though I was not super thrilled with the first title, I slogged through a dozen or so hours and found that while not strong enough to change my mind, it was an enjoyable experience. With that I then loaded up State of Decay 2 and was immediately thrilled with the tense combat and incredibly suspenseful moments that State of Decay 2 is chalk full of. While it is a sequel, playing the first State of Decay is not really a requirement, so new players can jump right in, though if you enjoyed the first game, you will most certainly enjoy State of Decay 2.

In rare form, I was enjoying a zombie game! Not only just a zombie game, but a zombie game that is focused heavily on stealth. That is, until you start getting swarmed, then all bets are off and the firearms will come into play (and the gunplay is a blast in State of Decay 2). Upon loading into the game and choosing your character you are thrust into a scenario where you are working towards escaping the mass of zombies and you will happen upon a handful of survivors.

From there you will be gradually introduced to new community members, features, and zombie types that can be found throughout the entire game. In fact I find the pacing in State of Decay 2 to be absolutely fantastic. From the very beginning there is a slow but inevitable increase in activity, both good and bad, as your small community and various outposts begin to grow. As you continue to perform various tasks your influence with the various NPCs will grow, allowing you to then assign them tasks or bring them along for some extra zombie-smashing goodness.

I do, at times, wish there was a little more variety to the gameplay as the core of it is simply "Forage for survival" and while it is certainly fun, it is not necessarily the deepest of gameplay styles. Repeatedly raiding nearby (or distant) buildings and coming in to the same small group of zombies, which then turn into a small wave of zombies, can get old after a while. Raiding at night time is significantly more tense, but in ways far, far safer. If you can sneak your way into a building and quietly dispatch the zombies, it makes it far, far easier to gather resources or take over outposts.

The downside is that it is extremely dark and the use of your flashlight will draw the zombies to you no different than a gunshot or a pile of fireworks and heaven forbid you stumble upon a screamer, which will attract a horde if you are seen, at night as it will be an absolute fight for your life. Scouting during the day is the likely way to go for many users, but I personally found that forays into the day brought more zombies that had a wider detection radius than those at night. Sure, you can see them further away, but they can see you too.


Crafting is simple, straightforward, and fun, assuming you have the correct outpost upgrades and that is where the real challenge comes in. Most larger settlements have 4 upgradable stations where you can build things like farms, water centers, infirmaries, etc. and some items you can only get/upgrade with workshops or infirmaries, or various other upgrades so choosing what to place where can be a tense decision all in its own right. With the limited upgrade capacities, State of Decay 2 forces players to go out and expand their community, thus making it more difficult to protect all of the NPCs in said community, not to mention you will then need to travel between outposts in order to gather required resources.

While it is a chore at times, it actually adds a bit of weight to the realism and certainly ups the ante with regard to navigating the world-weary travelers in State of Decay 2. It is also incentive to get out and truly explore, which is what I feel the State of Decay franchise is really about; get out and see the world, find new things, make new allies/enemies, and simply experience life after the zombie apocalypse, and in that, State of Decay 2 truly does excel.

State of Decay 2 excels as survival sim with zombies strewn about a decaying world and really does provide near endless hours of grinding zombies down, hunting and scavenging for more resource, destroying Plaguehearts in hopes of finding a cure, and managing communities. In more ways than one, State of Decay 2 is the pinnacle of zombie survival, successfully melding numerous genres into a dismal world nigh devoid of hope. Amidst the overwhelming tide of darkness lies a small ray of hope within your community.

Scavenge. Craft. Kill. Survive.

Game Information

Platform:
Microsoft Xbox One
Developer(s):
Undead Labs
Publisher(s):
Microsoft Studios
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Survival
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Cross Buy XB1 / PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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Jaggy's Corner! - E3 Part 2 of 2

On day two of Chalgyr's E3 coverage, we take a look at the conferences put on by EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Devolver Digital, and Nintendo. I cover as many of the games as I can in this final article covering E3.

Let's begin!

EA Conference

I was worried that EA would set the tone for the rest of the conferences at E3. That said, I'm sure more people were interested in the games they mentioned, but I felt like this was the worst conference overall. EA doesn't release games that I play, especially after the whole Sims 4 debackle...

First up were Jedi: Fallen Orders and a Battlefront II update which would feature content from Clone Wars. While I know that many people are massive fans of the Star Wars franchise, I've not been among them for quite some time. I'm especially not interested in a series that is developed by a company that has had some of the worst anti-consumer practices in video gaming.

Next up was the trailer for Unravel Two, a game where the protagonist is made out of wool. It's a neat looking title and has potential to be fun. The concept of a puzzle platformer as a woolen character is intriguing. The music used in the trailer is quite nice. I have hopes for this title, despite my reservations for its publisher.

Sea of Solitude's trailer was showed next in the lineup and I'm not quite sure what this game is supposed to be. Is this a psychological thriller/walking simulator? It's hard to tell from the trailer. That said, I do like the music choice for this game. It really hammers home the idea that you are alone in this universe, as far as we can tell. Anyways, it's a teaser trailer so keep your eyes peeled for future information on this title.

At this point in the conference, I became upset. As an RTS fan who has played at least a little bit of Command and Conquer, I was insulted that the series has moved to the mobile market. Sure, gamers aren't all PCMasterrace, but taking such a beloved franchise and throwing it on a mobile device feels like EA is doing it a huge disservice. The short gameplay presentation was used to showcase how fun mobile games can be, and it was played by Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson and commentated by Nathan "Nathanias" Fabrikant. Suffice it to say, using these two people made this section even remotely palatable. Don't get me wrong though, I won't be playing this title.

The game that I have some hope for is Anthem. It looks gorgeous and does resemble Destiny in various ways. But because this is an EA title, it tells me that this game could be great if it was published by any other company. I believe Anthem has potential to be an amazing game but not with its current restraints, and that is unfortunate. It reminded me that EA does have some great ideas for video games, but often goes about things the wrong way. You need to earn our trust EA...

Again, I've never been known for liking standard military FPS games, so it should be no shock that Battlefield V: Bad Company would not be high on my excitement list. That said, this game does have a decent fan base. Last year, EA took a huge step forward by releasing a World War I setting game, which no other shooter had done (to my knowledge). Again, for those that like the Battlefield games, this title has a decent reputation. So I say go for it, if you are so inclined. Just don't be surprised when the publisher does something dumb.

Of course, it wouldn't be EA if there weren't any sports games announced. This year is FIFA 19 and Madden Overdrive. One is soccer while the other is football. Though EA is known for their sports titles, I've never been a fan of sports games on computer. I enjoy playing soccer with people. I enjoy actually watching football games. I don't enjoy watching terrible AI's play the games for me. That's just me.

I'm glad that the EA conference was slotted first because it meant that titles I am not interested in, wouldn't bring down my E3 viewing experience (although, there were other conferences that I was upset about, but I'll get into those later).

Watch all the game trailers for EA here:

Microsoft Conference

In my opinion, Microsoft had one of the best line ups next to the PC gaming conference. Among highly anticipated titles for me personally were: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Forza Horizon 4, Devil May Cry 5, Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, BATTLETOADS, Gears of War 5, and Cyberpunk 2077.

Ori is just a beautiful game and I love watching it, even though I'm terrible at platformers. Sekiro looks like an interesting game to play, although we'll see if I play it. Forza Horizon 4 sold me by using a McLaren in the initial races. Devil May Cry 5 – do I really need to say anything about this title? I mean, come on! Anyways, Cuphead I'm excited for because I had the extraordinary opportunity to talk with one of the programmers about the game on another site. Cuphead in 2017 ended up taking away a couple of awards from The Game Awards, so I'd say, the game has earned its place.

BATTLETOADS! Was I hallucinating? NO! They are bringing back Battletoads! I'm completely stoked for this game to come back and wreck today's gamers like it did for many of us years before. I will beat that level even if it kills me! You know what I'm talking about...(PY: Does PTSD count in this case? Oh god how easy people have it now adays...)

Gears of War 5 wasn't the only Gears title that was announced this year. There is also a Funko Pop version of the game! I think it's awesome and will probably add that game to my guilty pleasures list. They also mentioned a mobile Gears game but since we already know what I'm likely to say about that, I don't need to repeat myself.

Finally, the title everyone speculated to be announced at E3 was Cyberpunk 2077. This has been a highly anticipated game for quite some time. I fall in line with the populous here. Cyberpunk 2077 looks extremely polished for a science fiction story. You get to go to the city of dreams, at least in this universe, and live out the kind of life you want. Besides, that car looks sweet as hell. Players will be protagonist "V" who is a cybernetically enhanced person. The game screams of awesome and it has a reputation to live up to. That said, this is done by CD Projekt Red so I know they will deliver. Check out their website for it.

Other titles that gamers were excited to see were Halo Infinite, Crackdown 3, Metro: Exodus, a Sea of Thieves DLC, a full release of We Happy Few, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, Session, Black Dessert, Tunic, Jump Force, and Dying Light 2.

All of these title had people buzzing with excitement but nothing caused as much of a reaction as this one game... Fallout 76 has been talked about and speculated for weeks now. As advertised during the conference, Fallout 76 is going to be four times the size of Fallout 4, and will be a prequel to all of the other games. It is also going to be an online game meaning that players can choose to work together to survive. There are a bunch of mini videos that were showcased to explain more about Fallout 76 so be sure to check those out.

Take a look at the full Microsoft Xbox Conference for all the exciting game trailers:

Bethesda Conference

The Bethesda conference began with a performance by Rock Jesus, which did not amuse me in the slightest. After such an epic Microsoft line up, I was expecting the hype to increase, not tank. And this conference was filled with games that I'm not excited about.

Among the announced titles are: Rage 2, Elder Scrolls: Legends – a relaunched card game that is free to download, Doom: Eternal, Quake Champions, Prey: Typhoon Hunter, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot – VR, and a mobile game called Elder Scrolls: Blades.

Later this year, a new IP called Starfield will be revealed to the world. Not much is known about this game except that it will be single player.

The biggest announcement for most people in this conference was the news about Elder Scrolls VI. Fans of the Elder Scrolls series are hyped for this title though, Todd Howard has said that it will not be released until after Starlink launches. Who knows when that will end up being?

As a gamer that isn't particular interested in any of these games, Bethesda's conference for me was not very exciting. It was downright boring, but that's not to say that these games aren't worth the hype they received. Elder Scrolls is a large series and highly beloved. Doom is one of the very first FPS games ever produced with Quake not far behind it. Wolfenstein has attracted a large audience over time which is why Bethesda has invested time in another game as well as a VR title. Just because these games aren't interesting for me, doesn't mean it wasn't a good conference.

Take a look at the whole presentation here:

Devolver Digital

As history would dictate, Devolver Digital entered onto the stage with a bang. In fact, after the twenty one minute conference, my head was spinning. They announced three games and one other thing.

Scum is a survival shooter game with zombies that forces the player to be careful about what they eat. The game is designed as a reality TV show where prisoners try to escape from an island. The game is meant to be complicated and was created to keep the survival games genre alive, at least, that is according to a statement made by creative director Tomislav Pongrac when he spoke to the people at Variety.com.

My Friend Pedro was announced next. It is a 2D side scrolling action platformer that has a fighting game graphics style. Players will be able to shoot at bad guys in a slo-motion way. The game also features a replay section at the end of each level which showcases a player's impressive skills. It looks like a ton of fun to play, and I can't wait to see what kind of reception it receives.  

Finally, Devolver Digital showed a trailer for Metal Wolf Chaos XD which is set to release later this year. (PY: WOOT! Mech! Explosions! A filler for the lack of Armored Core. I love From, but where are my mechs? Mech Souls... hm...) This is a game that has come back to light. Originally Metal Wolf Chaos was released in Japan in 2004. Now, it is developed by From Software, and will bring the mech game to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Players will be the President of the United States and are fighting against a revolution which began with your own Vice President. It could be an interesting game.

In the middle of this conference, Devolver Digital also released a new currency called Loot box coin, which felt distinctly like a meme. Since the conference, I've discovered that Loot box coin is actually a purchasable item. Honestly, it felt like the biggest joke of a conference just based on the presentation, but it turns out that the coin is legitimate. I wasn't the only one to think the item was a joke either. Polygon, TheVerge, and PC Gamer all covered this investment item which costs over a hundred dollars. I'm not sure what the purpose of obtaining a loot box coin is, but it's great for a laugh. Maybe they are secretly making a point that anyone will buy these things... Who knows?

Take a look at the full short conference here:

Nintendo's Conference

I could talk about all the titles that Nintendo announced, but frankly it went by quickly enough that the montage video was the only content shown for each title.

Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu releases November 16th and appears to have a Tamagatchi-like item. Super Mario Party is releasing for the Switch. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a new game releasing for the Switch in the Spring of next year. Overcooked 2 will have more receipes and the ability to throw ingredients across the kitchen. Killer Queen Black is a team based game launching on the Switch later this year. Arena of Valor will release in the fall. Splatoon 2 releases in the summer of this year. Crash Bandicoot gets another title which surprised many gamers. Carcassanne, the popular board game, gets a version on the Switch. And Megaman 11 launches on October 2nd – this is probably the most interesting title for me personally. I love Megaman! Though, we didn't get to see much on any of these games.

There are a bunch of other games that were featured in the montage video, so I'll leave those to discover in the link below.

What I have to say is that Nintendo's conference was a let down for me. While there were several games shown in the montage video, the conference revolved entirely around Super Smash: Ultimate. (PY: I really don't see an issue with this!) I get it, the game is Nintendo's only eSport, making them tons of money. However, spending an hour of time showcasing matches with some of the new characters ended up being boring. One or two matches would have been fine to showcase, but an hour of gameplay in only one game was not what was expected. And because that section was so long, I lost every bit of hype for any of the other announcements made prior to it.

Nintendo does have some excellent games in their lineup and I completely understand why it's a popular system. I'm glad that the Switch is getting more titles to allow the console to be competitive in the current marketspace, but since I don't own anything Nintendo, I didn't find this conference that interesting. I just wish that they didn't focus so much on one thing, effectively negating having anything else to showcase. As such, I was highly disappointed with this conference to the point that I walked away from the keyboard.

Nintendo. You have some awesome titles other than Mario and Smash. Stop forgetting about your other games!

Anyways, here is the montage video of Nintendo's E3 conference without the hour of Smash matches.

Final Thoughts

As I said before, the best conference for me was Microsoft. They presented nothing but games, are launching titles that I'm excited for, and didn't break my soul or ears with strange musical performances. Other conferences had some titles that hold potential and are interesting, but overall Microsoft had everything I was looking for from an E3 experience. But that's just me! I know many people are excited over Bethesda's announcements and Nintendo's announcements.

Let us know what titles you are interested from EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Devolver Digital, and Nintendo's conferences.

Until next time!


Article by Susan N.

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Forza Motorsport 7 - Xbox One Review

Forza Motorsports has been THE approachable racing simulator for over a decade now and Forza Motorsports 7 continues that trend. With an obscene number of cars (over 700!), Forza Motorsports 7 is not only the most advanced and graphically impressive, but also the largest and most varied. The downside to the massive scale is that there are a number of things that just do not make sense, which is unfortunate because Forza Motorsports 7 could be the best of the franchise, but a few puzzling decisions by Turn10 take it down a peg from "near perfect" to "good, but not the best…"

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Gears of War 4 - Xbox One Review

I  actually came to the Gears party a bit late as I was introduced to it by my brother a year after it first released (Thanksgiving of 2007). I was visiting his house for the holidays with my daughter and her mother and being the fans of couch co-op, started up a game. I was immediately hooked so when my brother's 52" Panasonic rear-projection TV bit the dust mid-game, we were crushed, but we soldiered on ... with a 20" or so TV that he brought down from his second floor and we were at it again, though in a MUCH smaller space. Ever since then I have made it a point to pick up each Gears, both for the gritty, ruined world of Sera and for the couch co-op / co-op campaign possibilities. Gears of War 4 is the latest installment in the venerable franchise, and while it misses on some aspects, it most certainly scratches that itch that only a Lancer can reach.

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Recore - Xbox One Review

ReCore is something of an odd thumb in my house; when it was first teased back at E3 it did not make many waves. Over the past year or so, little was said about ReCore, from a small guerilla marketing campaign to a ninja-quick release, ReCore stayed largely out of the limelight. It is a shame, too, because it is a fun little action-adventure title with some fun puzzles and gorgeous landscapes even if the action is a bit repetitive at times. ReCore to me seems to be suffering a bit from underexposure when it really should be sitting front-and-center prior to the big Fall releases.

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Inside the Halo Wars 2 Panel at Comic-Con 2016

There was a lot of gaming news at Comic-Con this year, but one of the bits that perked our ears up the most might have been these trailers and this article about Halo Wars 2.

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Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One Review

Halo 5: Guardians brings an intense level of 60fps action to a beloved franchise not seen in years. After the struggle that was the story in Halo 4, Halo 5: Guarding tries, and largely succeeds at bringing some semblance of order to one of the most beloved gaming franchises on the planet. Combining blazingly fast action with challenging gunplay, Guardians is a high-octane adventure that is all climax which spills brilliantly over into the new Arena and Warzone game modes. Hold onto your helmets folks, because you are in for the ride that you deserve.

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Forza Motorsport 6 - Xbox One Review

Forza Motorsport brings what you would expect to the table: lots of cars and tracks, gorgeous weather and plenty of little hooks to keep you coming back for more. The racing itself has not advance much, but it still makes for a solid experience with several options to help everyone find their ideal way to experience the game.

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Descent into Legend trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider

This is obviously one of the bigger releases this year, arriving just before winter hits. Here's a new trailer and some additional information about the game.

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Gears of War: Ultimate Edition - Xbox One Review

Gears of War Ultimate thrusts you into the role of Marcus Fenix where you will lead the Gears of the Coalition of Government's (a.k.a. Cog) Delta Squad. Accompanied by Dom Santiago, Damon Baird, and Augustus "Cole Train" Cole, you will battle for mankind's survival on Sera against the Locust Horde. Sporting 1080p textures and running at 60FPS, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition comes exclusively to the Xbox One with additional content, dedicated multiplayer servers, matchmaking, new game types, maps, and character skins. Seeing Sera in all of its true high definition glory is riveting, engrossing, and downright fantastic. Spin up your lancers, folks, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition returns you to the world of Sera with a vengeance and is one of the most thrilling rides on the Xbox One that you can find.

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Halo 5 opening cinematic

I know we said we weren't going to be posting anything today, but I figured - what the heck? This has been circulating for about a week, but it was still too good not to make sure everyone saw it.

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Another look at the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians

Not much to say here - we stumbled onto this Gamestop exclusive Halo 5 trailer and thought we would share with the rest of the class.

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D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - Xbox One Review

Grizzled ex-cop.  Murdered wife.  The murder is tied to the newest street drug.  At times, the drug is described as having “divine” connections.  Law enforcement may not be trustworthy.  Our protagonist’s two main hobbies seem to be drinking and moping.  He also seems to have supernatural reflexes and powers.  Max Payne, right?  Not this time.  This time it is D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die by Swervy, whose previous game was Deadly Premonition on the 360, PS3, and PC.  And that is where the similarities end.

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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood - PC Review

Anyone who’s ever had a sibling knows that regardless of how well you get along, or how well they say that they get along, there will always be those moments in time in which you wanted to either throttle them or make them disappear for a while. Max, who is in this very situation, came home one day to find his younger brother Felix messing up his stuff and breaking his toys. Annoyed as he was, Max “Giggled” (yes, that is the search engine he used on the computer) a way to make his brother disappear and not thinking about the results, recites a spell found on the internet. Shortly after, Felix is snatched into another world by a giant fist and dragged away. Instantly regretting this action, Max jumps in after them starting the adventure.

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