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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Jaggy's Corner! - E3 Part 1 of 2

E3 is admittedly the most highly anticipated event for core gamers. It sparks conversations and debates about which conferences have the best performance and which have the best games lineup.

This weekend, Jaggy's corner will compact the news into two articles. The conferences covered in today's article are: Square Enix, Ubisoft, PC, and Sony. I wanted to even out the sheer number of titles announced during the conference which means reducing over 100 games into two articles. Bear with me and PY's random comments. It's going to be quite the ride.

Square Enix

Although this conference didn't announce a ton of titles, it showcased several games that I'm excited about. Starting with a full trailer for Shadow of the Tomb Raider which releases September 14th. It's no secret I've been a fan of the series since I was a child, so this game is a must on my list. (Shut up and take my money! As long as you release it on PC. K. Thx. Bai!)

There were three separate Final Fantasy games announced, although none of them were FF7. (DAMNIT SQUEENIX! Give us what we want! (Editor's Note: Final Fantasy VI remade!)) Anyways, they announced Stormblood, a DLC for FFXIV, and some bizarre Final Fantasy collaboration game.

Monster Hunter World and Dragon Quest both had announcements. While I know the Monster Hunter series spawned the game Dauntless, I have never played it but it and FF XIV will have a cross over event. Dragon Quest is on it's eleventh title in the series, which many fans are excited about. (PY: You had better believe it. I'm looking VERY forward to DQXI! September can't come fast enough. I'm also on vacation for the week it releases. I coudln't have timed it better had I actually tried!)

Dontnod Entertainment didn't announce anything related to Life is Strange 2, but they did announce a cute side story with a child protagonist that lives in a fantasy world. It's called Captain Spirit and will be free to play on June 26th of this year. I'm probably going to play this one. Not gonna lie about that!

Octopath Traveller and Just Cause 4 were also announced. I'm not really a fan of either and therefore have nothing exciting to contribute. (PY: I'm looking forward to Octopath Traveler. Having an old schooled JRPG for the Switch is going to be nice) Nier: Automata is being ported to Xbox on June 26 so those of you that are console warriors will get a chance to play the title.

Two new IP's were also showcased. One is called Babylon's Fall which is set to come out next year. Another title called The Quiet Man will be explained more in August. I'm interested to see what this will bring to the table of Square Enix.

The biggest news for many fans is, of course, Kingdom Hearts 3. Not only are they adding Elsa to the cast of characters, but the announcement trailer included the soothing voice of Utada Hikaru. If you weren't aware, she is the one that has done the soundtrack for all of the Kingdom Hearts games, and released the hit song Passion - the Japanese version - or Sanctuary - the English version - for KH2. It is one of my personal favorite songs by Utada. The game releases on January 29th, 2019 and fans are overjoyed from the news. They've waited for over a decade to receive another Kingdom Hearts game.

Talk about hardcore fandom... (PY: Ugh... I'm honestly... and seriously HONEST... not believe in any release date until it's in my hands. I'm also worried that it won't live up to the development time like FF XV.)

I mean, do you remember this? DO YOU?

Ubisoft

Despite their interesting approach to presentation, Ubisoft had several titles that I'm excited for like: Beyond Good and Evil 2, Trials: Rising, Skull & Bones, and Transference VR. Beyond Good and Evil has an excellent reputation and I'm really hyped for this sequel. Trials reminds me of the old Tony Hawk games but done on a racing bike. It seems mindless and fun, so I might give this title a shot. Skull & Bones should need no explanation. It's naval ship strategy and includes pirates, therefore, I'm in! Transference VR looks interesting in concept since the point is to escape a broken mind. As a first person psychological thriller and exploration game, I'm genuinely intrigued and terrified of this game.

Make sure you stop by the Ubisoft booth to get a first look at Assassin's Creed Odyssey! #UbiE3 #E32018 pic.twitter.com/JYxanolesL

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) June 13, 2018

Outside of those titles, Ubisoft announced a few other games that gamers are thrilled to see. Games like like Just Dance 2019, an updated Division 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Starlink, and The Crew 2 have fanbases that will gobble these titles up.

The two most interesting titles out of the whole lineup are For Honor's changes and Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Both titles have caused quite the ruckus on social media as of late. In the case of For Honor, I felt it was clunky and not what I wanted out of the game. However, with the new updates , it might be more appealing to me now. Assassins Creed: Odyssey was announced last in the lineup. The game is set in Greece and features both male and female protagonists. It will also have new dialogue options unlike previous games in the franchise. It seems to me that the company is diversifying its universe. Assassins Creed: Odyssey comes out on October 5th.

PC Gaming show

The PC gaming show is the heaviest list in today's article, so I'll attempt to keep things brief.

I personally am excited to see what happens with Satisfactory and I've already signed up for the newsletter (which can be done on their website). Another is Star Control Origins which reminds me of Endless Space or Stars! - if you want to go back much further in video gaming history. The Forgotten City looks like an interesting concept where if one person commits a sin, everyone dies. I don't know how that is going to turn out but I'm intrigued.

As we should know by now, I'm a fan of mysteries. I am on board for a new title called The Sinking City which is a lovecraftian mystery game. That said, these guys did The Devil's Daughter which has earned this game a negative initial response. Despite that fact, I'm willing to give The Sinking City a shot before jumping to conclusions.(PY: I've been waiting on this since it's original reveal. The only issue with the long wait was because they had to finish their Sherlock game first!)

Attention Citizens!

If you are attending #E32018 , keep an eye out for a couple of wanted Innsmouthers! They were sighted near #TheSinkingCity booth! Those who have courage to encounter Deep Ones and submit a proof of their deed will have a chance to get a reward! pic.twitter.com/nlUVwrX7yt

— The Sinking City (@thesinkingcity) June 13, 2018

Ooblets, a game by Double Fine Productions, is inspired by Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley. It's a cute looking game that I might try out. The graphics style is different than what I expected but it definitely has its appeal. It almost looks like a pseudo 3D version of Stardew which fascinates me. This title has my attention.

Jurassic World: Evolution was announced during the conference and many Twitch gamers have jumped in. Players get to create safe habitats for various dinosaurs. The dig sites that are used in the game are based on legitimate real world sites. Essentially, it's a city builder but with dinosaurs, and I have to say that Jurassic World: Evolution also has my attention.

Star Citizen received an announcement about its ongoing developments. This game is the only one to receive the highest amount of kickstarted money in the history of the platform. Not only does that set a supremely high bar, it also means release of the game will take much longer than expected. There is no official release date on the mammoth project, but E3 showcased the alpha version 3.2 for fans to ogle over. We'll see what the future holds for this title, but so far its development progression is impressive.

Three new Battle Royale games were announced and as we know, I'm not a huge fan of these games. They include the titles: Maverick's Proving Grounds, Rapture Rejects, and Realm Royale. Of the three, one of them caught my attention because of Cyanide and Happiness. I'm definitely going to play Rapture Rejects because I enjoy the idea that only the bad people have to face off in this last man standing style of game. Plus, I have always enjoyed the comics and the art style.

The conclusion of The Walking Dead series will finally release later on this year. The popular series will put a lid on the repercussions of the citizens' actions. Clem has to cope with years of fighting off zombies as well as be able to take care of AJ. Frankly, it's not a game I'm particularly interested in, but it's nice that the developers are concluding the series for the fans in a proper manner. Sometimes games get killed off without a solid ending, so hopefully fans will enjoy this last instalment.

Hitman 2 will be releasing this year as well. Your mission is to eliminate some highly competitive racers at a Miami track. The graphics are fantastic and has a lot of options in terms of fulfilling the contract. If you preorder the game, a special mode becomes available called Sniper Assassin.

Another title called Two Point Hospital will release later this year. It is a game that looks well polished and intriguing in principle, but I won't touch it. In this game, players will get to manage every aspect of a hospital. They will research cures and deal with patients ailments. If any player was interested in a game like that, then this would be the title to play!

Finally, let's talk about the Warframe DLC titled The Sacrifice. This game is a free to play grind-fest shooter which has a certain appeal, but has frustrated me all to hell. It's a long story as to why I don't play Warframe anymore, but suffice it to say the cons outweigh the pros in my case. Many streamers are excited for its release (which came out a couple of days ago) and I don't blame them. Once the developers started to focus on the story in The Second Dream, fans became more interested in the game. And as much as I want to know what happened after The Second Dream story line, I won't be joining the Tenno ranks in Warframe: The Sacrifice.

Unfortunately, there were too many titles included during the PC gaming conference that I decided to omit for brevity reasons. The whole conference is linked below. Unfortunately, I could not find a public list for each conference.

Sony Conference

Sony was a much smaller conference but announced some bonkers titles. For example, we received trailers for Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 2, Nioh 2. (PY: YEAH! Nioh 2. The first was fantastic. If you don't believe me... Alpha, Beta, Last Chance Trial, Review)

Ghost of Tsushima look amazing and reminds me a little of both Tomb Raider and Assassins Creed game styles. It's beautiful and I want it. We shall see what happens with this one.

Resident Evil 2 didn't even look like an RE title at first. I actually thought we were getting Ratatouille the game, but alas, I was mistaken. If it were Ratatouille, I would totally be onboard! Since it's not, I'm definitely not going to play this title. It's a horror game. I don't do horror. Those of you that do play RE games will be glad to know that this is set to launch January 25th, 2019.

They mentioned a couple of different games like Spiderman, Days Gone, Twin Mirror, Ghost Giant VR, and Beat Saber VR – which I've heard is quite fun. Another title which is very science fiction and  inception styled game is titled Control will release in 2019.

Most people were super excited for more Death Stranding information, as much as it still warped people's minds. I have a theory about it. In the trailer, we are told a couple of interesting lines like "I make deliveries. That's all." and it makes us wonder if this takes place in the land of the dead. There is one screenshot where the package that Norman Reedus is carrying looks like a body bag.

Furthermore, there are lines like, "Give me your hand in life" and "give me your hand in spirit", which leads to the idea that this character is capable of holding those particular hands – like a god or something equivalent. During the course of the trailer, Norman Reedus 'dies' but yet is reborn as a baby. The only time that could be true is either a) if they are stuck in Limbo or b) believe in life after death.

Often when various religious groups examine what it means to die, many speculate that there is a gatekeeper that assesses what kind of life will be led in the afterlife. Also, many believe that there are trials to complete before being taken to a gatekeeper. Because of those things, I concluded that the game could take place in a limbo plane of existence. And while this is all speculation on my part, I would love to know what others think about the full length trailer of Death Stranding.

And finally, the title everyone was waiting for, The Last of Us 2. I'm saving this for last because I want to say something about it.

Some of you may have read my content when I wrote for another website. On there, I published an opinion piece about video game violence in relation to The Last of Us 2 and Detroit: Become Human. My thoughts revolved around the trailers shown at the time, which reflected polarizing opinions about the two games. Detroit looks like a game that I would play because it forces players to think and to feel about decisions – tough decisions – and the trailer did enough to showcase that different things will occur based on a players choice.

By contrast, The Last of Us 2's teaser trailer immediately turned me away from the series. For context, I did not play the first game. However after that brutal teaser trailer, many games websites were upset. It showed very little and explained even less about the game. I knew at the time that the video was tailored for the already invested fans. And at E3, with a full length trailer, I was beginning to like the new approach but still found myself uninterested in the end. I'm sure that hardcore fans of the series will be quite pleased with the direction of the title, but it isn't meant for people like me.

Final Thoughts

I'm most excited for a few titles from the PC Gaming conference and definitely hyped for Square Enix because of Tomb Raider. I'm also intrigued by some of the new IP's like The Sinking City. And as with most people, I'm still curious to see what comes out of Hideo Kojima in Death Stranding. My theory could be totally off base, after all.

Out of Square Enix, Ubisoft, PC, and Sony, what titles are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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She's a Killer Queen, Gunpowder, gelatin Dynamite with a laser beam! Killer Queen Black to be released - News

You've got to love a good multiplayer versus where you can look your opponents in the eye as you sit on the couch in front of them watching them sweat as they try to take you on! With Smash coming out in November, the release of Killer Queen Black in the new year will be enough to make you leave the cuddly cast of Nintendo characters for something a little different as you'll need the break from losing for the umpteenth time! Or maybe that's just me...

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Killer Queen Black Buzzes onto Nintendo Switch, PC Q1 2019

Arcade Phenomenon Playable at Home for the First Time

  CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – June 12, 2018 – Killer Queen Black, the strategic eight-player arcade action platformer from Liquid Bit and BumbleBear Games, buzzes onto Nintendo Switch and PC this winter, marking the first time players can take the fun home.

After millions of play sessions upon its explosion onto the arcade scene in 2013, Killer Queen is back in black with a new Glam Rock-inspired 16-bit pixel art-style and similarly-themed '80s metal tunes. BumbleBear's Nik Mikros and Joshua DeBonis, the original creators of Killer Queen, have fine-tuned the experience with new mechanics suited for home play. Up to eight players split off onto blue and gold teams ready to fight for their hive.

One player on each side takes on the role of the Queen, and the others play as drones. Cunning reflexes and keen tactical planning are the key to reigning supreme over opponents. Each team's Queen starts armed with a stinger to defend herself and attack the contending team. Be wary when controlling her, as her dangerous attacks and heightened agility come with the trade-off of limited lives.

Drones are the best units for the job when it comes to completing non-violent, game-winning objectives. Though drones begin unarmed, they don't have to remain defenseless for long. Gates on the map empower drones in exchange for berries, transforming them into warriors with flight capabilities. Depending on which gate the drone enters, they gain powerful upgrades such as speed boosts and new weapons, including maces, lances, swords, shields, and laser rifles. But bee careful, as the Queen simply needs to fly over these gates to claim them for her team.

Three types of victory and a sky-scraping skill ceiling mean each match offers near-infinite permutations to persevere and complications to conquer. Economic Victories require drones to scoop up berries on the battlefield and bring them back to their base faster than the other team. Snail Victories involve slowly riding the snail on the bottom of the screen into a goal post, hoping that other team members ward enemies away. To earn a Military Victory, the adversary's Queen has to be slain three times, making warriors highly sought-after.

Killer Queen Black has four game types: Quick Matches for those eager to leap into the fray, Ranked for those who want to rise to the top, Custom games with adjustable rule sets, and Arena. Arena requires a ticket to enter, earned through victory or purchased via in-game currency, and tasks players with going for victory streaks that earn awesome rewards. A notch is added to players' swords for every victory, and reaching 100 earns them a fancy sword to brag about. Liquid Bit plans to continue supporting the game with additional maps post-release.

At any given time, there is one single "Black" team. Any team that defeats the Black team dethrones them and becomes the Black team themselves. Liquid Bit hopes to broadcast these fierce competitions and encourage the Black team to remain a constantly-shifting, coveted position.

"As lifelong arcade-goers, the phenomena that Killer Queen has become has been incredible to experience," said Matt Tesch, co-founder of Liquid Bit. "Bringing the game to Nintendo Switch and PC is surreal and we're eagerly anticipating watching new competitors battle for the Black team."

Killer Queen Black will bee available digitally Q1 2019 in English.

To learn more, please visit the game's official site, or follow the game on Twitter.


Article by Pierre-Yves

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Memorable Music in Gaming #35

It's been awhile since we had a Memorable Music article, but my recent stint with the Sega Genesis Classics title has stuck some favorite tunes of mine into my head in recent days. So, I am going to pull down some songs from a variety of different games over the next several Memorable Music articles.

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The Forgotten City... how do you forget something that big? - News

There were some interesting reveals during E3 this year like this one, The Forgotten City, which was showcased during the PC Gaming Show. Coming out next year, which is now about six months away... hope you're ready for Christmas, this once mod is now coming to you as a full fledged stand alone title. Re-designed from the ground up, there will be more than enough reasons for old and new fans alike to explore the city in order to uncover its secrets.

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Unearth the Secrets of The Forgotten City on PC 2019

MELBOURNE – June 11, 2018 – As announced by PC Gamer during its press conference today at E3, The Forgotten City, a time travel murder mystery from Modern Storyteller, will invite players on an epic mythological adventure on PC in 2019.

A re-imagining of the award-winning, critically acclaimed mod played by more than 1.6 million gamers, The Forgotten City will retain all the elements that made the original beloved while improving every aspect and adding plenty of surprises for gamers who enjoyed the mod. The Forgotten City will feature a new city brought to life in Unreal Engine, redesigned characters and dialogue, original lore, fresh twists and endings, added combat and wall-climbing mechanics, an all-new orchestral score, professional voice acting and motion capture animations.

Deep underground in an ancient Roman city, twenty-six trapped explorers lay dead because one of them broke a mysterious law. Within, a portal leads back into the past, allowing one person to change their fate – or witness their deaths in a time loop for eternity.

Fortunately, hope remains. The Forgotten City offers incredible freedom, inviting players to manipulate the timeline, Groundhog Day-style, so events play out differently. Talking with diverse characters, making tough choices in moral dilemmas, and thinking laterally can unlock vastly different endings.

Understanding the residents' motivations and prejudices are key to escaping this purgatory. Social and economic inequality, moral relativism, fascism, extremism, and the psychosocial effects of mass surveillance are among the issues that influence the city's fate. Save the people of The Forgotten City by getting to know them and helping them help themselves – or sacrifice them to save yourself. It's all up to you.

"When designing The Forgotten City, I wanted to respect players' intelligence and grant them autonomy in solving the mystery," said Nick Pearce, writer and creative director, Modern Storyteller. "Mind-bending time loops, fully realized NPCs with interwoven lives, and themes rarely touched by games set The Forgotten City apart from other narrative adventures."

The Forgotten City will be available in English for $19.99. Localized subtitles and text will be available for additional languages.

For more information, please explore Modern Storyteller's official site, visit The Forgotten City's Steam page or follow Modern Storyteller on Facebook and Twitter.


Article by Pierre-Yves

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BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle - PS4 Review

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is one of those 'kitchen sink' types of fighting games where they seem to throw in just about everything. Arc System Works is clearly a team that is at its best when making fast-paced, anime-inspired fighting games and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle fits comfortably into that space. The end result is a polished if predictable effort that provides some fun fan service by pulling favorite characters together from a variety of popular franchises.

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Azure Reflections - PS4 Review

The Touhou series of games can probably be summed up as the most colorful death you will ever experience in a game. Taking a bit of a change from the standard top-down danmaku/bullet hell/schmup, we get the side-scrolling fan game spin-off Touhou: Azure Reflections. Following the Touhou standard while still imparting it’s own charm, Azure Reflections is probably one of the best Touhou games for newer players to ease into, not to say it’s particularly easy on harder difficulties, but it certainly is more accessible.

The Touhou series of games, including their fan game spin-offs, have always been a bit of a personal favorite for me, not that I’m particularly great at them, but I certainly enjoyed them enough. Azure Reflections is a sort of retake on The Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil, an official Touhou title that was, incidentally, the first one I ever played. A red mist covers the land of Gensokyō, and it falls to the local shrine maiden and resident problem solver, Reimu, to solve the issue. And yes, that’s pretty much the description for both games. In Azure Reflections, both Marisa Kirisame (the ordinary average magician) and Cirno (the super last boss ice-fairy) can also participate in the resolution of this incident.

If you haven’t played a Touhou style game before, first let me say that they’re usually pretty difficult. Essentially, you will have an auto-scroller through a stage where you have to evade a seriously massive amount of bullets, and then you reach a boss, and have to dodge even more bullets. Thankfully, your hitbox is rather small, and you can change the settings to have it visible while playing, or just while slowly moving.

In traditional Touhou fashion, you have bombs that can clear bullets/enemies and damage bosses, and different shot types you can choose when starting a game. New for this particular instance, we have the side-scrolling mechanics of being able to shoot both forward and backwards. Additionally, you can now use a barrier-charge move, where you can activate a barrier to absorb bullets, and then use that absorbed power to do a dash attack at your foes.

Your barrier recharges naturally over time, although it will charge faster when performing grazes, which are basically getting close enough to the bullets that you can’t believe you didn’t get hit. While you can still power up your shot type with P items, they now hold a new purpose. By expending a portion of your P items, you can remove some of the bullets in the vicinity around you. Another change is that you aren’t instantly shot down upon getting hit. Instead, you get stunned for a bit, and another shot will bring you down if hit while stunned, essentially making you a two hit point wonder instead of one.

As is common in Touhou games, whether fan spin-off or not, the music is really great, as pretty much all of the soundtrack is remixed from the original Scarlet Devil soundtrack, and they were done really well. The graphics are nice and crisp compared to the old-school style, and the anime-style character portraits for the interactions were well drawn and had a lot more variation than I was expecting.

Speaking of the character interactions, I’m pleased to say that the often comedic banter that doesn’t really take much seriously is still an integral part of the game. Including accessories that you can purchase with in-game funds in order to adjust your character’s appearance or provide beneficial bonuses was a really interesting idea, meaning that you could purchase accessories that would increase your graze distance, reduce your stun time, or enhance or slow down movement speed. Or you could go the fashion route instead.

With a really stellar tutorial for introducing new players to the Touthou system, and veteran players to the new quirks, Azure Reflections is really easy to step into. While a lot of the game is unlockable through completing the story and capturing opponent spellcards (which is more or less a sort of  “challenge mode” during boss fights), neither are particularly difficult to do with a bit of practice, at least on normal difficulty, and there are always the harder difficulties with their own rewards for more seasoned players or those looking for a challenge.

Overall, Touhou Azure Reflections is a really great spin-off with its own fresh gimmicks and playstyles, with enough of a challenge for veteran players, while easy enough for new players to get into. With a solid soundtrack and interesting characters, a great beginner tutorial and some nice variation with accessories, Azure Reflections is a fine game if you’re looking for more Touhou in your gaming diet, or if you’ve been interested in getting into the bullet hell type games but have never known where to start.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Unties Games
Publisher(s):
Souvenir Circ.
Genre(s):
Side-scrolling
Bullethell
Shoot 'Em Up
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Sega Genesis Classics - PS4 Review

This is a fantastic collection of video games that tickled my sense of nostalgia as an older gamer. Additionally however, this Sega Genesis Classics release also provides an excellent window into gaming's 16-bit era for those who are a bit too young to have experienced that era for themselves. No collection satisfies everyone completely, and there are some curious omissions in this title as well, but some of the greatest video games of that era are faithfully represented and put into a single package that makes revisiting these classics a fun and convenient trip down memory lane.

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Towards the Pantheon - PC Review

Sunday Bites. Quick, easy, to the point and just enough to tease you into your first Monday gaming review. Having first looked at Towards the Pantheon though it’s prequel story Escaping Eternity as a Sunday Bite, I already wanted to know more. Now having had more and the time to think about it? Here’s is the full release and one of my Game of the Year contenders.

It’s no secret that I hold Indie titles of this grade in high regard. While game developers come in all “shapes and sizes”, the bigger they get, the more that can often get lost along the way. Smaller developers such as Connor have to put in a lot more effort to get moving as often they don’t have a very big team, or in certain cases of other titles that we’ve covered, a team at all. Having constructed everything from the ground up, the attention to detail as well as the crafting of the experience is clear to see.

Towards the Pantheon is the adventure of four individuals who meet by happenstance. Sound a bit familiar? In a lot of cases it would be however the setup political climate puts the odds completely against them coming together. Sent off from her village to seek out aid for her coming adventure, the mute warrior Freya heads to the snowy lands in order to find Bam the Cat.

Once together though they set off towards the pantheon in order to put a stop to the tyranny of The Sworn Light. It’s at this point that the adventure really starts to show its true colors. I mean that statement both literally and figuratively. The color pallets for the environments are amazing to walk through. Each area is designed to carry its own look and feel as you travel through bright and colored forests or the dead wastelands of the undead. While you’re doing either of those treks however there’s having to deal with the monsters in between which can game over you faster than you would think.

Towards the Pantheon can be hard, and in certain cases because of stunning, unfairly so. I got to see the wonderful game over screen multiple times before acquiring the other two members of my party because of stun effects. Moving on however, short of being stunned, the battle system is designed very well. Each of your four characters are unique and use abilities that are only available to them as to never have any crossover making one character redundant or unless to another.

Freyja is basically a badass Valkyrie with sword, axe and bow acting as the party’s tank. Bam is the healer and while he is pretty useless physically, his various healing abilities more than make up for it. That said, unlike Freyja who uses SP that accumulate per turn to use her more powerful abilities, Bam has to take a nap in order to restore his. Adding in Mishima the Electropunk, basically humans gone cyborg, all of her abilities use her CPU (HP) and her GPU in order to deal massive damage to multiple enemies at a time. Because her abilities use both, she’s essentially a glass cannon that has to restore herself often taking her out of the fight as her GPU restores itself with self applied maintenance protocols. 

This leaves the last of the group Phenez who took his sweet ass time making into the adventure, but makes it right when he would be needed. Phenez is the protagonist of Escaping Eternity that gave up his life in order to become a ghost and travel back in order to make right the wrongs for a better future. This warrior who traveled through a hellish and horrifying environment is back and uses his own health in order to deal severe damage to single targets. What I loved the most was that even with one hit point left he could use the most powerful of his abilities as he was going to drop anyways. It truly showed his resolve after the horrors he went through… which are also back. Connor I don’t do horror games and you scared the shit out of me again!

Escaping Eternity was a puzzle horror show. The music, the graphics, the jump scares. It had it and it had it well. Well it’s back to the overall experience and damn is it good at it. It isn’t simply an add-on either, it fits in with the overall story and I truly appreciated Phenez’ remark of “not this place again”. Within this place specially, but also the rest of the world, you see the other strengths of the characters. Freyja is strong and can push things but she’s also the only one that can climb up ladders. Bam is small and can fit into tighter spaces in order to move forward. Mishima because she swapped her arm for a freaking plasma cannon, can hack electronic doors. Phenez being a ghost, can simply pass on by undetected to those standing guard. The abilities of each are needed to make it through and if you forget it at any point, you won’t be going far.

With the visuals, the gameplay and the narrative elements in place, the music was able to shine all that much brighter. Towards the Pantheon didn’t just have tracks made for cities and the various fields, it also had various battle musics for these areas and sometimes being just enough to add a forbidding ambiance to your party’s adventure. This is noticeable early enough on when Freyja first hits a cave with Bam and the music instead of hitting a whole other tune like it did on the field, takes just that much more of a tempo to stay inline with the muted colors and the darker visibility of the cave. The best of all the above though reins in the very last fight of the game that had me move up in my seat to finally drive evil home!

Both Towards the Pantheon: Escaping Eternity and Towards the Pantheon are a must for any RPG fan or lover. The characters, the music, the artstyle, itt has it all and it does it very well. The only reason it’s not getting perfect marks is that it froze once or twice in bad spots like me turning the final boss into a cow and because of how many times I died because of being stunned. But that’s it. Watch out for those and everything else is golden!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Connor O.R.T. Linning
Publisher(s):
Connor O.R.T. Linning
Genre(s):
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Jaggy's Corner! - Sunday June 10

Steam released a blog post about their new direction with respect to its store. Let's break down the post.

Note from Editor: No links in this opinion have been embedded so you know exactly where the below mentioned URLs are taking you.
 

New Policy

June 6th marked the day where Steam addressed what games will be allowed on their platform. You can check it out here https://store.steampowered.com/news/?feed=steam_blog but I'll summarize some of what is said and reflect upon it. Let's face it, the post brings up many questions and concerns.

Pros

• Allows freedom for game developers to launch their games without a long Greenlight process
• Let's users curate their own game choices by using various tools (for example: the 'not interested' button)
• Steam gets to negate or avoid potential legal battles with game developers by opening the floodgates
• Steam employees will have more time to develop better tools to help developers and users make gaming decisions

Cons

• Possibility of young people seeing content not suitable for their age/maturity level
• Could destroy jobs at Steam because there are less jobs required for curation
• Incomplete games could be released on the platform
• Possibility of the Greenlight system collapsing (because that was the primary way that indie devs created presence for their games)
• Clear lines need to be drawn on what games will be deemed illegal and/or trolling

In the above post, Steam acknowledged that legality is difficult to determine and decided that it wasn't their job to curate games. As a result, there are two camps regarding Steams' new open arms policy.

Either gamers want the freedom to access any game on the market or they are extremely salty.

Many gamers jumped into the ring, arguing for access to pornographic games, however, many are forgetting that those aren't the only types of game that will now be permitted. So long as a game isn't deemed illegal or trolling, many titles will launch on Steam like games that cover controversial topics such as politics, sexuality, gender, and racism. These will get a free pass. What's worse than that is games that don't even fall under the definition of a game can also be released. How about terribly done asset flippers? Apparently, the general populous of gamers don't care about any of that. They only care about, and are excited for, sexually explicit games - as if they couldn't find these games in other places.

That says a lot, doesn't it?

Question about Steam

One could argue that Steam has never been great with its curation or direction. Steam reviews still end up being heaping piles of garbage, making consumers wonder whether or not this new direction will force game review to be more integral in buying decisions.  

I get it. Curation on Steam, through their needlessly borked Greenlight system, has been spotty at best. As a result, I have a ton of questions like:

• What will happen to your Greenlight system?
• Are these games still going to be curated if Greenlight continues to exist?
• What happens with badly ported games? Do we rely on that two hour refund policy and hope Steam honors their own agreement?
• With respect to adult games, how will they be regulated so that young viewers aren't exposed to the content without proper parental consent?
• Why couldn't you launch a new platform specifically designed for more mature titles?
• Will Steam continue with the date of birth feature as adequate protection or will there be better ways to protect our families?
• Will the controversial content be hidden in any way?
• Will the controversial content be featured on the front page?
• What 'tools' are you talking about in your blog post? Wouldn't you release those tools before opening the floodgates?
• Will games like Conan Exiles be re-classified? How about Hunie Pop or the Sakura Games?
• Will you release adult content games with a filter like you have in the past?
• How will you determine 'illegal or trolling' content? Are we talking about murder and prostitution? Do most games suddenly fear getting the boot? (Oh wait.. we aren't curating anymore...)
• What do you constitute as trolling? Do you mean parody games like some of the presidential games offered on Steam?
• What will you do about hate speech content?
• What will Steam do about games being review bombed for any game that gets released on the platform? 

Legalities

In the passage below, I have a ton of other questions like, who's definition of 'illegal' are you going by? Because yes, each place in the world has socially acceptable behaviors that other places deem illegal. For example, did you know that rape is legal in some countries? How about the places where women or gender fluid persons have no legal rights? Did you know that people in the Netherlands tend to be racist? (I'm not saying everyone in the country is racist, I'm simply saying that it is a well known issue.)

The reason why laws are broad is because law is not meant to be black and white! Having gone to school for law, I can tell you that legal decisions are challenging due to a variety of factors (no matter what type of law we look at). The fact that law is not a cut and dry system is actually a good thing. And while I'd love to give examples, I won't because of time constraints and confidentiality.

"What's considered acceptable discussion / behavior / imagery varies significantly around the world, socially and legally. Even when we pick a single country or state, the legal definitions around these topics can be too broad or vague to allow us to avoid making subjective and interpretive decisions. The harsh reality of this space, that lies at the root of our dilemma, is that there is absolutely no way we can navigate it without making some of our players really mad." 

Trolling Content

Now that we dealt with the illegal question, what do you deem to be trolling content?

I ask that question because I'm a Twitch chat moderator. After years of doing this, I've had several discussions with other moderators about what should be timed out and what shouldn't. One of the channels that I used to moderate for had a ton of people trolling in chat. Myself and one of the other moderators deemed the comments to be hindering the chat experience, so we timed it out. Later we were chewed out by the streamer because of our actions. This situation presented a couple of interesting questions like what do people consider to be trolling? And when does trolling become an issue? How can you viably determine what trolling is without some kind of guideline? Does Steam even have a game plan for determining that?

Personally, I'm having an extremely hard time thinking about what Steam does from here without running into much more backlash. So far, the blog post isn't reassuring.

LGBT Content

Through a friend, I was informed that while Steam has opted to allow any kind of content, they have also restricted access to others. As labeled above, I'm referring to the LGBT content on Steam. When I looked up the tag for LGBT content, I found two pages worth of games. However, none of the games have the LGBT tag which used to be available. That's right, Steam has decided to censor its content anyways. So, they'll let anything get on their platform but will hide it. No. They aren't curating content at all... They said it in the blog post, therefore it must be true.

The first result in my search is disturbingly this title: https://store.steampowered.com/app/874100/LGBT_BATTLEGROUNDS/

It's appalling that they are allowing a battle royale game with all gay characters because the whole purpose of a battle royale game is to be the last one standing. In effect, this game is telling players they have to kill all other gays to win. WTF STEAM?! Who decided this was acceptable? Even still, who made this decision prior to the new policy? What kind of curation did you have before that would allow such a game? ARGH!

Oh, but don't worry fellow gamers, Steam has other LGBT content available! Let's take a look at the other titles shall we? How about 'Your Royal Gayness'... I'm skeptical about it but I take a look at the store page anyways. And instead of giving you an impression without playing the title, I'll leave you with one reviewers comments. I quite literally don't have words.

"MARRIAGE/ROMANCE - I HATED the 'are you acting straight enough' meter. It was gross. I don't know why not a single person on the development team went 'maybe this perpetuates stereotypes/might hurt people who face this very real fear of getting disowned/beaten/killed if they don't act straight enough.' And there was no romance at all. Like, one prince showed up, but I couldn't impress him because I didn't have enough Nerve."

You can't see me, but I'm making an angry face.

What Now?

Assuming our readers don't want to give more money to a platform that no longer curates their content, here is a list of other platforms where games can be purchased or played on:

• GOG https://www.gog.com/
• G2G https://www.g2g.com/
• Origin https://www.origin.com/can/en-us/store
• Uplay  https://uplay.ubi.com/
• Utomik https://www.utomik.com/ (Streaming platform)

Keep in mind that the above options have pros and cons. Origin is a platform developed by EA. Uplay is developed by Ubisoft. Both of them have questionable reputations, but I'm not here to tell you what to do. These are simply alternative platforms to Steam.

Gamers can also buy directly from the developer websites. If there are indie developers you want to support, some use Kickstarter. Again, do some research before backing an undeveloped project. This has also had dicey results.

Another option is to attend gaming events where players can interact directly with indie developers. Sometimes they have free codes to give out.

There is one more site I can think of which provides a different sale on a game each day and that is https://chrono.gg

If you are looking specifically for LGBT friendly games, here are a couple of useful links:

• https://store.steampowered.com/curator/12023660-LGBT-Games/  
• https://itch.io/games/tag-lgbt

The power is in your hands. If you no longer wish to support Steam, then find other ways to support your favorite developers. If you decide to remain on the platform, know the risks. Watch Let's Players or Twitch Streams to get an indication before purchasing a game. Consider reading various reviews from respected sources. The information is out there. Use it to your advantage.

Final Thoughts

Steam's official blog post does paint a terrible picture, in my opinion. Those who have used the platform for long periods of time have been burned before. And the fact that Steam is going to place the onus on the consumer to cover their own assess does not mean that Steam, as the largest game distribution center, gets to absolve themselves of consumer responsibility.

I understand that there is a lot of pressure to do right by all parties, but I honestly doubt this was the right way of going about it. While I'm all for freedom of choice, I don't think that opening the floodgates is best for consumer retention. By allowing a free reign system, Steam gives the impression that it doesn't matter how poor a game is, intent is to make more money.

Steam would have been better suited revising their greenlight system in a more favorable way to game developers without doing a disservice to the consumer. Furthermore, they could have designed a similar platform specifically for mature content. Those two ideas would have gained the industry's respect and would have maintained Steams' integrity.

At first glance, it seems that Steam is looking for an easy way out from making difficult decisions. They are sick and tired of battling game developers and consumers on what games should be allowed. And, instead of setting certain standards, they are effectively allowing users to become the scapegoats.

Don't just take my word for it. Jim Sterling released a video where he rants about the decision. Parents take note, he doesn't hold back. Check that out

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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