Video Games

Co-op battle. A science-fiction/fantasy setting. Fan hype. Endless amounts of loot.

Are we talking about BioWare’s new Anthem release, or Bungie’s anticipated sequel Destiny 2?

On the surface, these two games seem similar, but is one going to be better than the other? What should you know before making a purchase?

Franchise Similarities

First, let’s look at what the two games appear to have in common:

• Co-operative, open-world gameplay. Both games are going to feature a similar kind of co-operative, open-world gameplay. Players will have huge, interactive maps to explore, and can team up with each other to take down common enemies. For Destiny 2, this makes perfect sense—why fix what isn’t broken? But Anthem has received some criticism for almost mimicking the formula here.
• Science-fiction/fantasy aesthetics. If the games featured radically different landscapes and aesthetics, it would be easy to favor one over the other based on personal preferences. Instead, both games appear to have the same futuristic sci-fi fantasy motifs.
• Constant updates. Both developers have promised to give their users near-constant updates, including gameplay rebalances, new missions, and new items to gather.
• Practically unlimited loot and upgrades. The real secret to keeping gamers interested in a game long-term is giving them more character upgrades, items, and loot to earn—and both games appear to offer them.
• A focus on story. The trailers for both Destiny 2 and Anthem seem like the games are focusing on story, which is a welcome addition to the genre.

Anthem’s Unique Features

That being said, BioWare has some big advantages with these unique features:

• A new world. Destiny looks, in some ways, like a simple expansion to the original game. Anthem, however, offers an entirely new world to plunder—and a new system of gameplay mechanics to experiment with.
• Diving and jetpacks. Anthem also offers some new ways to explore, including sophisticated Iron Man-like jetpacks, and the ability to dive underwater. This could make the world of Anthem far more immersive and interesting.
• Loot sharing. After battling a common enemy, it appears that Anthem players have the ability to split the loot, making the game more mutually rewarding for co-opers.

Destiny 2’s Unique Features

Don’t count Destiny 2 out yet, as it has some key advantages of its own:

• DLC. One of Destiny’s best selling points is the constant introduction of new DLC, including missions, stories, and in-game items. Destiny 2 will likely follow the same model.
• Community. While Anthem’s new world is interesting, Destiny has history—and that means it has a bigger, established community of players ready to jump into the world immediately upon launch.
• Immediacy. Speaking of launch, Destiny 2’s is coming first. Destiny 2 is set to hit shelves this September, while Anthem won’t launch until late next year (if it even launches on time).

A Note on Perception

Though we do have lots of information, we’re still somewhat limited in comparing the games until they’re actually released. We only know what we’ve been shown and told, so either game may hold surprises for gamers when they release—especially if game-day bugs and server problems interfere with the experience. Only time will tell whether Destiny 2 or Anthem reigns supreme, so keep your mind open as we gather more information about each.

For the past 20 years or so, Pokémon fans have gotten used to a formula for mainstream games. A paired version would release with a handheld console, followed by a “special” version of that generation. When a new console comes out, a new generation would arrive, up to and including the 7^th generation currently anticipating its “special” version releases (UltraSun and UltraMoon) later this year.

Of course, there have been home console games, including Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo 64 on up through games on the Wii and Wii U. But there has never been a “true” Pokémon RPG on a home console—but that’s about to change.

What We Know

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of The Pokémon Company, has gone on record to state that an RPG Pokémon title is in development for the Nintendo Switch. We know that the release will not be until at least next year, as no official release date has been revealed.

We also don’t know what gameplay will be like or how it will interact with main series games. Fans were somewhat disappointed to learn that Pokémon UltraSun and UltraMoon (the latest main series titles) will be exclusively on the 3DS, rather than the Switch. However, we also know that the 3DS and Switch can communicate with each other, which may set a precedent for future interactions.

Other than those sparse introductory details, we don’t know much about what this new type of Pokémon game will hold—but we do know what we’d love to see.

What We’re Hoping For

These are just some of the features we’d love to see in a Nintendo Switch Pokémon game:

1. A “Breath of the Wild-like” UI for the switch.

The UI of Pokémon games has undergone a slow, but steady evolution, stepping up graphics, accommodating double screens, and incorporating elements like 3D, but for the most part, the interface has been the same. You’re still relying on a top-down over-world layout, the same types of menus, and similar interactive features designed with handheld players in mind. If we’re going to have a game on the Switch, it should be custom-made for the Switch. Even though it’s a “main series” Pokémon game, it should introduce some drastic changes to the typical Pokémon game’s UI. We hope the UI is similar to Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with the camera behind the protagonist, rather than the traditional top-down view.

2. Multiple device interactions.

The Nintendo Switch can communicate with the 3DS, so it should take advantage of this feature for the latest Pokémon game. Any application here could be powerful; perhaps you can walk around with your Pokémon, similar to the Pokewalker’s functionality in generation 4, or perhaps you can unlock bonus content based on Pokémon games you have loaded in your 3DS.

3. A challenge for veteran players.

Recent games in the mainstream Pokémon franchise have gotten criticism for being too easy, especially for older and veteran players. Newer games feature extended tutorials and walkthroughs, as well as shortcuts for novice players to make battling simpler. In addition, new items like the Exp share have made it possible to level up faster, with less time and less strategy necessary to improve yourself in the game. A main series title on a home console should have more difficulty options, better AI, or at least some way for experienced players to be challenged by the game, rather than waltzing their way through it.

4. Multiple regions in-game.

Fans were crazy about the second generation of Pokémon games, Gold and Silver, in part because they allowed players to complete an entirely new region of gym leaders, then travel back to the original (generation 1) region for a separate set of gym badges. However, this generation is the exception; every other generation only has one region to explore. This is mostly due to limitations in data storage—a hallmark of handheld console games. With a home console game, the potential for multiple regions could return. Could players explore a new region, then travel to past favorites like Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh? We certainly hope so.

5. Better online interactions.

This one is a given, and something Pokémon players have been anticipating for a long time. Currently, handheld players are limited in the online interactions they can have with other players, occasionally battling and trading with strangers, but not much else. A home console game could introduce a variety of new features (and more intuitive interactions overall), including co-operative modes and Pokedex sharing to unlock new content or find new Pokémon together. If Pokémon Go taught us anything, it’s that there’s real power in the Pokémon community.

Are these too much to hope for? Are we setting our sights too low? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we have UltraSun and UltraMoon to look forward to, as well as the spin-off Pokken Tournament DX on the Switch and of course, the year-old Pokémon Go. It’s a good time to be a Pokémon fan.

E3 is over, but as always, the expo has given us more than enough to get excited about—potentially for years to come. This year, E3 released 15,000 public passes, getting ground-level gamers closer than ever to the publishers they love, and you could tell the excitement in the crowd was real as fan-favorite franchises got new sequel and remake announcements (amidst hundreds of promising new titles).

So what were the top titles that got gamers’ hearts pounding this year? These are our top 10 “games of show,” in no particular order:

1. Anthem.

In what was arguably one of the most beautiful trailers of E3, BioWare’s Anthem is shown to be an open-world, co-operative experience, complete with exo-suits and a science fiction/fantasy world to melt any nerd’s heart. You’ll be able to work together and start collecting loot this October.

2. Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

Assassin’s Creed is used to getting a new game pretty much every year, but Ubisoft appears to have spent their last year off developing something different. Assassin’s Creed: Origins takes players to ancient Egypt, set before the mainstream games to explore the origins of the Assassin’s order. Don’t worry—the stealth, explore, and fight formula appears to be in full force. It’s due out this October.

3. Sea of Thieves.

Sea of Thieves seemed amazing—at last year’s E3. Rare is still working on this title, which means fan anticipation is building even higher for this swashbuckling adventure. The game promises to be a see-anything, do-anything co-operative experience that casts you and your friends as pirates. Who could ask for more? No word on an official release date yet.

4. Destiny 2.

They hype for Destiny was massive back in 2014, and thanks to a steady stream of new content, fans are still playing it—which makes Destiny 2 that much more exciting. The big additions here seem to be new maps and new gear, so we’ll see if it matches the hype this September.

5. Wolfenstein II.

The Wolfenstein series has a ton of hallmarks that fans love, including over-the-top violence, strange settings, and Nazi enemies that everyone loves to hate. If the next installment simply offers more of the same, fans will be happy—but the trailer offers far more than that. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus looks like it’s going to be more innovative, with more risks and new gameplay mechanics to give fans something fresh. Expect to pick it up this October.

6. Shadow of War.

Shadow of Mordor was probably the best Lord of the Rings game of all time, and Shadow of War, its sequel, promises to give us more of everything we loved about it—including an updated Nemesis system that gives orcs even more personality. It should be out in early October.

7. Far Cry 5.

We’d known about Far Cry 5 for more than a month before E3, but the expo showed off our first look at real gameplay footage. We’re used to seeing Far Cry series games take place in exotic locations, but Far Cry 5 appears to take place on American soil. New features include the ability to take to the skies, and to recruit companions—including a dog—for support. You can pick up Far Cry 5 at the end of February 2018.

8. God of War.

God of War is another franchise that helped redefine an era. God of War I, II, and III all received critical acclaim (though its spinoffs didn’t fare as well), and central character Kratos generated a diehard fandom. Still, it’s been more than four years since we’ve seen a God of War title, which is part of the reason the God of War reboot is so exciting. In the game, Kratos will teach his son the brutality and strange elegance of battle against mythological creatures in what looks to be beautiful graphics. It’s due out in early 2018.

9. Super Mario Odyssey.

Due out October 27, in plenty of time for the holidays, Super Mario Odyssey is the latest exciting 3D installment in a franchise that has consistently set new standards for platformers. After tinkering with gravity in Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo is now giving Super Mario a magical hat, which allows him to take control of nearby things—including enemies like Goombas, rocket ships, and even a T-rex. The trailer shows the fun-loving tone and pure innovation you’d expect from a canonical Mario game.

10. Days Gone.

Set in the Pacific northwest and with vibes reminiscent of the Last of Us, Days Gone could be the next great zombie game. The gameplay footage looks beautiful, and we’re told that an ever-changing system adds variable difficulty to the “Freakers” based on things like temperature, time of day, and location. Expect this one sometime in 2018, though no official date is set.

What’s truly impressive about E3 is that there are more titles we debated including in this list. Though there were some disappointments, 2017 holds up as an exciting year in the gaming world, and we can’t wait to get our hands on the games we listed above.

After being put off – literally for years – Atlus has finally released Persona 5, and even they’re allowing jokes about that delay. How could they not when April 2017 is a long way from Winter 2014? All kidding aside, though, don’t make any jokes about their streaming guidelines. Atlus didn’t hold onto Persona 5 all this time to permit a deluge of spoilers.

Game streaming has become a standard part of the gaming experience and while early reviewers almost always receive guidelines that limit how much they can reveal to the public via video, it’s unusual for a company to institute such rules once the game is released.

Interestingly, the rules for average gamers regarding streaming Persona 5, however, are almost identical to early reviewer rules. Is this fair – or even reasonable?

Preventing Spoilers

On the one hand, Atlus has been very clear about why they don’t want players to publish videos that reveal later game play or videos more than 90 minutes long – they want to keep this long-awaited video game under wraps for players and prevent game spoilers. They’ve even vowed to remove social media posts containing spoilers.

On the other hand, though, no one is making you watch an hour of video revealing serious gameplay; in a long form game, a single sentence of text isn’t going to kill the whole experience. After all, gaming is about the journey.

Preventing Deeper Engagement

While Atlus is busy telling users they can’t push the limits of streaming because of the risk of game spoilers, many gamers recognize that streaming – including user commentary, failures, and extraordinary feats – are part of the fun. And it’s not just the gamers; other game publishers share this perspective. Immediately following the Atlus announcement, Devolver Digital issued its own “guidelines.” The rules include “spoil it real hard” and smile while you do it.

In essence, telling gamers they can’t stream significant parts of Persona 5 or post spoilers or key plot points means that Atlus is creating a barrier to deeper engagement with their game. For something as long awaited as Persona 5, this could be a real problem. Yes, people want to play, but they also want to be part of an online community that’s loudly and actively talking about the game – and Atlus is saying no, you can’t do that.

All in all, we think Atlus is taking this all too far and too seriously, especially when they say they’ll issue account suspensions to those who don’t abide by the streaming rules. Gamers are shelling out for your long awaited product and now you’re telling them what to do with it. If Atlus wants to keep a loyal following, they need to let gamers play by their own rules.

Slated for release at the end of this year on Steam as well as DRM-free for Windows, Mac and Linux, Songbringer is a whole new world of adventure. Following in the footsteps of Zelda, yet leaving it in the dust with a trail of innovation including non-linear progression, Songbringer takes gaming to a mystical level with a touch of random chaos.

Created by Nathanael Weiss, this game generated 759 backers on Kickstarter who pledged a total of $15,063 to bring his project to life.

Before the game begins, you’ll select a 6-letter “world seed” word which generates the details of the world including the entire planet, its overworld, secrets, and even its dungeons. With the possibility of generating 308 million worlds, each level in this action RPG adventure is generated randomly so you won’t get the same adventure twice. Unless, of course, you choose to enter the same world seed over and over again, but where’s the fun in that?

You can even play against your friends (or with them in cooperation), because when you enter the same world seed codes, you’ll all be in the same world.

When you explore these worlds as accidental hero Roq Epimetheos, you just want to party and make music while you cruise across the galaxy in a ship called Songbringer. On your quest for planets devoid of galactic police, you’ll be met with demons just awakened, virus androids, and a plethora of interesting characters to contend with including an evil ancient army.

Take your teleport orb to the droidsmith to create some serious alchemy and generate a fire teleport orb. Or bring the droidsmith your microcord, poison, and a tophat and he’ll turn it into a poisonous boomerang tophat.

As you move through these weird, 16-bit worlds using your nanosword to vanquish giants in order to save the planet from their takeover, your mission is to collect ancient relics and devices in order to combine them to form powerful artifacts. Beware if you find yourself in a cave in the jungle on planet Ekzerra, though. There’s a sword inside that will jail you as well as your enemies.

Catch a sneak preview on YouTube and get an early piece of the action.

Songbringer is loaded with non-traditional weapons, space demons, psychedelic mushrooms to help you find secret areas, and even random, secret exploding walls.

Stay tuned for the release so you can start soothing monsters and opening those portals with your electric guitar.

1. Hob

In a silent, seemingly abandoned world with no text and no dialogue, Hob is a mysterious world with a somber undertone. You’ll be battling bosses, solving puzzles to move through the environment, activating hidden switches, and leaping across ledges that seem impossible. If you dare to go anywhere you shouldn’t, you’ll find secrets. Hob will be available for PC and PS4.

2. Hands of Fate 2

If you’ve ever wanted to turn your poker games into an action game, Hands of Fate 2 does just that. In a whimsical adventure, you’ll have to make some hard pressed decisions to risk your own life to save others while playing a tabletop card game. However, when it’s time to battle, the game will get serious. You can even customize your characters to be more like you – or someone you admire. Hands of Fate 2 is coming out for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

3. Perception

This game takes horror games to a new level. As a heroine named Cassie, you’re blind and have to navigate a haunted house using echolocation. But there’s one caveat – echolocation is noisy, and the ghosts who reside in the house don’t like noise. What’s more, they’re invisible and they can kill you. You’ll have to hide from them sooner than later.

4. GNOG

As the winner of both MIGF 2016 for art direction and E3 2015 for best of the mix, GNOG is perhaps one of the coolest 3D puzzle games to ever be released. It’s an immersive experience in a 3D world full of toys and monsters where you get to explore various environments to play, discover secrets and hidden stories, and solve puzzles. As you explore, you can press, pull, slide, click, grab, and rotate robot heads to uncover moving parts and puzzles. GNOG is being released for PS 4, Steam for Windows and Mac, as well as iOS.

5. Refactor

If you’re a Tetris fan you’ll probably love this game. You are a block, and your goal is to escape from a factory graveyard where defective puzzle pieces go to die.

Refactor gives you the ability to become a cube to turn on switches and bust down walls. You can even become a T-block when you want to swing around as if it’s a grappling hook. This game allows you to rearrange the rooms and alter the map.

These are the 5 best games to come out of PAX this year, so keep your eyes peeled for their release!

We have serious video game nostalgia – seriously, what was better than Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for SNES or the original Super Mario Kart? Simply put, the 90s were a good time for gaming. That’s why we were so disappointed to hear that Nintendo is discontinuing the incredibly popular NES Classic.

The final NES Classic shipments will hit stores this month and that will be the end of the run, which only lasted 6 months. Prices for the console are soaring on eBay and fans of the mini system and old school gaming are in mourning.

A Major Misstep

Not only are we upset that Nintendo is closing shop on the NES Classic, it just doesn’t make any sense. The company seems simply to have miscalculated here – they under-produced from the start and were never able to meet demand. They could have kept selling this simple console for years and continued to turn a profit. And we would all have been delighted to have those 30 preloaded, old school games on hand.

A Marketing Ploy

By discontinuing the NES Classic, Nintendo may have also made a big mistake in terms of consumer trust and loyalty. Though they now state repeatedly that the $60 console wasn’t meant to be a long-term product, customers didn’t seem to get that message at the time. Thus, an item that we all took to be a standard gaming platform is now a collector’s item. You can bet we would have treated this precious system differently if we had expected this outcome.

What Now?

Without the NES Classic, what’s our relationship with Nintendo? Nintendo wants us to pay attention to their new Switch system and that’s cool – we really dig the new portable console concept – but it’s not even remotely an equivalent. The Switch is far more expensive, requires separate game purchases, and doesn’t have any of the nostalgia factors of the NES Classic.

In many ways, the market is entirely different. People who aren’t going to buy a new console were psyched for the NES Classic, but don’t care about the Switch. In fact, it appealed to buyers who didn’t care about video games as far back as the original Wii. They’ve been out of the gaming world for years, but the NES Classic was a special treat.

Are There Alternatives?

If you couldn’t get your hands on an NES (and have no intention of shelling out hundreds on eBay), you might consider an all-in one system like Retro Freak. While you’ll still need the separate games and the system is pricier – it doesn’t have a standard distributor – you can play everything from NES games to old Game Boy cartridges on this. It doesn’t have the cache of an NES classic, but this is definitely nostalgia central.

While you’ve had your eyes trained on the Nintendo Switch, which launched earlier this year, you may have missed something even bigger: the Project Scorpio specs. Project Scorpio is the next console project out of Microsoft and shunning the Xbox label with good reason. The Xbox isn’t a hot model right now, but Project Scorpio is structured for high-powered gaming, set to outpace all competitors.

PC-Level Tech

Perhaps the most obvious advantage of Project Scorpio is that it’s less like other gaming consoles and more similar to a sturdy gaming PC. Boasting 24 GB of RAM, a 1 TB solid-state drive, and high speed graphics processing, this console is probably running a more aggressive system than your work laptop.

Huge Design Potential

Of course, the only reason to have PC-level specs is if you’re going to build games that take advantage of them – and that’s exactly what Microsoft wants to encourage with Project Scorpio.

Although Project Scorpio will still run all the Xbox One games, new releases will push the limits of gameplay, including in the realm of VR. Though Xbox lead, Phil Spencer, doesn’t necessarily love VR across the board, the gaming community is on the edge of their seats awaiting Fallout 4, a VR release for Project Scorpio. Fallout 4 is currently in development and gamers can expect a fully immersive experience unlike any other.

Your Old TV Won’t Kill The Experience

It’s enough that you’ll be shelling out for a new console when Project Scorpio hits the market, but even if you wait for a price drop after a few months, will you have to buy a 4K TV to enjoy these high-end games? Don’t worry – the Project Scorpio designers have thought this issue through, as well.

Project Scorpio features several different graphics settings, allowing you to reduce the intensity of the visuals, but more importantly the console has eliminated frame tearing. That means no more weird glitches because you have a great new console and an underpowered TV.

Overclocking Without Overclocking

If you’re not already poised to purchase a Project Scorpio console because you have a great gaming PC, for example, this may be the selling point for you: we’re talking about a system so fast that you’d basically have to overclock your computer and install extra cooling mechanisms to match this console.

The engineers built a customer cooler for the tiny Project Scorpio system, which also includes eight CPU cores set up in two clusters. Unfortunately, due to manufacturing schedules, it doesn’t include ADM’s Ryzen technology, but that doesn’t seem to be a significant barrier to performance.

Simply put, Project Scorpio is set to destroy the divide between consoles and gaming PCs and that may the biggest industry break the industry has seen in years. As for those on the gaming side, though, Project Scorpio is set to bring an immersive level of power. Enjoy – and don’t forget to sleep once it comes out.

The question of how well the new TitanFall 2 release is going to perform is one that a lot of hardcore gamers are going to be discussing for a good while. Although there will probably be differing opinions, they should still break down into a few basic responses.

There are two large, related questions, as well: How does the TitanFall 2 experience compare directly to the original TitanFall title, and how does the TitanFall 2 experience relate to other games that are currently on the market in similar genres?

The Direct Comparison

In the short time since the release of the new TitanFall, lots of people have chipped in their two cents about the differences between the two games. Many of the details revolve around the idea of unlockable content.

A big complaint about the original title was that there simply were not enough of possibilities to work for. That is there weren’t sufficient options for progression as the gameplay went on, which meant that what seemed initially extraordinary soon became familiar, with little or no path in sight to develop deeper skill sets or even more detailed storylines.

The new title doubles up with regard to many of these unlocks, as well as improving the number of options for both the Titan and the pilot under the control of the player. This includes a lot of major stuff (such as new weapons and different types of movement), and useable modifications to these categories as well.

A few of the less popular options were taken away; for example, choosing different voices for your Titan. Most likely, this was done in order to maintain the purity of the narrative throughout the storyline.

Early opinions suggest the new storyline has more emotional depth as well: It gives players a more complete experience.

Compared To Other Titles

The other valuable consideration with regard to outperforming the original title is how well the new one compares to other games currently being released. The newest Call of Duty appears to offer nearly the same theme, but gamers have enthusiastically noted that TitanFall 2 does a far better job of bringing the player into the universe: allowing options for greater mobility, and creating an immersive environment overall that modern gamers clamor for.

By the Numbers

In a few months, the question of improved performance will be settled, though early signs suggest that most gamers will agree the verdict is good. Single and multiplayer versions are available, and once the early adopters have settled into their comfort zone, the rest of the tribe will join the fold as well.

Initial price points have less to do with the overall equation than the number of people signed up and the total hours logged by gamers, so there will soon be plenty of statistics to crunch and analyze.

With each new iteration of smarter and faster technology in video games and gaming comes another breakthrough or release to delight the faithful. Currently slated for March 2017, the next generation will descend upon us in earnest … in the form of the Nintendo Switch console.

What Is the Switch?

From its first appearances and trailers, The Switch appears to be a console designed for the purpose of mobility. It hasn’t been heavily advertised yet, so don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard a lot of chatter about it.

But when it does hit, there will be a lot to get excited about, including the following 10 items, which can be loosely classified for two groups: hardcore gamers or casual newcomers to the gaming tribe.

For the Hardcore Gamer

1. Take it wherever you go.

Early indications exhibit multiple ways to enjoy the system, such as in front of a large display or in a handheld capacity.

2. Multi-player potential.

How many people can you hook up to the same network with this game? It’s not known exactly, but previews suggest lots of exciting configurations.

3. You trust Nintendo.

You’ve been with Nintendo this long, and this is the next step forward in production to add to the company’s already long and illustrious history.

4. Bigger, better, and faster.

Every new system that comes out supplies more opportunity for sensory immersion. This release is no different.

5. Modifications and add-ons will be available.

The modular setup of the new Switch system is a gamer’s dream in this case. Additional options are possible in many esoterically game-centric directions.

For the Casual Newcomer

6. Nothing like this exists.

If you haven’t been into games before, this may be the best introduction to what millions of people around the world enjoy.

7. The best games will be available.

Once all the kinks have been worked out of the prototype and test versions, every game maker is going to want to make their titles available, so new people will have the pick of “the best of the best” to check out.

8. Connecting on a social level will be easy.

Given multiplayer options, even people who haven’t known how to connect socially on gaming platforms in the past will have an easy time with Switch.

9. It’s a more active overall vibe with the Switch.

Once you see how the gameplay is configured, you’ll understand that you don’t have to play only in certain ways or at certain places. You can go mobile with your new hobby!

10. Cost should be non-prohibitive.

Early indications suggest that buying Switch won’t leave you penniless. Many systems that have this kind of a power are inaccessible to people who aren’t already part of the video game culture. This one should be a different story!