Feb
19
2018
February 19th, 2018 by Vega Montanez

PSVR gets a discount, Persona 5 gets an App, & THQ gets, well, everything else.

We are 8 weeks into 2018 and the slow news weeks are starting to happen. That can only mean one thing; E3 approaches! Tickets went live last week and I don’t really know how many have been sold but it’s that time. I couldn’t let you guys down though so I had to dig real deep. And dig deep I did, here are the reasons you should feel like a Lucky Gamer this week:

1. No Hearthstone on Switch.

Straight to the point. Despite numerous ambiguous teases and tweets from Blizzard that may have felt promising, the game’s designer Dean Ayala has provided a firm “no”. It’s weird because Hearthstone is such a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch as a platform. The only speculation I could make at this time is that they don’t feel confident with the online infrastructure of the Nintendo Switch. Even that doesn’t entirely make sense for me because Splatoon 2 plays great. Maybe there are things about video game you can never understand from just playing. What are the odds?

2. No Hearthstone but at least you get De Blob.

One of the most amazing 3D platfomers of the last consoles generation is getting remastered for Nintendo Switch. De Blob, originally released back in 2008, will be coming to the Switch at some point in 2018 as tweeted by THQ Nordic. Last year we saw the release of the remaster on PS4 & Xbox one with the sequel coming sometimes this year. De Blob is one of those fun games that can serve as a cool party experiences to introduce new people to gaming. Given Nintendo’s recent track of cool additions to games, it will be really exciting to see what kind of bonus features De Blob will get. Maybe we’ll be able to dress up De Blob as Pikachu or link.

3. It’s the return of the purple dragon!

If someone would have told me that Skylander’s was not going to be the end of Spyro the Dragon, I would have laughed in their face. In fact I think I actually might have. So to anyone who’s face I laughed in, well I apologize. Much like I did when Crash Bandicoot made his remastered trilogy return. It turns out that was enough to push Activision and/or Sony to stop playing with our emotions and give us back our playstation mascots! That realization led us here: Spyro the Dragon Trilogy remaster is in the works and potentially coming to PS4 in Q3 of 2018. To put that in basic terms: Spyro is coming for Christmas, people! The trilogy is rumored to have the first three Spyro games remastered with brand new everything. Textures, assets, and all the other boring stuff. The real exciting news, which may come as a surprise to most, Crash and Spyro are potentially timed exclusive deals which means they may come to other platforms afterwards! This is going to be huge for two of the most iconic characters in video game history. Looks like the Gamers win again.

4. US government is against loot boxes, maybe.

It turns out it’s time for the government to get involved in video games again. It’s been a long while since the US government felt the need to step in and take stand in the video games industry. Fear not however fellow gamers, this time it appears they are on our side. At least thats what it looks like. US Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire has issued a letter to our friends over at the ESRB establishing a strong outline of concerns regarding micro transactions. More specifically regarding Loot Boxes and Loot Box Systems. Her concern is primarily surrounding “in game purchases for surprise winnings” because they may be highly addicting. This comes hot on the heals of the World Health Organization update which adds “gaming disorder” as a diagnosable mental disorder. All of this follows Hawaii’s recent proposal of bills which specifically target Loot Boxes as a form of “illegal gambling”. Now that we have reached the end of this topic, I am no longer sure who’s side these people are actually on.

5. The Devil May Cry for free occasionally.

February 27th marks the day of the beast. Actually, I’m not sure if that is true at all. Something that is completely true is that starting on February 27th Devil May Cry HD will be available for free to all PC players with a Twitch Prime Membership. With Capcom running this promotion for an undisclosed length of time, rumors floating around of a Devil May Cry 5 on the horizon are staring to feel real true. Couple the free give away with the upcoming release of Devil May Cry HD releasing on March 13th for PS4, Xbox One, and PC makes for a powerful argument. I personally had nothing against the rebooted Dante for the most recent game, but I can’t wait to go back to hanging out with cool Dante. I also really hope the rumor of a new Devil May Cry is true regardless which Dante we get. Speaking of devils and demons, did I mention that Persona 5 is getting an official Mementos App? Well, in Japan at least.

6. Missing? Who’s missing?

There is only one name in the video game industry that evokes more confusion than the question “is a hot dog a sandwich?”. That name is Hidetaka Suehiro. Actually, no it’s not.  That’s the man that evokes confusion, however the name is Swery. And there you go, your hold world just flipped thinking bout what this guy has done now. Now let’s be very clear: Swery has provided absolutely no information about this game beside the fact he’s working with Arc System Works, and it’s called “The Missing”. Also, the game will “blow your mind” when it releases late this year. On the topic of Arc System Works and missing things, the first two DLC characters for Dragon Ball FighterZ have leaked and I can’t wait to (spoiler alert) play as Broly & Bardock.

7. THQ fills their shopping cart and PSVR hopes to fill yours.

THQ Nordic heard about the Lucky Gamer Recap and said “We are going to do something to get us on that damn list twice in one day!”. You read about De Blob remastered but that’s not all. It looks like THQ Nordic might have gotten their tax returns back early because they just made a very big purchase. In a roughly 150 million dollar deal, THQ Nordic just purchased Koch Media. What does that mean? Well let me give you an idea. Koch Media is the holding company of Deep Silver (Dead Island, Metro), Volition (Saints Row), and Dambuster Studios (Homefront). Ultimately this deal really just means that the THQ we remember watching fold in 2012 is getting right back up. With no plans for restructuring any of the current business plans, it seems some great things may already be in the works. On the flip side because its tax season, and in honor of big purchases, I have to share that PSVR will be $100 off from today (technically yesterday) until March 3rd. Looks like its time to jump on one of those bad boys, hey Chet!

Let me get this straight, THQ goes Bankrupt > Gets bought by THQ > Become THQ Nordic > Deep Silver buys Saints Row > THQ Nordic buys Koch Media > Koch Media is parent company of Deep Silver > THQ now owns Saints Row again. What kind of timeline is this?




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Feb
12
2018
February 12th, 2018 by Vega Montanez

Exclusions, Announcements, & Hollywood

Wowzers, what a crazy week in the world of Gaming. Big announcements, unexpected exclusions, and to much hollywood involvement for my taste. It’s a beautiful time to be a gamer. How much luckier could you want to be? Wait, I have an answer. I want to be lucky enough to have been able to purchase a pair of Playstation Sneakers. I digress, here is the fun news for the lucky gamers:

1. Playstation (but say it in the commercial voice).

This week held a lot of surprise announcements from the house that rebuilt Sony. To start, rumors of a new Crash Bandicoot surfaced with the leak claiming a new game may be out as early as 2019. How realistic this rumor is, I don’t know. I do know that I am ridiculously excited regardless. On the less rumor more fact side of Playstation’s week, Sony announced the New Gold Wireless Headset. This new headset is the first major update to the headset since 2014 and boast a sleeker design, more comfortable headphone cushions, and dual noise canceling microphones. On top of that it still has 7.1 surround sound (and the companion app) and works with the PSVR or any other device with a standard headphone jack. And then we have the truly technological piece of news. The beta for PS4 firmware update 5.50 went live and includes a ton of amazing features. Things like Play Time Management for parental settings, two new tabs for the library, “This PS4”, showing everything currently installed on your PS4, and “PS plus”, and custom wall papers can now be installed via USB. It’s like the old PSP days, I can’t wait. Also, Babe Ruth will be a playable roster addition for MLB 18: The Show. You’re welcome.

2. Release dates, release dates, and release dates!

So many release dates! So many things to update on the calendar! Are you ready? Set? Go! A PUBG Xbox One S bundle was announced and will be released on February 20th, 2018. Pick this up and you’ll find yourself owning a 1TB White Xbox One S, PUBG, one month of Xbox Live, and one month of Xbox Game Pass Trial for $300. I thought PUBG was free, not sure anymore. Deadbolt, a new game from developer Hopoo Games, will be coming to PS4 and PS Vita on February 20th as well. Deadbolt is a stealth action hybrid game with every mission having ways to complete it that cater to any play style. The game I’m most excited about learning the release date for though is from developer Dontnod. Vampyr, the first game since Soul Reaver to be exclusively about vampires, is coming out on June 5th 2018. A little later than the planned release window but I’m just grateful the project wasn’t scrapped. And finally the PC master race will see the release of Breach, from Subset Games, the developers of FTL, on February 27th 2018. Woo that was a lot, time to start FFXV.

3. Tomb Raider & Sleeping Dogs playing in Hollywood?

Lara Croft has shown on multiple occasions, some successful and others not so much, that she is not afraid of the big screen. What’s really interesting this time around is that she’s stepping into the small public screen world. The new Tomb Raider movie will be getting an arcade game tie-in. Now ain’t that some sh*t (excuse my Swedish). A movie based on a video game is getting a video game tie-in. Someone help me understand. In the meantime, somewhere in the world Wei Shen is sitting in a room coaching Donnie Yen on how to be a Sleeping Dog. You know because Sleeping Dogs is getting its own movie adaptation that is currently in production according to Donnie himself. No director or anything in place yet, but I guess I’m down to take anything from Donnie Yen serious. I mean he’ll probably kick my ass if I don’t sooooooooooooooo.

4. Marvel gets snubbed at EVO.

I feel like the beginning of every console generation sees a ridiculous influx of racing games and fighting games. This topic is entirely enveloped in the latter. With all the fighting games that came out this year, both good and bad, and only 8 seats at the EVO table it was obvious something was going to get excluded. What wasn’t obvious, and honestly came as a bit of a surprise, was Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite being left at the door. It’s not the only interesting exclusion as King of Fighters 14 is also notably absent. The full list of tournament games is

  • Tekken 7
  • Super Smash Bros 4
  • Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
  • BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
  • Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2
  • Injustice 2
  • Super Smash Bros Melee
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ

The lineup is actually pretty consistent with what most of my friends in the gaming community are playing but still a tiny bit of a shocker. Not sure what the voting process is but that’s the lineup. The most entertaining part of the whole lineup for me though: BlazBlue technically isn’t even out yet! It literally comes out 2 months before EVO. Side note: Tomoko Hiroki, one of the producers of Dragon Ball FighterZ, said she’ll be competing at EVO so step your game up. {Editor’s Note: Two Smash Bros games? Really?}

5. Samus, don’t forget Riiiiiiiiddddggggeeeee Raaaccceeeerrrrr!

Rumors swirling around the mill say Namco Bandai is hard at work developing two games. One is significantly less surprising than the other. First we have the rumor that Ridge Racer 8 is in development. Like I said before, new console generation gets a slew of racing and fighting games. No surprise here, keep it moving. Now for the gasp inducing rumor. Namco Bandai may be developing Matroid Prime 4! The game was confirmed to be in development at E3 last year making this a very plausible and interesting rumor. With these rumors being pulled from the resume of an eager designer, it’s hard to determine how much salt to take with these. Especially because the final piece of the rumor is rather unique. We expect Metroid Prime 4 to be a Switch exclusive, but Ridge Racer 8 may exclusive as well.

6. Google it.

Google is reportedly stepping fully into the video game industry. According to sources cite by The Information, Google is hard at work developing a cloud based streaming platform. Very similar to Playstation Now, it is unclear if the new program will work through the existing Chromecast or a new Google gaming console. With the recent addition of former Xbox & Playstation executive Benedict Arnold, I mean Phil Harrison as Vice President this move seems very possible. What would Google offer remains to be the question and possibly the largest factor for the success of another service in a market not quite figure out. I’m rooting for you Google! You go out there and make Sony do better.

7. Fine, let’s address Kingdom Hearts 3.

With the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 potentially happening before the end of 2018, Disney and Square Enix have been showing very little to make it believable. This week they went big and announced the second Pixar based world in the upcoming game. The Monster’s Inc. universe is now officially part of the Kingdom Hearts universe. They showed off incredible character designed work recreation, as expected, and gave us some heartwarming time with series star Mike, Sully, and Boo. I wonder if including Monster’s Inc. will be the way that Disney addresses fan theories about around the connectivity of the entire Disney animated movie universe. Interesting, very interesting.

{I haven’t been to Dave & Buster’s in a long while but the Tomb Raider tie in may be worth a visit.}




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Oct
04
2017
October 4th, 2017 by Vega Montanez

Who would win? Nonsense resolved.

What happens when worlds collide? The timeless question that has resulted in the collaboration between many companies individual IP. In recent years, the industry has seen the release of incredible crossovers like Street Fighter X Tekken, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (which ultimately lead to Injustice), and the absurd Warriors All-Stars. However, the originator of the mash up fighting games has returned to reclaim the throne. Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite is the latest entry in a series that prides itself in taking heroes from all different games, genres, and pop culture and putting them out their comfort zones. Developed and Published by Capcom in partnership with Marvel Comics, Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite is a 2v2 tag team fighting game. Released on September 19th, 2017, MVC: Infinite is setting every sight on reclaiming the top thrown from every universe.

GRAPHICS: 1/2

The Marvel Vs Capcom series has always played very safe by keeping the visuals as close to 2D comics as possible. Much like MvC 3, MvC: Infinite does a great job of keeping the cartoon comics feel while balancing the need to live in an HD Space. Cutscenes often look like incredible CGI short films and gameplay hardly fails to keep the excitement running high. Frame rate remains constant and fluid, which is critical for a fighting game in any capacity. Overall the visual style of the series as a whole allows the game to look incredible without ever needing to look photo realistic. Impressive but nothing to parade over.

STORY: 1/2

The most exciting thing about the MvC series is also its largest set back. Attempting to combine multiple universes with their own individual power struggles is very clearly a difficult task. With such an all star cast it becomes very difficult to allow anyone cast member to be the true protagonist of the story. Even more so when the antagonist from other universes join the party. Ultimately, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite retells the story of Ultron with some added flare from the antagonist of the other universes. At no point do any of the Capcom characters feel necessary to the story. The entire cast role was played in support mode, but not really given a task to support. The story itself isn’t bad, with plot twist that include infamous characters like Thanos & Jedah, but it isn’t necessarily good. The best way to sum it up is: This wouldn’t be a good read.

AUDIO: 2/2

Sound effects galore, MvC: Infinite sounds like the absolute best Avengers movie to date. Keen attention was paid to small details like different sounds when a character falls on dirt vs when they land on steal. When playing in surround sound background noises can be heard clearly enough to make the fighting environment feel a part of something bigger. Voice acting overall is executed excellently although the lack of hyper realistic visual design often takes away from it. The soundtrack is expectedly orchestral yet still interesting enough to feel brand new. It’s hard to believe anyone has ever fired a laser gun or a hadouken, but the sound placement makes it feel like a very plausible memory.

GAMEPLAY: 1/2

As a series Marvel vs Capcom has always been known for it’s intricate 3v3 tag battle system. MvC Infinite ditches the 3rd tag partner and brings the playing field to 2v2. Outside of that the overall gameplay remains primarily the same, which only serves as a reminder that the there is a teammate missing.The inclusion of the infinity stones, which allows players to battle with specifics buffs and debuts active, is definitely a refreshing tactical addition. Unlike some of the recent fighting game releases, MvC Infinite lacks any RPG like elements which may or may not have heightened the experience. It will be very excited to see how much of an impact the vast array of costumes will have on the game in the long run.

FUN: 2/2

Despite the story not being extremely captivating, Marvel vs Capcom never stops being fun. Every fight feels refreshing. The incredible matchup opportunities presented by the current roster is amazing and that’s without considering the DLC soon to follow. The infinite mode makes for a very fun party atmosphere, where even the beginners feel welcome. If that weren’t enough to make new players feel comfortable, the game has an Auto Combo feature. When the player lands a certain amount of hits consecutively the player strings directly into a mid hit combo. It is very difficult to get anymore fun then going toe to toe with anyone in the room.

Marvel vs Capcom: Infitnie continues the legacy of being a supreme fighting game. Although there are a few struggle with writing a plotline, Capcom has show it understands how to craft the arena. Visually on the same playing field as most of its competitors with sound that feels cinematic there is very little this game has left to polish. Marvel vs Capcom is right in line with the fighting game contenders.

SCORE: 7/10

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