Jan
15
2018
January 15th, 2018 by Vega Montanez

Ports, Sequels, and Books!

This week in gaming was expectedly slow on the news spectrum, you know with CES happening at the same time and all, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t dig up all the coolest stuff I could find. Big news in the sports category and for anyone who happens to be a football fan and like the Patriots last week had some good news for them too. Also, the power went out at the most recognized electronics convention. Irony. That was a great tangent so here’s your recap:

1. Big buys may lead to big careers.

As we continue to move into a world where the video games industry is looked at as a thriving and optimal business, it’s exciting to see some of the big steps some major companies are making. This week’s big example, and award, goes to Twitch for purchasing the exclusive streaming rights to Overwatch for $90 million. That’s a boatload of cash. Literally, you could fill a boat with that much money. This should open a lot of doors for a lot of amazing people in the game industry. In other Overwatch news, the Overwatch league companion app was just released on the App stores for iOS and Android devices. Ball’s in your court now buddy, you ready to make this your job?

2. 2nd Generation VR is on the horizon.

Or here depending on your point of view. See what I did there? Yeah, you like that. Anyway, at CES 2018 HTC pulled out the big guns. Introducing the HTC Vive Pro and the Vive Wireless adapter. These new products in the lineup aim to improve your experience with higher resolution, frame rates, and more importantly the removal of wires. The resolution is said to be a 78% improvement over the still on-the-market HTC Vive. What’s even more impressive than that, honestly, is that the Vive Wireless Adapter will work with either model. This means if you have an existing Vive you don’t have to shell out for a brand new headset unless you really want the upgraded screen resolution. No official release date exists for either of these new devices, but HTC did say to expect the Vive Wireless Adapter by third quarter 2018. But really, who knows what that means.

3. Atari brings old stuff in new boxes to 2018.

I’m assuming someone or a group of someones decided to email Atari and the letter went something like this: “Dear Mr. or Mrs. Sir or Ma’am, I am a huge fan of both air hockey and pong. My love for both of these games is so intense that it has caused me emotional distress trying to decide between the two. Please fix my problem or I will go online and ruin you with one post. Try me. Sincerely, Someone no one would ever take a serious suggestion from if it weren’t for the current social climate and corporate toxicity. P.S. I also like pinball but only for the sound effects, so add those in as well.” So now we have Atari’s pong cabinet. I know this is supposed to be informative things about video game news, but I really don’t want to give any more attention to Pong.

4. Haven’t taken a friendly fire at anything Xbox related in a while.

No, seriously, this one is just a rib shot at my incredible comrades who love their Xbox so you can skip this if you don’t care about Halo, Dashboard updates, or Player Unknown Battle Grounds. First jab: 343 drops heavy hints that Halo 6 is not coming to a console near you this year. They did say that there will be other exciting surprises though but don’t hold your breath, we’re still waiting on Crackdown. Second jab: the latest dashboard update is actually pretty cool. It includes the addition of Do Not Disturb mode, new guide functionality, and more inactivity shutdown options. Oh wait, none of that is actually that cool. I mean if going DND is awesome. Final jab: The PUBG Xbox launch was awful, but the updates are coming in steady in hopes of making it a better world. The most recent update includes slight increases in frame rates and a number of crash-inducing issues have been addressed. Note: an undisclosed number of crashes were fixed but not all. {Editors Note: It’s fine, Halo 5 was a great shame anyway. What Xbox really needs it to resurrect Scalebound.}

5. Last generation Assassins go Rogue.

Ubisoft has decided to finally bless its fans who moved on to the new generation of consoles with a remastered version of Assassin’s Creed Rogue. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to play through a story a lot of fans might have missed due to the awkward console generation shift. If you didn’t know, Assassin’s Creed Rogue is set in 18th century North America and follows an Assassin who eventually becomes a Templar. Most reviews criticized the game for lack of story depth and direction, but I wouldn’t know because I haven’t had a chance to play it. Maybe I will though now that it’s available on my favorite console. See what happens when you keep up Ubisoft, now just bring an AC game to Switch and you win. {Editor’s Note: Black Flag/Rogue bundled together on Switch, make it happen Nintendo/Ubisoft!}

6. Another cross-franchise fighting game approaches!

Blaze Blue Cross Tag Battle will be released on June 5th, 2018. That’s all you really wanted. Don’t pretend to care about the rest of the details I worked so hard to find. Don’t pretend to care that the game will feature a 20 character roster with special appearances from favorites from series like BlazBlue, Under Night In-Birth, Persona 4, and RWBY. Don’t pretend to care that the game will be available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. No Xbox, which doesn’t fully make sense because an Xbox is essentially just a fancy not fancy PC. Either way, I’m personally extremely excited about the endless possibilities and of course the plotline, considering all these series are extremely plot heavy. You don’t care though, you just wanted to know that Blaz Blue Cross Tag Battle is coming out on June 5th, 2018.

7. Varric Tethras becomes a published author!

Fear not gamers, in a world where people have no idea whats gonna happen next because leadership isn’t exactly A1, a fictional character from a video game just inked a deal with Dark Horse Books and Penguin Random House. That’s right, if you’re familiar with the name you’re probably soiling yourself in excitement already. For those unfamiliar, well let’s get you all caught up. A long long time ago (back in 2011) a great game (general public opinion I would say it was ok) was released named Dragon Age 2, by the magicians who were in charge of Bioware. {Editor’s Note: Past tense?} In this historic game, there is an adventurous dwarf who you know writes novels in his spare time. He just nailed a deal to publish his most popular piece of fictional fiction entitled “Hard in Hightown” (don’t you dare make a sex joke!) in the real world. So now you to can purchase a fiction novel written by a fictional character with reference to a fictional world. That’s how bad the world we live in currently feels. We are going to extreme levels to escape it. Thanks for pointing that out Varric. Go Varric.




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