This year’s E3 marked the first time since 2019 that Square Enix showcased a presentation. The two year long wait at the biggest gaming conference of the year should have been worth the wait. But it fell flat really quick.
The first reveal was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. I will admit that I was intrigued and interested since it is a single-player experience. But knowing how Marvel’s Avengers was handled, I could not let my guard down. The gameplay is not too bad. But did this need twenty minutes of airtime that could have went to something else? What was Square Enix thinking?
Those twenty minutes could have been towards any news on Final Fantasy XVI or Project Triangle Strategy. But we got nothing of those upcoming titles. In fact, the first showing of any Final Fantasy games, were the “2-D Pixel Remasters” of Final Fantasy I-VI. Who asked for this? I love Final Fantasy, but these should have came to consoles in one package instead of buying them individually on mobile or Steam.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is the upcoming “Souls” inspired game set in the Final Fantasy universe. When I read the rumors of Square Enix possibly developing this take of Final Fantasy, I was curious. And then the awful dialogue of the characters about Chaos screeched my ears. At least Garland’s voice actor from the Dissidia Final Fantasy series somewhat saved that mess of a trailer.
This did not help due to the fact that the demo of Stranger of Paradise was corrupted and unplayable when you downloaded it. I have not seen a mess from Square Enix like this since the original launch of Final Fantasy XIV back in 2010.
The final nail in the coffin was the next offering of Marvel’s Avengers. Even with a diminishing player base, the War of Wakanda expansion includes Black Panther and the Wakanda location that will progress the story. The question is, why was this not in the original launch of the game in the first place?
The hits keep on coming with this year’s E3 and Square Enix should be embarrassed of themselves for pulling off a bad atrocity of a presentation. Hopefully they can recover from this.
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Today’s Nintendo Direct Mini was to showcase the upcoming updates on previously announced Switch games. These games are from third party developers and publishers and it was only ten minutes long. Here are the updates from those games that were shown on today’s Nintendo Direct.
CADENCE OF HYRULE
Impa, Aria, Shadow Link, Fredrick and Shadow Zelda join DLC Pack 1. DLC Pack 2 will add 39 songs that will be composed by FamilyJules, Chipzel, and A_Rivall. These songs will be remixes of classic Zelda songs. DLC Pack 3 titled Symphony of the Mask will be a new story involving Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask as he will also have abilities based on what mask he has on. The three DLC Packs will launch today as a season pass. However, DLC pack one will be available for purchase today and the second and third pack will be available for purchase later this year.
WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS
We finally got some gameplay footage of this upcoming WWE 2K Battlegrounds game as WWE Superstars Big E, Cesaro, Asuka and Kofi Kingston. Here on the footage that was seen, we can see the character abilities on the screen, how will the matches play out, and even some of the entrances from Jeff Hardy, Andre The Giant, and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI III REMASTERANDSHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V ANNOUNCEMENT
Both coming in 2021, Atlus announced that there will not only be a remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III which was first released in 2003, but Shin Megami Tensei V will also be released in 2021 as the next entry of the series.
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If you were a fan of the classic arcade game Wrestle Fest, you will be excited to know that a spiritual successor is in development which is named RetroMania Wrestling and will be on its way to consoles very soon.
Last week on the official twitter page, RetroMania made a major announcement to the world that the next addition of the roster will be chosen by the fans. This has not been done on a wrestling video game before so the news is intriguing and interesting.
This will be done in a five-round, 32 wrestler tournemt where independent wrestlers from around the world will compete for a chance to be added as a playable character to the roster which also features Tommy Dreamer, The BWO, Zack Sabre Jr., The Road Warriors, and Johnny Retro (John Morrison). Another great aspect that the winning wrestler will also have it’s arena as a selectable arena in the game too. The wrestlers that are eligible must not have a contract with WWE, AEW, MLW, ROH, and NWA. The tournament will also have unique stipulations in each round as the time goes by. The final match will take place on January 26th, 2020. The gates are open as any independent wrestler from around the world can be eligible so let’s hope that we can see Killer Cross, Brian Cage, or even Joey Ryan.
Nominations begins on December 9th and you can do so by Email, or social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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The Star Wars At-Home Arcade features a real feel flight yoke and control buttons, the artwork from the original arcade machine on the cabinet and the included riser. The just over 5’ tall machine (with included riser) comes with a light-up marquee, full-color 17” display and dual speakers to allow for endless hours of gaming! The Star Wars At-Home Arcade is easy to assemble and comes with a transparent deck protector.
The Star Wars At-Home Arcade features the original arcade versions of the classic games based on Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This new addition at the Arcade1Up line up is available at Walmart, GameStop and other major retailers across North America.
Hit Mobile Game to Feature Iconic Characters From Iconic Television Series
LOS ANGELES – September 30, 2019 – Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation announced with AMC today an exciting crossover collaboration between PUBG MOBILE and The Walking Dead. Beginning October 1 and into early 2020, players will have a chance to traverse the battlefield as familiar heroes or an iconic villain. Limited edition in-game items such as character skins, weapons and a vehicle are among those available including:
● Daryl Dixon Skin
● Rick Grimes Skin
● Negan Skin
● Michonne Skin
● Daryl’s Motorcycle
● Michonne’s Katana
● Negan’s Bat, ‘Lucille’
With over 400 million downloads and 50 million daily users, PUBG MOBILE continues to remain among the top performing mobile games worldwide. Heading into its tenth season, which premieres Sunday, October 6 at 9/8c on AMC, The Walking Dead remains the highest-rated series on cable television.
AMC’s The Walking Dead is the latest marquee brand to join a pedigree of top tier collaborations with PUBG MOBILE that has included successful tie-in campaigns with Resident Evil 2 and Godzilla: King of Monsters in 2019.
About “The Walking Dead”
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, “The Walking Dead” tells the story of the months and years after a zombie apocalypse and follows a group of survivors who travel in search of a safe and secure home. The series is executive produced by chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner Angela Kang, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, Greg Nicotero, Joseph Incaprera and Denise Huth. The series stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Seth Gilliam, Avi Nash, Callan McAuliffe, Cooper Andrews, Eleanor Matsuura, Nadia Hilker, Cailey Fleming, Samantha Morton, Ryan Hurst, Cassady McClincy and Lauren Ridloff.
About AMC
AMC is home to some of the most popular and acclaimed programs on television. AMC was the first basic cable network to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series with “Mad Men” in 2008, which then went on to win the coveted award four years in a row, before “Breaking Bad” won it in 2013 and 2014. The network’s series “The Walking Dead” is the highest-rated series in cable history. AMC’s other current original drama series include “Better Call Saul,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Terror,” “Into the Badlands,” “Humans,” “Preacher,” “The Son,” “McMafia,” “Lodge 49,” “The Little Drummer Girl,” “NOS4A2” and the forthcoming “Dispatches from Elsewhere” and “For Life” (wt). AMC also explores authentic worlds and discussion with original shows like “Talking Dead,” “AMC Visionaries” and “Ride with Norman Reedus.” AMC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc. and its sister networks include IFC, SundanceTV, BBC America and WE tv. AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile.
About PUBG MOBILE
PUBG MOBILE is based on PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, the phenomenon that took the world of interactive entertainment by storm in 2017. Up to 100 players parachute onto a remote island to battle in a winner-takes-all showdown. Players must locate and scavenge their own weapons, vehicles and supplies, and defeat every player in a visually and tactically rich battleground that forces players into a shrinking play zone.
Exclusive to the physical retail version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution,Duelists will unpack three brand-new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards: the Link Monster, Progleo, along with the Cyberse Monster Micro Coderand the Spell Card Cynet Codec.
Based on the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution allows Duelists to construct their own Decks from a selection of more than 9,000 cards, the most in any Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG video game. Creating a tailored experience for Duelists of all experience levels and those who are familiar with the six animated Yu-Gi-Oh! series, the game provides the opportunity to relive more than 20 years of Yu-Gi-Oh! history, in addition to tapping into some of the most memorable storylines from the shows.
Additional key features in Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution include:
Challenge other players with local-play or Nintendo Online
The addition of Link Monster cards not only change the way seasoned Duelists play their cards, but where they play them
Take on the roles of the animated series villains with Reverse Duels
Compete in Battle Pack Sealed Pack and Draft play
Includes all previously released Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist content
The Yu-Gi-Oh! series is based on the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! (by Kazuki Takahashi), which was serialized in SHUEISHA Inc.’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1996 and is now on the sixth iteration of the “Yu-Gi-Oh!” animated series (currently airing on TV Tokyo-affiliated channels). KONAMI released the first console game in 1998, and the series, including the trading card game, is still enjoyed by countless customers worldwide. KONAMI continues to develop and distribute a wide range of Yu-Gi-Oh! content to deliver the fun and excitement of the series to customers around the globe.
Konami Group was established in 1973, starting as an amusement machine manufacturer for arcades. Over the years, the company has grown to include different business units across various markets. Currently, KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION includes the Digital Entertainment, Amusement, Gaming & Systems, and Sports Businesses. The company went public on the Osaka Securities Exchange in 1984, the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1988, and the London Stock Exchange in 1999. For more information, visit: www.konami.com/en.
About Konami Digital Entertainment
Konami Digital Entertainment, which is the core company of Konami Group, develops entertaining content for mobile, console and card games. The company is known for global franchises such as PES, Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Contra, as well as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game series. www.konami.com/games/corporate/en/
E3 2019 took place this week in Los Angelas, California and there were many big announcements that were made during the four day show. Many press conferences surprised the live audience and viewers around the world, while some have been a snooze fest. E3 for the last few years has been trying to get back to their roots especially with last year’s show that disappointed many. Has E3 2019 rised from the ashes of last year’s letdown, we shall see as I rank them from the best to the worst.
EA Play
Last year’s show of EA at E3 was a huge disaster. It felt like an investor meeting more than a presentation show. This year, was a change of pacde for the better as Greg Miller to take the stage to introduce the developers of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order along with a long trailer and gameplay video which surprised the fans as nobody thought that we would see gameplay from it this year. The game was recieved very well from the live audience and the viewers at home and knowing EA’s track record of the Star Wars franchise, many were spectable if they could actually deliver this time and so far, it seems like they are since this is a single player game. This game reminded me of The Force Unleashed games from a decade ago. Other games that were shown was new content for Apex Legends, Battlefield V, and The Sims 4 along with new footage of Madden NFL 20 and Fifa 20. This was a huge improvememnt of last year’s show as EA realized their mistakes from last year’s show and did not want to repeat them. Every game that was showcased from EA including for its EA Originals program felt like it mattered to the casual viewer and it was all about the games this year instead of the microtransactions, loot boxes, etc.
Final Grade: B
Bethesda
I have no idea if Bethesda paid the entire audience to clap at every announcement it sure looked like it did. With the way Fallout 76 was handled last fall along with the disatrous pre order bonuses that did not come as advertised, you would think that the crowd would have not give them a warm reception but they did when it was announced that a battle royal mode will be coming to Fallout 76 along with more DLC. But besides that, The Elder Scross were showcased which included DLC for Elder Scrolls Online, Blades, and Legends and more trailers for Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Doom Eternal, and Ghostwire Tokyo. All of these trailers look great, but we did not see any gameplay from any of them. There were also some cringe moments during the conference as well, but not to the level of Ubisoft. Good conference, but I felt very underwhelmed with no major announcements from Bethesda.
Final Grade: C+
XBOX
Mocrosoft on Sunday saved the show so far especially after that miserable PC Gaming Show that felt longer than WrestleMania with Phantasy Star Online 2 finally coming to the west for the first time ever, Borderlands 3, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Blair Witch, a new Battletoads game which surprised me, Minecraft Dungeons, and even an updated version of the Elite controller. I must say, XBOX’s controllers always felt great to use so I am for this decision to give it a complete overhaul. The bigger games that were showcased were Gears 5 (which was announced last year, but we finally know the release date), and Cyberpunk 2077 with Keanu Reeves making an appearence at the show to present the release date. The fans at the show ate this up as everyone cheered for him as he appeared. The biggest announcement is that the successor of Xbox One titled “Project Scarlett” will be coming in the fall of 2020 and we got little details of what the console will bring once it is in our hands. Also, Halo Infinite will be the launch title of this console just like the very first Halo was for the first Xbox 18 years ago. This presentation saved the show so far at this point even though we did not get any gameplay videos. But this presentation proved that Microsoft has come a long way since the ridicilous E3 2013 conference. They turned everything around year after year and their support from gamers has grown back to where it was before the Xbox One was first announced.
Final Grade: A-
Square Enix
Of all the conferences, Square Enix had the best presentation from the visuals, the announced games, and how they transitioned from one announcement to another. It was announced by different pictures on the wall of the screen each with the camera paning to the next game. It was an interesting idea and change and I think that it worked very well. Final Fantasy 7 Remake finally has a release date and it was showcased with a few cutscenes and the gameplay at Midgar. All of the characters looked very impressive and more brought to life than ever. However, this game will be episodic and Square Enix confirmed that they will release the first part of the game (Which is Midgar) at a full price and have the rest of the game released as different standalone games down the line. This has spawned a mixed reaction from the fanbase. The other announcements we have gotten was Life is Strange 2, Final Fantasy 8 Remaster, Dragon Quest XI, DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3, a new expansion to Final Fantasy XIV, and Marvel’s Avengers. The Avengers game does not look up to today’s gaming standards of visuals and graphics so I hope that it is changed from now until the release date. With those points aside, I enjoyed this conference more than any of the others at the entire E3 week and Square Enix delivered a conference that will be remembered for years.
Final Grade: A+
Ubisoft
I still do not know why in 2019 Just Dance is coming out for the Nintendo Wii. Yes, you just read that because that was part of this presentation. A dance off performance that we did not need just to announce the game. But the most interesting title is Watch Dogs Legion as this time around, you are also able to play as the NPC’s and I think that is an interesting twist in a video game I have not seen done before. Eqach NPC has different skillsets as well. We even seen Jon Bernthal present Ghost Recon Breakpoint as it is the newest entry of the series. That was a great way to introduce the game and to see him on stage with the dog. More announcements came to play as we were shown Rainbow Six Quarantine, Roller Champions which is a roller derby inspired video game and it is supposed to be in the same league as Rocket League. DLC was also announced for The Division 2 which will be released in the summer and fall of this year. The announcememnt of a subscription service called UPlay has spawned a mixed reception from the fans as we do not need another subscription servive on top of ones we are already paying for. Good conference, with more questions raised. But at least we got gameplay from most of the announcements.
Final Grade: C
Nintendo
Last but not least, Nintendo at E3 with their Nintendo Direct. It started with a new character announcement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as The Hero from Dragon Quest was revealed. I never thought that anything from that series would make its way to Smash Bros. The different costumes of The Hero represent another game he has appeared in. We follow that up with Luigi’s Mansion 3, new footage of Link’s Awakening HD, The Witcher 3 coming to Switch as nobody seen this coming, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Contra: Rogue Corps, Resident Evil 5 and 6, Mario and Sonic at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and Daemon X Machina. All of these announcements were absolutely great plus the others I have not mentioned. The biggest aqnnouncements were that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be delayed (May I mention that you can finally sit down in the game!). Another great announcement is that Banjo Kazooie will be a DLC character in Smash Ultimate. This has been long awaited for many years now and I am happy to see it finally happen! Before the presentation finished, We got a glimpse of the sequel of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and I am totally looking forward to that. Nintendo usually goes all out for their E3 presentations on their Direct showcases. This was a must watch in my eyes.
Final Grade: A+
E3 this year was far much better than last year’s and 2017’s. It really felt like it was for the fans and gamers this time instead of investors and money.
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The release date of the most anticipated video game title to come from Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima has now finally revealed its release date. Death Stranding will be released on the Playstation 4 on November 8th, 2019.
That was not the only piece of news that we have gotten today as a brand new trailer was revealed as well today showcasing the gameplay and new story scenes and the entire english cast of the game. Known to have already be casted is Norman Reedus, Guillermo del Toro, and Lea Seydoux. In the new trailer, the announcements of Troy Baker, Margaret Qualley, Emily O’ Brien, and much more.
Last month at the the Tribeca Film Festival, Hideo Kojima and Norman Reedus shared new details of the game at their panel and so far, what they have said matches the trailer. The open world action game has had more questions than answers in recent years and it is great to finally know that the game is coming sooner rather than later.
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Legendary video game developer Hideo Kojima and “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus attended the Tribeca Film Festival today to talk about the upcoming video game Death Stranding at one of the Tribeca Talks events here in the theater of BMCC. The fans waited all day in anticipation of this event since little is known about the mysterious game outside of the trailers.
During the panel that was moderated by Geoff Keighley, Hideo and Norman talked about the development of the game, what we could expect from the characters, how Hideo came up with the idea of the game, the way Hideo Kojima pitched the game to Norman, and much more.
One of the news that came out of the panel is that the name of Norman Reedus’ character of Death Stranding is Sam. Norman also says that much of himself as a person is implemented to Sam. Kojima also stated that it is an open-world action game and that he wants the player to freely make decisions for the character when it comes to actions, story, and traveling. This is similar to Venom Snake in Metal Gear Solid V:The Phantom Pain where you make your own decisions of how you want to complete a mission.
The main theme of the game that is widely discussed about is connection as Hideo Kojima intends the player to connect with other players and characters in the game along with the world. We got a few glimpses of that during the previous trailers. Speaking of trailers, the first trailer of Death Stranding only took two days for Kojima to produce the trailer and Norman Reedus had to get his body rescanned when he got new tattoos and Hideo even joked that he will add tattoos to Reedus’ body on future patches.
There were also pictures shown on the screen for everyone to see what was behind the scenes during the development.
Although there was no trailer, The last and the biggest news of the panel is that next month, we will get new footage of the game. Also, a fan asked if there will be a PC version of the game and Hideo stated that there will not be a PC version.
Although no footage was allowed to be streamed or recorded, I did recorded the audio which you can check below.
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WWE 2K19 will see the return of Showcase Mode this year (which was missing for the last two games) and this time, we will get to relive the career of WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan. I think that this choice is a good one since he came out of retirement earlier this year and has had matches on the main roster ever since. He has reunited with his former tag team partner Kane and has had feuds this year raging from Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Big Cass, Harper and Rowan, to now The Miz which has been building up since Bryan was the General Manager of Smackdown over two years ago. Daniel Bryan and The Miz will finally have a match on this year’s Summerslam. So far, his year is shaping up to be a very good one for him and the fans are happy that he is back wrestling once again. Now it is time to dive down to the news that came out today.
While he has been back in the ring to create new stories and memories for fans to remember, 2K Games took the time to revisit his best feuds and matches from the past. There is said to be about 11 matches on this mode and some of them features his first WWE match ever with John Cena on an episode of WWE Velocity way back in 2003, his tag team title win against Kofi Kingston and R-Truth back in 2012, His street fight match against Randy Orton on Raw in 2013, and his WrestleMania 30 match with Triple H along with the triple threat match later that night that included Batista and Randy Orton which was also the height of the “Yes” movement. We do not know yet of the other matches, but there will also be a “surprise match” on this mode that was not shown yet so everyone including myself can guess on which match that will be.
I would like to point out that CM Punk was also in WWE during Bryan’s career and with the controversy that surrounded him after he quit WWE a few years ago, many fans wonder if his [Daniel Bryan] matches with Punk will be featured as well. Another person that is not currently under contract with WWE as well is AJ Lee and she was involved with the feuds between Bryan and Punk along with Bryan’s feud with Sheamus. Only time will tell before we know if those particular matches will be included of the 11 matches. In fact, what if one of the matches i just explained is the “surprise match”. Other notable superstars that were there while he was there are Ryback, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, and John Morrison as they were all also involved with his run in WWE in the early 2010’s. We will know very soon as the video game is released this October on Playstation 4, PC and Xbox One and there is a collector’s edition with bonus material that features WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.
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