Monthly Archives: June 2016
The Last Guardian Release Date Announced
The Last Guardian is finally set for release on the PS4 on October 25, 2016, Sony announced at its E3 press conference.
The Last Guardian was re-revealed as part of Sony's E3 2015 press conference with a promise release in 2015. IGN recently visited Sony's Japan Studio for a look at the game as part of IGN First.
New God of War Announced
Today at Sony's E3 2016 press conference the company officially unveiled a new God of War, developed by Sony Santa Monica. As rumored, the game takes inspiration from Norse mythology, including a dramatic encounter with a dragon. For now the game seems to just be titled simply "God of War."
The game's soundtrack is composed by Bear McCreary, the composer behind Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and more.
The demo opens with a much older, bearded, player-controlled Kratos teaching his son how to hunt, and continues with the brutal weapon and hand-to-hand melee combat the franchise is known for. After saving his son from danger, the demo ends with a quiet father and son moment, seeming to indicate a more thoughtful and fleshed-out Kratos will be at the core of this new God of War game.
Phantom Dust Re-Revealed
The Phantom Dust reboot may have died a death, but Microsoft has found a way to bring the series back to life - Phantom Dust is now a remaster of the original Xbox game instead.
Announced on YouTube's Live at E3 stream, Phantom Dust is now an updated version of the cult card-battler/action-RPG hybrid, and will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title, meaning it's both cross-buy and cross-play across Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.
Releasing in 2017, and taking advantage of the recently announced Xbox One Arena features, the game will use the original's assets, but has been tweaked so that players have access to a multiplayer-ready deck of cards far earlier in the game than in the 2005 version.
Ubisoft Exec: Dev for Upgraded Consoles ‘Not So Difficult’
Transition to developing for the upgraded consoles coming from both Sony and Microsoft may be an easy adjustment to make, according to an Ubisoft executive.
Managing Director of Ubisoft's Annecy, Paris and Montpellier studios Xavier Poix said during E3 that he believes adapting the development workload to the introduction PlayStation Neo and Xbox One Scorpio will be "not so difficult to do."
"Actually the
generation is good because it does turn into a more PC-oriented kind of architecture," Poix said.
"It enables us to put everything we put in a game with a little less limits, so that's, from what we know that's quite convenient."
Poix spoke ahead of Ubisoft's E3 presentation, which included the announcements of a Star Trek VR game, Trials of the Blood Dragon, and release dates for a number of titles. Check out more on both Star Trek: Bridge Crew and Ubisoft's newly announced Steep. Poix did no specify what, if any games in Ubisoft's portfolio, might have to adjust to this development change.
ReCore’s Pre-Order Bonus is Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Budding ReCore owners will get an Xbox One-compatible download code for 360 game, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts in return for a pre-order. Because robots? Or rebuilding things? Who knows.
Confirmed by the ReCore website FAQ, your pre-order will also set you back a relatively inexpensive $40. That is unless you invest in the Limited Collector's Edition, which ups the price to $179.99 in return for statues of the game's two main characters.
ReCore got a confirmed release date of September 13 during Microsoft's E3 press conference.
Why Game of Thrones Felt Off This Week
Warning: Full spoilers for Game of Thrones' eighth Season 6 episode, "No One," below.
Game of Thrones: Season 6's eighth episode wrapped up a couple of storylines, including Arya in Braavos and the Riverrun standoff. But did it do so successfully? Let us discuss!
This week's Dragons on the Wall topics include:
-Whether the Mereen storyline is coming to a close and why some of the pacing felt off-Why the Braavos storyline felt way too drawn out given its payoff
-Pondering whether the Riverrun storyline had any story impact
-What we think Cersei is up to and why we're excited for it
-Book spoiler warning, as we discuss what might be next for the Brotherhood of Banners
Here’s What Apple Announced at WWDC Today
Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference kicked off today, and it made several software-based announcements during the keynote.
First off, OS X is dead. Or at least, the name "OS X." The moniker Apple's operating system has worn since evolving from OS 9 way back in 2001 is no more, and is now called macOS. Apple showed off a preview of macOS Sierra, which includes Siri integration and cross-device documents and even the desktop. In other words, documents on your laptop will also be on your iPad, iPhone, or iWhatever, with changes made on one device carrying over to all your devices.
Siri is coming to macOS Sierra.
4 Wii U, 3DS Games You Shouldn’t Miss This Year
During a presentation at this year’s E3, some independent developers gave an update on four games coming to WIi U, 3DS within the next six months. Here’s a quick rundown of the announced games Axiom Verge (Wii U), Runbow Pocket (3DS), Severed (Wii U, 3DS), and Jotun (Wii U) along with additional commentary from each game’s creators.
Developer 13AM Games
Runbow, a frantic, a colorfully chaotic topsy-turvy platformer originally released on Wii U last year, is coming to retail stores for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS as Runbow Deluxe and Runbow Pocket Deluxe respectively. “We always wanted to bring Runbow to retail and thanks to our partners at NightHawk Interactive, “ Runbow creative director Alex Rusdy told IGN via email. “We are finally able to do so! It was simply a case of finding the right partner for us and coming to the right agreement.”
Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference Review
As sales of the Xbox One continue to lag behind the PlayStation 4, this year’s Xbox E3 conference announced Microsoft’s new direction from the rooftops. This is no longer a race between the PS4 and the Xbox One, because Microsoft is going off-road. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Xbox One ecosystem.
The conference kicked off with a slick trailer for an announcement we all knew: the Xbox One S is a thing. 40% smaller than the original, 4K video-compatible and at $299 USD, it’s an attractive proposition for those who haven’t picked up Microsoft’s console yet come August.
Your Mass Effect 3 Ending Won’t Affect Mass Effect: Andromeda
At the end of Mass Effect 3, players had to make a decision of huge galactic importance. However, the consequences of that choice will have no effect on Mass Effect: Andromeda.
"We had a lot of different ideas when we started on early concepts for what we wanted to do with the next Mass Effect game," BioWare Creative Director Mac Walters told IGN. " I think, aside from the fact that we said the Mass Effect trilogy was a trilogy for Shepard’s story, which we have concluded, we were very careful to make sure that big choices like that
wouldn’t impact your decisions.
He continued, "From that, you can probably infer the timing of when they
left, to a certain degree." Walters couldn't yet share the full details, but he did say the game will take place "hundreds of years" after Mass Effect 3.