ISSUE 16 — 31 March 2019
by Shahan Ahmed and Dale Hurst
Top Story: BORDERLANDS 3 REVEALED!
After nearly seven years of waiting since Borderlands 2 (let’s put aside The Pre-Sequel), Gearbox Software have officially unveiled Borderlands 3! CEO Randy Pitchford was on the stage at PAX East 2019 to present the game to fans. However, it had a troubled, laggy reveal, possibly due to technical issues on the provided equipment. The trailer packed the usual Borderlands charm and humour. It provides a glimpse at the new characters, such as the new Siren. She is likely to be the mêlée-based character as she boasts plenty of muscle and can summon six arms made of pure energy. Plenty of old, familiar faces also showed up. Lilith, Marcus, Maya, Tiny Tina (who’s not so tiny anymore) and Mad Moxxi appear, as well as Brick conducting a sax solo. Characters from Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands also make an appearance. The game will have over a billion guns, which is actually not surprising knowing how the series procedurally generates its guns and their properties. But what is surprising and hilarious is Gearbox showing off a gun with legs! No one asked for this, but the mad men did it anyway. Borderlands 3 has yet to be given a release date, but the not-so-subtle Pitchford may be implying it’s not far off.
Gearbox also announced at their PAX East panel a Game of the Year Edition for the first Borderlands on PS4, Xbox One and PC. For PC gamers who already have the game on Steam, you can upgrade to the GotY Edition for free! It boasts improved visuals (4K and HDR, improved lighting, textures and character models), a Borderlands 2-like minimap, new inventory system and auto-pickup, 6 new Legendary weapons and 5 new character head options. It’ll be available in a matter of days; specifically 3rd April! If you’re interested in other games that showed up at PAX East this year, check this out.
Shahan’s Opinion: This series is one of the best for some couch co-op fun. The Sirens are always my go-to characters when available. Burning everything as a Firefly-build Lilith was glorious. Maya looks great with her updated look too. Super excited to try out the new, buff Siren.
APPLE ARCADE ANNOUNCED
After Google revealed their gaming-related plans with the Stadia (see last week’s issue), Apple are following suit. Not doing exactly the same thing, mind you. Apple Arcade is not a streaming service. It is a premium, monthly subscription service in which all games will have no ads or in-app purchases and can be played offline on an Apple device. The initial line-up for the service will have games by Sega, Konami, Mistwalker (Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s new company), Annapurna Interactive and other developers. Apple says that more than 100 exclusive games will be available as part of the service. Apple Arcade is coming autumn this year.
Shahan’s Opinion: I’d rather pay as few subscription services as I can. Regarding Apple phones in general, I’ve gone back and forth from theirs and Android phones. Ultimately, iOS is too restrictive for me. Apple phones look nice and premium but now even the hardware has a down side after they implemented that screen notch. Picked up a Google Pixel and never looked back.
STREETS OF RAGE 4 GAMEPLAY
During the summer of 2018, beat ‘em up fans rejoiced as a ‘90s gem from Sega’s glory days made a return. Streets of Rage 4 was revealed featuring a fully-bearded Axel Stone and a never-aging Blaze Fielding. It was announced by DotEmu and Lizardcube (publisher and developer of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap) in partnership with Sega. Guard Crush Games (developer of Streets of Fury) will also be involved.
The new gameplay reveal this week gave a familiar feel, as if the developers are honouring the series’ past. The fighting is reminiscent of its predecessors, fly kicks and all. Throw your enemies and pick up weapons from the ground like before. But let’s move on to what’s new! Journalists who have had a hands-on experience with an early build of the game last year have said special moves take away health (like in SoR2) but regular attacks will restore that lost health. The new hand-drawn art style is a departure from the pixels of yore and look incredible. The devs have said SoR4 will have its own unique score and effects to help make it stand out from the original game. Does this mean the original composer Yuzo Koshiro won’t be making a return? They’ve been quiet on this matter…
Streets of Rage follows a group of young ex-cops who fight their way through a crime-ridden city to get to Mr. X in an attempt to stamp out the corruption once and for all. If you want to know more about the series including the multiple other cancelled attempts at a Streets of Rage 4, check out this video.
Shahan’s Opinion: I adore the original on the Sega Mega Drive so much. The characters. (Blaze! First video game crush.) The levels. (Freight elevator!) THE MUSIC. (YUZO KOSHIRO!) I NEED A RELEASE DATE. (And bring back Adam!)
SEGA MEGA DRIVE / GENESIS MINI
If all that Streets of Rage talk has got you feeling nostalgic, well we’re not letting up! Sega are joining Nintendo and Sony in creating their own mini console. On 19th September 2019, the Sega Mega Drive Mini (or Sega Genesis Mini for the US) will release. It comes with 40 titles ready to plug-in and play. Ten of the games have been announced. They are:
| – Ecco the Dolphin | – Toejam & Earl |
| – Castlevania: Bloodlines | – Comix Zone |
| – Space Harrier II | – Sonic The Hedgehog |
| – Shining Force | – Altered Beast |
| – Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine | – Gunstar Heroes |
Shahan’s Opinion: I’ve not really been tempted by all of the Mini consoles when there are other, cheaper methods to play old games. But this one I’ll admit, I am sorely tempted. There’s always been Sega Classics Collections to play their gems on many platforms. But if this does well, could Sega be tempted to make another console? A Dreamcast 2!?! Sigh… Just a pipe dream maybe…
CD PROJEKT RED ON E3 2019
A conference was held by CD Projekt Group for their financial results for 2018. It covers not only their games but also their digital distribution platform GOG.com that even though it’s great, it only made $7.8K net profit in 2018. On the bright side, the Polish company has informed the conference they have obtained a new office building in Warsaw in close proximity to their current offices. This will enable them to expand and hire another 250-300 developers.
Let’s move on to their games. Gwent, the card game born from the Witcher series, will finally be heading for mobile phones. It will launch on Apple’s App Store this autumn, and a later date for Android phones. The Witcher 3 continues to make strong sales. Alongside Thronebreaker, it has made over $28.6M net profit in 2018. They’ve also acknowledged their talks with Andrzej Sapkowski who wanted more money from the developer as creator of the Witcher books. Negotiations are ongoing with the author, but they are unable to comment further.
Now let’s talk about Cyberpunk 2077 and E3 2019. After its initial showing at last year’s E3, Cyberpunk’s marketing has reached over 250 million people! Via their own channels and invited influencers who have tried a demo of the game behind closed doors. CDPR were asked if E3 is the best place to announce release dates of games. They agreed it is. They’ve gone on to say their E3 presence this year will have a surprise, but no pop artist will show up! It will be the most important E3 in CD Projekt’s history, according to CEO Adam Kiciński.
Shahan’s Opinion: E3 is going to be good this year! What surprise do you think they have in store for us? A trailer for a secret project they’ve been working on? Or maybe Cyberpunk 2077 goes gold? I can’t wait.
Dale’s Opinion: So, no Lady Gaga surprise appearance? That’s a shame – was wondering what she’d come dressed as…
GLOSSING OVER…
Shantae 5 Announced
A brand new adventure in the Shantae series is confirmed for later this year. Shantae 5 will be available on all major home consoles, and also the newly-announced Apple Arcade.
Layoffs at EA
350 employees in the marketing and publishing departments (among others) of EA have been let go this week. Also, EA Russia and EA Japan have both closed down.
Anthem Woes Continue
Looting issues with Anthem have been described by fans to be a regression from what they were before with the recent update. No masterwork weapons for you this update, freelancers!
PLAYING THIS WEEK…
Shahan has been playing…
Overwatch
I’ve hopped back on to Overwatch to check out the most recent character to be introduced to the roster.
Baptiste went live last week. He’s a combat medic with a difficult past. One of 30 million orphans from the Omnic War. He did what he could to survive and ended up as a Talon agent. After realising he has a choice and making a living wasn’t good enough, he chooses to fight for a better world and leaves Talon.
For the brief period that I’ve played him, it’s clear you’d need to spend some time to get to grips with this healer. He’s definitely one of the more complex heroes in his class. For example, it’ll take some time getting used to the healing grenade’s projectile and landing it on your allies. But hey, Baptiste’s DBZ scouter is looking super cool though!
Warp Point Weekly 