Valve

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Launches

ISSUE 15 — 24 March 2019

by Shahan Ahmed and Dale Hurst

Top Story: SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE HAS LAUNCHED

 

 

 

FromSoftware, the infamous developer behind the challenging Souls series, has released their latest game. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has launched to universal acclaim. Critics are raving about it and Souls fans are delighted to see that it seems to be more difficult than any of the preceding games.

Sekiro’s setting is a fantastical reimagining of Japan’s Sengoku period, replete with samurai and shinobi, as well as incredible beasts like great serpents and giant apes. The protagonist was a nameless orphan found by the wanderer Owl, who adopted him and gave him the name Seju. He grew up to become a proficient shinobi and the personal bodyguard of the young lord Kuro, who he serves with utmost loyalty. However he fails in his duty. Genichiro Ashina slices off his left arm and Seju falls. Thus Kuro is kidnapped. Seju awakens in an abandoned temple. A former shinobi known as The Sculptor resides here, carving Buddha statues. He has provided Seju with a unique prosthetic arm and dubs him Sekiro (meaning Lone Wolf). Our protagonist then sets off to rescue his lord.

Shahan’s Opinion: If you’re looking for great atmosphere, FromSoftware always delivers. I started with Eternal Ring on the PS2 and have played every ‘Soulsborne’ game since. Check out Dunkey’s video on the game. If the end of the video doesn’t sell you on it, nothing will.

GOOGLE REVEALS THE STADIA

Streaming continues to be the future of not just the music, film and TV industries, but gaming too. Google is banking on this after revealing Google Stadia at the Game Developers Conference 2019. Stadia continues on from last year’s Project Stream that invited testers to try running Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in the Google Chrome browser.

Is Google the first to provide a game streaming service? Not at all. OnLive is considered to be the first, but it failed to meet its full potential and Sony ended up buying its patents. Speaking of Sony, they’ve had their own streaming service since 2014. PlayStation Now holds a library of over 600 games to stream or download.

Jeff Gerstmann, gaming journalist, has shared his views on the Stadia. It may be exciting, but he states that:

“There’s something scary about handing Google, or any one company, the keys. The minute you’re streaming, they can shut it off whenever they want and wherever they want for a variety of reasons. It checks so many boxes for a dark future…”

Also, BBC News has an interesting article that speculates on what the Stadia may bring in the future.

Shahan’s Opinion: I doubt my terrible Wi-Fi connection will be able to support the service! It will probably be a subscription service. And that controller? A Google Assistant button? Ugh. I’m very sceptical but it is Google… One of the Big Four…

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES 2 ANNOUNCED

What came as a surprise to fans of the first game, Paradox Interactive announced Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The release date will be during the first quarter of 2020. Some would say this is their Half Life 3 and they thought it would never see the light of day, much like the denizens in the games themselves. As the devs have confirmed it will always be night time just like in the first game.

For those of us who are unaware, let’s have a quick look at the setting of the first game. It takes place in 21st century Los Angeles in the World of Darkness where supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves pave the path of human history. There is the Camarilla, the vampire government, and seven unique vampire clans each with their own unique traits or abilities. The protagonist is a freshly-turned vampire getting used to his/her new way of life while making allies and enemies along the way.

Shahan’s Opinion: Prior to this announcement I’ve not even heard of these games. Vampire action RPGs set in the modern day? I got to check the first one out ASAP!

FULL TRAILER OF FFXIV: SHADOWBRINGERS RELEASED

Square Enix has dropped the full trailer of Shadowbringers, the upcoming expansion of their popular MMO Final Fantasy XIV. It boasts impressive visuals for a cinematic that is befitting the series (Agni’s Philosophy from seven years ago, for example). It gives you a glimpse of what’s to come and there’s even a reference to Magus’ famous line from Chrono Trigger! Here’s a brief look at most of what Shadowbringers will include:

  • New gender locked races: Viera (♀) from FF Tactics Advance and FFXII and Hrothgar (♂) who are based on the Ronso from FFX.
  • New cities and areas.
  • New jobs: Gunbreakers and Dancers.
  • New 8-player raids and alliance raids.
  • New dungeons and trials.
  • New Game+
  • Level cap increased from 70 to 80.

There has been an outcry by the FFXIV community, primarily over two things. Namely, the two new races being gender-locked, and dancers not being a new healer class.

The devs cite the lore that explains Male Viera do exist; they don’t appear in public. To make up for it, they announced the male-only Hrothgar to a Japanese audience at the Tokyo Fanfest. Some would say they did this because a Western crowd would not be afraid to boo them off-stage (see: the Diablo Immortal débâcle).

Regarding dancers being ranged DPS, this means that another expansion arrives with no new healer class. The latest one was the Astrologians in the Heavensward expansion back in 2015. The next expansion after Shadowbringers is speculated to be in 2021, so it will be six years without a new healer class. On the other hand, some fans are relieved that dancers are not healers. Probably because they don’t want to be responsible for keeping their team alive.

Shahan’s Opinion: I love a good cinematic and this trailer is an absolute spectacle. I need that soundtrack as that trailer music is incredible, especially when it resembles FF3’s Legend of the Eternal Wind. Wait! There’ll be a class that wields gunblades??? I’m subscribing again.

HALO AMA REVEALS NEW DETAILS

 

 

Ske7ch, 343 Industries’ community director, conducted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit’s Gaming subreddit for the Master Chief Collection, Halo Reach and the Halo Insider program. He was joined by lead producer Michael Fahrny and they answered redditor’s questions for approximately two hours.

A comprehensive summary of all the details that have been revealed over the AMA can be found here. Some highlights of the info include Halo Reach will still have its mix and match armour customization and their goal is to support uncapped FPS on all titles and 144Hz+ for all of the MCC games.

Gabe Newell, President of Valve, was emailed by a fan about the Master Chief Collection and the efforts it took to bring it to Steam. He replies:

“The credit for this goes to Phil Spencer and his team at MS. They made it happen, so, yes, it was simple for us.”

Shahan’s Opinion: It is always good to see positive communication between developers and gamers. Transparency is always welcome.

GLOSSING OVER…

Twitch Streamer Completes the Soulsborne Lot!

The_Happy_Hob, a Twitch streamer, has completed back-to-back playthroughs of all the Soulsborne games. WITHOUT taking a SINGLE hit from enemies! Not even hits that would heal damage!

Epic Store Unpopularity Increases

This comes with the news that The Outer Worlds, among other games, are to be released on Epic Store only. Steam do not get a look-in.

More Details on COD: MW4 Multiplayer

It was confirmed last week that the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will neither feature a Battle Royale mode, nor any specialist characters. This is apparently an attempt to bring the COD franchise back to its roots.

PLAYING THIS WEEK…

Dale has been playing…

ZOOCUBE (2002) (GAMECUBE)

Okay, I know this may seem a little bizarre but there’s an element of nostalgia to the story. Animal-based puzzler ZooCube was the first game I ever owned on Gamecube, alongside Luigi’s Mansion. I was sorting through my cupboards and came across it — to my amazement, it still works perfectly fine despite being nearly 17 years old! And is still a lot of addictive fun.

For those not familiar, it’s a basic match-two game featuring shapes based on different animals, which get attracted to the eponymous ZooCube. You have to match as many as possible to clear the levels and proceed – no airs and graces about it at all. I like it – there’s a charm about it that I can’t quite resist…

“Capcom is Back!” says CEO

ISSUE 13 — 10 March 2019

by Shahan Ahmed and Dale Hurst

Top Story: DMC5 LAUNCHED — “CAPCOM IS BACK!” CEO SAYS…

Dante is back with the release of Devil May Cry 5. It has received rave reviews and many claim this to be the best the series has to offer. On Steam, the game has had the second best launch for Capcom, only being beaten out by Monster Hunter: World. DMC5’s producer, Matt Walker, has recorded the CEO of Capcom USA, Kiichiro Urata, saying:

“Capcom is back!”

In Devil May Cry 5, you get to play as three different protagonists, each bringing their own unique style of gameplay:

Nero – The Young Devil Hunter. He’s gained more experience since the incident at Fortuna and opening a Devil May Cry branch there.

V – The Mysterious One. He is Dante’s latest client. A human that seems to have demonic ties.

Dante – The Legendary Devil Hunter. He’s back with his sword Rebellion and his trusty guns Ebony and Ivory for plenty of demon-killing action.

If you’re thinking of picking the game up, there are certain things to keep in mind when it comes to different versions of the game. For example, the Deluxe Edition allows you to swap in the pre-vis live action cutscenes. It feels like you’re watching a DMC movie! Also the west’s PS4 version of the game is more censored than on PC and Xbox One. There are some scenes containing nudity that is hidden by lens flares in the PS4 version.

Shahan’s Opinion: The series looks to be in top form in the latest instalment. I love Nero’s new look. It definitely differentiates him from being the Dante lookalike he was in DMC4. Speaking of, Dante looking like a grizzly old badass is great.

ANTHEM CRASHING PS4s

Bioware’s latest game, Anthem, has had a launch that may be giving Fallout 76 a run for its money. Prior to launch, the ‘VIP demo’ (basically a beta test) revealed plenty of bugs and glitches. The launch also had plenty of bugs and glitches. And the reviews have not been great. One example of a huge bug is that the Level 1 Defender gun (a default weapon) has been discovered to be the best weapon in the game possibly due to how they’ve designed the scaling in the game. But moving on to the biggest concern right now…

There has been reports that the game has been crashing PS4s! It’s been mistakenly reported to be ‘bricking’ them. This is an incorrect term, as that would mean the PS4s are permanently broken and, hence, would basically be bricks. As the news and number of crashing PS4s became widespread, Sony started offering refunds for the game.

EA and Bioware are trying to resolve the situation. They’ve asked fans to discuss and identify the issue over on their EA Answers HQ message board. Regarding Anthem’s in-game issues, Bioware are making changes. But judging from the rioting happening by the player base over on the game’s subreddit, they are going to have to pull off a miracle to turn things around.

Shahan’s Opinion: I’ve actually given this game a shot a while ago. The gameplay is definitely fun and makes you feel like Iron Man! But the story is nowhere near Bioware’s best work. And the loadings screens really are ridiculous. A fan actually compared them to the infamous game Sonic ’06 and its loading screens.

AMY HENNIG’S VIEWS ON THE GAMING INDUSTRY

You know Amy Hennig? She’s the writer who’s been in the gaming industry for 30 years, which won her a Lifetime Achievement Award. She is known for her work on various games, from Legacy of Kain to Uncharted. And now, she has shared her opinion on the current state of AAA games development.

Hennig has taken a break from being part of a huge team that is common in triple-A games development and may not return to it. After hearing stories of game companies laying off hundreds of people, it’s understandable when she says that these are red flags and things are not working the way they used to. Her solution is to look to the TV and film industries. Less in-house production and more external contractors. If you want to see her views in full detail, check it out here.

If you want to know more about Amy Hennig, she’s recently shown up at the DICE Summit 2019 for an interview. That’s the video at the top of the section, by the way.

Shahan’s Opinion: One example that contradicts some of her views is Capcom. Years ago they were considered to be failing and their games were disappointing many of their fans. This was seen to be because they hired external companies to develop their games. They decided to bring everything back to work on them in-house and now they’re more popular than ever! In any case if Legacy of Kain ever returns, she needs to be on that development team!

NINTENDO CARDBOARD USED FOR VR

Remember the Nintendo Labo? No? Those kits with cardboard cut-outs that you build and then use in combination with your Nintendo Switch? For more info, check out this educational video on the construction toy.

Nintendo has announced the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit. Build it. Slot your Switch in. Buy some accessories and make a cardboard elephant for example. The release date is 12th April.

Shahan’s Opinion: Bundle this with a new Pokémon Snap. Do it Nintendo!

 

GLOSSING OVER…

Rape Day Not Coming to Steam, says Valve

Gaming publisher Valve has confirmed, after a lengthy silence and mounting controversy, that the indie game set around the violent sexual assault of women will not be released on Steam. They have claimed that the game poses unknown costs and risks.

Kamek and Dry Bones Come to Mario Tennis

The roster of characters for Mario Tennis Aces continues to grow, with the announcement of two further new players. Both of them making their debut in the sub-series, the chief Magikoopa Kamek and the undead Koopa Troopa Dry Bones will both take to the court in April and May respectively.

Annual “Return to Yharnam” Event is Underway

The two-week mass-community Bloodborne gameplay event began today. You can find out more about the event and get involved via this Reddit thread.

PLAYING THIS WEEK…

A new section we’re trying out; keeping you up-to-date with our gaming lives.

Dale has been playing… 

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE REMASTERED (2017) (PS4)

I am a total COD novice – I’ll say that now. Giving me a PS4 controller and telling me to play a first-person shooter is like giving a chainsaw to a kitten. If you care about your stats, avoid me at all costs.

All that being said, it was certainly a fun first-time experience. A lot of COD fans may not have even touched the COD: MW Remastered. Indeed, I discussed the Prop Hunt mode with a couple of my friends, who had never even heard of it!

It’s so much fun – ideal for parties where you can just pass the controllers around. One team hides, disguised as inanimate objects – depending on the map, this could be something as mundane as a barrel, a chair or a signpost, to something more zany such as a watermelon or an inflatable dolphin. The other team then has to find you, basically by shooting any and all inanimate objects on the map. Gets you thinking. “Should that toolbox be on top of that barrel? I’ll shoot it to find out”. Best one I saw: a watermelon hidden under a seat on a bus. Genius.

Prop Hunt is basically an FPS-infused game of hide-and-seek. Great fun; highly recommended.

Resident Evil 2 Demo Hits Record Player Count

ISSUE 7 — 20 January 2019

by Shahan Ahmed and Dale Hurst

Top Story — RESIDENT EVIL 2 DEMO PLAYER COUNT HITS A RECORD 11K

Capcom has been on the right track in recent years. Monster Hunter World is their best-selling game ever. Positive reception of Mega Man 11. Devil May Cry is looking to be a return to form for Dante and friends. And they’ve also managed to turn the Resident Evil series around. Turning away from the action game direction, they’ve headed back towards their horror roots with Resident Evil 7.

The remake of Resident Evil 2 releases next week on the 25th. Beforehand, Capcom has made available a demo that lets you play the game once for 30 minutes (of course, players have found a way around this). The demo lets you control Leon S. Kennedy as he explores the Raccoon Police Department and what has occurred there. The full game will also have you play as Claire Redfield, so the two will be available to play just like in the original. Where the remake differs is in the use of the RE Engine, which was also used for Resident Evil 7. So the gameplay is modernised and there are no fixed camera angles like there were back then. This has caused Capcom to think of other ways to bring the horror, for example through the lighting, sound design, etc.

Signs point to the launch of this series’ latest instalment being the biggest in the franchise – if the demo’s player count is anything to go by. The RE2 Remake demo has had almost triple the amount of concurrent players on Steam than RE7’s demo had. RE2R hit a peak of 11,000 players while RE7’s ‘Beginning Hour’ demo reached 4,000. Will Capcom hit the ball out of the park once again? We won’t have to wait too long to see…

Shahan’s Opinion: Hopefully this will influence other big game developers to make triple-A horror titles. There’s nowhere near enough high quality scary games to play.

New Character Spotlight — GERAS (Mortal Kombat 11)

April 23rd — get over here! That’s Mortal Kombat 11’s release date, after all. And as it rapidly approaches, NetherRealm Studios are showcasing more of what is to come. They made the controversial decision to make Shao Kahn available to anyone who pre-orders the game. And Ronda Rousey of UFC and WWE fame will now be the voice actor for the classic MK character Sonya Blade.

This week they have released a gameplay trailer. Not only that, they have revealed one of the new characters to be introduced to the series; Geras. He has the ability to control time, use stone and sand as well as teleport in order to rip off bones, break limbs and vice versa. However, in terms of the story, not much is known about him, except that he serves Kronika, who deems herself ‘The Keeper of Time’. She is also completely new to the franchise but is said to be “running the show since the first Mortal Kombat” according to Ed Boon; the series’ co-creator. After the main staple character Raiden kills Shinnok in MKX and affects the timeline, Kronika intervenes to bring balance to the universe. She will be the first female main antagonist for Mortal Kombat.

Shahan’s Opinion: The animation looks to have been much improved from the previous game. Geras’ whole ‘Sands of Time’ aesthetic reminds me of Prince of Persia. So it’s a thumbs up from me!

Dale’s Opinion: You know my opinion on huge-roster games and Mortal Kombat is no exception. Geras’ moves and skills look right up my street. May have found a replacement for Shinnok…

EA CANCELS OPEN-WORLD STAR WARS GAME

Recovered from all of the Star Wars that Disney is forcing upon us? (Geddit? Forcing?) Either way, there’s one addition to the series that has been pulled from your reach. Electronic Arts has cancelled a SW project and it’s not the first time.

Their Vancouver office was reportedly working on an open-world Star Wars game since the shutdown of Visceral Games back in 2017. Before their closure, Visceral (developers of the Dead Space series) were working on a linear SW game codenamed ‘Ragtag’ with Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame as director. Art assets were taken from Ragtag by EA Vancouver and implemented in an open-world game nicknamed ‘Orca’. This is the latest Star Wars game that was cancelled. Why was it cancelled? Because it was deemed that it would take too long to develop and launch. So, it was scrapped, and resources were put towards a smaller Star Wars project without laying anyone off.

EA sent a statement to Kotaku a day after their publication saying,

“There’s been speculation overnight about one of our Star Wars projects. As a natural part of the creative process, the great work by our team in Vancouver continues and will evolve into future Star Wars content and games. We’re fully committed to making more Star Wars games, we’re very excited about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn, and we’ll share more about our new projects when the time is right.”

Shahan’s Opinion: For me, being reminded of Ragtag’s cancellation is sad. Especially being a fan of Amy Hennig’s work, particularly on the Legacy of Kain series.

VALVE’S ARTIFACT HITS LOWEST PLAYER COUNT

For anyone unaware, Valve surprisingly has developed and launched a video game recently. Named Artifact, it is a digital card game (à la Hearthstone) that is based on Valve’s Dota 2 universe. Artifact was also designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of the original trading card game Magic: The Gathering.

It received a mixed reception due to its high learning curve and how it has been monetised. After all, it is not free-to-play like many of its competitors. It is a digital card game you pay for and then you have to pay for the cards you want to play with as well!

Within weeks of launching, the player base dropped and carried on dropping. By the beginning of December it had lost 60% of its players. Now, after two months of the game’s release, Artifact has lost 97% of its players!

Shahan’s Opinion: I’ve played a few card games here and there. Both digital and the real cardboard stuff! I still have my shiny Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards in a binder! But I’ve never played Dota and Artifact’s art style does not appeal to me personally.

GLOSSING OVER…

AGDQ Funds Counted…

In light of last week’s top story, we felt it was necessary to inform readers that AGDQ 2019 raised a fantastic $2.4 million. This comes as the result of over 40,000 donations.

Steam Has 30,000 Games on Platform

While this is a whopping figure, these 30,000 games do not include any associated DLC or software. With the increase in games released on the platform over the past couple of years, it is expected/hoped that Steam will release up to 10,000 games in 2019.

From Bad to Worse for Atlas

Pirates-themed MMO Atlas has gone offline a couple of times due to hacker and cheater activity. Things such as spawning tanks, whales and planes, as well as hackers regaining admin permissions and spawning dragons.

Thank you for reading — we apologise it’s a little short this week, but both of us are sick and it’s been a bit of a quiet week in the gaming world. Hope to see you next issue!

The Apocalypse Cometh… for the Third Time!

ISSUE 2 – 25 November 2018

by Shahan Ahmed and Dale Hurst

Top Story — DARKSIDERS III IS ALMOST HERE!

 

 

The third instalment of the Darksiders series is out on PS4, Xbox One and PC in just a couple of days. The gameplay has taken influence from the Souls series by From Software, but it still retains the Zelda-like gameplay of the previous two as well.

For those not familiar, this series revolves around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Death, Fury (in the place of Famine) and Strife (instead of Pestilence/Conquest). The end of the world occurs in the first game, and War finds himself in the battle without his siblings. There, he is killed and blamed for the Apocalypse. War vows to clear his name, so he is released back to Earth (where 100 years have passed) to search for the true culprit. In the second, you play as his brother Death during the same time period. He looks to clear War’s name for the crime and to find a way to revive mankind.

This time around, you play as the sister Fury as she hunts for the Seven Deadly Sins to restore balance as they are wreaking havoc upon Earth. Rampage (her horse) has just been revealed in the latest ‘Horse with no Name’ trailer.

And if you want to see some Darksiders III gameplay with some funny commentary, check out Funhaus’ video here.

Shahan’s Opinion: If you’re like Dale and you love anti-heroes like Ivy Valentine, you should check out Fury! Right? Am I right? I know right!

Seriously though, I enjoy the Four Horsemen thematic a lot. I prefer War over Death when comparing the first two games. But Fury may take the top spot! My heart sank when Vigil Games shut down, so I am ecstatic the series managed to continue.

Dale’s Opinion: What Shahan said…

The similarities to Ivy are quite striking!

NEXT POTENTIAL HALF-LIFE INSTALMENT TO BE… IN VIRTUAL REALITY

One of the most revered video game series may finally be returning. However, not quite in the way you may expect. A prototype VR headset with the Valve logo was leaked via Imgur. From what we can gather from the leak, this possible new Half-Life instalment looks like more of a virtual reality spin-off/prequel. This may not be the Half-Life 3 that fans of the series were hoping for.

Shahan’s Opinion: I’m not one of those still hoping for Half-Life 3. When it comes to virtual reality, I’ve been excited for the horror games that would launch for the platform. But it is the high price point of VR headsets that is putting me off.

This Week’s Popular Choice — POKÉMON: LET’S GO PIKACHU / EEVEE

 

As Spyro did for us a few weeks ago, nostalgia has taken over the gaming world again with the long-awaited release of Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and -Eevee. Taking the 3D charm and graphical capabilities of Pokémon Go! (with which it has full compatibility) and amalgamating it into the plot of Pokémon Yellow from way-back-when. Plus reducing the Pokédex right the way back down to the original 151, plus a couple of new ones created especially.

And, of course, critics and players alike have loved it. However, some fans are looking further forward to the new core series game — totally separate and standalone — for the Switch due next year.

Shahan’s Opinion: I feel like this is a light-hearted entry and I miss the complexity of the core Pokémon series. It seems ideal for those who never got into the games and don’t want to go through the traditional RPG grind.

Dale’s Opinion: I like the idea of having the Pokémon journey transferred to the big screen for once. For me, the nostalgic element is inviting, but there’s still something lacking. Maybe I’m after a brand new plotline and fully-textured Pokémon (with fur or feathers or whatever). Let’s see what this new instalment for next year will bring.

Negative Vibes — IT GETS WORSE FOR FALLOUT 76

 

 

 

 

Fallout 76 already failed to impress its users and the official critics haven’t had much better to say about it. With only a small percentage reviews on MetaCritic being positive, you don’t need us to tell you how it has been received.

One word that keeps being used to describe it again and again: “soulless”. Other scathing remarks and comments include accusing Bethesda of betraying Fallout’s spirit, and of the game itself having no redeeming features.

Its reputation is beginning to travel, too. If Twitch is anything to go by, interest in Fallout 76 has dropped in a big way.

Shahan’s Opinion: As I mentioned last week, having no NPCs and the story told to you only through audio tapes and emails on terminals is a big letdown for me. I can understand why it is done story-wise, but still.

They are making an effort to fix things with its huge 47GB patch though. I personally feel they need to make a whole new game engine, which they are NOT doing for The Elder Scrolls VI.

Dale’s Opinion: Bethesda have a rep to rebuild. And they will want to do it fast if they want the Fallout series to remain lucrative and profitable for them. If they produce another instalment without addressing all this hate, they’re going to end up with very few fans at all…

New Character Spotlight — NEEKO (League of Legends)

 

 

 

‘The Curious Chameleon’ is the latest to join Riot Games’ roster of heroes. Neeko has a passive shapeshifting ability that makes her appear like one of her allies. Lore has also been released for her, which goes into great detail. For example she is the last of an ancient tribe who managed to escape the death of her homeland thanks to her self-sacrificing tribe elders.

It has been noticed by LoL players that Neeko has a preference for the female champions of the game over the males. Riot Games’ senior narrative writer Matt Dunn has confirmed that Neeko identifies as a lesbian. This makes her the second gay League champion after Varus.

Shahan’s Opinion: She’s cute. Her VA does a great job getting across her inquisitive and quirky personality. I’m loving that theme music for her during the trailer.

KINGDOM HEARTS III GOES GOLD

Five years since it was first announced. Six since Dream Drop Distance was released. And 13 years since KH2. Kingdom Hearts III has wrapped up development and gone gold. It is out on 29th January 2019!

The latest game brings the forces of light and dark to a clash that promises to bring an end to the Xehanort saga. All while visiting Disney worlds, both old and new. From Toy Story and Pirates of the Caribbean to Frozen and Winnie the Pooh. Plus many more.

Speaking of Pooh Bear, KH3 is not officially sold in China because the President is insulted that Winnie is used as a euphemism for him. And China’s stringent censorship laws include banning anything seen as a mockery of the President.

Shahan’s Opinion: One of my most favourite series of all time. I hope we get to meet Leon and the rest of the Final Fantasy crew back at Radiant Garden. Let’s all hope the next saga this game leads to is less of a convoluted mess.

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE NEXT UP AS PR PRIORITY

This month Square Enix held an event for the third anniversary of the Dissidia games, their fighting games series involving Final Fantasy heroes and villains. Tetsuya Nomura, director and character designer of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts fame, was at the event. He spoke to Famitsu and took the chance to explain:

“I just wanted to say that the current PR priority is Kingdom Hearts III, as it was during the ARTNIA event the other day, but after that it’ll be Final Fantasy VII remake, so please don’t worry.”

A Quick Reminiscence:

Let’s look back to the unveiling of the PS3 at E3 on 16th May 2005. It showcased a Final Fantasy VII tech demo that displayed a craftsmanship of incredible heights at its time. And it ignited hopes of fans across the globe that Square would remake the entirety of the original game up to this high standard. But there were no plans for them to do so. Over the years, endless rumours would arise that a remake was being worked on.

A decade passes. After a lot of doubt, the remake was announced to an incredible reaction. This, alongside the reveal of Shenmue 3, made this one of the topmost E3s of all time.

Shahan’s Opinion: Between this series and Kingdom Hearts, I am always alternating between which of the two I would put in the top spot. Incredibly excited for this.

WRECK-IT RALPH BREAKS INTO FORTNITE

Ralph has found himself in a number of fictional arcade games inspired by real games. However, he’s recently been found in the immensely popular Fortnite. He was found on an outdoor big screen in-game on a livestream by MozzzyTwitch.

This is not the first time a character owned by Disney has shown up in Fortnite. For a special event, Thanos was available as a playable character for anyone good enough to grab the Infinity Gauntlet. So is this cameo of Ralph a sign for another special event? Only time will tell…

Shahan’s Opinion: I’ve never played Fortnite. The ‘Battle Royale’ genre does not appeal to me sadly. Super excited for Wreck-It Ralph 2 though! Those 3D models of all the princesses! Dayum!

GLOSSING OVER…

Ocarina of Time turns 20

Who feels old now?! I know I do… (Dale). One of the best and most popular, if not the best and most popular instalment of The Legend of Zelda games celebrated its 20th birthday last week, on 21st November.

Cyberpunk 2077 to be as Refined as Red Dead Redemption 2, says Developers

CDProjekt RED have announced their aim for high-quality games when it comes to the release of their current ongoing project, Cyberpunk 2077. Off the back of the three months it took to rid The Witcher 3 of all bugs, CEO Adam Kiciński has stated that quality will be “of paramount importance” with Cyberpunk.

63 Amiibo Figures to be Released in Limited-Edition Box Set

Nintendo fans will be eagerly awaiting the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in a couple of weeks’ time. The major fans will certainly enjoy the special Smash Bros. amiibo box set that was revealed this week, containing a whopping 63 figures. Some of which, we might add, have not been previously released. Better keep those savings aside…

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