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Overland Finally Gets a Release Date

Overland, the post-apocalyptic turn-based tactics game from Finji, has finally been given a release date for the full version of the game. While early builds have been available to some for a while now, the game is approaching its first finished build and will be releasing on nearly every platform under the sun incredibly soon.

The games developers announced that Overland is not only coming soon but will be available within a matter of weeks on September 19th. Leaving no stone unturned, it will be available for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC but home consoles too, with the game also releasing on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One too. Finji, on top of all of this, have also said that the game will be coming to iOS.

With the success of games like FTL and Into The Breach, games of a similar style like Overland seem to be able to find comfortable homes in more recent times. The game itself sees you travelling across the post-apocalyptic remains of the United States after the arrival of alien-esque creatures. In the words of the team themselves, “fight scary creatures, rescue stranded survivors, and scavenge for supplies like fuel, first aid kits, and weapons”

A new trailer for Overland was released (as seen above) to give folks a better look at the game before it releases to the mass and, yes, you can pet the dogs and take them with you on your travels.

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LEFTWRITEB: A Time to Respec

After a good few weeks (and then some) since my last post, some may be wondering where I’ve been and why the content on the site has decreased a tad. I mean, E3 2019 came and went and not a single new post went up. That said, it’s time to explain and elaborate on how the site will be going through a bit of a respec going forward.

As personal circumstances change, the free time available to spend creating content is something that ever changes and so to must the way I use this site. Equally important in this is the landscape of gaming related content, especially in the written form. Once upon a time, I had the ability to write about the more breaking pieces of news promptly as they happened. But that’s no longer the case and, to be honest, that isn’t necessarily the end of the world.

The thing about games journalism is that it’s a field that has become increasingly cannibalistic. Rather than offering unique insights and something new, most sites will regurgitate news pieces from other sites. When you compare the volume of unique pieces compared to news/fluff pieces, you realise it’s incredibly disproportionate. When you’re all discussing the same things it’s a little inevitable and something that Leftwriteb is just as guilty of. But why would you come here when you can read the latest news from a million and one other places?

That’s why, going forward, the focus will be shifted. Rather than churning out a larger volume of less interesting pieces, the aim will be to post more lengthy and in-depth pieces instead. Quality over quantity. It’s fairly common-sense really but that’s how things will change. It is, I would think, more exciting to see something new that is lengthy and full of the unknown than a news piece that likely seems like all the others dotted around the web.

That’s not to say that news pieces will disappear from the site, of course. Sometimes there are events or announcements that are so important or so stupid that they simply need to be shared. The site will continue to try and bring you the finest pieces of writing and entertainment around, but this time we are just going to be a little more selective. Anything of real interest will still surface in the News section but don’t expect a breakdown of every tiny thing that surfaces within the industry.

Thank you to those who have visited the site and supported it so far and I hope you all come to agree with me that this change is a positive one that will help Leftwriteb continue to grow. With plenty of drafts in the pipeline for deeper dives on news, issues and opinions with the realm of videogames, there’s plenty of meaty articles on the way.

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Videogames: My Necessary Escapism

You might be surprised to learn, as you’re perusing my site dedicated to videogames, that I’m a big fan of the medium. It’s a form of entertainment that has stuck with me since I first dabbled with them as a young kid but my perspective on them has changed a lot in that time. This year, I’ve come to realise they’re one thing in particular for me: necessary escapism.

I still stand by the fact that I think that videogames are the most spectacular form of entertainment; one that can appeal to everyone and anyone. Anybody that denies that they can be a form of art is someone that doesn’t understand what art is. They’re able to impact you emotionally. They can help you understand ideas you didn’t before. They can help people learn or relearn. They can help people experience new things. And, more to the point, they can allow people to escape their normal lives.

When I look back at some of the games that have stuck with me for years to come, it’s because they’ve given me a chance to escape my everyday life and take my mind off of things. There are a few good examples of this that, given recent events, I’d like to look over…

The first game that I think really gave me a chance to escape was actually Fallout 3 towards the end of secondary school. Anyone that knows me well knows that I’m probably a little too obsessed with the series as the large stash of props, promo items and merch in my wardrobe shrine will attest too. I started playing the game most likely in mid 2009, about 6 months after the game originally released. At the time, most of my friends were busy doing what everyone was likely doing when they were around 16; pairing off with girls, doing dumb stuff and dabbling a little (or a lot) with drugs. As a nerd with no hope of any luck with girls and a tendency to try and be senseible, I didn’t really want to partake in the latter, which meant I ended up missing out on a whole lot else as everyone else spent their summer together. It wasn’t an issue on their part, and it’s not something I hold against them: we just went about things in different ways.

So, while house parties were kicking off and people made plans everyday, I chose instead to stay at home. Over the course of many months, I amassed lord knows how many hours in Fallout 3 while everyone else did other things. I completed it multiple times, earned every possible achievement in the main game and all the DLC’s, collected every rare and unique piece of armour and weaponry, found every location etc etc. I do wonder how things would have changed if I’d instead gone out with my friends during that summer or two and the time around then. Instead I was a fat nerd with awfully long hair that stayed at home 99% of the time. It was quite a lonely time if I’m honest. But Fallout 3 kept me busy, kept me occupied and kept me out of trouble and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

That said, there were a good few games that helped me forge strong friendships with the aforementioned group. To this day, some of my closest friends are still the guys I went to school with. From the start of secondary school, around age 11, all the way to our early 20’s - we’ve changed a lot as people in that time but we are still good friends. Throughout the years, through school and college, third-person cover shooters seemed to be something that was a constant.

It started with the Gears of War series, with solid co-operative campaigns and competitive multiplayer to keep us busy and working as a team. Admittedly, we often just spent time messing around mid-game but we spent so much time within the series over the years that one of us even has a Gears of War tattoo now. Similar experiences surfaced from games like the Division and The Last of Us in the years after. Once again, we found games we were all glued too and that gave us a chance to hang out and talk even while we were nowhere near each other. As we began doing different things, getting jobs and meeting new people, third-person cover shooters seemed to ground us and keep us together. To this day, some of the weird interactions we had in those lobbies come up in conversation. While it’s a shame to see split-screen almost vanish, the release of team-based shooters tends to align us each time.

Animal Crossing New Leaf on the other hand is totally different. It’s a game many would argue is for 7 year old girls. It’s a game about logging in every day and populating your town with adorable animals and learning all about them. You’re not shooting enemies, you’re planting flowers and trees. Despite that, it was a game that I ended up putting hundreds of hours in over the space of 6 years or so, starting with my time at college.

I didn’t have a good time of things in college. I ended up studying there for four years, which is perhaps double what most do, because my first two years went so poorly. There was more to that of course, with a lot of things in my life bringing me lower than I’ve ever been. Everyone else I knew was going on to bigger and better things. I was trying and trying but still failing. I felt totally alone. I was constantly exhausted. I had girl troubles galore and a whole plethora of other things brought me to a pretty damn bad place. It’s not something I ever spoke about at the time. I kept it entirely to myself. It’s nearly completely that way today and is something I try not to talk about for the most part.

That said, the game gave me a way to escape all that to a dumb world full of dumb characters. It also gave me a slight sense of routine and something to focus on. Sure, I felt like I had no control over anything and couldn’t cope but I was able to focus on my little town and enjoy the pointless and childish fun. So much so, in fact, that I played it for months at a time. I’d burn out on it slightly, but sure enough within a few months again I’d be back to playing it nearly every day for weeks and weeks at a time. No matter what was going on in the disaster around me, this colourful stupid game was something simple that I could manage. I eventually managed to pull myself out of the pretty significant slump I was in, but New Leaf stayed with me. It was super pointless really, but I think I genuinely owe that game a lot.

It’s only since the end of 2018 that I found myself back in a state even close to the one I was in during college. As a general rule of thumb I’m a pretty happy and relaxed person, but the past 5 months as of writing have been pretty relentless. One thing after another comes along to kick you while you’re down. Again, it’s something I don’t talk about too much and have only recently begun openly discussing with a few select people as I’ve found myself buckling a little. To those people, I’d also like to say thank you as well. You’re my golden girls and I would be in such a worse state if it wasn’t for you guys.

What was different about the past few months is that it also changed my opinion on games. I usually used them to try and escape things but this time around I found myself unable to enjoy those too. I picked up Metro Exodus at launch and try as I did to enjoy playing it, I just couldn’t. My vast back catalogue just didn’t appeal to me. Nothing I tried to play could take my mind off things. The one thing I could usually rely on wasn’t working. Well, all except for Fortnite. Sure I had plenty of games I had outright spent my money on but this daft free-to-play battle royale was the one that stuck.

I’m still going through a crap time of things now if I’m honest, but having challenges to complete and people to play this with has kept me busy. I’m getting there, if a little slower than I had hoped. Having been through a stage like this before, once I eventually started to realise (thanks to a bit of a nudge) that I was in this kind of place again, I at least know how to tackle it. But Fortnite, as dumb as it is, is the only game I’ve really been playing for more than 10 minute stints. Nothing sells escapism more than watching a woman dressed as a cactus plant shotgun a ninja in the face and then dance in front of his dying body.

Maybe the fact I’m not too terrible at it has some merit, I mean who doesn’t like a little useless ego boost? But it’s also thanks to Fortnite that I met one of the most wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure to meet in years. The game led to me sharing so many laughs with someone my sides sometimes genuinely hurt. I have both the game and her to thank for that. And though that’s seemingly fallen apart and I have nobody but myself and my social ineptitude to blame, I can at least say that the game was good fun when I had decent company. I do wonder if that fact that I can’t seem to escape into games as I normally would is partly to blame for this ongoing slump? Whatever the case, this daft game and the joy I had playing duos gave me at least a little respite from being repeatedly kicked while I was down.

It’s not exactly on-brand for me to write such personal pieces. As it stands, I’m trying to throw myself into my work across various projects in order to keep me sane and busy and with games currently not holding my interest, it got me to thinking why I often play them to begin with. I have no doubt there are many like me that play them for the exact same reasons. A chance to escape the norm is a welcome one. I may well test the patience of plenty of people around me and I might be struggling to keep a pretend smile on my face but for anyone that happens to read this and finds themselves in a similar situation, know that things do get better.

From experience, I can tell you that there’s no real way of knowing how long that can take. Could be a week. A month. Maybe 6 months like I’m finding at the moment. But whatever you do, find what allows you to switch off a little. Do what makes you happy. Talk to people about it if you need to. Just do what you can to try and make things better for you, and be grateful for those people that stick with you. Videogames are, normally, my necessary escapism. Whatever yours is, indulge in it and don’t be ashamed of the fact that you might not feel ok. Nobody is happy all the time. Just know you will be in time. And hey, if all else fails, I highly recommend New Leaf. Who doesn’t want their best friend to be a green penguin that wears a pilots cap?

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Industry Trend: Battle Royale Can't Battle It Out

It was with the explosive popularity of the likes of Fortnite, PUBG and The Culling that the battle royale genre was catapulted to the forefront of videogames. Whether its the boggling numbers of players that were playing such titles, the desperate scrambles by developers and publishers to cash in on the trend or the sheer volume of indistinguishable titles that began to surface, battle royale games have to battle amongst themselves and, ultimately, that is a fight that’s doomed to fail.

The genre itself isn’t new, of course. Going back a number of years, the growing success of the genre can be seen within mods for ARMA 2 and Minecraft, experiences that allowed players to duke it out amongst themselves before the genre had taken off as it has now. What really brought such games to the forefront of player, developer and publisher conscience was the marriage of intense multiplayer action and the spectacle of personalities and streaming, with Twitch growing in popularity just as rapidly as the genre and associated games were themselves.

While the focus seemed to shift, the idea was the same. DayZ came and went. The Culling came and went. The Culling 2 came and went even quicker. PUBG had a larger foothold, especially so as it made the jump to Xbox One. It was a situation that began to grow and showed no sign of slowing down. What came next though was unprecedented. Fortnite, a free to play experience, became a behemoth. Over the course of several months, the game exploded in popularity. Streamers like” Ninja” began pulling in ginormous numbers of viewers while they played and special in game events, including a crossover event with Avengers: Infinity War, kept things fresh and changing. It became integral to kid culture and the in-game purchases became a must have. It’s worth noting that the aforementioned was something that drew publishers from miles around like vultures too.

Other popular series then began introducing their own take on the genre, with Call of Duty, Battlefield and Red Dead Redemption 2 each promising their own unique spin on a gameplay style people were becoming perhaps too familiar with. Over the course of just a few years, battle royale games have become a staple in the videogames industry across the board and seem to show no signs of slowing down, especially so as Respawn Entertainment watches their new title, Apex Legends, drawing in a playerbase from scratch way quicker than anybody likely thought possible. Only 3 days in, 10 million players had given the game a whirl so another large free-to-play game enters the fray.

But it’s important to remember that what goes up must come down. And just like a player skydiving to the map below, the popularity of battle royale will surely come down. The industry obsession with trying to stake a claim in the royale riches is an unsustainable one.

Imagine, if you will, that each gamer that’s interested in battle royale games is represented by a small counter. With the genre having been in the public eye for some time now, it’s safe to say at this point that those who are at all interested in the genre are already within this huge stack of counters. Sure, there’s a small handful of new counters added to the stack here and there, but the amount is so few that we already have a ginormous stack of counters that doesn’t seem to really change in volume. Now imagine that these counters have to be distributed out to each title that wants their attention.

So, we begin dishing out these counters. A chunk of them goes to PUBG. Another chunk of counters goes to Fortnite. Another stack to Apex Legends and another stack to Call of Duty’s Blackout mode. This distribution goes on and on until we have dished out the counters. It’s after this that you begin to see the issue: there’s only so many counters to hand out and it’s rare that these counters move from their original pile to another. The genre has been around long enough that it’s not really drawing in new players because those who are excited by the prospect of battle royale are already involved. There’s only so many players to go around when there’s so many various playerbases.

As new games release and as time goes on, these counters begin to move away and shift at a rate that isn’t replenished. More and more battle royale games surface without there being enough players to sustain them. We’ve already seen small rumblings from games like Realm Royale, The Darwin Project and H1Z1 as they try to maintain themselves in such a crowded market. There simply isn’t enough to go around. This isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, with “games as a service” already having been hit by the exact same issue. A little before battle royale was a publishers favourite phrase, the likes of Ubisoft and Activision were desperate to get us hooked on “games as a service”; experiences that never really let us go and change over time to try and keep us constantly playing and, more often than not, always reaching into our wallet too. Just like battle royale, these games each carved out their own pool of dedicated players: Destiny fans, The Division fans, Overwatch fans, Sea of Thieves fans, Fallout 76 fans. Really, battle royale games are no different as evident by Fortnite using an ever changing landscape and challenges to keep players engaged. Each one tried to become your main gaming priority. The problem was that if you played one, you very much tended to stick to just the one and there was little overlap.

With The Division 2 and Anthem on the way, the issue is only going to get worse. Developers and publishers want more and more of our time (and, ultimately, money) but we only have so much to give. The shared problem with “games as a service” and battle royale games is that their approach and content is always shifting and in order to stay relevant and this means you have to truly pay attention. If you’re doing that and you’re attempting to stay within or ahead of the meta, you haven’t got the time to learn the details of multiple massive games at a time.

As more and more titles surface, this issue gets worse and worse and the many piles of counters under each banner begin to thin out. As they do so, this array of titles begin to become unsustainable and then disappear.

There are two avenues that you can go down to get aboard the bandwagon: either get your game out fast and get ahead of the competition or take your time and hope that your game speaks for itself upon launch. We’ve seen how well the former pans out already.

Boss Key Productions, the studio behind the now deceased battle royale game Radical Heights, jumped aboard the battle royale hypetrain following the rather disastrous launch of their previous title, Lawbreakers. The aforementioned shooter failed to find an audience within such a saturated market so they aimed to turn things around by, unfortunately, jumping into yet another saturated market. The studio, co-founded by Cliff Bleszinski, did at least attempt to offer a new twist on the genre but the game was dubbed by the studio itself as “extreme early access” and wound up being too broken and buggy to get a solid foothold. It was only a month before it was deemed a failure and the last ditch attempt by the studio to stay afloat failed.

The same thing happened with the launch of The Culling 2, a game that shut down after an even smaller window. A sequel to the first The Culling game, The Culling 2 fell far short of the generally positive reception of the first game and was quickly deemed a disaster. The royale game that needed 50 players per match managed to dwindle to a concurrent player count of single digits within 48 hours of release. Fans of the original believed that the developers had jumped into a sequel far too soon and was chasing money. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off.

At the other end of the spectrum however is the idea that you can release something later on so long as it is polished and has something fresh to offer. Perhaps the weirdest way of battling things out with other players is to do so using your skills with Tetriminoes, an experience offered for free with Tetris 99 on the Switch. While the surprise announcement and release of the game seems hasty, it offers a fresh take on a popular game that appeals to so many.

Meanwhile, established series are eager to be part of the conversation, with Call of Duty becoming home to its own Blackout Mode, a PUBG-esque experience that was developed instead of an explosive campaign like every CoD game before it. The beta for the mode drew many players in and, once again, a new spin on something so many people are familiar with seemed to catch peoples attention. These established series provide solid foundations for newer styles, ideally meaning these experiences are more polished from the get go.

Other series are weighing in too. Red Dead Redemption may well have an online mode that is still growing and developing but an element of that experience is their Most Wanted mode, a survival of the fittest. With the critical and commercial success of the game, players already looked at the game favourably so an online mode that is actively in beta didn’t seem to phase as many as you would think. It’s not the only game that is adding in royale elements after the launch though, as Battlefield V is slated to be getting a battle royale experience of its own later this year.

It’s an understandable move by EA: battle royale is where the players are and is also where the money is so why not chase that with a series that’s already made a name for itself. The issue is that many Battlefield players consider the game to be a little half-baked. The game itself sits at a user rating on Metacritic of around 3… and that’s if you round up too. The prospect that another large chunk of the game is not only unfinished but not even available until months after release is telling of just how desperately this trend will be chased. It’s almost undeniable that the game was release way before it should have been but the risk was taken in an attempt to cash in on winter sales numbers and the shifting focus of gamers at large. EA has their sights fixed on royale but it’s even worse than you think.

Why? Because not only are they competing with larger adversaries but they will soon be actively competing against themselves. Under the publishing arm of EA, Respawn Entertainment has just launched their own battle yoyale experience as we’ve discussed; Apex Legends, a shooter that takes elements of their previous Titanfall series and layers them with a lick of battle royale and hero-shooter paint. While the new title is doing well for itself so far, no doubt partially because it is also free to download, when Battlefield finally launches its own royale mode, there will be two similar experiences competing against each other that have both surfaced from the very same publishing branch. That’s a bizarre scenario in itself, especially when there is so much other competition in the field as it is.

It’s a little ironic really as it was over saturation and competition that led EA to kill off Respawn’s last series, Titanfall. Having launched Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 within a week of each other, and positioned Titanfall only a week before the release of 2016’s Call of Duty entry. Rather than delivering a 1-2-punch to CoD, it just meant that Titanfall had to go up against two other better established series of similar genre and caused it to ultimately fail. Now Respawn is choosing to once again get involved in a very busy area of the games industry. It’s doing well for itself so far but that may not last long and it may well find itself struggling once again down the line.

The carpet will be pulled out from under royale eventually. It’s only a matter of time before we see these games begin to wane. Rest assured though that something else will take the limelight and and some other craze will pop up.

Ultimately, battle royale is just the latest genre to become the favourite. We’ve seen first-person shooters flood the industry. We’ve seen unnecessary multiplayer modes tacked on to singleplayer experiences be all the rage once upon a time too. We have seen lord knows how many open-world third-person action games surface that offer very vast worlds with little in them (something I’ve touched upon before) and now we see everyone jump aboard a new ship. Eventually, that ship is going to sink. Battle royale games have begun battling it out but I’m not so sure there’ll be any winners in the end.

What do you think of the battle royale craze as it continues to grow? Are you enjoying any of the big hitters in the field or would you be glad to see the back of them? Let us know below.

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Wii Shopping Channel Closes Its Doors

January 30th is the day in which the Wii Shop channel will close for good. Having been in operation for almost 12 years, the storefront will shut and you will no longer be able to purchase WiiWare of Virtual Console products. Nintendo also confirmed that the remaining video-on-demand apps for Wii will also be discontinued.

Around nine months ago, Nintendo removed the ability to add Wii Points to your account, signalling this move was coming, but thankfully any points still sat on existing accounts can be used up until the service comes to an end. With the digital store being home to a variety of games that haven’t serviced on the digital stores since, now is the perfect time to grab the titles before they’re gone for good.

It’s also important to keep in mind that those with purchases will want to make sure they’re downloaded before the stores servers are shut off, or otherwise they won’t be able to access their purchases from February and onwards. This also applies to any other downloadable channels, as well as vital game patches for any games that need them.

Of course, the saddest part of this news is that the music for the channel, arguably the greatest and most timeless piece of music ever created, won’t be available directly from the original source.

What are your thoughts on the closure of the store? Are you sad to see it go? Or are you surprised to learn that the store was still running up until now anyway? Let us know below!

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LeftWriteB's Loot Box: Original Game Soundtrack Discs & Their Stories

“LeftWriteB’s Loot Box” is a series that highlights the stranger parts of our gaming collection. Whether it be collectables, merchandise, custom creations or more, we aim to bring you a look at some items you probably won’t see on the shelves of every retailer. Today’s focus: a collection of the more interesting original game soundtracks.

A soundtrack can make or break a game. Just as solid gameplay can help you gloss over the other issues a game may throw at you, a solid game soundtrack can stay with you for years after you finish it. While many special editions of games now include a soundtrack CD or a digital download for the music, physical discs for game soundtracks aren’t exactly a common occurrence. Over the years I’ve been able to acquire a good amount of them for games that have left a lasting impression on me. Sure, many of them were rewards from Club Nintendo, but the likes of The Sexy Brutale, Little Nightmares, Bioshock Infinite, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and The Witcher 3 don’t have as much of a backstory as the collected ones we are going to look at.

The Last of Us Original Score

The Last of Us is a game that many consider the best of the last decade, or one of them at the very least. Many aspects of the game were masterfully crafted; the story, the visuals, the voice-acting, the soundtrack. My lord, that score was something. The games main theme, which is retooled in various ways through the course of the game, is a haunting and beautiful piece of music that has stayed with me since the day I heard it but so too have other pieces. I didn’t own a PS3 at the time of the original launch, and instead went straight to a friends house on the day of the games release so I could simply sit and and watch him play. Months after, I watched the entire game via a YouTube playthrough and enjoyed it even more. The world captivated me even though I was yet to sit and play it properly myself.

It wasn’t until I bought a PS4 during the initial year of the consoles lifespan that I finally got to play it for myself and it remains one of the finest games I’ve ever had the joy to play. It is one of the most memorable experiences I will ever have and the lasting impression it left on me years after I’d concluded the story is certainly in large part because of the score. Thank you, Gustavo Santaolalla and those who helped make such compelling music.

Animal Crossing: Your Favourite Songs

A slightly more chipper soundtrack, this is actually an accidental favourite of mine. Animal Crossing is a series I’ve sunk literally hundreds of hours into over the years. I played plenty of Wild World on DS and, over the course of many years, had quite the time with New Leaf. I’d find myself glued to the latter solidly for months at a time before hitting a brick wall and putting it down. I’d tire of it and trade the game in. But, of course, 6 months later I’d want to play it again and would buy it yet again to eventually repeat this same cycle five times in the space of five years. Finally, I learnt that I should just keep it and not be such an idiot. One thing that remained pleasing through each binge I went through though was the ambient soundtrack that adjusted according to season, time of day and weather. Through countless hours playing, I always marvelled at how delightful the music was and how it always fit the mood.

When Club Nintendo were offering a whole CD of the ambient music, I jumped at the chance to grab myself a copy. Of course, I probably should have taken a second to think about it and read things properly. As it turns out, the CD was not a selection of the beautiful ambient soundtrack but instead a selection of K.K. Slider singing. Rest assured, his voice is not quite as soothing as tranquil tunes of a starry New Leaf midnight. Even still, the disc being covered in a cutesy Animal Crossing leaf pattern is a nice touch.

Super Smash Bros. Premium Sound Selection

Another item from Club Nintendo, the premium sound selection taken from Super Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS offered fans two discs of the finest pieces of music Smash Bros. had to offer. Having been introduced to the series so many years ago, Smash Bros. Melee was a cornerstone of the gaming time spent between me, my brother and our two cousins when we were kids. I stuck with the series for every iteration since and each one provided hours of friendship straining fun.

Not only was the artwork on this case great, but the two discs had a nice blue and red contrast with the Smash logo cutting through them. Given this was a selection from the WiiU and 3DS versions, these colours were undoubtedly chosen as they were the ones associated with the two console platforms. With Smash Bros. Ultimate having just been released, we’ve been treated to even more spectacular music and these two discs are just a small taste of what players get to listen to in the latest instalment in the series. More importantly though, Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS had the finest arrangements for Zelda and Luigi you’ll find.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Soundtrack

Ocarina of Time is widely considered one of the best games ever created. It’s also one of my favourite games of all time and that might sound a little stereotypical but my reasons behind this are less typical. While I didn’t get to play it on the Nintendo 64 because of my age, the game still managed to take over a huge portion of my childhood. Having had a copy of the Zelda Collection thrown in to our bundle when we bought the Gamecube, I jumped into Ocarina after I’d replayed the Wind Waker demo roughly 700 times. The game completely hooked me but, as I was so about nine years old, it was a difficult game for me to conquer. In fact, it took me about 3 years to beat it. Every time I got stuck, I’d abandon the game for 6 months before eventually returning to it and miraculously solving what had stumped me for so long before. After a good few instances of this happening, I eventually defeated Ganon. Maybe I should’ve learned my lesson from this approach to games before picking up Animal Crossing: New Leaf years later - I should’ve just stuck with ‘em.

When the 3DS first launched and I was one of the few that bought them on day one and the news this was coming to the handheld in reimagined 3D made me just a smidge excited. To this day, the entire soundtrack holds a special place in my heart as the game was so present in my younger gaming years. This soundtrack came to Club Nintendo and was an instant acquisition. It was worth it just for the memories that the Hyrule Field theme can conjure, but the inclusion of everything else (and the Windmill Hut music) shows that the soundtrack is just as good now as it ever was.

The Legends of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Soundtrack (Japanese Import)

Also included on this Zelda Gamcube collection was the entirety of Majora’s Mask, the infamous Zelda release that followed Ocarina. I played this game in a very similar way, finding roadblocks that stumped me for what seemed like an eternity. I never actually got that far into Majora’s Mask and didn’t even manage to get past the first dungeon; the timing constraints were something I couldn’t overcome as a kid. What did baffle me though was how different Termina was to Hyrule. Everything was in a state of impending doom, people went about their days instead of standing still forever and the horrifying and mentally scarring image of the Moon hovered above you judging your life choices.

It was an experience, though small, that stayed with me. I’d never felt that kind of dread in a game as a kid, apart from perhaps seeing Ganon on horseback outside Hyrule Castle for the first time. Once again, when the game came to 3DS, I found myself eager to jump in and tackle the game with a brain that (as far as I could tell) was a little more well versed in puzzles, combat and gaming. But even having only scratched the surface years ago, the main title theme and clock tower theme still play in my head almost far too often. Having kept an eye on the soundtracks listed on eBay, I finally got to buying this Japanese import of the games soundtrack. While the music alone was a treat, the eerie artwork on the case and discs was so encapsulating of my feelings towards the game that it was a must-have when I saw it.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Sound Selection

The thunderous success of the original Wii was what helped catapult the console into so many homes. While many, myself included, found themselves hooked on Wii Sports, the main reason I wanted a Wii was for Twilight Princess. As we’d already discussed, I had fallen in love with the series thanks to the collection I had on Gamecube and couldn’t wait to transition from wrapping up Wind Waker to a new adventure. I’d been nagging my parents to get me a copy for Gamecube before I owned a Wii but the scarcity and price made that a slightly unrealistic dream.

When we managed to get a Wii for my birthday (but opened it a month early because I couldn’t contain my excitement) I got a copy of Twilight Princess too. I only played through the game the once, but strolling through the shootout at the Hidden Village and taking part in the jousting match on the Bridge of Eldin were unforgettable in the most detailed Zelda game to date (at the time). When the pack rereleased in HD for WiiU and came with a soundtrack and awesome Wolf Link amiibo, I picked it up on day one. Sure, I didn’t own a WiiU at the time but the soundtrack and amiibo were worth it anyway.

The Legends of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Original Soundtrack

Confession time: I’ve never played A Link Between Worlds. I bought a copy some time ago. I was and still am excited to play it. The thing is, my game library continues to expand as my time to play through it continues to shrink. Having enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, a game that was a little controversial, I couldn’t wait to jump in to a new handheld Zelda game that was getting far more positive buzz. I actually lost track of how long I’ve had this game in my to-do list and with the Switch now having taken my 3DS’ place, I may never get around to playing it at all.

That said, I’ve had a great time with every Zelda game I’ve ever played and had confidence in Between Worlds. When Club Nintendo had the soundtrack available, I nabbed it before it was too late in preparation. At the very least, the artwork for the soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous and two whole discs worth of music is something no sensible person would turn down for what was effectively free. Like the Smash discs, it came with two of alternating colours though this time for to reflect the worlds of Hyrule and Lorule. With the Master Sword sitting peacefully in the Lost Woods adorning the cover, it’s just as great to look at as it is to listen to.

For more gaming oddities, stay tuned to “LeftWriteB’s Loot Box” for more gaming oddities.

[leftwriteb]

What a time time be alive for games. Between #reddeadredemption2 #supersmashbros #battlefield5 my back catalogue and trying to find enjoyment in #fallout76 I’ve got enough to play for months and that’s before the 2019 slate begins 😩 https://www.instagram.com/p/BrLeZt4jNDZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=x8zq0pqwl9uf

[leftwriteb]

Having completely forgotten this was being released, I returned home from a shitty day to find over 400 pages of beautiful artwork😍the key to my heart are artbooks and fancy journals I’ll never actually write in #zelda #breathofthewild #artbook #conceptart #switch #nintendo #freshbooks #bookshelffetish https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqf1osBjzCi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o97ynutghgox

[leftwriteb]

"Detective Pikachu" Movie Trailer Released

Warner Bros. released the first trailer for their upcoming Detective Pikachu movie, a live-action retelling of the game of the same name that first surfaced back in 2016. The trailer reveals the more realistic style that’s been used for the Pokémon in the film, as well as an introduction to the electric mouse detective himself.

As shown in the trailer above, the movie focuses on the adventures of Detective Pikachu and his pal Tim who seems to be the only person that can understand what Pikachu is saying. As you’ve probably already realised, Pikachu, or rather his spoken ramblings, are also voiced by none other than Ryan Reynolds.

Of course, Pikachu isn’t the only Pokémon that will show up in the film, with the short trailer giving us a quick look at Jigglypuff, Charizard, Greninja, Mr Mime and more. What’s clear is that this is a very different kind of Pokémon movie from the anime ones most fans are used to. Explosions, chases and a more gritty world mean that the film might stray a little from the source material but given the different tone and visual style Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are going for, that shouldn’t be surprising.

Something that seems to have really divided fans is the semi-realistic designs used for the Pokémon in question have received. Rather than the more cutesy looks we saw in trailers for Pokémon Go, your favourite pocket monsters now look more like the animals and creatures that inspired them. Psyduck has feathers, Jigglypuff and Pikachu have fur and Mr Mime… well, Mr Mime is just plain creepy and weird.

Detective Pikachu is due in theatres on May 10th 2019.

[leftwriteb]

Industry Trend: Sony Drops Out. E3 Is Dying. Maybe That's a Good Thing?

Sony has decided it won’t have a showcase at E3 in 2019. Some see this as a terrible sign. However, even with this news, the expo has been slowly dying for some time. It might seem all doom and gloom but maybe this is all a good thing? We break down why the absence of the E3 Expo may do the industry some good.

It’s been a good few months since we all settled in to watch the events of 2018's E3 event unfold. We got to see what the beloved yearly showcase had to offer us whether it was news, surprises or cringe-worthy out-of-touch presentations. That said, the event came and went and it seems to have become largely forgettable already… Why? Because E3 is a relic of the past and something that probably doesn't need to exist anymore.

There’s no denying that E3 is a great time for video games and acts as both a celebration and showcase of what games can be, and how varied our medium is. With such a variety of genres and experiences at hand, we get to show the world just how great gaming can be and how it can resonate with people of all ages and origins. Make no mistake, that kind of event is incredibly important and is something that will always be cherished by game devs and players alike. I, like many others, absolutely love E3 week. For the past few years I’ve been able to book the time off for it so I can watch it all happen live as it happens. Sure, it usually takes place in the early hours of the morning for those of us in the UK but I don’t mind; some people go to watch their favourites sports teams or their favourite bands but this was the kind of event that could truly grab my attention.

To me, games are an important part of my life. Whether it be for the escapism of visiting weird and wonderful places, the friendships forged over multiplayer or the excitement shared leading up to a new release, there was a whole host of reasons games spoke to me and with E3 having become the golden boy of gaming conventions and shows, I always do what I can to watch. 

The past few years worth of shows have had their fair share of memorable moments. 2015 gave us Bethesda’s first showcase, the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Cuphead. 2016 gave us the reveal of Death Stranding, Project Scorpio and Spider-Man. 2017 gave us Metroid Prime 4, the Shadow of the Colossus remake and a trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2. 2018’s E3 Expo, on the other hand, didn’t have anything that truly stood out for me. There were some surprises for sure but it all seemed to fade from memory within the space of a week. Some of the showcases given seemed almost pityful and lacking in content, with others arguably being dragged out longer than they should have been.

This isn’t something that’s unique to 2018’s show though; past E3 expo’s have seen an interesting shift and style as the landscape in which E3 sits becomes a more competitive one. E3 used to be the pinnacle of gaming events but that’s not the case anymore. As games have become increasingly embraced, more shows have expanded in influence and instead of having one huge blowout event to give us our news, we now have several. E3 is dying and, if you haven’t heard, Sony has recently hammered a further nail in the poor things coffin.

The news broke that Sony wasn’t planning on attending E3 2019 and that no presentation would be had either at the convention centre or elsewhere. Sony aren’t the first major player to turn their backs on E3 of course, with Nintendo opting to focus on their more polished Nintendo Direct presentations in more recent years. Presentations from the likes of Ubisoft, Square Enix and EA have been spotty at best and, to boot, PlayStation has an event of its own in the form of PSX. On top of all of this, other events are starting to step on E3’s toes. With so many events scattered throughout the year, there’s inevitably going to be a bit of a battle between them to see who can bring the biggest and best news to their own showfloors. PAX, EGX, GDC, Comic-Con, Paris Games Week, the Game Awards, Gamescom, QuakeCon, BlizzCon; everyone wants a slice of the pie. With so many shows in need of content and with only so much to go around, somebody has to draw the short straw.

One of the reasons so many events have sprung up and grown over the years is that it gives reveals a chance to breathe. Too often an announcement can be made and it is buried by bigger, better or simply more controversial news showing up immediately after. E3 is a prime example of this; with the conversation following such events always centering around a small handful of bullet-points, lesser known titles are being swept under the rug all too soon. By spreading out such things through the course of the year, it gives things a chance to hold the spotlight a little longer. What’s more, it also allows for more flexibility in release schedules; there’s often expectations attached to announcements and reveals that the content will surface within specific time frames afterwards. If you had the chance to reveal your game in January instead of June, people will instead have different preconceptions of when they will see more of the game and when it will release. A more flexible schedule allows for more flexible announcements and more flexible responses.

Why does this matter? Because game release schedules are getting more and more hectic. Just as they do within games conventions and conferences, releases are now battling it out for the best time to play their hand. Winter and Fall schedules are now home to countless big releases and all within a few weeks of each other. In years past we had Battlefield, Titanfall 2 and Call of Duty all surface within a matter of days. Both Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider took considerable hits in sales because they had been forced to face off against game releases that would unfortunately outmatch them. This year alone, we learned that Anthem, Days Gone and Crackdown 3 were all going to be released on the very same day in February of 2019 - something that has thankfully changed since.

E3 is arguably the largest of those gaming showcases and is seemingly shrinking. This may well open the doors to a more varied and well-balanced schedule for the plethora of conventions spread throughout the year and, in turn, the multitude of games we get to enjoy too. A less competitive peak period would also allow for games to get the focus they deserve in periods of the year we don’t often see larger titles. Would the original Dying Light have done so well if it had released in late 2014 instead of January 2015? Would the Witcher 3 have become the enormous hit it was if it had been released in the middle of the huge Fall 2014 releases such as Destiny, Fifa and the Grand Theft Auto V rerelease?

The absence of Sony at E3 next year also presents a unique situation for those who still plan on showing up. While it can be argued that Sony’s absence may well strike a significant blow against the game industry’s annual trade show, it does free up a significant amount of space for Microsoft and Nintendo to potentially occupy. It’s the first time in the event’s 23-year history that Sony hasn’t been there but with it being one of the strongest presences at the event it could prove an opportunity for others; maybe Nintendo could return to the E3 stage in full force. It’s also foolish to deny that Microsoft struggled during the first few years of this console generation. The Xbox has certainly come along way since and is in a stronger position than ever; Microsoft has done well to introduce new policies and features into their console infrastructure that have caught peoples attention. With the host of studios they have also taken control of, they may well be able to get of to a flying start in the generation to come. With an E3 stage next year that’s more spacious than ever, both Microsoft and Nintendo have the chance to grab it with both hands and show people what they’ve got that PlayStation hasn’t. More fierce competition brings fierce change.

With PlayStation having scrapped plans for PSX this year, there’s certainly a sizeable lack of Sony within the next year or so. Maybe they want to have PSX 2019 be one huge PlayStation celebration that’s topped with a PS5-shaped cherry? Maybe Sony just doesn’t want to have to be confined by the typical structure of games media year by year? Maybe Sony simply hasn’t got much to show off next year? Whatever the case may be, the gradual withering of E3 as the industry staple is actually a sign of something bigger.

We’re now spoilt for choice. While there was once a time where we had only one event to turn to, we now have a multitude of them. There is no longer just one celebration of the medium we love so much, there is a multitude of them. Gaming isn’t that hobby people didn’t understand like it used to be. Gaming isn’t seen as the cause of troubled youth like it used to be. Gaming isn’t the niche medium it used to be. We are now at a point where gaming is something that’s just part of nearly everyone’s day to day lives. We don’t need a single celebration of our industry because it’s celebrated consistently. While the slow death of E3 is certainly a shame, it symbolises more that the industry is getting bigger and better year by year.

The death of E3 might very well change the landscape of games media and the industry as a whole but it’s been allowed to happen because changes are already underway. Gaming media has embraced the culture of YouTuber’s, Twitch Streamers and Infuencers. It’s expanded into cross-media promotions. It’s working more closely with the fanbases that follow it. Games are forming passionate communities of players. Games are becoming services that are captivating players for longer than they used to. Games as a platform and medium have changed and so to must the means used to showcase them.

Sony has dropped out of E3. They’re undoubtedly gearing up for their next console and want to make sure that it surfaces with a far share games and revelations. Looking at the release schedule for big games going forward, they seem to all be releasing in the first half of 2019 or don’t have a solid date at all. Big changes are coming for PlayStation. Big changes are coming for gaming. Big changes are coming for E3.

E3 Is dying. Maybe that's a good thing? Change can be a good thing. In the next few years we will see new consoles, new approaches to gaming experiences and new ways that developers and publishers choose to interact with their players. For a group of people that love to spend their 1-UP’s and start things over, why not let our favourite trade show do the same…

[leftwriteb]

Preview & Review: Fallout 76 BETA (25+ Hours)

As the timer counts down towards the release of Fallout 76, players who pre-ordered the game had a chance to play it early in the games “Break-it Early Test Application”, otherwise known as the Beta test. While the time it was available was limited, it was pitched as the full game and gave us plenty of insights into what’s to come.

First things first: I was playing the game on your average Xbox One S. What’s also important to remember is that this was a pre-release build of the game so it may not necessarily be representative of the final product. That said, with the Beta being so close to the launch, I would personally argue that the released Beta build will be near identical to what we can expect to see on release. Bethesda has said they plan on supporting and tweaking the game for a long time to come so for all we know things could be moulded and changed considerably over time (as more increasingly seems to be the case with games nowadays). But we will take what we’ve seen for now and extrapolate from their, shall we?

As you can imagine, the announcement of an always-online Fallout multiplayer experience was met with a mixed response, with many fans of the series concerned about how such a dramatic shift in genre may change the franchise and gameplay experience. Furthermore, the balancing and utilisation of PvP modes was also a point of contention, with fans concerned that intrusive players and behaviour could harm or outright ruin the game for more passive players.

So, with Fallout 76 trying to balance the old and familiar with the new and uncertain, what can players expect from the game, and will it offer something for newbies and series veterans alike? Fallout 76 is a strange tale. For a fan that’s put thousands of hours into the series over the years, I’m still not sure what kind of game it wants to be or who it is aimed at. Is it a good game? Yes. But we really need to talk about what kind of game it is.

From the get-go, it’s been apparent that this isn’t the kind of Fallout game most have become accustomed to since Bethesda took the reigns with Fallout 3 just over a decade ago. While we would still have a whacky post-apocalyptic open-world to explore, we would now be able to do so with friends and foes alike. The series was going to be venturing into the realm of multiplayer and would feature a sprawling always-online landmass that was barren of human NPC’s. For a franchise that has a purely singleplayer RPG foundation, the transition to a genre that offered rotating events, PvP encounters and no human NPC interaction was a prospect that scared many but excited others.

Over the course of the numerous days the beta was available, I managed to accumulate just shy of 25 hours with the game which gave me a good chance to see much of the world, complete a number of quests and events, slay a few hundred enemies and even take on a handful of other players. While I was able to dabble in many of the gameplay aspects Fallout 76 has to offer, it should be kept in mind that the world is around four times the size of “the Commonwealth” from Fallout 4, so there was inevitably plenty I wasn’t able to see and do as well. That said, I can tell you now that my time with the beta was extensive enough for me to know what to expect on launch day and it was, for better or worse, an incredibly mixed bag.

Your time in West Virginia starts exactly as you would expect: you wake up in your vault and have to venture to the surface. It’s only 25 years or so since the bombs fell but it’s “Reclamation Day” and your vault is opening up so you can head out and begin rebuilding America. Your Overseer has already left to pursue her own specific mission directives so you aim to track her whereabouts, find out what’s going on and (naturally) get sidetracked by everything else on the way.

Fallout 76 wastes no time in getting you out the door and ready to adventure, with the opening sequence being over in a matter of minutes. You’ll be introduced to the core mechanics by some informative displays and robots on your way out but the aim is to have you exploring as soon as possible. You’ll step out of your vault with what’s likely to be a good few other dwellers too and once you have, a sprawling wasteland awaits. 

With this game being situated so close to the date of the bombs dropping, the wasteland you find yourself in looks vastly different from those we’ve explored in the series so far. With your surroundings still largely intact and with the dead and dry landscapes instead being replaced by a fair share of lush greenery, it’s a familiar but still noticeably different tone. This time around, your world is split into six differentiated regions that all feature their own plethora of unique environments, enemies and locales. The opening of the game takes place in the more tranquil forested region as you follow the small handful of clues you have on what’s happened and where you should go. Indeed, this was the area I spent the first 15 or so hours before I crossed the bordesr into new and scarier areas.

These first few quests are crucial in giving you an understanding of the game in every regard. You’re first two dozen hours will give you a grasp of combat, crafting, questing, events, storytelling, PvP encounters and, generally, a feel for what the game has to offer for what may well be hundreds of hours of your time. With a game this large, it’s difficult to tell how representative of the whole game the Beta is but I found that my fairly extensive time with it so far was centred around the same gameplay loops long after I’d crossed into new territories. If you enjoy what you play of the first 20 hours, you’ll likely enjoy the game overall. It aims to hook you on various reward cycles that expand slowly over time. What’s key to all of this though is knowing what works and what doesn’t within Fallout 76 because if one thing is clear it’s that war... war can change. 

As already noted, you’re tasked with finding out why the Overseer left early and what agenda she’s keeping from Vault 76’ residents. Your initial travels will split into two different paths; following the official logs of your Overseer and tracking her movements while she chases her secret briefing or splintering off and finding her personal logs as she revisited important locations from her life in Appalachia before she became an Overseer. These two very different stories intertwine for the first 10 or so hours before becoming separated but they co-exist just long enough that you’ll come to understand the various aspects of gameplay thrown at you before you find yourself in more deadly waters.

As with any of the games, you will explore the world and scavenge for the supplies you’ll need in this new world. Weapons, armour and ammo are just as vital as ever but now you’ll also need to pay extra attention to junk items, meds, food and water. With a slightly heavier focus on survival gameplay, you’ll now need to eat and drink in order to keep your character functioning properly and item weight has been altered in order to further bolster this new gameplay focus. With every bullet, brahmin steak and bottled water weighing you down, you’ll now have to be more selective of the things you would normally endlessly horde. This need to stay fed and watered feeds in to the cycles of gameplay you’ll tread in order to keep busy and gives you more reason to scavenge and explore without it bogging you down too much. Thankfully it’s not so intrusive that it’ll annoy you but it’s a mechanic that’s present enough to be worth keeping an eye on. It’s a nice mix of old and new that lets both seasoned and inexperienced players jump in with new things to learn.

While these survival elements are lifted and altered from other Fallout “hardcore” modes, making a return after an absence in Fallout 4 is weapon degradation too, meaning you’ll have to maintain the condition of your weapons. Gone are the days where you could build up your ideal gun and never have to touch another weapon again, with players now being encouraged to loot everything they can and inspect all the firearms and melee weapons they find. Better yet, spare weapons can be acquired and scrapped either for parts or for recipes that’ll grant you access to new upgrades. Yet to unlock the potential of your trusty 10mm pistol? Scrap a few others and learn how to expand the clip, modify the sights and tune the receiver.

This approach is applied to armour too, with various pieces allowing for customisation and modifying. Better yet, you can apply a visual layer on top of your gear stats so you can be dressed as a raider, police officer, clown or whatever else you find while still boasting some beefy defensive stats. This reintroduction to scrapping and gathering also means that players can sacrifice spare weapons or armour for parts that can then be used to fix their current loadout. The more you rely on a single weapon the more often you’d have to tend to it, so the return of degradation is a welcome one; there’s more reason than ever to explore and scavenge and further reason still to vary your play style and weapon choice, else you face an inventory full of battered and broken loot.

Character progression has also received a bit of a revamp in Fallout 76. Bethesda had already reworked the” S.P.E.C.I.A.L” system and perk system in their last entry, but with this new game being multiplayer oriented, the systems have received another re-haul in order to streamline and simplify them before then being rebalanced to favour this new direction for the series. Levelling now hands you a point to spend in a S.P.E.C.I.A.L stat of your choosing as well as access to a new perk. The more points you have in each stat, the more perks (or, rather, perk cards) you can place within.

This new take on levelling is certainly a good fit for the game, with the flexibility and simplicity lending itself far better to the RPG-lite Fallout 76 seems designed to be. The option to now re-spec your perk loadout on the fly allows for players to dynamically approach situations as they present themselves. Just as with many aspects of the game, the perks also strike a balance between old and new. Among the damage modifiers, capacity boosters and consumable buffs, you’ll now find a plethora of perk cards that pertain to the multiplayer component of Fallout 76. Some perk cards can be “shared” with your squad causing their effects to benefit your whole party. This kind of approach gives players the chance to work together and even play as particular roles. Some may want to act as a medic. Some may focus on sneaking and melee damage. Some may want to act as the pack mule. While there are inevitably going to be plenty of players that prefer solo play, there’s plenty of incentive to play with a friend or three.

Of course, this transition to multiplayer also brings a few complications. The “V.A.T.S” system, a staple of the series so far, traditionally stopped or slowed time and allowed players to highlight particular areas of a target. With 76 being an always-online multiplayer game, this system would never work in such a genre. Instead, this too has been redesigned, with V.A.T.S now maintaining its tactical targeting origins but instead during real-time combat. It’s a logical step given the change in design but it is, sadly, not one that works all too well. Using V.A.T.S in this way is a mixed bag of results; initiating causes the statics to stutter before they settle on even a non-moving target and stops V.A.T.S from being properly used in tense situations. It’s also rather jarring that, without a cinematic camera, kills using V.A.T.S can seem so unrealistic; the disparity between a players location and their enemies is no longer blurred and with slim odds presenting themselves when an enemy is very clearly not lined up in your sights, you may find yourself netting some impossible and painfully unbelievable kills that break your immersion entirely. Firing a rifle dead ahead of you but being able to kill a ghoul on a rooftop high up to your far left pulls you right out of the experience. The transition to real-time V.A.T.S has sadly exposed the weaknesses of a system that was so glorious in Fallout’s previous ventures but at least the option is still there for those that want it.

That said, combat has seen some improvements since Fallout 4. With more weapons, armour and modifications available than ever before, there’s more variety to the combat that Fallout 76 now leans on so heavily. There’s a decent share of the more familiar weapons, with baseball bats, laser rifles, pipe pistols and miniguns available to you. But with the game being set only 25 years after the bombs, weapons are a little cleaner than usual and more of a variety presents itself. As people have evidently struggled to survive, you’ll find more creative weapons within the world too, whether it be a ski that’s been sharpened into a sword or a snare drum that’s been turned into a make-shift spiked sledgehammer. Weapons feel satisfying to use and combat feels smooth enough to remain entertaining throughout. Sound design for the various firearms and weapons has also received some fine tuning, with each shot feeling more impactful than ever and ringing out into the environment in a more believable way.

What helps bolster this though is the huge amount of modifications you can make to the weapons and armour you find. The level of depth means there is plenty to see and do before you unearth all of the modifications within the world. What’s nice is that two players could have different variations on a weapon that function so differently despite being based on the same framework. Combining this variety with the gameplay cycles of repairing, modifying and scavenging leads to a satisfying loop that’ll keep your character and combat style forever changing for some time to come.

What could potentially cause issues for players in combat, however, is the further troubles that come with an online game. One thing that plagued me in my first session of the game was a particularly poor internet connection on that night. While it’s hopefully something that most won’t have to worry about, any player that has poor internet will struggle with the game. During the worst instances, this made the game unplayable: melee hits simply wouldn’t register and made combat a complete guessing game. Loot within containers wouldn’t load and audio diaries would reset repeatedly when they were half way through playing. This was an issue that didn’t surface in later sessions but it is always worth keeping in mind. With the previous issues that surfaced with V.A.T.S, these too may well be exploited in PvP modes.

Likewise, I did experience a handful of server disconnects, though only 3 times in the space of around 25 hours. It’s not a major issue given the small amount of them I faced but it did lead to some unexpected consequences. During my second unfortunate kicking from the game world, I had just levelled up and opened up a perk card pack. Before being booted, I hit level 10 and looked upon the cards (and stick of gum wrapped in a joke) I’d earned from my efforts. I was relieved to see one of the perks I had gotten allowed my junk items to weigh considerably less which would certainly help me in the early game as I learnt the new mechanics. It was rather upsetting then that, when I rejoined after being disconnected, my last saved instance was from moments before I opened this perk card pack. Opening it once again rerolled the numbers and I was left with a bunch of different cards I instead had no use for. Some would argue it isn’t a huge deal but I felt cheated for reasons that were beyond my control. Other instances of server disconnects also led to me losing out on loot I had found, XP that I had earned and upgrades I had made. It’s a shame that these performance issues were actually in the minority when compared to various other problems I experienced during my time with 76 because these were minor in comparison. There were a number of other performance issues that popped up very consistently through the sessions and these are ones that shouldn’t be so incredibly frequent so close to the launch. What’s more, the potential for constant updates or server down-time could potentially hamper the game for some, though that’s in the hands of Bethesda.

Firstly, framerate issues were rampant and so much so that it made me question if the game should be releasing this November. When game media types were given the chance to play the game in early October, framerate drops were a common problem here too. At the time, Bethesda cited the fact the build was a little old and said that the area around the spawn point and been heavily optimised but was less so the further players wandered. With an explanation like that, you’d think it was understandable. Much to my dismay though, the games performance was rocky consistently. It’s hard to point to an exact cause because it was so often, with the frame rate dropping pretty often and even to single figures in a good number of instances.

Certain areas of the map seemed to cope well, with the Forest area beyond Vault 76 holding up well. Areas that spawned in large numbers of enemies, particularly during timed public events, began to cause the framerate to drop somewhat noticeably however. Things seemed to worsen as I ventured far beyond the Forest and gameplay became choppy during thick fog or within busy interiors. However, the worse instances were when managing weapons and armour within workbenches; every time I spent a while scrapping, customising and tweaking multitudes of weapons the game would drop to a rate of only a few frames per second. I’d be unable to scroll through menus or exit the workbench because the game couldn’t register my inputs and with the game focusing so heavily on weapon/armour/junk management, this was outright baffling to see. For a big-budget game to drop in terms of performance here and there isn’t unheard of but the issues were so common during my 25 or so hours of gameplay that it made the game seem outright unfinished and certainly not ready for “full” release in less than a week.

Just as common were issues with lighting in the world, with the dense forestation seemingly to be the root of it. New lighting, landscaping and rendering technology have done a lot to bring the visuals of the game forward, and being able to see the landscape with increased detail at a further distance is stunning, though not without its flaws. Scanning your horizon you’ll often see shadows pop in and out under surfaces rather jarringly at will. There was also a good number of times where my environments would fail to load properly causing me to be stood at the foot of a building that had blurred and stretched textures instead of the crisper and more detailed ones it should’ve rendered by the time of my arrival. It’s something that’s not unheard of in Bethesda games but the rate with which these problems surfaced was too much to simply shrug off.

It’s a real shame too because, for the most part, Fallout 76’ version of Appalachia is a sprawling, beautiful and often exciting place.

Within every Fallout game, the exploration of the world and discovery of the bizarre things within it are what keep most players hooked for countless hours. Fallout 76 presents a region like none we’ve seen before and gives us a chance to see what the world was like in the more immediate aftermath of the bombs. During all of my time with the game, I was constantly impressed by how engrossing most of the world was. The combination of superb environmental design, environmental storytelling and a breathtaking soundtrack from Inon Zur made for quite the memorable adventure.

With so little time passing since the Great War, we get to see more mutated creatures then ever before, more fairly intact locations than ever and more diversity in environments by a country road mile. With a map that’s four times the size of Fallout 4’s, there should be plenty more to see and do during your time with the game. Having visited a number of the 6 regions during my time with 76, I can certainly say that the usual visual flare and style of Fallout remains, while still offering something new to see round every corner.

It’s interesting to see how the new playable area is designed, with each of the 6 subsections having its own distinguishable style. The Forest acts as the more tranquil and rural training area. Toxic Valley and the Ash Heap give players two more inhospitable and barren landscapes to scavenge from. The Mire and Cranberry Bog provide players with gloomy marshland and overgrown vegetation that is now twisted and overgrown and full of nasty creatures. Between all of this is the Savage Divide, a mix of all the regions that gives players a bit of everything. The variety in locales gives you a reason to keep moving and there’s always something in the distance that will grab your eye. Just as Fallout 4 aimed to introduce more verticality in the map design, so to does Fallout 76 though to a far greater and more successful extent. You’ll often find yourself atop a highrise or cliff-edge staring out at your surroundings.

That said, you’ll have a plenty of tasks to undertake in these regions too. Enemies are plentiful and, as so many other aspects of the game, strike a balance between old and new. Feral ghouls are more abundant in number given the history of the region since the bombs, but you’ll still see your fair share of mole rats, radroaches and Protectrons. Unique to Appalachia are new enemy types like the Scorched (a not-quite-feral-esque bunch of mysteriously infected humans), Mole Men, Possums and dreaded Scorchbeast mini-bosses.

This push for variety has also extended to the buildings and sights of Appalachia too. The more rural aesthetic has allowed for a departure from the abandoned concrete jungles of past games and, while derelict towns and cities are more dense than ever, other places of interest are scattered generously around too. You’ll still see the more familiar and common locales but the more rural touch of West Virginia now allows for trips to nuclear power plants, ski resorts, independent restaurants, mine shafts, logging companies and more. Vault-Tec University, the place to be for wannabe Overseers, was a particular delight and featured some of the funniest written lore I’d seen in some time. The world feels bigger and more diverse than ever before. And somehow, it’s also the most empty a Fallout game has ever been.

Unlike the Capital Wasteland, Mojave or Commonwealth, Fallout 76 gives you a landscape that will make you feel truly isolated. Despite the ability to explore the world with friends, Bethesda have designed the world to feel like a lonely place. It makes sense. You are, after all, the first large population of people to explore the region in some time. But key to this change is the fact that the only humans you will interact with are other players and that Appalachia features no human NPC’s at all. This design choice was supposedly made so that player to player interactions would tell their own stories; if you hear a gunshot in the distance, that likely means another player is gunning down enemies… or gunning for you. This of course also means that you won’t be finding any functioning settlements or any quest givers in the world and your story and lore will be delivered instead through terminal entries, found notes, audio logs or robots. It’s a shame knowing you’ll never stumble across desperate survivors or a bustling merchant town. Even Raiders are absent from the game unless you count the corpses you find.

This design choice is reflected in the world around you, especially so as you venture out from your Vault and explore the town of Flatwoods to the South. You’ll begin following a trail of breadcrumbs left by your Overseer and head from A to B to C as you’re drip-fed further details. Doing so provides you with a steady feed of holotapes that pad out the story of the world around you and the Overseer you’re on the trail of. Likewise, being introduced to a group called the Responders early on provides further quests and information. While those stationed at Flatwoods are nothing more than corpses, you can choose to follow their trail and go from A to B to C. Sidemissions found within Flatwoods also give you a chance to soak up further story and find out what happened to the bodies you find scattered around the town. For the first few hours, it was quite the mystery and one I wanted to get to the bottom of.

What’s a real shame is that nearly every quest I had within 25 hours boiled down to one of a handful of mission types. With the main plotlines revolving around the Overseer, her personal logs, the Responders and/or the Scorched, they all ended up being a case of following a trail of breadcrumbs that was occasionally stalled by the inclusion of a corpse and/or note to read or listen to. In a world that has so much potential for great storytelling given the chaos that would ensue after a nuclear event, you’re instead treated to far less of it than ever before. Instead, you find yourself plodding from empty location to empty location catching up on an interesting story you’re not really a part of. The design choice to make a world absent of human NPC’s instead becomes a design flaw so baked in to the game that it likely won’t ever be addressed.

It’s heartbreaking to see because there are promising moments throughout that tease what could be a brilliant game. Writing within the audio and written logs have seen a significant improvement and strike a nice balance between informative, world-building and the dark humour that Fallout is known for. They can never make up for the hole that a lack of NPC’s leaves, but they do their best at least. There are no memorable people to meet and interesting interactions last little more than a minute before they fade from memory. This huge world somehow leaves little of an impression on you and you leave no impression on it. This change means that Fallout 76 is forced to lean on the combat and exploration further but the latter also suffers because of the lack of colourful characters.

Half the appeal of exploring new locations is wondering what you’ll find there. You’ll still be able to gather supplies and read info that supplements the world around you, but that curiosity is hindered. Whenever you approach somewhere new, you won’t be wondering who you will meet within because it’ll either be empty or contain a bunch of corpses. This is less apparent in the first 10 hours but once you’ve played more than that, it quickly becomes repetitive and disappointing. With junk and weapons so plentiful, exploring becomes a little fruitless quite quickly. The potential for interesting stories is certainly there and meeting a Mrs Nanny robot who goes on to tell you the story of Little Red Riding hood (albeit with an ending that involves her killing the Big Bad Wolf herself to save the day) is a weird but fun ordeal. It’s just a crime that you’ll never meet a character who has lived and survived in Appalachia and has branching quests to give you. Why explore new locations when all they really have to offer you is junk and enemy encounter you can find almost anywhere else.

This very well may change going forward if the game is given the longevity we’ve been promised. Separate world hubs could easily be introduced, akin to Destiny 2’s Farm, and could be full of living and interesting characters without muddying the design they aimed for within their version of West Virginia. In my opinion, this is a necessity - the world above ground is not really an interesting one and simply isn’t engrossing enough to keep people entertained for the hundreds of hours it will probably take to explore the map. Looting and upgrading may keep people hooked for some time but, rather ironically, the lack of humanity in the post-apocalypse really holds the game back. We have less reason to be invested in the world, less reason to explore this world and, worse yet, less impact upon it.

Of course, this design choice may well have been chosen in an effort to both help further encourage those player interactions Bethesda was excited for. Having teamed up with various players and teams of various sizes, the game certainly shines a little brighter during co-operative play. Public events and campsite defense is far more rewarding when working as part of a collaborative effort and the ability to trade or communicate with players helps you find those elusive items you’re hurting for. Given the focus on inventory management, having to work together as well as share your rewards adds a nice extra layer of strategy to the game. Do I want to horde my loose screws for myself or give some to my buddy so he can repair his armour and help me venture into tougher areas for better rewards? For a game that’s clearly more intended for larger and more casual audiences, this is a smart move. Teaming up certainly makes the game flow and play better but likely means you’ll miss out on things as a result

This philosophy does counteract the behaviours of most Bethesda game players though who tend to horde items, explore at a slower pace and pause to soak in the story elements they find. If you’re one of those people, waiting around is something you’ll be doing an awful lot given how often you’re given notes to read or lengthy audio logs to listen to. Slower paced players will hopefully enjoy the game just fine but may be hindered by interruptions and increased time dedicated to reading. For solo players, many perk cards will also prove useless to you, enemies will ramp up in difficulty more quickly and events and the like become much harder to complete - a slightly unfair balance if you’re unable to join groups for reasons beyond your control.

Of course, whether you like to play together or alone, the player versus player aspect of the game will likely draw players of all kinds in, to some extent anyway. When news broke that Fallout 76 would be an online game players instantly became concerned about how Bethesda planned to combat toxic behaviour and trolling from other players. What were the risks and rewards of facing off against another real person? Have Bethesda done enough to keep it fun but fair? Well rest assured there are enough measures in place to keep rotten Vault Dwellers at bay. Dying leads to you dropping only your junk items and you’ll never lose your most coveted clothing or firearms taken. You can backtrack and collect your dropped loot if it’s still there but anything stolen is usually easily replaced. Likewise, players who repeatedly attack the innocent are labelled as “wanted” and have a bounty placed on them that other players are encouraged to claim.

During the reveal of the game, Todd Howard stressed that a “slap mechanic” was in place so that you can avoid unwanted confrontation; initial damage is lessened until your opponent chooses to engage back. It’s clear they’ve put plenty of obstacles in the way for those who want to ruin the game for other people. But, as with other elements of the games design, 76 is trying to be the jack of all trades and instead becomes the master of none. With the player to player interactions intended to be a key in telling stories within the world and providing meaningful gameplay, the scales have been tipped a little too far. Rather than discourage unwanted excessive behaviour, the game has instead discouraged people from these kind of behaviours entirely. Players can’t initiate tense interactions on the fly because of the checks in place and more often than not will instead shrug off or outright ignore other players. Firefights among players are never genuine simply because a non-verbal agreement has to be forcibly placed via gameplay first. You’ll never stumble upon another player and panic. Most of the time, you won’t even care.In my 25 or so hours I only ever saw one instance of PvP and it was over in a matter of seconds before the players skipped off away from each other like nothing had ever happened.

Once again, this is something that could be easily fixed. Rather than opt-in versus, an opt-out method would likely work better. For a game that revolves around online survival gameplay and tense player interactions, such a method would leave players always looking over their shoulders and more likely to duke it out amongst each other instead of throwing an emote and strolling on by. Equally, the lack of PvP and non-PvP servers is a little baffling. It seems like a lack of forethought on their part and is another reason that I left the experience feeling like it was far from completion. There’s so much potential for dynamic gameplay and stories to come purely from the players themselves but, as it stands so far, these opportunities have yet to be utilised.

By the time the server shut off for the last time before the launch, I had seen a lot of Appalachia. I’d explored a variety of colourful environments, looted and upgraded a plethora of armour pieces and weapons, soaked in an array of stories and mediums and gotten to grips with what to expect from a game that would likely take hundreds of hours to “complete”, if that is indeed the word. As a huge Fallout fan, I now know what I’ll be getting from the game when it launches and if it’s a game I want to play more of.

Fallout 76 has a lot of potential. With the chance to be supported with frequent content updates for years to come, there’s plenty that Bethesda can do with it over time. Appalachia is a land of opportunity or, maybe more aptly, missed opportunities. Bethesda wants you to absorb its vast and gorgeous landscape but riddles it with performance issues. Bethesda wants you to explore the long list of locations but gives you less to find in them. Bethesda wants you to tell your own stories with how you interact with other players but doesn’t give you the tools to do so. Bethesda wants you become engrossed in the story that unfolds but doesn’t keep things fresh or alive enough to hold your attention. Bethesda wants you to know that even though Fallout 76 is an online game it won’t be a lesser experience. Sadly, it is exactly that.

There’s a lot of potential nestled within Fallout 76 but for every improvement they’ve made there’s another aspect of the game that suffers and only time will tell if that huge potential will be properly tapped into. With feedback comes changes and with changes comes improvement, or so I hope. This sprawling new world full of colour and variety just doesn’t have anything to do within it. It could be a fantastic game but instead it struggles to even be a mediocre one.

 I’ve had a chance to play a decent chunk of the game and, coming from someone who has happily spent countless hours and multiple playthroughs in each Fallout entry to date, I find myself happy to skip  Fallout 76. Maybe I will revisit it some months down the line but that entirely depends on how Bethesda handles the game going forward and perhaps it will be a different and more complete experience by mid 2019. Fallout 76 seems to be a little confused as to what kind of game it wants to be and, as such, fails to be a competent game of any kind at all. The only thing I can say for sure is that it somehow hasn’t won over this series fanatic. Not yet.

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Retail Tales [Part 2] - When Nintendo Fans Turned Detective On Me

In the run up to the release of the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo fans were working themselves up into such a state that it was almost dangerous. A few days before the game was due to be released, the stock arrived at our store. Thinking nothing of it and eagerly awaiting the chance to play it in a WiiU I had borrowed from my brother for no other reason, I posted a little tease in anticipation of the game on my Instagram. What a mistake that was. 

As you can see from the photo above, it was a pretty harmless image. From the attached caption on my post you’d assume it was fairly obvious I hadn’t acquired a copy myself and was simply eagerly waiting for those last few days to tick by so I could pick up from where I’d left off at the event I’d been lucky enough to attend a few months prior. I, like so many others, could not wait to see more of Breath of the Wild.

Except, to those without the right context, this post could have been (and indeed was) misconstrued to the point where you might think I’d acquired a copy early. I still argue it’s unlikely, but you could see how someone could make that mistake. As I left for my lunch break at work that day I had no idea how many people would assume exactly that, and how quickly the post would explode and circulate. I came back from my lunch to find over 100 notifications. Nintendo fanatics had found me. 

At the time of the post, as well as at the time of writing, I was working at a videogames store and understandably our stock for the game had arrived a few days earlier to ensure delivery upon release and so we could allocate our preorders with time to spare. Staring at the stacks of games on Switch and WiiU, I could feel the excitement getting to me. What was the harm in posting a little photo to help try and ease that enthusiasm? Well let’s look at what happened in the course of a few hours and then the few days that followed. Naturally, most of the comments and notifications were tied to the Instagram post itself. 

Things started off nice enough: a few messages from fans just as excited as myself. Nicer still was a friend request from some other Nintendo fan. Then you have the understandable enquiries about where I’d got the game from, this being maybe three days before the game was supposed to be on store shelves. Then, as you can see, things started to be cranked up a notch. Fans, if you want to call them that anyway, began asking me to use the WiiU disc I supposedly had in my possession to upload the files and game content online, allowing people to datamine and potentially pirate the game early. It’s not hugely surprising given the intense furore some people were getting into before the release, but what really struck me was how quickly these comments had surfaced. In only a matter of minutes someone had found my post and made the request.

And once the first ticket dump request came in, further requests followed. The same chap that had asked about where I’d apparently got a copy had followed things up to further stress the importance of helping them out. Before a third request had come in, a delightful chap had decided to go the route of name calling because I’d somehow angered him by not complying, despite my lack of comments altogether. While I deny the claims I’m a “moralfag”, he was right in that I wouldn’t have uploaded all the files even if I had the option to. Of course, this was followed up by a little damage control from another fan in an attempt not to dissuade me from helping them all out.

I chose not to comment on any of it. Perhaps it would have been easier just to set the record straight but, in the interest of both my job and my curiosity, I remained quiet. I wasn’t able to upload the files because I didn’t have the game yet. Even if I had, doing so would have been a huge mistake and would have meant stealing from my place of work. On top of that, if I had done so and gotten away with it I would have likely faced consequences from Nintendo because doing so would’ve been flagged so quickly. And, on top of all of this, I didn’t want to betray the team of developers and other staff who had worked so hard on the game. To have put years of time and effort into a project only to have all its secrets leaked early in such a seedy way, without the right context no less, would have been a huge disservice to them and gamers around the world.

But nope, it didn’t end there. I was never even considering doing what they had asked but when I served these fans a dead end, they decided to build the pressure further. As the Instagram well ran dry, I then received a good few messages on my Twitter profile like the one below.

Somehow this little post had ended up becoming a topic of discussion on 4Chan. This warning was arguably maybe a little overblown, I thought. It was a little weird to think that, out of everything, my little post had somehow gained traction online and there was very little more I could expect, as far as I could tell. The logical conclusion was that some fans were a little obsessive and with my Instagram and Twitter accounts both using the same handle, it didn’t exactly take a genius to find my Twitter profile. There were a few extra steps needed if they wanted to bombard me further and these were steps they evidently were happy to take.

Mulling it over, I’m pretty sure I figured out the path these fans took to message me elsewhere and while it’s not exactly tricky it is still a little alien to me that many people took time out of their day to try and get hold of me just in the slim chance I’d help them get access to a game only a few days early. My Twitter contained a link to what was the predecessor to this site; a Tumblr blog. This blog got a good handful of messages just like those previously, asking me to lend them a hand on their misguided adventure.

On this blog was a link to a social area that linked people to my usernames on various gaming platforms. Once they’d found this page, they than began messaging me on Xbox Live, PSN, Steam, DeviantArt and more. No matter what avenue was available, they made sure pretty much every account I had would have messages, requests and (in one instance anyway) slightly vulgar voice messages. Call it passion, obsession or toxicity, it was all a little weird. Thankfully there was some positivity sprinkled within there too!

By the end of it all I’d amassed around 120 notifications across various platforms. Most of which were in the space of the first few hours but the odd one would pop up in the remaining days before the release. This, of course, doesn’t include any other areas I don’t know about; I never investigated 4chan and, for all I know, talk of it may well have spread to Reddit or NeoGaf forums as well. I don’t quite know the extent of how far it spread other than the information available to me and maybe I don’t want to know.

The release of the game came and went and the whole thing slipped to the wayside, but it was an eye-opening moment and one that’s stayed with me since. Random people across the globe effectively stalked me, in a way. Bizzare.

So there you have it. In the space of a few hours I’d had lord knows how many strangers bombard me with messages and demands, all because they had wrongly assumed something. In an age where reviewers and developers are bombarded with harassment, it’s easy to see how something as little as this can spread, let alone something far more large in scale and scope. It’s interesting really given that it’s hard to tell what motives were in play; greed, intrigue, jealously, excitement, or something else. All I know is that some Nintendo fans and Zelda fans don’t mind turning detective if it means they might get their hands on the tiniest slithers of a Nintendo product early. Nice try, folks. It’s a good thing I never said anything when Nintendo let us buy their last Super Smash Bros. game early back in 2014. Sitting in college playing that before it was released sure was fun…

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Just going to share my custom Luigi amiibo that I’m super proud of. Luigi is the real MVP and any smart person knows that #amiibo #luigi #luigismansion #nintendo #custom #poltergust #mariobrothers #imasorrygreenmario #mvp #iaintafraidofnoghost https://www.instagram.com/p/BnozyMEH10x/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6a9randwz33g

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The Walking Dead's Negan Heading to Tekken 7

In rather surprising news, a slew of new characters have been confirmed to be heading their way to Tekken 7 in the upcoming new season. While some veteran fighters are making their return, it's also been revealed that Negan from AMC’s television show of The Walking Dead will be joining the fray. The reveal was given after the Tekken 7 grand finals wrapped up at Evo 2018.

The season pass reveal trailer, as seen above, confirms six characters on their way, with the first two being veteran fighters Anna Williams and Lei Wulong. The other 3 characters after them have yet to be revealed though we do know the season will rap up with the appearance of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lucille. While only character art was shown in the trailer, it's safe to assume Negan will make use of his infamous baseball bat within his moveset.

This isn't the first crossover the series has seen, with this instalment alone having already featured DLC characters Geese Howard from the Fatal Fury series and Noctis of Final Fantasy XV. While no date has been set for anything shown, Bandai Namco has stated that Tekken 7’s season 2 pass is “coming soon” for PlayStation 4,  Xbox One and Windows PC.

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Funko POP to Make Their Way to Cereal

In a move that's not as surprising as you'd think once you reflect on it, Funko has announced that their world-dominating Funko POP figures will soon be making their way to a breakfast bowl near you. The new line of cereal, superbly named "FunkO's", will begin with a set of boxes including Megaman, Cuphead and more and each box will contain a tiny Funko POP inside.

It isn't just videogame characters that will be found in the boxes though, with other pop culture icons due to appear as well. With six variants so far,  we can expect to find Mega Man, Cuphead (but no Mugman?),  Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Gollum and Freddy Funko himself. It's also been confirmed that more will be on the way! While you'd think that maybe the cereal would be singular with a random POP thrown in, each character instead will have a not-so-different cereal each. It's also yet to be seen if they hold individual flavours, or any flavour at all for that matter.

From what has been shared, it seems that the cereals will be available at varying retailers meaning people who want to try them or collect them all will have to do some searching. Of course, this isn't the only novelty cereal to appear in recent memory, with the Super Mario cereal having launched only a handful of months ago.

So what can we expect to see next? POP costumes of pre-existing characters? POP pyjamas? Has rule 34 already found a way with POP figures? It's best not to think about it.

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Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Final Season Begins This August

Telltale Games has announced that the next and final season in their The Walking Dead series will launch August 14th this year, bringing with it the final chapter of Clementine's journey. With the series continuing the story of Clementine, who we met as a young child back in eoisode one, we will get to see how she has grown and adapted over the years and if she has what it takes to make it out of this final season alive.

The trailer above is testament to how the series, just like Clementine herself, has grown and evolved over the last three seasons that stretch back to 2012. As the mechanics, gameplay and scope have changed, we've been able to watch the journey of Clementine who's transformed from being a young and scared little girl to a mature and hardy women doing her best in a world of walkers.

The next season will launch with part one on August 14, 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One with The Final Season also then coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. Telltale also announced that there's good news for players who haven't yet had a chance to play the series, stating:

"If you pre-order on PS4 or Xbox One, you'll also receive immediate access to The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series Collection, which gathers all 19 existing episodes into a single package. So basically you get the entire series for free and can enjoy the journey in full before reaching the final chapter later this year..."

Telltale have also touched upon what to expect from this season and how they're aiming to improve upon an already solid foundation, citing difficult choices to come as well as improvements and changes to the art-style and camera in the game.

"...after years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be Clementine's chance for a home. But protecting it will mean sacrifice. Clem must build a life and become a leader while still watching over AJ, an orphaned boy and the closest thing to family she has left. In this gripping, emotional final season, you will define your relationships, fight the undead, and determine how Clementine's story ends.

"As she builds this new life, you will have to grapple with new types of choices as AJ looks on, learning from your every move. A new over-the-shoulder camera system, greater freedom to explore detailed environments, and scenes with unscripted combat create the most engaging The Walking Dead game yet. And the all-new Graphic Black art style brings the world of the comics to life like never before, especially if you're playing on a 4K- and HDR-compatible device."

Their announcement concluded with news that they will have more to share about the season over the next week or so at this years E3. Here's hoping that the finale of this season doesn't reduce us all to tears all over again!

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E3 2018 Predictions: EA & Ubisoft

While the winter and fall might give gamers a sweet array of games to dig into, summer brings us to the week of craziness that is E3. With publishers and console power houses hosting events to showcase their biggest and best games on the way, we break down what we’d imagine we will see from this years event, this time from EA and Ubisoft. Here’s what to expect as well as what we hope to see.

-ELECTRONIC ARTS-

Electronic Arts has found themselves in a precarious situation the past few years, having fallen from grace and instead being seen by many as the boogeyman of publishing studios. With the entire landscape of the industry having shifted following the launch of Star Wars Battlefront II, both in regard to industry practice and the patience of gamers, EA needs to exercise some restraint and earn back the trust of many. The focus for them this year will likely be quality over quantity.

Battlefield V

One thing we know we will see more of is this years rendition of Battlefield. As mentioned already, with EA and Dice having received huge backlash from their efforts to uphold micro transactions in Star Wars Battlefront II last year, they have to approach this game with caution and show that they've learned from their mistakes.

With Call of Duty having already returned to the frontlines of WWII, the reveal that Battlefield V is doing the same means EA will also have to do what it can to show what BFV has to offer over it’s longterm rival. What’s more, the focus for EA here will likely be on multiplayer, instead showcasing an array of maps, modes and content to keep people interested. While they may show a little of the campaign, EA will want to focus on showing they can earn your trust back in multiplayer games and will instead be showcasing what's new for the series.

Given the uproar Dice and EA have faced previously, and with the continued ridiculous outcry about representation and historical accuracy that we’ve discussed further on here, a particular focus will be on the customisation and levelling systems within the game and how much variety there is for players. Microtransactions will undoubtedly return but EA will tread carefully and stress they’re only cosmetic and can be earned through regular gameplay anyway. What we will see from Battlefield V will be familiar but with as much positive spin as they can muster.

STAR WARS FROM RESPAWN ENTERTAINMENT?

That isn't the only big IP we might see this year, with the next game from Respawn Entertainment potentially showing up too, the project announced way back on Star Wars Day 2016. Not much has been revealed about the project so far, so it's about time we get a few details. Following the heartbreaking news that Star Wars: 1313 was cancelled, and that Visceral Games closure meant their mid-development Star Wars game was being refocused under other studios, news from Respawn is a nice counterwieght.

As mentioned already, caution will be key as any Star Wars game coming from EA will likely be under incredible scrutiny. Coming from the same team that brought us the great but underappreciated Titanfall series, the game is supposedly a 3rd person action game. Either way, with the trepidation it could face, we will likely only get a small tease for the game, at best a trailer. What's more important though is that they'll be more focused on providing small but tantilising details for the game, helping to set it up for a more positive response when it does surface properly

NEW Dead Space?

With Respawn offering us a more light-hearted space adventure, it could well be time for something at the other end of the spectrum with perhaps a new Dead Space game and I think this year we may see this once glorious sci-if horror return. EA has shown, albeit with Mass Effect Andromeda, that they’re willing to push strong series in new (but maybe questionable) directions and may well do the same with Dead Space.

As mentioned above, EA caught further flak for the closure of the series original developers Visceral Games - so we know that team won't be working on a Dead Space game. But could we see them revive the series and put it in the hands of a new studio? This could be a chance for them to offer something a little different from their focus on multiplayer games and equally offer something that stands out amongst the jam-packed slate of games coming over the next 18 months.

It's been a long time since the release of Dead Space 3 back in February 2013, so now seems like a good time to bring the series back, especially given the rise of horror games in recent years. With the genre for the most part being pushed by smaller developers, a larger "AAA" title like Dead Space 4 would provide something meatier and show that EA hasn't given up entirely on singleplayer games.

ANTHEM

That's not all we can expect from sci-fi games though, with huge excitement tailing Anthem, the next game from BioWare. With the game being created by a majority of the team behind the original Mass Effect trilogy, there's lofty expectations from the game, especially after the extended look at gameplay we've seen that promises huge potential and scale.

With the game due to be with us by March 2019, the release is fast approaching so EA will be focusing heavily on the title in order to peak interest as much as possible. Extended gameplay will be on show and, just as with Battlefield V, the key will be showing players that Anthem will have everything players want without repeating the mistakes of the past that have shaken and soured EA so much.

With a huge fanbase having been built around Mass Effect, EA will be hoping for a similar effect for Anthem; with the game offering what could be insanely fun multiplayer, we might well get some fun but awfully scripted co-op voice chat in the demo, but customisation and variety will be front and centre. This section will likely end with a story focused trailer, reaffirming that BioWare can and will deliver a great sci-fi story next March.

PLANTS VS ZOMBIES 3?

Of course, EA has a far reaching grasp and will want to offer something for slightly different audiences. One established IP they can rely on is that of Plants VS Zombies, with a new game in the series not out of the question. The previous two games received a surprisingly sizeable following after the series moved to consoles and became more of a wave-defence game.

It's not likely that we'll see anything surprising from the game, with the core mechanics and gameplay likely receiving little more than some fine tuning and expansion to offer something familiar but new. Plants VS Zombies will be where EA can offer splitscreen multiplayer in an age where online seems to be the focus, and further still can offer something for the younger gamers too.

SPORTS, SPORTS, SPORTS - AND MAYBE SKATE 4?

Naturally though, EA showcases wouldn't be complete without their fair share of sports, sports and more sports. While we could cover this, it's an element that's easily predictable and something we don't massively care for... but there is one sort-of-sport game that we could see from EA this year that might turn some heads: what if Skate 4 is revealed?

Skate was a series that saw some incredible traction in the past but that has now been absent, along with skateboarding games as a whole, for some time. With the Tony Hawk's games having fallen to the wayside and with Skate 3 seeing a small but considerable resurgence after its inclusion in Xbox backwards compatibility, now seems like a great time to reveal a new game in the series and fill that deck-shaped gap in the market.

-UBISOFT-

Ubisoft are often seen as creatures of habit, usually announcing sequels or DLC plans for existing game and series. The key for Ubisoft is to show some restraint and double-down on their strengths. While a host of new announcements is good, Ubisoft need to show that they're investing sufficient time into their projects to ensure they're worth investment from players on day one. They've shown with games like The Division, Rainbow Six: Siege and For Honor that they're willing to put in the effort to reshape and improve games long after their release, but increasingly solid foundations is what they need to get right.

ASSASSINS CREED: ODYSSEY

One game we know will surface during the Ubisoft presentation is Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, something that was announced recently as we reported here. In years past, Ubisoft spaced out the releases of the games to give it a little breathing room and to improve the quality following the disastrous launch of Assassin's Creed: Unity. With the new game looking like a follow-up to last years Origins, and with the game likely releasing so soon, Ubisoft has to be cautious.

They will want to take their time with this new title and show that, despite the shortened development time, it will be well worth players time. With Origins having introduced stronger RPG mechanics to the series, Odyssey is likely to strengthen and expand on these mechanics and introduce even more, with rumours circulating that dialogue options will be added too.

Ubisoft will try to show a little of everything for Odyssey and reaffirm that the series is back and better than ever, the coverage ending with release date. When this will be is hard to say given how busy the next months will be for releases, but it likely wont be too far away.

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2

What's going to be more tricky for Ubisoft than keeping Creed in good stead is to meet the expectations of fans for Beyond Good & Evil 2, the title having been shown only a little since the reveal at E3 last year. With the introduction of "The Space Monkey Program" for the game, a system that offers select fans the chance to play it early and offer feedback, it's clear the title is a long time from release but given the sizeable following, it's a game that will be drip-fed to fans to keep them interested.

We probably won't see an awful lot from the game this year either, with even the platforms for release having not been confirmed. That said, a slightly closer look at the gameplay will probably given while stressing that development is still going strong. If we are lucky we may get a tentative year of release, though if we do I'd expect that to be subject to change.

THE DIVISION 2

Of course, there's another series that will surface during Ubisoft's show: The Division 2.  Officially announced back in March, the original game saw success both critically and commercially and is one of the big titles that saw extensive support and reworking after launch. With the game having proven its longevity, a new entry in the series has a great foundation to build on.

Unlike the original, the timeframe between reveal and release will be considerably less. What's more, with some criticism being given due to the difference between the original Divisions gameplay presentation and the final product, the gameplay we will undoubtedly see will be far more representative of the final game. An emphasis on enhanced gameplay and customisation will be made, showing how the game has grown over time and how existing mechanics will be expanded and improved.

That said, thanks to the previous work of EA, a point will be made of how lootboxes will likely only be cosmetic (though this was a policy that was applied to the original until that  changed later in its life cycle), as well as how there will be a greater wealth of content in the game at launch that the predecessor.

NEW SPLINTER CELL TITLE?

The Divison won't be the only Tom Clancy property to surface at E3 though, with all signs pointing to a new Splinter Cell game potentially being in the works. Interest in the idea peaked back in April when a new mission was added to Ghost Recon: Wildlands that saw a surprise visit from none other than Sam Fisher himself, voiced once again by veteran voice actor Michael Ironside.

It's been a long time since Fisher has graced our screens, with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist having now released back in 2013. While the small amount of evidence above seems circumstantial, the likelihood that Ubisoft would have included the crossover just for fun is unlikely, especially when you consider they went out their way to get Ironside back. With the series having been abscent for some time and with other stealth games having adopted open-world mechanics that push stealth slightly aside, a game that truly focuses on stealth once again is perhaps what players need and the return of Same Fisher may be what fulfils that.

NEW TRIALS TITLE?

But offering something a little more tempered and casual is the potential return of the Trials series, the last main series game, Trials Fusion, having released back in 2014. While Trials of the Blood Dragon, a Far Cry 3 spin-off based spin-off (of all things) released in 2016, it's been considerable time since a full game itself has released.

Ubisoft needs to supply a little balance in their titles in order to pull in sales from all corners of the gaming glob and a new Trials games could do just that. With a new game able to release during potentially dry spells in their release slate, and with appeal to gamers of all ages, it's the perfect complimentary title to their more time-consuming and action-packed games.

INDIE SUPPORT

That said, Ubisoft can further offer variety with continued support of smaller indie titles as it has done in the past with games like Valiant Hearts, Grow Home and Child of Light. It provides Ubisoft a chance to invest in promising but smaller titles; small risk but potentially great reward.

As mentioned before, this also means that Ubisoft can release a number of smaller titles between their larger IP's and could mean we see a number of great new titles surface. What's more, a lot of these titles will probably show up across multiple platforms, particularly the Switch now that Ubisoft have strengthened their relationship with Nintendo particularly in the last few years. Whether the smaller titles show up here or elsewhere first though is hard to say.

So, that's what we might well see from EA and Ubisoft this year at E3. There's only a few days to go until the event begins so time will tell what's shown but, as always, it'll be an amazing time to be a gamer. So, let us know what you're hoping for, or what you think of our predictions, in the comments below and enjoy this years show!

 [EA's showcase will begin on Saturday 9th of June, 7pm UK time. Ubisoft's showcase will begin on Monday 11th of June, 9pm UK time.]