#scalebound in light

[fate-bound-in-crystal]

Ziero: Twelve, I don't trust him, gives me the Twelve damned creeps.

Ryde: Aye, he's like a snake, and I feel as though he will strike sooner rather than later.

Ziero: I won't let anything happen to Hien.

Ryde: I know, Z, I know.

[xenosagaepisodeone]

I have finished Bayo 3. I can only describe this game as a hate letter to the franchise, unceremoniously executing bayonetta in an alley and parading her corpse around because kamiya really wants to make his dumb nero knockoff. The fact they had the gall to multiverse bayonetta power boost and in the end luka's fursuit is what saves the day. They didnt even do a cool sheba/omne thing. The 'jeanne lies to impress men' bit 🤢. Sorry for the rant I'm just so mad, it feels like a part of me has died

SPEAK! I completely agree with you, especially about Viola. She gets tossed around even more than Bayonetta does throughout the course of the game, and were supposed to believe she's Bayo's successor? She didn't even help out in the final boss fight. Her parry can be annoying, and her most fluid moveset is when she's in fairymode, but even then, it's very limited. The game wants to mirror how Nero and Dante interact with her and Bayo, but there's also the looming component that Viola is her daughter!! She hardly acts happy to see her mother again and seems to only fret over Luka (despite the fact that her mother is the one being killed en masse across universes)? Bayo treats her like a stranger (which is bizarre when you consider it's at this point well-established that she develops unique concerns for kids) from beginning to end. There's an incredible distance between them that Bayo would normally fill with teasing and actually mentoring/challenging her. The Luka/Bayo romance was bad as is, but the fact that they just make googly eyes at eachother as they're dragged to hell instead of saying anything to their daughter (who is crying for them not to go!) is grotesque. Rodin acts more like a parent to her than her actual parents! Platinum seems to want her to be the protagonist, but they also don't know what to do with her beyond make her suffer.

Everything about Luka's arc should have gone to Jeanne. His Strider color scheme is even white/red. Bayo speaks to Luka in this game how she normally speaks to Jeanne. The first game starts with Bayo and Jeanne fighting together and the second game ends with Bayo and Jeanne fighting together (she also looked at Jeanne's ass in that one scene). Jeanne (regardless of what anyone thinks of her and Bayo romantically) *is* Bayo's strongest relationship, her equal, and the biggest force behind her development as a human being and a witch. She should have been the one that Bayo goes out in a bombastic boss fight with if they were truly so intent on giving our cast a sendoff. Driving them apart and substituting that bond with Luka absolutely nuked all of her established character. It's weird! This game is so weird!

I keep repeating it, but I'm really convinced at this point that this game exists so Scalebound could see the light of day in some way. The sacrilege treatment of the characters and the random under-developed plot elements (the first 2 games are about defying fate, and now this game wants to insist that it is fated for Bayo and Luka to be together?) that feel worse the more you let them sit and marinate seems to support this.

My sister is a Bayonetta superfan (from 2010! She only bought a WiiU to play 2! actually ran some well known Bayo blogs back in like 2015 lol) and this franchise is to her what Xenosaga is to me. She's been pacing around the house and periodically saying things like "A human is stronger than Madama Butterfly....because he put on a fursuit" unprompted.

[starflightprogrammersocks]

Alongside my first post, I'm placing some writing no one's seen before.

(For context, the character Tazarel in this story is a funky little bipedal dragon dude. The amulet he uses does a magic disguise. I think I wrote this at the start of the pandemic and edited here and there.)

Future Shot: A Pleasant Afternoon

Elias had gone off to the other side of the city for the day, saying, “I need to get some supplies from some old friends and old haunts. Here’s a bit of money if you’d like to go out and do somethin today, and a book from the Scalebound in case you don’t.” Alciel rode along with him, so the dragonet’s head was more quiet than usual. The book had tempted him, but he also wanted to explore the fresh snowfall.

Choices, choices.

After a moment, the dragonet made up his mind with a nod. Putting on the pendant and whispering its phrase, he crawled out from underneath his blankets and pulled on the light tunic and pants Elias had got him recently. The tiny sliver of cold he felt in his chest from the pendant was wiped out as the dragonet descended down the stairs into the now familiar atmosphere of the Crossroads. It seemed to be just after the breakfast rush, as Margees was wandering around tables and cleaning things herself. Nodding to the orange dragoness, he weaved his way under the pillars that held up the dragon tables and made his way outside. 

A light chill had taken to the air, pleasantly accompanied by the crunch of fresh snow under his talons. Tazarel made his way along the narrow alleys and streets towards Duvahn’s southeastern wall, gingerly avoiding touching any of the multitudes of humans that were crowding almost every path. Squeezing through an impressively dense crowd, he popped out close to the edge of South Road and followed the flow of foot traffic out of the city. 

Or so he planned, until a pure, heavenly scent caught his nose. 

The dragonet stopped dead, almost causing someone to bump into him. Muttering an apology, he followed his nose back to the side of the road until he heard an older human woman hawking prices for loaves of bread next to a cart. He wandered over, hoping to keep the scent in his nose as long as he could. The bread was the source of the wonderful, wonderful smell filling his nose right now, there was no doubt. The scent made his thoughts fuzzy and warm and forced him to stop and inhale deeply.

“Boy!”

The sharp call snapped him out of his daydream and whipped his attention straight towards the enemy… old woman. Tazarel’s tensed claws relaxed slightly as he made eye contact with the woman. She was clearly older, with a weathered, wrinkled face and white hair. Her hunched back sported what seemed like a patchwork blanket, mixing yellows and reds and oranges into a tapestry of a warm flame. Said wrinkled face was focused on him with extreme concern, and as their gazes met, she gave a very impertinent Hmmph! at him.

“I, um.” Tazarel fidgeted with his claws for a moment. What does Elias say in moments like this?

“Oh hey, lady. What can I do you for?” No, that’s not correct. Alciel, help?

...Right. What would he say?

“What do you want to waste my time with now, human?” Also wrong.

“Boy.” The old woman raised a small wooden stick at him. “What in the name of the Four Cinders do you think you’re doing out here on this day?”

Paralyzed, Tazarel couldn’t really get his words together. The crone shook her head. “Bah, what does it matter? A young man will make many mistakes in his life, and going outside on a cold day without proper coverings is one of them.” She paused. “One I refuse to let slide! Boy!”

He stared at her, wide-eyed.

“Where do you think you’re going without a coat?” She jabbed the stick into his chest. “You’ll catch a cold and be bedridden for days!”

Finally, something caught in his head. “I am not cold, um…”

“Not cold he says,” she scoffed. “Like hell! Boy, when did you eat today?”

The dragonet was panicking. This old human woman had his head in a spin between her questions and the stick and the poking and the smell of that bread...

She must have seen where he glanced, because her gaze softened immediately. “Honey, why didn’t you just say so?” The crone turned around, revealing a small bread oven behind her. With the efficiency and grace of decades of practice, she slid out a fresh loaf of bread and set it on the cart between them. “Here.”

Thoroughly confused, Tazarel shook his head and began bringing out Elias’ coin pouch. At the sight of it, the woman gave a barking laugh and shook her head. “Boy, you put that away right now. A gift is a gift, and you clearly need some of Mama Jo’s bread.”

Gingerly, she patted him on the forearm. “Now go. Do whatever you were doing before I harassed you, boy.”

Tazarel stared at her, trying his best to remain calm. In a fit of nervous energy, he nodded a couple times, put some of the shinier coins he had on her cart, and sprinted away before he could hear any of her objections, warm golden loaf in claw. 

The rest of his journey down South Road towards the gates of Duvahn were far less eventful, save for the fact that he kept being distracted by the perfection he held in his claws. It occurred to him that eating the bread warm would be significantly more enjoyable than letting it cool, so he found a bench outside a building and began working at the loaf. Crispy and crunchy, it took him a moment to properly break the loaf open, blasting him with the overwhelming, divine smell that had attracted him in the first place. His mouth watered, everything slowed down, and he could hardly breathe. At last, the dragonet tore a chunk off and popped it into his mouth. Plain, warm, with a hint of sweetness and softness. Crunchy, squishy, good, goood, gooooood.

Tazarel swallowed, then began working on a second chunk. He spent an exorbitant amount of time sitting on the bench, marveling at the absolute perfection the bread he had was. After a while, he got up again and continued his trek out of the city, slowly savoring the loaf. He studiously avoided making eye contact with the guard dragons on his way out, rushing down the footpaths that lead to one of the closest riverbanks of the Cracked Fang. The sunlight glinting off the snow and wet rock pressed against his eyes in a way that reminded him of the first time he left his cave. Tazarel slowed to a walk as he remembered the warmth reaching under his scales and hugging him tightly. He took another bite of bread and felt his thoughts scatter in the wake of the Almighty Scent.

After an hour of searching, he found a secluded spot that was both relatively dry and completely free of any other human or dragon. Tazarel gave a deep, contented sigh as he sat on the riverbank and picked the loaf apart. He sat there for a long time, simply losing himself in the sounds and sights of nature. Very few things were active, but he did spot a couple fish traveling upstream on some unknown quest. They were small and purple, much like the dragonet himself. He wondered how they would taste. Certainly not better than the bread.

Wait, Elias had made a kind of food called a “sandwich” once before. That involved bread and other ingredients. Including meat.

He couldn’t possibly defile the bread with fish, could he?

More to the point, did he really want to get wet attempting to catch the dubious fish?

No, he couldn’t.

He looked up into the early evening sky and admired the fiery splashes of red, orange, and yellow that flung themselves across the landscape as the sun finished with its descent below the horizon. A slow blink later, the hot colors had burned down into deep purples and blues and the sunlight had faded considerably. The bread had lost its warmth, so Tazarel regretfully popped the rest of it into his maw and chewed in contentment.

Night eventually crept across the sky, the stars peeking out between long strings of puffy gray clouds. The light of the full moon washed out nearly all color from the landscape, giving everything a curious, flat appearance. The cold air stung his nose as he took a deep breath, then let it out in a torrent of white vapor. 

It’s like fire, except… kinder. How nice. He blew a couple more puffs as he got to his feet and shook out his wings. As the dragonet made his way back, he noticed a light sheen of frost had covered the low grasses on his path to the walls of Duvahn.

Tazarel caught up with a group of humans with a wagon and quietly fell into step behind them, absentmindedly wishing for more of the bread he had. He took another deep breath as the group got closer to the guard dragon, the whipping snake of worry inside his chest stirring to life again. But, the brown scaled guard merely waved him inside with a slightly concerned look and muttered, “It’s cold out, human. Through the gate now, c’mon.”

Tazarel made his way back to the Crossroads, slipping in behind a couple of boisterous humans who had their arms around each other and drinks in hand. The warm atmosphere hit him like a brick, and he instinctively stretched his wings just a bit. The large draconic tables were partially filled, and as usual the patrons there paid him no mind as he slipped between their legs and under their tails on his way to the second floor. He passed by a second pair of humans, neither of them noticing him as he swept behind them and into his and Elias’ room.

The dragonet felt his eyelids droop suddenly as a wave of exhaustion came over him. He wandered back to his closed off room and settled into his nest of pillows and blankets. With a mental flick, he deactivated his pendant and set it off to the side, then blearily remembered the coin pouch Elias had left him. He opened the small door and placed it outside, then closed it back up again. The pitch darkness and muffled noise of conversation and drinks below him lulled him into a strange, meditative state. Tazarel laid there on his pillows for an amount of time until a pleasant, quiet sleep overtook his body and mind. For once, not a single nightmare came to him.

[iris-ymir]

Body Aesthetics: Lareine Kira

Bold what applies.

[ BODY ] Long legs. Short legs. Average legs. Slender thighs. Thick thighs. Toned thighs. Skinny arms. Soft arms. Toned arms. Toned stomach. Flat stomach. Flabby Stomach. Soft stomach. Six-pack. Beer belly. Lean frame. Beefy/muscular frame. Voluptuous frame. Petite frame. Lanky frame. Short nails. Long nails. Manicured nails. Dirty nails.Flat ass. Toned ass. Bubble butt. Small waist. Average waist. Thick waist. Narrow hips. Average hips. Wide hips. Big feet. Average feet. Small feet. Soft feet. Slender feet. Calloused hands. Soft hands. Big hands. Average hands. Small hands. Long fingers. Short fingers. Average fingers. Narrow shoulders. Broad shoulders. Average shoulders. Underweight. Average weight. Overweight.

[ HEIGHT ] Shorter than 140 cm. 141 cm-150 cm. 151 cm to 160 cm. 161 cm to 170 cm. 171 cm to 180 cm. 181 cm to 190 cm. 191 cm to 2m. Taller than 2 m.

[ SKIN ] Pale. Rosy. Olive. Dark. Tanned. Blotchy. Smooth. Moles. Acne. Dry. Greasy. Freckled. Scars. Birthmarks.

[ EYES ] Small.Large. Average. Grey. Brown. Blue. Violet. Pink. Green. Gold. Hazel. Crimson. Doe-eyed. Almond. Close-set. Wide-set. Deep-set. Squinty. Monolid. Heavy eyelids. Upturned. Downturned.

[ HAIR ] Thin. Thick. Fine. Normal. Greasy. Dry. Soft. Shiny. Curly. Frizzy. Wild. Unruly. Straight. Smooth. Wavy. Floppy. Cropped. Pixie-cut. Afro. Shoulder length. Back length. Waist length. Past hip-length. Buzz cut. Bald. Weave. Hair extensions. Jaw length. Layered. Mohawk. Dreadlocks. Box braids. Faux locks. White. Platinum blonde. Golden blonde. Dirty blonde. Blonde. Ombre. Ash brown. Mouse brown. Chestnut brown. Golden brown. Chocolate brown. Dark brown. Jet black. Ginger. Red. Auburn. Dyed. Thin eyebrows. Average eyebrows. Thick eyebrows. Plucked eyebrows.

[ TATTOOS / PIERCINGS ] Full sleeve. Thigh tattoo. Neck tattoo. Chest tattoo. Back tattoo. Shoulder blade tattoo. One tattoo. Face tattoo. Hand tattoo. A few here and there. Multiple. No tattoos. Monroe piercing. Nose piercing. Septum. Nipple piercing(s). Genital piercing(s). Industrial piercings. Earlobe piercings. Prince Albert piercing. Eyebrow piercing(s). Tongue piercing(s). Lip piercing(s). Top of the ear. Tragus piercing. Angel bites. Labret. Stretched out ears. Navel piercing. Inverse navel piercing. Cheek piercing(s). Smiley. Nape piercing(s). No piercings.

[ COSMETICS ] Eyeliner. Light eyeliner. Heavy eyeliner. Cat eyes. Mascara. Fake eyelashes. Matte lipstick. Regular lipstick. Lipgloss. Red lips. Pink lips. Nude lips. Dark lips. Bronzer. Highlighter. Eyeshadow. Neutral eyeshadow. Smoky eyes. Colorful eyeshadow. Blush. Lipliner. Light contouring. Heavy contouring. Powder. Matte foundation. Shiny foundation. Concealer. Wears war paint from time to time. Wears make up regularly. Wears it from time to time. Rarely wears make-up.

[ SCENT ] Floral. Herbal. Earthy. Fruity. Perfumes. Aftershave. Cocoa. Moisturiser. Shampoo. Cigarettes. Leather. Fur. Sweat. Food. Incense. Marijuana. Cologne. Whiskey. Wine. Fried food. Blood. Fire. Cold. Fresh. Metal. Rain.

[ CLOTHES ] Jeans. Tight pants. Overknee socks. Tights. Leggings. Yoga pants. Pencil skirt. Tight skirt. Loose skirt. Tight/Form-fitting dress. Cardigans. Tunic. Blouse. Button up shirt. Band-T-shirt. Sports-T-shirt. Sweatpants. Tanktop. Cut off t-shirt. Designer. High street. Leather jacket. Thrift. Lingerie. Long skirt. Miniskirt. Maxidress. Sun dress. Tie. Tuxedo. Cocktail dress. High slit dress/skirt. T-shirt. Loose clothing. Tight clothing. Jean shorts. Sweater. Sweater vest. Waistcoat. Khaki pants. Suit. Hoodie. Harem pants. Basketball shorts. Boxers/Boxer-Briefs. Thong. Hotpants. Hipster panties. Bra. Sportsbra. Crop top. Corset. Ballerina skirt. Leotard. Polka dot. Stripes. Glitter. Cotton. Linen. Silk. Lace. Leather. Velvet. Patterns. Florals. Neon colors. Pastels. Light colors. White. Black. Dark colours. Fur/Fauxfur. Revealing clothing. Heavy armor. Medium armor. Light Armor.

[ SHOES ] Sneakers. Slip-ons. Flats. Slippers. Sandals. High heels. Kitten heels. Ankle boots. Combat boots. Knee-high. Platforms. Stripper heels. Bare feet. Loafers. Oxfords. Gladiator shoes. Leather boots.

Stolen from @mai-takeda! 🖤  (Yes, this is a crime scene...)

Tagging: @ofthebleedingheart @umbralich @unspoken-vows @hangedemperor @unatobajhiri @hingan-fox @scalebound-codex @sdavi-kitanni @alun-ura @resistance-ranger & YOU! If you have been sleeping like me, and haven’t done it yet, do it NOW! :D

[hardcoregamer]

PAX East 2020: Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba Detail Wonderful 101 Remaster, Project G.G.

Platinum Games has had a fantastic run.  From its rise out of the ashes of Capcom’s Clover studio, to the early Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising, to a rocky period when Scalebound was canceled and mid-tier licensed product did little more than keep the lights on, to the studio roaring back strong with Nier Automata, it’s been an incredible ride.  Platinum has been going from one strength to the next over the last few years and that’s given it the freedom to try something new.  Specifically, it’s starting to self-publish its own titles, starting with the successfully Kickstarted The Wonderful 101.  Studio heads and long-time collaborators Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya recently traveled to Boston for this year’s PAX East, and Hardcore Gamer editors Kyle LeClair and James Cunningham got to sit down with them for a conversation via translator on where they’ve been and what’s coming up.

Go see!

https://hardcoregamer.com/2020/03/06/pax-east-2020-hideki-kamiya-atsushi-inaba-detail-wonderful-101-remaster-project-g-g/368911/

[eorzeasfrozenknight]

Body Aesthetics: Yuki

[ BODY ]

Long legs. Short legs. Average legs. Slender thighs. Thick thighs. Toned thighs. Skinny arms. Soft arms. Toned arms. Muscular arms. Toned stomach. Flat stomach. Flabby Stomach. Soft stomach. Six-pack. Beer belly. Lean frame. Beefy/muscular frame. Voluptuous frame. Petite frame. Lanky frame. Short nails. Long nails. Manicured nails. Dirty nails. Flat ass. Toned ass. Bubble butt. Small waist. Average waist. Thick waist. Narrow hips. Average hips. Wide hips. Big feet. Average feet. Small feet. Soft feet. Slender feet. Calloused hands. Soft hands. Big hands. Average hands. Small hands. Long fingers. Short fingers. Average fingers. Narrow shoulders. Broad shoulders. Average shoulders. Underweight. Average weight. Overweight. (kinda? cause of all her muscle she’d be considered overweight by some standards)

[ HEIGHT ]

Shorter than 140 cm. 141 cm to 150 cm. 151 cm to 160 cm. 161 cm to 170 cm. 171 cm to 180 cm. 181 cm to 190 cm. 191 cm to 2m. Taller than 2 m.

[ SKIN ]

Pale. Rosy. Olive. Dark. Tanned. Blotchy. Smooth. Moles. Acne. Dry. Greasy. Freckled. Scars. Birthmarks.

[ EYES ]

Small. Large. Average. Grey. Brown. Blue. Turquoise. Violet. Pink. Green. Gold. Hazel. Crimson. Doe-eyed. Almond. Close-set. Wide-set. Deep-set. Squinty. Monolid. Heavy eyelids. Upturned. Downturned.

[ HAIR ]

Thin. Thick. Fine. Normal. Greasy. Dry. Soft. Shiny. Curly. Frizzy. Wild. Unruly. Straight. Smooth. Wavy. Floppy. Cropped. Pixie-cut. Afro. Pompadour. Shoulder length. Back length. Waist length. Past hip-length. Buzz cut. Bald. Weave. Hair extensions. Jaw length. Layered. Mohawk. PonyTail. Braid. Locks. Box braids. Faux locks. White. Going Grey. Platinum blonde. Golden blonde. Dirty blonde. Blonde. Strawberry Blonde. Ombre. Ash brown. Mouse brown. Chestnut brown. Golden brown. Chocolate brown. Dark brown. Jet black.Orange. Ginger. Red. Auburn. Dyed. Thin eyebrows. Average eyebrows. Thick eyebrows. Plucked eyebrows.

[ TATTOOS / PIERCINGS ]

Full sleeve. Thigh tattoo. Neck tattoo. Chest tattoo.  Back tattoo. Shoulder blade tattoo. One tattoo. Face tattoo. Hand tattoo. Henna tattoo. Wrist tattoo.Forearm tattoo. A few here and there. Multiple. No tattoos. Monroe piercing. Nose piercing. Septum. Nipple piercing(s). Genital piercing(s). Industrial piercings. Earlobe piercings. Prince Albert piercing. Eyebrow piercing(s). Tongue piercing(s). Lip piercing(s). Top of the ear. Tragus piercing. Angel bites.Labret. Stretched out ears. Navel piercing. Inverse navel piercing. Cheek piercing(s). Smiley. Nape piercing(s). No piercings.

[ COSMETICS ]

Eyeliner. Light eyeliner. Heavy eyeliner. Cat eyes. Mascara. Fake eyelashes. Matte lipstick. Regular lipstick. Lipgloss. Red lips. Pink lips. Nude lips. Dark lips. Bronzer. Highlighter. Eyeshadow. Neutral eyeshadow. Smoky eyes. Colorful eyeshadow. Blush. Lipliner. Light contouring. Heavy contouring. Powder. Matte foundation. Shiny foundation. Concealer. Wears war paint from time to time. Wears make up regularly. Wears it from time to time. Never wears make-up.

[ SCENT ]

Floral. Herbal. Earthy. Fruity. Perfumes. Aftershave. Cocoa. Moisturizer. Shampoo. Cigarettes. Leather. Fur. Sweat. Food. Incense. Cologne. Whiskey .Wine. Fried food. Blood. Fire. Cold. Fresh. Metal. Rain. Chemicals. Baking!

[ CLOTHES ]

Jeans. Tight pants. Overknee socks. Tights. Leggings. Yoga pants. Pencil skirt. Tight skirt. Loose skirt. Tight/Form-fitting dress. Cardigans. Tunic. Blouse. Button up shirt. Band-T-shirt. Sports-T-shirt. Sweatpants. Tanktop. Cut off t-shirt. Designer. High street. Leather jacket. Thrift. Lingerie. Long skirt. Miniskirt. Maxidress. Sun dress. Tie. Tuxedo. Cocktail dress. High slit dress/skirt. T-shirt. Loose clothing. Tight clothing. Jean shorts. Sweater. Sweater vest. Waistcoat. Khaki pants. Suit. Hoodie. Basketball shorts. Boxers/Boxer-Briefs.Thong. Hotpants. Hipster panties. Bra. Sportsbra. Crop top. Corset. Ballerina skirt. Leotard. Polka dot. Stripes. Glitter. Cotton. Linen. Silk. Lace. Leather.Velvet. Patterns. Florals. Neon colors. Pastels. Light colors. White. Black. Dark colours. Fur/Fauxfur. Revealing clothing. Heavy armor. Medium armor. Light Armor.

[ SHOES ]

Sneakers. Slip-ons. Flats. Slippers. Sandals. High heels. Kitten heels. Ankle boots. Combat boots. Knee-high. Platforms. Bare feet. Loafers. Oxfords. Gladiator shoes. Leather boots.

Tagged by: @witch-hause

Tagging: @of-sea-and-forest @rinrin-rinalys @rinhkitty @lareine-kira @scalebound-codex @mai-takeda @avwalya @violet-warder @vylette-elakha @voidwife @red-hare @handofcards @zhauric @marjiandco and you!

[askagamedev]

I got a few questions about the Scalebound cancellation announcement so I thought I’d talk about it. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Scalebound was a AAA action RPG developed by Platinum Games (Bayonetta, MadWorld, etc.) and published by Microsoft. It was announced at E3 2014 and has since made showings at Gamescom, E3, and other tradeshows... and now it’s been canceled. Which brings us to today’s topic - game cancellations.

Normally, projects get cancelled quite often. You’ve never heard of most of the cancelled projects because they get killed before they’ve been announced to the public. Sometimes it’s because the prototype built for the game just isn’t fun enough. Sometimes it’s because the estimated budget is too much, or the estimated profitability isn’t enough. Sometimes it’s because the publisher just doesn’t have the room for it in the release schedule. Sometimes it’s because key staff leaves the project. This is normal - we try a lot of different things to see if they are feasible, and they aren’t all winners.

The key difference here is that the game was cancelled after its announcement. This is actually a much rarer scenario because it means that the project was cancelled after they had already begun their marketing campaign. Sure, they hadn’t yet started playing ads on TV, but they had shown at tradeshows and that means that they had a schedule in place and started spending money on its marketing. If they were planning on killing the project for any of the previously mentioned reasons, those reasons would have come out before the marketing plan was put together. By making it to the “announcement” milestone, it meant that the publisher was behind the project. So what causes could be responsible for an announced game to get the axe? Well, here are a few possibilities from my experience:

Leadership changes at the executive/publisher level

Whenever somebody new is appointed as leader of division, that person often makes several changes to the way things are currently running. This is pretty standard, actually - if things were going great before, there probably wouldn’t have been any leadership turnover to begin with. The most common way to show a “positive” change to shareholders is to cancel projects (especially projects that aren’t going to ship within the fiscal year) in order to cut costs, but it could also just be company politics. If one executive gets ousted in favor of another, the new executive will sometimes cancel his predecessor’s projects to show his disdain for the predecessor.

Insurmountable problems at the dev studio

Sometimes the project is just too far behind schedule for some reason or other. Maybe the dev team wasted 3 million dollars buying a special marketing bus, or maybe they just couldn’t get the gameplay to a fun enough level. Maybe the dev team just cobbled together demos through hackery and never had a solid game built in the first place. Maybe some essential staff from the dev team decided to quit and form a new company, hanging the rest of the team out to dry. In this scenario, the publisher has to look at all of the money spent so far, consider how much more they would have to spend beyond the initial estimates to bring the game up to shippable quality in addition to the originally allotted budget, and decided that it just wasn’t worth it to finish the project.

The publisher is in financial trouble

This happens sometimes too. If the publisher gambled big on some other project that crashed and burned, that financial damage can end up taking other projects with it as collateral damage because there isn’t enough money banked. THQ basically imploded because they bet far too much of their money on the uDraw tablet, and its failure had a domino effect that took down other in-progress projects as well.

Obviously, this list is by no means exhaustive. There could be other reasons as well - legal issues, licensing issues, a huge public backlash, bad response to the initial marketing material, shifts in market trends over time, overwhelming competition from other publishers, technical obsolescence, or any number of other things. However, based on my experience inside the industry, if a project gets cancelled after it’s been announced it’s usually because of one of the aforementioned three reasons.

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent questions: The FAQ

[switchydragon]

Hypnostory: Legend of the Hypnoslut Dragon

This is an MC story I did in mid-2017. CW: Contains fictional hypnosis with triggers and the like. Be careful if you're easily affected by such, also contains bimboization, mind-breaking/addiction, penetration, human/dragon relationships and more! Have fun, and let me know your thoughts!

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The Legend of the Hypnoslut Dragon!

Once upon a time, in a cold, small little town in a besieged, cursed valley, there was a witch. Not an evil one; she was quite benevolent, with her light brown hair and fair skin, her kind words and actions would please many who found her a lovely presence. Harmless and cute, but somewhat eccentric, they’d say. And with her, does our story begin.

‘Twas a dark and stormy day, when the witch was awoken by a loud flapping in the distance. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, the noise driving sleep from her body. “Oh...Tisaala’s back…” she said with a disparaged sigh. The big, green dragon would come, bringing death unless the villagers sent her their finest virgin! Alas, so many of her victims would turn into crazed madpeople, unable to feel the same satisfaction the dragon had given them when they returned. Moments later as she was preparing tea for herself, Candace watched the emerald-colored lizard fly off with another, before crossing her arms. “Hmmmph! Why, I ought to bring that dragon to justice!” She said, feeling squeamish...how would she, a lowly little witch with...no actual magic, ever face a great beast like Tisaala and live, let alone vanquish her?

The wingbeat shook her unstable little home like a mighty breeze, and the answer landed directly on her head: A tome, bound in red vellum with a white spine landed on Candace’s head from above, disturbed from its shelf. Candace grumbled softly and rubbed her head, looking at the tome. “Arts of the Mind: Controlling Others with Hypnosis”  Huh, thought Candace, maybe I should read more...maybe that’s why I have no spells...Regardless, with a title like that...it had to be a book of power in some way! Maybe it held the secret to stopping the dragon! She quickly turned to the cover page, stating the author as someone named “Yuki” Hm. Wonder if that’s important or something.Candace was eager to get into this “Hypnosis” thing!

Several hours later, the witch was getting fairly annoyed. She’d powered through the book within a fraction of the time she’d thought she would. Yet, not a single magic incantation was in the book! Just things about “Hypnotic pleasure, mental orgasms, blanking 101, total hypnotic obedience...” the list went on. How was she going to beat a dragon with a “Mental orgasm”? Whatever it was, she bet it couldn’t pierce the dragon’s indestructible scales.

Slamming the book down onto her table, Candace sighed. She looked out the window into the dark and stormy eve, night had not quite set in yet. The witch gulped upon looking at the storm outside. She had to do something before it got too bad...after all, the dragon’s lair was a few hours away. Candace closed her book and stuffed it in her backpack, then put her wide-brimmed black hat on, setting out. Villagers waved, some catcalling as usual, some yelling friendly words of encouragement. The witch ignored them, walking north as the rain pattered down her hat, soon soaking her clothes as she trekked onwards.

The road to Tisaala’s lair was a harrowing one. Candace saw dead trees decaying all around the path, skeletons lying off to the sides of the overgrown road, and worst of all, horrible-sounding crows cawing as they circled above her while she journeyed across the darkened, dead grass and wasteland-like soil. How could any creature live here, especially a giant dragon who probably needed lots of food? Candace took a few deep breaths and sighed, trying to focus as the maw of Tisaala’s cave drew ever closer, while a crow departed a nearby a hollow tree-trunk, flying off into the distance, letting out an uncanny caw as it winged off into the horizon.

Candace arrived at the dragon’s lair soaked, cold and thoroughly annoyed. As she approached the massive cave that was the entry point to Tisaala’s home, Candace shivered...it was was so cold! Taking the first few steps in, she gulped and began to look around...the cave appeared normal, but Candace felt like she hadn’t even entered the worst part of her journey yet. She took her first tentative steps in, her black boots making a squishing noise as she did. Unfortunately, said squeaking was loud enough for the dragon to hear.

“Who dareth enter the mighty Tisaala’s lair and think to return unmolested?” Said the dragon’s massive voice, bellowing through the cave as Candace hurried behind a large rock, letting out a terrified squeal as she heard the dragon’s steps start to draw closer! “Thinking to avenge the virgin I have stolen from your town? ‘Tis in vain, for he has already fallen victim to my lust, as shall you~!” The dragon prowled through the cave while Candace tried to look around, hoping to spot Tisaala before the she-drake saw her. Moments later, Candace succeeded in that. She saw the vibrant green scales and the verdant hues of Tisaala’s eyes as she drew closer and closer, the mouth of the cave just big enough for Tisaala to stand on all fours in. With no other option but to move now, Candace walked in front of the dragon.

“Hey, you big lizard! Look at me!” She managed to say despite the fear pressing into her from every angle.

“What’s a human doing in my lair? And a beautiful one at that too, you are indeed a gem, mortal…” Candace saw how Tisaala’s eyes were already sizing up her soaked, dripping body and clothes. Candace inhaled deeply, and Tisaala laughed, a mighty noise that shook the whole cave. “Aww, whimpering with fear? Do not worry, you’ll be making other noises soon enough.”

Candace mustered all her willpower, then in the most soothing, relaxing voice she could, remembering the book’s instructions as she stared the dragon in the eyes: “I want you to focus on my words, focus hard on them. Focus so they can help you, my Tisaala, the dragon, relax so much, so deeply…” She didn’t know how, but her words were working! Within moments, Candace saw the dragon’s eyes start to droop, then gulped as she remembered what the book would suggest at this point...physical connection...she quietly approached, and inhaled deeply.

Walking forwards despite the fear wracking her body, she placed a hand on Tisaala’s snout, and continued talking. “So good, so nice to just let all that stress of being awake, being conscious, to just fade away, my hand helping you to let it all flow away, moment by moment, second by second…” She saw Tisaala’s eyes start to close all the way, YES! Candace shouted in her head as she finally commanded: “Aaaaaand….Sleep~!” and saw the giant dragon’s jaw touch the ground, her eyes closed tightly.

Candace quickly shuffled through the pages in her book upon seeing the dragon go under, thinking back to those things about domination, mind control….she had to protect her village and make sure this dragon never hurt anyone again! Candace cleared her throat and got to work, starting first with that “Mental Orgasm” thing. Whatever it was, the dragon would think again before hurting her village!.

“And, 5,4,3,2,1! Awake up, fully relaxed, remembering everything I’ve told you, and ready to obey!” Candace smiled upon seeing the dragon awake up, starting to shake herself off...before said dragon jumped on her, grabbing Candace into a tight, scalebound hug.

“Nrrraaa, Mistress, it’s so good to see you! I’m so eager to obey, please command me as you see fit, my divine Goddess, beautiful Mistress~” Candace felt like she was going to be crushed, and fought against the dragon’s warm grasp.

“Nnnggh, come on! Let go!” When she said the word come, something amazing happened. Tisaala collapsed on her back, letting out a vast moan as she closed her eyes.

“Nrraww..My-Mistress is a goddess, sh-she can make me cum with just words….I AM Mistress’s eternally enslaved hypnoslut...” Candace heard Tisaala mutter as she stared up at the ceiling. So she had gotten the better of the dragon...Candace tried to remember one of those phrases from the book, and smiled.

“Come on, you big, dumb dragon, just blank out for me! That’s it, go blank!” She said, happy as she saw Tisaala’s eyes turn a hazy, dull color and her tongue loll out, mouth wide open...the dragon was helpless now! “Hmph! That’ll teach you! And DON’T ever come back!” Candace said, walking deeper into the cave, hoping to find the virgin the dragon had abducted earlier.

As she entered into the much larger inner chamber, Candace gasped. The room was fully lit, somehow. She saw the horde and couldn’t stop her mouth from gaping all the way open, as she let out another yelp. The witch took one more look around and found the ex-virgin, a nobleman’s son, sleeping on a massive pillow in the far corner of the room, snoring the day away.

Candace didn’t see any chains or evil instruments around the giant cavern of glistening artifacts, gold and other luxurious items...she giggled, with the dragon vanquished this was all hers! Now, she just had to get the victim to safety. “Hey! Wake up! You need to get out of here!” Candace yelled at him from across the room, and he sleepily rubbed his eyes.

“But I dun wanna...” the prince muttered, as Candace took off her hat and growled. No stupid man was going to steal HER loot!

“NOW! Get out NOW!” She asserted, and the man sprinted out, pulling his underwear up in the process. Candace smirked, watching him run before turning to the hoard. The dragon-vanquishing witch quickly went about exploring her new wealth, from the gold cuffs studded with diamonds, to all manner of gems and crystals in the sea of glistening gold, she felt enthralled, till a massive shape struck her from the side. She felt like she was being crushed. “W-who?” She choked out, something was holding her tight, something massive was hugging her...she looked up and saw the dragon’s lustful, deranged eyes. Tisaala must be hers too,

She inhaled deeply before saying, slowly and carefully: “You obey me?”, making sure to phrase it like both an order and a question at the same time. The dragon nodded fervently, bobbing her head up and down quickly.

“Yesss, I serve Mistress Candace, who gives the big dumb hypnoslut Tisaala the dragon so much pleasure! I’ll do anything for the powerful, divine Mistress Candace!” Candace giggled, feeling content. “That’s right! And you’ll always be my big, dumb hypnoslut!” She said, repeating and reaffirming what the dragon had just said as a way to confirm it...whatever that meant, Candace felt the control surge through her...she was in charge, and she was going to make this dragon pay for hurting her village! She looked up at Tisaala, who hadn’t released her yet, then firmly ordered her to let go: “Tisaala, my  hypnoslut, I order you to let go of me!” As she looked straight into her eyes. Tisaala complied immediately, leaving Candace to fall gently down onto the firm pillow below her.

Candace nodded, seeing her orders obeyed so fully and immediately, and then issued another one: “Tisaala, I order you to change into a form more appropriate of your Mistress!” With a flash of magic, the dragoness changed into the form beautiful, green-haired woman with scales down her arms and legs, wings and a long tail. The now transformed dragoness looked at Candace knelt at the foot of the pillow, looking up at Candace.

“My Mistress, does this form please you?” Tisaala asked, smiling at Candace. Indeed, the emerald dragon was quite the beauty...Candace smiled and began to undress.

“Of course, and you must please Mistress now, with your body. You need to repay her back for all your awful actions.” She said, and laid down on the pillow.

Tisaala nodded, and dived onto her, hugging Candace as she asked her: “Mistress! Where should I please you first?”

Candace hadn’t felt her breasts played with in forever...in fact, she hadn’t really done anything like this before. “W-well..hypnoslut, I want you to use your tongue on my breasts.” She said quietly, experimenting.

“Yes Mistress!” The dragoness immediately started licking, trailing her long, warm tongue along Candace’s left breast, to her right. Candace gasped in pleasure, the warmth of her tongue plus the wetness felt so amazing, it was like liquid heaven across the neglected tit-flesh.

“Now, kiss them.” Candace got out despite the pleasure clouding her mind already. The dragon wordlessly obeyed, laying a nice wet, sloppy, and warm kiss on her nipples, before pulling off them with a pleasing Pop! as she would move to the other. Candace’s body shook with each touch of her dragon’s lips on her ample C-cup breasts.

Then Candace’s mind went to her needy crotch, the area she hadn’t even touched in years..., panting in pleasure, seeing herself already dripping all over; she felt eager to grant it some attention. “Slut, I want you to please my…” she scrambled through what little words she could remember in her head, heavy with arousal..”M-my sex..” she managed to choke out, then without a moment’s warning, she felt the dragon’s tongue start to lick all around her needy, dripping genitals, the pleasure from her snatch a raging inferno compared to the pleasure from her tits, and Candace felt herself losing control more and more with each passing moment.

As the pleasure inside her began to peak,  another thought came into her head...Tisaala’s tail waving back and forth dreamily…”My little dragon hypnoslut, I want you to use your tail i-inside me.” She said, and panted slowly as the dragoness looked her in the eyes.

“R-really Mistress? I get to put my tail inside Mistress?” She asked, looking jubilant beyond belief. Candace examined the rhythmic, swaying motion of the tail, and another idea popped straight into her head.

“Yyess, pet. In fact, when I-I...mmm…” she tried to remember that word from the book… “O-orgasm, you’ll find yourself feeling that pleasure too, as though it’s linking us together even  more...and when I say that word come I want you to have that-that orgasm with me…” She said, hastily tripping over words as she saw her new pet’s eyes light with the pleasure she was already feeling.

“I love Mistress, I’m her hypnoslut forever!” Tisaala said, then loudly, and Candace felt herself invaded by the tail. It felt warm, just like the rest of the dragon’s body, but it was so big, Candace felt filled in a way she’d never felt before. Then, Tisaala started thrusting. The in and out motion, so quick and hard was overwhelming to say the least, and she yelled out the phrase, letting the pleasure take her so hard in a climax the young woman could barely comprehend. She screamed with pleasure till her lungs couldn’t take it, then collapsed into a hazy mess, her body weak as she felt Tisaala snuggle into her side.

Eventually, the young witch woke up, the dragoness still attached to her side like a puppy clinging to its mother, and Candace sighed with relief...hopefully, the effects of whatever magic she’d done on her little dragon slut would stay forever, meaning she’d never have to come back to this place...but as she looked around, seeing the gold and jewels once again, she sighed. How was she ever gonna get this all home?

“Mistress is awake?” She heard the dragoness’ voice break the silence of the giant cave as she turned her eyes to Tisaala, groaning. As she sat up to gather her thoughts, Candace was hugged again by Tisaala, who was currently staring into her eyes deeply. “Please Mistress, hypnoslut Tisaala needs Mistress! She’ll be a good girl for Mistress and leave her village alone! Pleeeeaaasseee?” She begged Candace, and the witch sighed, pressing her face into her hands…

Candace thought about it...back home all she had was her old books she never read, and it was always so cold there...here, she had a beautiful, magical dragon who bowed to her every whim, and all the wealth one could ever need. Plus, the dragon’s warm body made her feel more comfortable than she ever had at home. Maybe living here would be okay enough. Maybe living here would even be great! She smiled, and then hugged her new loving slut.

“Of course, now get to giving your Mistress another one of those orgasm things. That was so good~!”

Tisaala happily obliged, and they lived happily ever after in the dragon’s cave, licking, kissing and cuddling in each other's embrace. Long after that day, the village would tell tales of the powerful witch who had given her life to slay the mighty dragon plaguing them, and the young boy who ran home to tell the tale so courageously, clad only in his underwear!

Occasionally, some would even say they could hear her moans of inhuman power echoing through the valley, remnants of her battle and victory!

The end.

[gamerzcourt]

Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

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Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

It’s not often that I rant at Microsoft and even less so around E3 time. After all, tis the season for every company to hawk their wares, put everything up for show and convince us to actually partake in their games/services for the next year. Well, except for maybe EA which devoted significant effort to showcase a Command and Conquer title that no one enjoyed. But I digress.

Isn’t it better to judge a company after their press conference is over? In Microsoft’s case, the struggle that its Xbox brand is having to remain relevant isn’t new nor did it begin a few years ago. The resulting struggle has been going on for a while now, taking roots in the Xbox 360 era up till the introduction of Kinect.

“Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends.”

In this day and age, the Xbox One is still a fairly popular console. Granted, it won’t ever reach the PlayStation 4’s sales and may even be struggling to hit half that amount. That was becoming incredibly apparent only a year after both consoles launched. It was painfully obvious that Microsoft was lagging behind. It was incredibly sad to see the company’s botched “always online” functions ultimately drag the Xbox One down, even if they were completely reversed before launch.

However, in 2014, the Xbox One was cooking in some pretty cool ways. Titles like Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall (which would also release for Xbox 360), Project Spark and Forza Horizon 2 were cementing it as this place with great games. Well, except for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that is. 2015 would seem to be even better with franchises like Forza Motorsport, Rare Replay, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Halo and Tomb Raider (albeit in timed exclusive form) sharing space with new franchises like Ori and the Blind Forest and Rivals of Aether.

Of course, it didn’t take long before Microsoft’s old habits began to creep up. Halo 5: Guardians was a huge disappointment at launch, especially with its campaign, and only cemented 343 Industries as a developer that thought it knew what made the Halo games great, and not the fans. Gears of War 4 would release in 2016 and barely carried the franchise forward in any meaningful way. Forza Horizon 3 was pretty incredible but titles like Quantum Break just didn’t rise above our already average expectations. Dead Rising 4 was just awful and ReCore wasn’t the best new IP by a long shot despite the incredible talent involved.

Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends. Were both projects going to be amazing? Well, we don’t really know but this was a console that desperately needed exclusives. With Sony firing on all cylinders with its first and third party exclusives in that quarter, Nintendo at the pinnacle of hype with the Switch release and no major exclusives but Halo Wars 2, Microsoft seemed trapped.

“It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.”

This practice of cancelling projects and relegating studios by the wayside wasn’t exactly new either – Microsoft had done the same to Obsidian Entertainment, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy before Pillars of Eternity was fully funded. Similarly, the numerous hoops that it made developer Darkside jump through before taking them off of the Phantom Dust sequel were similarly damning.

It’s not like the latter part of the year helped either. Cuphead was the one shining light in a land of original IPs but Forza Motorsport 7, despite being excellent, felt like more of the same (but with progression seemingly gated behind loot boxes). Tacoma was all well and good (even though, again, it was a timed exclusive) but Microsoft was laser-focused on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, particularly on its exclusivity to the Xbox One. It was marketed as this huge prize that would see console players flock to the Xbox One. In December 2017, not only was PUBG one of the worst optimized games for either Xbox One X or Xbox One but the base PC version is buckling under the lack of improvements, new content and proper optimization. Granted, things have improved but PUBG’s popularity also took a significant hit with Fornite: Battle Royale’s release.

What is Microsoft’s plan come E3 2018, which will pretty much define its strategies going forward? Will there be much change with Matt Booty as head of Microsoft Studios as of January 2018? Rumours indicate that Halo, Gears of War and Forza will form a major part of Microsoft’s plans (with some Fable thrown in for good measure). Looking back on Microsoft in the Xbox 360 days, it’s incredible how the company seemingly doubles down on these franchises when all else seems lost. The spoiler is that these franchises aren’t advancing the Xbox business as much as Microsoft would think.

You could argue that back when the Xbox 360 was winding down, Kinect was popular and for sure, it did some very good business for Microsoft. However, the crux of the issue is that – unlike Nintendo – Microsoft has struggled to really muster up a compelling first party catalog when motion controls started trending downwards. The one constant isn’t that Microsoft keeps going back to its known franchises to cater to their respective fans. It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.

“The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns.”

Look at Sony, which pushes new franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn and new ideas in established franchises like God of War. Not every new idea is a slam-dunk hit (see The Order: 1886) and not every idea is incredible out of the gate (Evolution Studios’ DriveClub). However, it’s clear that the studio isn’t looking to just compete with the best that first party competitors have to offer. It’s competing with third party developers, pushing higher production values in offbeat concepts and providing a platform with benefits for third party developers on the PS4. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to minimize its third party dealings.

I’m not saying that deals with timed exclusive DLC for FIFA or Call of Duty set my world on fire but they were a few of the aces that Microsoft had. This is, again, to say nothing of Microsoft’s dealings with developers like Platinum Games who it completely shafted. We could talk forever about Microsoft’s failure to really employ the creativity seen in the Japanese game development market. But those chickens came home to roost in 2017 itself when all the big names like Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Nioh and so on stuck with the PlayStation 4 at their respective launches (with Nier: Automata only now being confirmed for Xbox One).

The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns. Yes, God of War and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End remain some of the most successful PS4 titles. Re-imaginings/remakes of old classics like Ratchet and Clank and Shadow of the Colossus have also proven successful. However, it’s the franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human, Bloodborne, Nioh, Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and so on which it either developed or helped foster (even as some released on other platforms later) that are ultimately building up the console’s brand.

“If Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.”

On the flip-side, look at the Nintendo Switch. Even if Nintendo does go back to the well with franchises like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it’s still pushing relatively newer properties like Splatoon 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Snipperclips, Fast RMX, and ARMs. It’s providing a platform for games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, numerous indie titles which couldn’t break out on other platforms, and so on to achieve success. Even when it does recycle old IPs, it does so in unique ways as the open world of Zelda: Breath of the Wild attests. Furthermore, it’s proving a strong platform for indie developers to really taste success.

Of course, foresight is 20/20. Even if franchises on Nintendo’s less successful Wii U platform didn’t exactly set the charts on fire, like Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it still brings them over to the Switch on short notice at the behest of fans. Furthermore, it uses properties like Bayonetta 2 to help promote upcoming exclusives like Bayonetta 3. It’s almost like Nintendo seems in tune with what the consumer may want and attempts to deliver it to them. What a funny concept, right? That doesn’t dismiss whatever issues people may have with the upcoming online service but again, there are still more incredible games on the Nintendo Switch in its first year then there’s been on the Xbox One in the past two.

At the end of the day, whether it’s Sony, Nintendo or even the various PC-exclusive developers, players around the world are given umpteen reasons to invest their time into these platforms. Those looking to get into a platform won’t just have the future to look forward to – they’ll have a compelling backlog supported by strong names, whether new, old or rising. The Xbox One currently lacks this and if Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.

“With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.”

The Xbox One doesn’t just need new IPs. It needs IPs that people would fall over themselves to invest time into. State of Decay 2 garnered over one million players in the first two days of release while Sea of Thieves reached over two million its first week. Game Pass user breakdowns aside, both titles have motivated Xbox One users to invest in them. Microsoft is on some kind of right track (even if the above titles were rather average in their critical response) but needs more quality and in larger quantities. It needs its own Bloodborne or Uncharted 4 or Horizon: Zero Dawn. Not in the sense that it needs the exact ideas those games contain but to inspire the same kind of frenzy that those games do.

Microsoft’s E3 2018 presser is on June 10th. Will we see history repeat itself as the company struggles to relate to a user base that expects more? There are 15 “World Premieres” planned for the show. Will that equate to 140 minutes of just premiering games that will also be coming to other consoles like Battlefield 5? Will it simply cut the prices for the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S even further? Announce some free subscriptions? Or will it ignite our excitement like it did in 2014, showcasing a company that doesn’t just want to talk down to its players but offer them exciting things and back up those offers with exciting products?

Time will tell and for better or worse, time seems to be running out for the house that Xbox built. A long time ago, we would push certain companies to be better simply because more competition was good for everyone. With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides – GamingBolt

[cosmos-demiplane]

Microsoft E3 2018 Press Conference Thoughts

Another year, another E3, time to post on my seldom used blog! No promises for when this is going to be more active... but we will have to see what the future holds!

So I’ll start by saying I’m not an Xbox guy, I play mainly PlayStation and PC with a bit of Switch thrown in there for good measure. I won’t be making a big post like this for the other conferences except Sony’s and maybe Nintendo’s.  I’ll be looking at all the things mentioned out of chronology, but in an order that bundles the similar stuff together.

This time around Microsoft gave us one hell of a show. Forgetting the exclusives for now, as a PlayStation player I was very happy with the showcase. They showed off 15 world premieres of games, some noticeable ones that I’m personally excited for were: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Set in the Life is Strange universe), The Division 2 (they probably feel privileged they got to announce this), Devil May Cry 5 (surprising to see this and other eastern developed games here as I would normally expect this to be revealed at Sony’s show), Jump Force (Blew my freaking mind, a weeaboo gamers wet dream), Dying Light 2 (Again, Xbox got to unveil this, I know PS is scaling back this year but hot damn, incredible), Just Cause 4, and they rounded out the show with a major title that I am very much looking forward to (more on that one at the end!). In brief, WHAT A SHOW. I want all these games *sigh*.

Notable mentions - NieR: Automata is coming to Xbox, Fallout 76 was briefly talked about before Bethesda’s show, Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming to Xbox (!), Tales of Vespira, Shadow of the tomb raider, Tunic (furry Zelda, looks cute and the world has a nice design, but the design of the player character is meh imo), and I guess I have to put Gears 5 in here somewhere or someone will bite my arm off.

THE GAME PASS, the value of this thing keeps getting better, The Division, Elder Scrolls Online, and Fallout 4 are being added as well as some new tach (machine learning algorithms) that allows your games to start twice as fast. I don’t think the internet infrastructure is in place yet for the future of purely streamed games, but tools like this will probably help it become a stable, staple service sooner rather than later.

Next I want to talk about exclusives, but before I do I’ll put this game (DLC) here as I’m very much looking forward to it, Sea of Thieves Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores. These next two updates to Rare’s open world PvP pirate game, which I love, should hopefully inject it with some more much needed content (and hopefully not a time limited campaign!).

Xbox’s weakest point has always been its exclusives. After the cancellation of Scalebound and the further delay of Crackdown 3, they had to show us something during this conference to give us confidence in the future of the platform. After all, strong exclusives lead to strong sales, growth, competition etc. And of course, great games all around.

And oh boy did they deliver! FIVE studios have been brought into the fold to increase their roster of First Party exclusives (The quality of these studios can be discussed later, for now let’s just focus on the positives). The first, one formed for the occasion: The Initiative, led by the guy who worked on Tomb Raider. The other four were snatched up as part of a major investment: Undead Labs (State of Decay), Playground Games (Forza Horizon), Ninja Theory (Formally a PS third party dev, they made 2007s Heavenly Sword and 2017s Hellblade), and finally Compulsion Games (Currently working on We Happy Few). Ninja Theory is the big one that will help them the most against the competition, and for the others, the extra money they will receive from being first party will no doubt be a boon to the scope and quality of their games (looking at you State of Decay!).

The exclusive games they did show off were a mix of the highly anticipated and totally unexpected. Battle Toads, a game wanted by the passionate community was show to exist, with a release date of 2019. Session, a new and exclusive skateboarding game was shown. Forza Horizon 4 was shown off, open world, changing seasons, it looks very different to what they have done with the franchise previously. Crackdown 3 was shown to alleviate fears of any more delays (although, anything is possible).

Lastly, before I give my general thoughts, I wanted to give the show opener and closer their own section. They opened the show by unveiling Halo Infinite, the trailer gave vibes of it being a more open world full of wildlife (rhinos anyone??) and a story centred on Master Chief. Other than that and the name, no other info was given, but you can bet it will be taking the series in a new direction. The show was closed, remarkably, by CD Projekt Red’s, Cyberpunk 2077! They have been silent about this game for a while (approx. 2077 days in fact!) because they pride themselves on quality and only showing their stuff when it’s ready. There was no release date given as the game is still in the oven, but I highly recommend you watch the trailer as this is surely going to be one of the best games of the decade.

Of course there are a few things I left out of smaller importance (PUBG was there for some reason?), but, onto my thoughts. I’ll keep this bit brief because I think you can already gather what my opinion is going to be - Holy shit this was the best Xbox conference in the history of Xbox conferences, maybe ever. Awesome exclusives, brand new/acquired studios, game pass improvements, many BIG world premieres, amazing games for everyone; this conference honestly felt like a show for every gamer as much as it did a show for just Xbox fans. I am excited and looking forward to the future of Xbox and the new first party games they will create. This conference seriously impressed me, and E3 has only just begun!

I don’t like thinking of E3 as a competition, but I don’t see how the others can trump this. Bethesda will be the best conference for Bethesda fans, Sony has downscaled, and Nintendo showed all its cards when it won E3 last year. This year has started on a high and I can’t see it getting any higher, which is a great feeling! If the other conferences are anything like this one, this is going to be an incredible E3!

[fate-bound-in-crystal]

So I figured out what Ryde will look like post Light Corruption...

I'll need to mod her scales white though

[konigstigerr]

vga 2020

geoff “dorito pope” keighly: now, a man that needs no introduction, my good friend, hideo kojima.

hideo kojima: hello everyone, thank you all for your continued support. the success of death stranding wouldn’t have been possible without your help. before announcing the winner of best game of year I want to show you a bit of my new project.

the lights dim down.

the screen reads Platinum Games. 

Hideo Kojima.

Taro Yoko.

Drakengard 4: Scalebound

TBA

the audience immediately dies and ascends to a higher level of existence.

[sichore]

thatninja replied to your post “vestaloflight replied to your post “woke up to Scalebound officially...”

Due to how their exclusive xbone games work, that would have been released for PC via the Microsoft Store. So, we wouldn't have needed to buy that console, thankfully. From what I read, though, it doesn't look like there is much hope for Scalebound... If we're lucky, some of it might come to light in another title entirely, but I think that's the best we can hope for now.

that would have been fine for pc gamers, which not everyone is. I’m certainly not. It’s not entirely unsurprising given the little amount of coverage it got, but then again I feel like we heard a bit more or just as much about it as we did Versus XIII back in the day. It was a really ambitious and different project for them, though.

with the way they were hoping to incorporate multiplayer, I rather hope that if it’s able to be made in some way that player customization comes into play in addition to the dragon one.

[entergamingxp]

‘We’re Not Working On It’

April 2, 2020 1:00 AM EST

Spencer, in an appearance on IGN Unlocked, briefly reflected on PlatinumGames’ ambitious but ill-fated fantasy game, and put to rest any hopes of its return.

New talk of Scalebound still manages to pop up, even when it’s been more than three years since its cancellation.

Appearing on the latest episode on IGN’s Unlocked, Xbox head Phil Spencer was asked about the ill-fated project from PlatinumGames and any hope of its development restarting.

“We’re not working on it,” Spencer said. “I’m not at Platinum today, but I’m almost positive they’re not working on it. It’s something we all moved past.

“It’s not a moment that I see as a high point for me in my role, having to cancel a game that we had talked about for years. But yeah, for the people out there who are kind of thinking that maybe there’s something still in the works, there’s not.”

Announced during Microsoft’s press conference at E3 2014 as an exclusive for the Xbox One, Scalebound represented Platinum and director Hideki Kamiya’s most ambitious project by far, and one that went outside of the studio’s perceived comfort zone.

Whereas most of Platinum’s games to that point (and after) were built to be fast-paced and focused action experiences, Scalebound was intended to go in a different direction. Action remained at the foundation, but graphics, scale, and role-playing mechanics also took high priority as footage shown in the proceeding years later revealed about the fantasy world where players were to fight alongside a dragon companion far bigger than them.

Development reportedly wasn’t going as planned, though, and Microsoft decided to pull the plug in January 2017.

“It’s a tough one, because I have a ton of respect for Platinum, Kamiya-san and the team,” Spencer said on Unlocked. “I feel no ill will, and we talk to those guys. There’s no animosity between the teams. We tried to go do something and it didn’t work.”

This isn’t the first time Spencer has talked about Scalebound’s cancellation, and Platinum’s studio head Atsushi Inaba, who was a producer on the project, admitted that its failure was the fault of both parties.

Part of the problem, Spencer believes, was that the game was announced far too early, a mistake that he noted was also made with Fable Legends and the since defunct Lionhead Studios.

“I regret that we were as public about what we tried to go do,” Spencer said. “I did some learning around Fable Legends, I did some learning around Scalebound, about being public about things before I know that we got a real believable plan and something that I felt in my hands and we’d know was gonna be there.

“We just didn’t get there with Scalebound and with the team, and I say that across both teams. So, I think what you hear — at least when you hear the teams, us talk about it — is that we loved some of the ideas that we were trying to go do. Obviously, we wanted to ship a great game to our customers. Every time we start a game, that’s our end goal. So of course we’re gonna be a little upset that we weren’t able to deliver on our goals with that title.”

Inaba said at the beginning of February that he was interested in returning to the game, but that Platinum’s ability to do so relies entirely on Microsoft, which owns the Scalebound IP.

Kamiya, on the other hand, was blunt about still wanting to make Scalebound at Platinum’s PAX East panel a few weeks later, along with a few other games that would require some legal legwork from his former employer, Capcom.

With that said, Platinum has rebounded nicely since Scalebound’s cancellation.

The studio, under publisher Square Enix and writer/director Yoko Taro, launched the highly acclaimed NieR: Automata in February 2017, and is working with Square again on the upcoming Babylon’s Fall. Platinum also released the Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain last summer, and has positioned itself to begin self-publishing its games, starting with The Wonderful 101: Remastered (releasing May 19).

Microsoft, meanwhile, is getting ready for the launch of its next-gen Xbox Series X, which Spencer shed more light on during the Unlocked episode.

You can read up on some of the individual highlights by following the links below.

April 2, 2020 1:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/were-not-working-on-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=were-not-working-on-it

[musclegeekshop]

Scalebound Dev Laments Microsoft Taking 'Brunt' of Blame for Cancellation

Scalebound Dev Laments Microsoft Taking ‘Brunt’ of Blame for Cancellation

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“Game development is hard on both sides”

By Janet Garcia

When Microsoft confirmed Scalebound’scancellation back in January 2017, fans of the would-be franchise were understandably upset the series wouldn’t see the light of day. But developer…

[halowars2blog]

10 Highly Anticipated Video Games That Never Saw the Light of Day - Twinfinite

Twinfinite

10 Highly Anticipated Video Games That Never Saw the Light of Day Twinfinite Things looked so tenuous for Scalebound, it was officially cancelled in 2017. In a statement released to Polygon, this made way for Microsoft Studios to deliver 'an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3 ...

from halo-wars-2 - Google News https://ift.tt/2sbpeQb via IFTTT