The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition (PS4) Review

** The Witch and the Hundred Knight on PS4 is a re-release of the PS3 version.  I have not played the PS3 version, so this review is based on the first time playing, not a comparison to the PS3 version. **

The Witch and the Hundred Knight is about a witch and a knight, who is named Hundred Knight. Metallia, the witch, summons the Hundred Knight from a magical realm to act as her personal servant and henchman. With the Hundred Knight’s help, she hopes to spread the mud of her swamp to the four corners of the world so that she can be recognized as the greatest witch of all time.  I found the storyline to be very thin and bland.  There are many pointless side-stories throughout the game before finally having an actual storyline in the final chapters of the game.

I also found the gameplay to be just as bland.  Players control of the Hundred Knight and explore a variety of large, open areas, many of which I found were too large and too open. Hundred Knight can equip up to five weapons at a time, which come in multiple varieties and different types of damage.  Your weapons are set from 1-5 and make up your attack combo chain, using each weapon in order. You can also dodge and summon Tochkas, which are beings mostly used for support. I found only two of them useful for anything other than clearing obstacles.  Most of the time, combat simply comes down to hitting the attack button until everything is dead. Even boss fights typically don't require any more strategy than this.  I found myself running around and button-mashing a majority of the time, which left very little strategy to the game.

The very little strategy that I mentioned is a mechanic in the game called the GCal system.  GCals are a time limit placed on the Hundred Knight in each area.  Performing  actions in the game such as attacking, running, healing, or exploring an unexplored area costs GCals, which drain down from one hundred each time the Hundred Knight enters an area. GCals are fairly easy to restore. The easiest way is by spending grade points earned in combat, which restore 10 GCals each. Grade points can be spent at any of the pillars that are found throughout each level, and can also be used to grant the Hundred Knight temporary stat boosts. The Hundred Knight can also consume nearly dead foes in order to regain a small amount of GCals, but doing so also fills his inventory up with junk.  I found the GCal system to be a little annoying at times, but it also gave the game some strategic points and kept it a little more difficult.  

As I said before, this is a remake/re-release of the PS3 version, so I am judging the graphics strictly based on the PS4 version. Having never played nor seen the PS3 version, I am not sure how much they updated the graphics, but I found the visuals in the PS4 version to be quite good.  The game is played in a ¾ top-down type view and the colors and details pop nicely.  The worlds have unique artstyles and the characters have great detail to them.  The visuals in this game may not be mind-blowing, but they help keep the game interesting, which it needs due to the lack of strategy.

Overall, The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition is a decent button-masher with very little story line.  It is currently priced at $39.99 on the PS Store and unless you are a fan of the PS3 version, I would definitely pass on it.  

Score a 3 out of 5.

Thanks to NIS America for providing a copy for review.

1 Up Box - January 2016

I recently got subscriptions to 1 Up Box, Loot Crate and Arcade Block, which are all boxes that get delivered to your door each month and are filled with nerdy and gaming related items.  I will be posting unboxing articles each month of each service to give our viewers an idea of the items that each service sends out.  

The first box that I received for January 2016 is the 1 Up Box.  1 Up Box costs roughly $20, including shipping.  If you are interested in subscribing, click here.

Each 1 Up Box has a unique theme and this month's theme is Legends.  Now let's check out January 2016's 1 Up Box!

Every 1 Up Box contains a T-Shirt, which you specify the size you would like when you subscribe.  The shirt I received is a bit smaller than normal, so if you are going to subscribe, I would recommend choosing a size larger than you normally do.  This month's t-shirt is a "Pugs of Legend" shirt.  It is a pretty cool shirt that features pugs dressed as game characters.

The next item in the box is a Deadpool "Dorbz" vinyl figure.  Just in time for the Deadpool movie!

Next, we have a patch featuring Link from The Legend of Zelda.  This would look pretty cool on a gaming backpack or something.

The next item in the January 2016 1 Up Box is a "Zero to Hero Coffee" koozie.  This will work great to keep my beer, I mean beverages, nice and cold.

Next, we have a Super Mario mystery dog tag.  This is the same mystery bag that you can find in stores such as Wal-Mart and Gamestop.  I got a Koopa dog tag.  There are rare gold tags that you can get and each pack contains a dog tag, card and sticker.

And last, but not least we have a Valentine's Day card featuring Thor dressed up with his hammer.  It states "Whoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess my love."  It's something kind of cool that I can give to one of my kids to give to a friend for Valentine's Day.

There you have January 2016's 1 Up Box.  It contained some pretty cool and interesting items.  If you are interested in subscribing, please use the link above!  Loot Crate and Arcade Block unboxings will be posted as soon as I receive them, so stay tuned!

Poncho Review (PS4)

Poncho is a two-dimensional, semi open-world, scrolling platformer with puzzle-solving elements that takes place in a world where all humans have been eliminated, leaving only animals and a bunch of robot servants.  You, the player, control one of these servant robots named Poncho.  Your goal is to discover who your maker is and why humanity was wiped off the face of the world.

Poncho contains wonderful pixel-art graphics with vibrant colors, which works great for this style of platformer  While it is a two-dimensional platformer, the levels actually contain 3 different layers (think Little Big Planet).  Navigating between these layers is as simple as pressing R1 and L1 to move forward and backward, respectively.  I found myself switching between layers quite often, and this aspect of the game makes the game even more fun.  The one issue I had with the layers was that there were a few times that I needed to make a jump but wasn’t sure which layer I needed to be in to make that jump.  This resulted in a few trial-and-error attempts.

As I mentioned before, Poncho is a semi open-world game. You are pretty much free to go through the levels in any order you want, but in order to get to certain parts you will need to unlock color-coded gates.  These gates can be unlocked with color-coded keys, which you obtain by finding them throughout the world or buying them from robot merchants using gems that you find in the open.  I found myself back-tracking quite a bit to find or buy keys to advance, but not too much.  

The gameplay and controls in Poncho are very good.  Guiding Poncho through the levels is fairly easy.  Both the platforming and puzzle aspects of the game are implemented very well.  One of the few problems I had with Poncho is that there are very few checkpoints in the levels, so when you happen to fall (make a jump on wrong layer), you likely will have to start from the beginning of the level, which can become quite frustrating when you reach a difficult area.  

Overall, Poncho is a fun game with vibrant graphics, solid gameplay and a unique story.  I ran into a few glitches, but nothing serious. The game can become frustrating at times, but nothing that ruins the fun of the game.  If you are looking for a new platformer/puzzler to try out, give Poncho a shot.  I don’t think you will regret it at all.

Score 3 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for supplying a copy for review

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Preview (3DS)

In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, teams of 3 players, each controlling their own Link character, work together to solve puzzles in order to explore dungeons and collect weapons and outfits which are useful in many ways throughout the game.  Players can use different combinations of weapons, form a totem on each others’ shoulders, work together to push blocks around and many other types of teamwork in order to solve the puzzles needed to advance through the dungeons.  

Outfits are also an important aspect of the game.  Each outfit has its own unique ability or impact on your character or characters.  For example, the Legendary Dress, Zelda's iconic pink dress, gives Link extra hearts. Since hearts are shared between players, the dress' powers can be crucial to survival.  Outfits are crafted using materials players find while exploring dungeons.  This gives the game a sort of loot-based grind feel to it, which is actually nice.  While most of the game is cooperative, the grinding for loot can become somewhat competitive as players go for materials in the dungeons.  I am no fashion expert by any means, but this part of the game is actually pretty cool.

Tri Force Heroes features both single player and both local and online multiplayer modes.  In the multiplayer modes, you have to play with 2 other players, you cannot play with just 2 players.  I only played multiplayer with some friends.  There is no voice chat and a few on-screen emotes and actions, therefore local multiplayer seemed easier, since communication is a big factor and it is harder to communicate with players online than in the same room as you.  Voice chat would be a nice improvement for online play for sure.  

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes releases on this Friday, October 23rd.  I am looking forward to picking it up and trying out the single player mode as well as more online play with friends.

Blood Bowl 2 Review (PS4)

Blood Bowl 2 is a clever mixture of Warhammer’s board game fantasy universe and the basic structure of American football that features violence and humour. Instead of being a live-action type of football game, it’s a turn-based strategy type game. Like traditional American football, an offense consisting of 11 players uses coordinated plays (and some trickery) to move a ball into the opposition’s goal, while the opposition does everything it can to stop their progress and gain control of the ball.

Unlike American football games, Blood Bowl 2 plays like a board game on the gridiron with a heavy reliance on luck, since important movements are followed up with a six-sided dice roll. A single game consists of 16 turns. During a single turn, you, as the team’s coach, position and interact with each of your 11 players. Each player gets one move, in which they can re-position, block, or pass the ball. When you finish issuing orders or when a player fails an action, your turn ends. The success of almost every move depends on two things: your players’ stats against the stats of the opposing player, and the outcome of the dice roll. At certain times the game may feel like it is totally random and luck based, but once you get the hang of it you realize the game is good at calculating what actions are more likely to succeed or fail based on the situation.  With that said, even when you perform actions that seem to be a lock to succeed, they can fail miserably.  You can have a wide open receiver have a pass slip right through his claws, or have a player running free to the end zone and slip and fall a step short of the goal line.

The graphics in the game are great.  Players have a great amount of detail and are very animated when they interact with another player.  Although these animations are great, after a while they seem to slow the game down.  

The single-player campaign is where the game lacks.  It feels more like a challenging tutorial than anything else.  It does a good job at teaching new players how to play the game and brings in new concepts each game.  This is a good approach for a tutorial, but doesn’t give experienced players anything to look forward to.

Multiplayer with friends or a good opponent that won’t quit is a great time.  I can’t think of the last time I had a better time playing a strategy type game.  With that said, I have had a hard time finding good players online that won’t quit a few turns into the game if things don’t go their way right off the kick-off.

Overall, Blood Bowl 2 is a great strategy, turn-based football game.  A better single-player experience would be nice, but the multiplayer makes up for it, as long as you can find good players.

Score 3 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Giana Sisters: Dream Runners Review (PS4)

Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is a fast-paced, head-to-head platformer for up to four players developed by Black Forest Games.  The game pits up to four players (or AI opponents) against each other in a looping stage, in local and online competition, speed-running for the finish in an effort to push each other off the screen with the help of boosters and power-ups.  The layout of the level can also be changed by running through “Dreamgates”.  When one player is eliminated, the remaining players have 30 seconds to survive and whoever is in the lead after those 30 seconds wins.  Winning a round gets you a star and winning 3 stars wins the game.

The art style in Gianna Sisters: Dream Runners is very colorful and unique.  There are 9 different stages to choose from and each has its own setting, ranging from sandy desert to snow and ice covered stages.  The sounds and music are a little generic, but fit the game.

Gameplay and controls are pretty simple and self explanatory.  The first stage in the game is also a sort of tutorial in which overlays pop ups at certain points of the stage that explain the controls of the game as well as what the powerups do and how to use them.  After running through a few stages, the controls became pretty easy to handle.  

While Gianna Sisters: Dream Runners is a pretty simple game, it can be a lot of fun with the right people.  I tried multiple times to play online, but had problems finding players quite often.  The real fun was had with local multiplayer.  My family (2 young children and my girlfriend) all really enjoy playing through all the levels when we have “game night” at our house.  When you don’t have 3 other people to play with locally, you can sub in up to 3 AI opponents as well.

Score 3 out of 5

It is a lot of fun with family and friends in short sessions, but gets a little repetitive and boring after playing through the stages once or twice.    

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity Review (PC)

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity is a fast-paced, gravity-shifting, action platformer about a deep-sea octopus who has been kidnapped by a mechanical alien race.  Players control an Octopus  on an adventure to save it's family from the clutches of the motorized menace.  Jump, dodge, and swim through an environment full of floating islands, water formations, and robotic terrors where the laws of gravity do not apply.

The gameplay in Airscape: The Fall of Gravity is what you would expect from your casual platformer, the only difference being gravity, or lack thereof in some cases.  Each environment has its own form of gravity.  In most platformers, you move left and right while jumping and dodging your way through the levels.  In Airscape: The Fall of Gravity, you will find yourself moving left and right, as well as up and down.  The beginning levels are pretty easy and give you a good feel for the controls, but progressively get more and more difficult as you make your way through the 60+ levels.  

Since you are constantly moving up, down, left and right, the camera in the game moves so that your character is always standing “upright”.  This causes the screen to rotate and shake quite a bit. If you are like me and tend to get motion sickness from games that rotate or move a lot, this game may cause some sickness.  Unfortunately, I am one of those people and I did have to take breaks while playing in order to settle my stomach.

Visually, the game looks amazing.  The colors and art style of the characters and environments look great.  There are lots of bright colors that jump out and the style of the darker levels do a great job of making the level feel just that, dark.  The sounds and music in the game fit the game perfectly.

The controls are very simple and feel perfect when playing.  The level design is great as well, and if you find yourself dying a lot, it is because you messed up and not because of level design or controls.  The game may start out fairly easy, but becomes more of a challenge the further you get, which is a big plus.  I found myself having a hard time with quite a few levels, but always found myself trying over and over.

Score: 4 out of 5.

It is well worth the $9.99 price tag on Steam and there is also a demo available for anyone that is still trying to decide on purchasing.  It is one of the best platformers I've played in awhile, just wish it didn’t give me so much motion sickness...

Anna's Quest Review (PC)

Anna’s Quest is a point-and-click adventure game by Daedalic Entertainment. In Anna’s Quest, Anna, the main character in the story, goes on a quest to find a cure for her grandfather’s illness. What makes this quest special is that Anna has led a very sheltered life with her grandfather and barely knows what creatures linger outside her home. Anna’s love for her grandfather drives her to leave the safety of her home and venture out to find the needed cure for him. Unfortunately, she hits her first roadblock right away as a witch, named Winfriede, kidnaps her and performs an experiment on her. This experiment gives Anna the power of telekinesis, which serves as a unique and key feature throughout the game.

While Anna’s Quest’s foundation is of the classic point & click adventure, the various elements are what make the game unique. You’ll explore the world by inspecting the environment, solving puzzles, and using your newfound telekinesis to overcome the various obstacles you encounter throughout the game. Interacting with other characters to form friendships while you gain more information, or even to obtain an ally, are ways that the world of Anna’s Quest can expand. Through the various exploration methods, deeper messages behind the story start to unfold that not you would expect. You’ll also gather items to combine with one another, use in the environment, or fulfill requirements to get you one step closer to obtaining a cure for Anna’s grandfather.

At times the game does get tricky, so expect a challenge from time to time. There are many times you will need to combine certain items you wouldn’t normally expect to combine, or use specific items on things in the environment that you normally wouldn’t. Although the main focus of Anna’s Quest is its unique and compelling story, characters, and atmosphere, it's gameplay is very good. It may be viewed as quite basic, but it does feel very fitting as a package with how the game is presented. The dialogue is straightforward, easy to understand, and conveys what it wants to in a fairly simple and concise manner. In addition, when conversing with other characters, you have choices between certain questions or inquiries that Anna can ask about important information needed or to learn other mysteries within the world of Anna’s Quest.

The art style in Anna’s Quest is simple, yet looks great and fits it's dialogue and presentation perfectly. Even with its simplicity it is capable of expressing each character’s personality very nicely. The voice acting in Anna’s Quest is very good as well, with different accents and styles for each character.

Anna’s Quest is your classic point-and-click adventure game, but mixes in it's own art style, and environment. Any fan of point-and-click games will enjoy Anna’s Quest, no doubt about it. I’m not a huge fan of point-and-click adventures, but found Anna’s Quest to be a great game. The unique story and puzzles will keep players coming back for more.  It is currently $19.99 on Steam and worth every penny.

Score: 4 out of 5

Poly Bridge Review (Early Access PC)

Poly Bridge by Dry Cactus is a bridge building simulation Early Access PC game available on Steam in which the player’s objective is to build a bridge stable enough to support multiple types of vehicles while staying under budget and suiting the needs for different factors, such as ships that may need to pass under the bridge. Players can choose from a variety of different materials such as wood, steel, cable, and hydraulic pistons and must take into account the weight of the various vehicles, the max joint stress of different parts of your bridge and your budget for the level.

Gameplay in Poly Bridge is pretty simple and the game is fairly easy to navigate.  There is a tutorial available to help get you through getting started, if needed, but I was able to figure things out rather quickly without needing the tutorial.  There are also helpful tools, such as the ability to reveal the high and low stress points of your bridge.  There is a campaign mode where players must solve puzzle-type levels by building bridges that have the capability of getting vehicles from point A to point B.  The levels in campaign mode start off fairly easy and plain but get more difficult and interesting as you go along.  I didn’t find any of the levels too difficult, but found myself going back and playing some of the levels multiple times to try out different designs and ideas.  There is also a Sandbox mode in which you can create your own levels and have fun trying out any design or idea you can come up with.  I found myself spending quite a bit of time in Sandbox mode just playing around and creating levels with anything from simple bridges to multiple suspended bridges.  It is a lot of fun coming up with all kinds of crazy bridges and seeing what they are capable of doing.  

The visuals in Poly Bridge look nice and are what you would expect in a bridge building simulation game.  Building is done using a 2D dotted line map.  This is where players select and place the materials they wish to build the bridge out of, along with any other features they would like to add.  The rest of the game is in a 3D type environment which shows the cars, land and water features and of course, your bridge.  The graphics in this environment work great for the type of game Poly Bridge is.  Stunning, life-like visuals aren’t necessary for this type of game and the cartoony style graphics fit the game very well.  

I have played a few bridge building games in the past and was pretty skeptical about Poly Bridge before playing it.  Being an Early Access game, there are a few minor bugs that I ran into while playing, but they were nothing bad enough to really effect the gameplay and the developers at Dry Cactus have been doing a great job at working on and fixing bugs and responding to the Steam community.  It is an addicting game that keeps improving and is well worth the $11.99 on Steam.

Score: 3 out of 5

The Gamers Lounge Thoughts and Reactions on Nintendo E3

Nintendo has some big shoes to fill following Microsoft and Sony.  Let’s see what they have up their sleeves this year!

A World Premier of StarFox Zero is shown.  Both air and ground battles are displayed and the game looks great.  The narration in the game is sounds and looks awesome.  The control scheme is discussed.  The Wii U gamepad is used to aim, and as a first person view, and the TV is used as a cinematic view.  The cinematic view on TV is a fresh and unique idea that would be great if incorporated in some other games.  A release of Holiday 2015 is revealed for StarFox Zero.  I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far.

Skylanders Super Chargers is featured along with Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Hammer Slam Bowser figures along with their vehicles.  These figures are playable in Skylanders Super Chargers.  It is shown that the character’s base can be turned, which changes it from a Skylanders character to an Amiibo.  The game looks very interesting and the concept of Amiibo/Skylander figures is unique.

A first look at Zelda Triforce Heroes is shown. It is a multiplayer puzzle type Zelda game with up to 3 players working together to get through levels by solving puzzles and fighting enemies together.  You also find different outfits for your character throughout the game, which gives you different abilities.  Graphics are similar to A Link Between Worlds and the teamwork element looks fantastic.  It is given a Fall 2015 release.  This game looks like a lot of fun and every Legend of Zelda game gets me hyped.

Hyrule Warriors for 3DS is now in development.  It is a reimagining of the Wii U version and will contain all DLC characters.  Additional characters and levels from The Legend of Zelda Windwaker are being added as well.  First quarter 2016 release is given.

Metroid Prime Federation Force for 3DS is revealed in a short video along with Metroid Prime Battle Ball, a 3 on 3 space ball game. The video was short, but looked pretty good so far.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is shown.  Lots of action is shown and graphics look great.  A game to look forward to on December 4th!

A new Animal Crossing game called Animal Crossing Happy Home Designers is shown.  It appears that you design houses for residents in this version of Animal Crossing.  You can use cards similar to the way you use Amiibos to access additional game content.  I would have liked to see a new Animal Crossing game similar to the others, but it will be interesting to see how this game turns out.

Animal Crossing Amiibos are now shown, along with a Mario Party type board game called Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival where it appears the goal is to collect as many coins as possible.  It didn’t appear that there were mini-games to play as you adventure around the game board.  I have mixed feelings about this game and will have to wait and see how things go as more details are released.

Yoshi’s Wooly World is featured next.  The graphic style of the game, which is everything made out of yarn, looks amazing and the gameplay looks fantastic! Enemies and other things swallowed by Yoshi turn into a ball of yarn instead of eggs.  Amiibos can be placed on the gamepad to change Yoshi into a Yoshi of that character.  Multiplayer looks fun and players can decide how they want to play.  October 16th is the release date for this exciting game.

Super Mario Maker is shown and the Amiibo feature is displayed that allows you to change your Mario character into other characters by tapping the Amiibo on the gamepad.  Looks like a very cool feature.  There will also be an 8-bit Mario Amiibo released that makes your Mario character very big.  Super Mario Maker will be released in September.

Nintendo’s E3 conference wraps up with some Mario footage dating from the original NES game to the newest Mario adventure.  The conference was heavily focused on Super Mario Maker and it being Mario’s 30th Anniversary.  Although there weren’t really any huge announcements from Nintendo, the conference was very entertaining.  Yoshi’s Wolly World and Super Mario Maker were the highlights of the show for me.  

Make sure you stay tuned to The Gamers Lounge for all of your E3 updates and news!

The Gamers Lounge Reactions and Thoughts on EA E3 Conference

EA promises more than 12 new experiences to be revealed at their E3 conference.  The Gamer’s Lounge is looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeve!

EA starts their conference with a brief teaser trailer of Mass Effect Andromeda.  No real details are given, just a short video.

Need for Speed is shown.  It is a combination of the past Need for Speed titles.  The world is twice the size of the world in Need for Speed Rivals.  It features the richest customization ever in a Need for Speed game and has 5 overlapping stories for players to take part in, which are Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw.  The graphics look great and I am looking forward to trying it out once it is released on November 3rd.

Unravel is a new puzzle/platform game that is demonstrated for the first time.  In Unravel you control a character made of red yarn that unravels as you make your way through the levels.  The yarn you leave behind can be used to help you through levels or can get in your way, depending on the paths you choose.  The graphics in the game look fantastic and the gameplay seems very unique.  This is definitely a game that I am going to keep my eye on as it further develops.

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 is shown next.  The Zombies have taken over and the Plants are now on the attack.  It was announced that there will be 6 new character classes and free content updates.  It was also revealed that there will be a single player mode and players of the first game can transfer their characters to the second game for free.  Looks like another great game that I will be looking forward to in the Spring of 2016.

NBA Live 16 is demonstrated.  A cell phone app is shown that is used to scan your face into the game.  The demonstration looked pretty straight forward and the results were great.  It will be interesting to see if that is the case when it is released to the public  New live-motion, physics based movement, revamped passing and a new shot system were also showcased.  I don’t think NBA Live is going to surpass 2K by any means, but it is nice to see some improvement on the recent versions.  I will give the game a shot for sure when it is released on September 29th.

FIFA 16 is shown next.  This is the first time that Women's teams are featured in a FIFA game.  Better defense and physics are boasted, along with the announcement that all FIFA Ultimate Team players will receive Pele and Messi for free today.

One of the most hyped games of E3, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is shown next.  This iteration takes you to the backstory of Faith, the main character.  This game is truly free-roaming as there are no levels or loading screens.  There are also no weapons, Faith relies on her agility and martial arts abilities to take out her enemies.  The gameplay shown was very fluid and the graphics were outstanding.  The combat system seemed to work great.  This will be a huge release when it comes out February 23rd, 2016.

A new kind of NFL Fantasy Draft game was revealed.  Draft Champion is a unique type of fantasy draft in which the player is given the choice between 3 players each round.  There is a lot of strategy involved because you never know what player or positions will come up each round.  Once you draft your team, you can play with that team online or solo.  Once you finish the short season, you draft again.  Seems like a very interesting concept to me and I will be giving it a try for sure.

Madden 16 was featured next.  Some precision control changes were revealed.  The changes are for the Quarterback, Wide Receiver and Defensive Back positions.  For the Quarterback, three different passes can be made, a low pass, a bullet pass and a high pass.  For the Wide Receiver,  you can make three kinds of catches, a yards after catch, a possession catch and an aggressive catch.  Unfortunately, As EA was getting into the Defensive Back’s controls, the Twitch stream had some technical difficulties.  By the time it came back online, the Madden presentation was finished.

Star Wars Battlefront was the final game shown at EA’s conference.  EA used real sets and props from the movies to create the worlds, weapons and characters in the game.  The game features split screen co-op and one-on-one battles.  The PS4 gameplay footage showed the game being played from all sides in both 1st and 3rd person views.  I am not a big Star Wars fan, but I am really looking forward to playing this game.

Overall EA had a pretty good conference.  There was a lot of excitement for Mirror’s Edge and Battlefront.  There are quite a few games from EA that I am looking forward later this year and into 2016.

Make sure you stay tuned to The Gamer’s Lounge for more coverage of E3 2015!

The Gamers Lounge Reactions and Thoughts on Sony E3 Conference

Sony’s conference has a lot of hype coming into it, with games such as Uncharted 4 and No Man’s Sky rumored to make appearances.  Can Sony keep up with Microsoft when it comes to big announcements?  It’s time to find out!

A gameplay video of The Last Guardian is shown to the excited crowd.  The gameplay is full of intense action and the graphics look great.  Definitely a game to look forward to in 2016.

Hermen Hulst of Guerrilla Games introduces their newest franchise Horizon Zero Dawn.  The gameplay video features the main character as she hides in bushes while hunting robotic dinosaur type enemies.  The gameplay looked smooth and the graphics looked very good.  Looks like a game I will be following as development continues.  No release date announced.

It was announced that a new Hitman game will be available on Beta to Playstation 4 first.

Street Fighter 5 gameplay footage is shown along with characters Birdie and Cammie.  The short video looked great.  It was announced that a beta will be available on PS4 on July 23rd.

A gameplay demo of No Man’s Sky is shown.  The player shows a brief space fight.  The battle is intense and looks great.  He then shows how many different places you can visit, which seems to be endless.  He then travels to a random undiscovered solar system.  He flies to a beacon on a planet and the planet is now discovered.  Each planet is destructible but is protected by robotic machines.  The game looks awesome and I am looking forward to it when it comes out.

Alex Evans of Media Molecule presents Dreams, an art creation type game where players can work together to create unique art.  The short demonstration was very interesting.

A trailer for Firewatch is shown.  The graphics in Firewatch look great and the story seems interesting.  Looking forward to seeing more of Firewatch.

Destiny’s next expansion, The Taken King is shown and has a release date of September 15th.  It contains a new map and much more content.  The trailer was amazing.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is shown.  The trailer shows some intense combat along with some new weapons.  You can play some missions exclusively on PS4.

World premier of World of Final Fantasy is shown.  The graphics, story and gameplay look amazing.  It will be released in 2016 exclusively on PS4 and PS Vita.

It was announced that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming out on PS4.  The announcement got a huge reaction from the crowd, as expected.  The trailer looked awesome and is a game many gamers will be looking forward to.

Shenmue 3 is announced and is funded by Kickstarter.  It is a sequel to the first and second Shenmue, not a spin off.  Yu Suzuki counts down to the opening of the Kickstarter campaign and the crowd goes crazy.  This is a game I can’t wait for! It has been a long time coming and there is no doubt it will get funded.  I think it will reach it's 2 million dollar goal within 24 hours.

Batman Arkham Knight is shown.  The story looks to be great and graphics are amazing.  The scene shown is from the Scarecrow Nightmare Missions exclusive to the PS4 and takes place in a restaurant that is attacked by zombie-like creatures.

Project Morpheus is talked about.  Many games that are compatible with Morpheus are shown, including RIGS which is a 3 on 3 battleground.  

Playstation Vue is launching in San Francisco and Los Angeles tonight.  Subscribers will be able to choose what channels they want without purchasing packages.  

Sony and Activision have teamed up to bring Call of Duty Black Ops 3 to E3. The campaign can be played with up to four friends online.  Gameplay video looks great and teamwork seems to be the key to success.  The environmental destruction looks tremendous.  Multiplayer is also demoed and it looks very smooth.  I’m not a huge CoD fan, but I am looking forward to this game on November 6th.  Playstation players will be the first to get all map packs and get beta access.

Disney Infinity 3.0 is shown.  Star Wars Twilight of the Republic and Rise Against the Empire playsets are shown and a limited edition starter pack that is exclusive to PS4 is announced.  A trailer for Rise Against the Empire is shown and looks interesting.  It is also announced that a Boba Fett figure is included in the limited edition starter pack that will be released on PS4 before any other consoles.

Star Wars Battlefront is featured and talks about the multiplayer aspect of the game.  Co-op is playable online or split screen.  I have to say the graphics in Battlefront are some of the best I have ever seen.  I am not a huge Star Wars fan, but this is a game I have to play when it is released in November.  

The final game shown is Uncharted 4.  The gameplay shown starts in a crowded area and the graphics look amazing.  NPCs move around fluidly without any hiccups as the characters move through the crowd.  As bullets start flying, everything remains smooth and the environmental destruction is very realistic.  When the action moves to the streets, the environmental damage is just as impressive.  Another game I cannot wait for!

That wraps up Sony’s E3 conference.  Quite a few good announcements and gameplay demos.  Not quite as exciting as Microsoft’s conference, but still good none-the-less.  Make sure you stay tuned to The Gamer’s Lounge for more updates and news from E3!

The Gamers Lounge Reactions and Thoughts on Microsoft E3 Conference

Microsoft had many great announcements and features at their E3 conference this morning.  Many new games were shown, features were announced, and one demonstration that stole the show for a lot of onlookers.  

Gameplay footage of Halo 5 Guardians was shown.  The game was said to be built from the ground up with epic worlds and battles at an epic scale.  The footage shown was a team of 4 spartans hunting for Master Chief.  It appeared that players are able to give commands to team members to help get through battles.  Josh Holmes of 343 Industries also mentioned that Halo 5 features drop in/out multiplayer and the maps are 4 times the size of any other maps from other Halo games.  He also presented a new “Warzone” multiplayer mode.  In this mode it is the player vs. everything; other players and AI enemies.  The graphics in Halo 5 Guardians looked great and I look forward to the game getting closer to launch.

The World Premier of a new Xbox One exclusive franchise called Recore was shown.  The trailer showed a woman and her robotic pet walking through a desert.  Based on the footage, it looks like this could be an interesting game to follow in the coming months.

Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, made the announcement that Xbox One backwards compatibility is coming.  The backwards compatibility will work with Xbox 360 games that developers allow to be made backwards compatible.  This will work with both physical and digital games and will be available this holiday season.

The Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller was announced.  It features swappable components, button and paddle remapping, sensitivity adjustments and more.  The controller will be released this fall.  No specific date or price was given.

Fallout 4 was shown.  It will feature full character customization and can be played in both 1st and 3rd person views.  An announcement was also made that mods made on the PC version of Fallout 4 can be played on the Xbox One version as well.

Peter Moore of EA made a couple of announcements.  He announced that EA Access will be free this week to all Xbox Live Gold members.  He also announced a couple new games that will be added to the Vault, Titanfall, which will be added this week and Dragon Age: Inquisition, which will be added this fall.  Members of EA Access will now be able to begin playing games before their street dates, such as Madden 16 on August 20th.  He also showed a trailer for Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2.  The game features new characters, worlds and modes and will be released in the Spring of 2016.

A Forza 6 trailer and footage was presented.  The game features 26 destinations, 450 cars, 24 player multiplayer and runs at 60 fps at 1080p resolution.  The game will be released on September 15th and looks amazing.

A World Premier trailer for Dark Souls 3 was shown.  Not much was shown, except an early 2016 release date, but it was pretty exciting none-the-less.

Tom Clancy’s The Division was shown with gameplay footage.  It looks like it is going to be a great Action RPG set in New York.  It was announced that Xbox One players will get the first Beta in December.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege was also shown.  It was also announced that Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will come free with Rainbow Six Siege on Xbox One.

Many indie titles were shown, including Beyond Eyes, an adventure game where the main character is blind and Cuphead, a 16-bit style platformer that features 1930’s cartoon style graphics.  It looks like a bright future ahead for indie games on Xbox One.

RARE announced RARE Replay which will feature 30 classic RARE games, such as Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, R.C. Pro Am and Battletoads.  RARE Replay will be released on August 4th for $30.

RARE also revealed their newest Adventure game, Sea of Thieves.  The trailer showed lots of explosive battles on ships and some on land adventuring.  It looks like a game I will be keeping my eyes on as it develops further.

Fable Legends was shown and will be free-to-play on Xbox One and Windows 10.  It was announced that players on both platforms will be able to play together.

Xbox Game Preview was announced, which is a program that allows players to buy and play titles while they are still in development, similar to Steam Early-access titles.  Every game in the program will have a free demo for players to try before committing to buying.  The program starts today.

Gameplay of Rise of the Tomb Raider was shown.  The graphics and lighting in the game looked amazing and the gameplay was very intense.  It is set to be released this Holiday season.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition was announced.  It is a remake of the original Gears of War and will be released on August 25th.  A public beta for the game starts today.

A teaser trailer for Gears of War 4 was also shown with a release date of Holiday 2016.

A demonstration of Minecraft being played using the Microsoft Hololens was shown.  They were able to use a special camera that showed everyone what it looked like through the Hololens.  First, the man using the Hololens put a “screen” on the wall of the stage and played your everyday Minecraft using a controller.  Another player joined his game and the game looked and played just as it would on a PC or console.  The player then turned off the screen on the wall and walked over to a table on stage.  Using a voice command, he turned the table into a 3D view of the Minecraft game.  He was able to walk around and look at the world from all angles.  He was also able to “lift” the Minecraft world up and look below ground to help the other player find materials underground.  He was able to use commands to help guide her to the right spot.  There were many voice commands he used to do different things in the game, such as saying “lightning strike” did just that, sent a bolt of lightning to the world.  This demonstration was amazing and makes you wonder just what else you will be able to do when development is complete and what games other than Minecraft will be like.  This demonstration was the moment of the conference for me, as I’m sure it was for many others.

Make sure you stay tuned at The Gamer’s Lounge for more E3 updates and news!

Nihilumbra Review (Wii U)

Nihilumbra is an atmospheric puzzler/platformer developed by Beautifun Games.  In Nihilumbra, you control a strange creature that was created in (and escaped from) the “Void” to adventure through our world while running from the Void.  The story of this creature is told throughout each level by text that appears around the environment along with optional narration.  

The controls in Nihilumbra are very easy to use and the developers made great use of the touch screen on the Wii U’s gamepad.  The game is played much like a standard platformer, left and right move your character through the level and A and B make your character jump.  The L and R buttons change what “color” or ability you are using.  These colors are obtained throughout the game and allow you to do different things with the environment, such as using blue on the ground makes you move faster and green makes you bounce.

There are many different "colors" or abilities that you can use in Nihilumbra.

These colors play a major part in making Nihilumbra a great puzzle game. The puzzles start out pretty simple, such as using blue to move faster and jump further than normal to reach an area you couldn’t normally reach.  As you progress through the game, these puzzles get more difficult, which keeps the game interesting.  There were a few times that I had to take a step back and really look through a puzzle to figure out the solution.  These puzzles make the game different from most standard platformers and keeps it interesting.

The graphics in Nihilumbra are very nice.  They are very simple and dark and the previously mentioned narrative text does not distract you from what you are trying to do.  The backgrounds and environments are beautiful and very detail, which help make the movements and fluidity of the game wonderful. The sounds and music in Nihilumbra sound great and fit each level appropriately, which is essential in a platformer.

Overall, Nihilumbra is a great puzzler/platformer.  The graphics, controls and overall gameplay is wonderful and it is one of the best and most interesting platformers I have played in a long time.  The puzzles start out a little easy, but progress in difficulty and really make the game enjoyable.  You can download Nihilumbra now on the Wii U eshop for $9.99, and it is well worth it.

4/5

Dirt Rally Review (Early Access PC)

Dirt Rally, from Codemasters, is an early-access Steam game that returns to an authentic and dangerous off-road racing experience.  Currently, the game has four massive environments and 38 challenging stages. You can drive them during the day or night, along with different weather conditions, such as dry, overcast, sunny, misty, wet, rainy and snowy. Dirt Rally also currently has 20 cars you can drive, from old to new, each which handle and drive differently.  Codemasters plans on releasing more cars and tracks as the game develops.

Dirt Rally also features a few different types of events for players to participate in, such as Rally Championships, Rally Async and custom Rally Events.  The game also features a great team management system where you can hire up to four engineering staff to work on your vehicle between stages.  The car upgrade system is also a great feature where your engineers will become more familiar with your cars the more you drive them and will research upgrades that will unlock the full potential of the car.

The gameplay and physics in Dirt Rally are amazing.  The game is a straight-forward simulation style drift racing game.  There are no over-the-top stunts or bonus points for long drifts.  Codemasters has done a great job so far of creating an emotionally-charged game.  You feel the intensity of every sharp corner as you hug the edge of the turn and do everything you can to keep the car from falling off the cliff while tearing through the track as fast as you can.  Every car has a different feel to it and each car can take some time getting used to.  The controls in the game feel very realistic and fluid.  I used an Xbox 360 controller for the most part while playing and it worked very well.  This is one of the few racing games out that has made me want to go out and buy a racing wheel for my PC.

The graphics in Dirt Rally are gorgeous.  Everything from the cars to the environment have amazing details which will likely only get better as the game progresses towards final release state.  The sounds of the game are also great.  You can hear everything from the gravel hitting your car to your brakes grinding when you hit them too hard.  The graphics and sound combined are some of the most impressive I have ever seen in a racing game.

Overall, Dirt Rally is one of the best racing games I have ever played, even though it is in the early-access stage.  If you enjoy arcade style racing games, this game may not be for you.  If you enjoy realistic, simulation style racers, this game is definitely for you.  It takes a while to get used to the handling of the cars, as one little mistake can send your car spinning.  Once you are used to it, it feels amazing when you hug each corner and improve your times each race.  I am really looking forward to seeing what more Codemasters can do to improve Dirt Rally.

4.5/5

Nevermind Review (Early Access PC)

Nevermind is a very unique and strange horror early access game that takes you into the minds of psychological trauma victims, with the goal of solving the puzzles inside the creepy worlds to figure out what the victims have gone through and help them reach clarity and peace.  

The game can be played with a variety of biofeedback sensors, which monitors your heart rate.  When played with one of these sensors, Nevermind detects your fear level and the game becomes increasingly harder as your fear level increases.  The goal of Nevermind is to teach you to be more aware of your unique internal responses to stressful situation.  Unfortunately, I was unable to play the game without one of these sensors, but I still really enjoyed playing it without.

The gameplay in Nevermind is great.  Even without the biofeedback sensors, it was challenging to solve some of the puzzles.  You really have to look hard and think deep in order to successfully solve the puzzles and help the patient.  Being a horror film and game fan, I was excited to see just how scary this game would be.  I’m the type of person that is not easily scared, especially when it comes to games. (P.T. wasn’t really scary to me, but I’ll admit I jumped a couple times.)  I didn’t really find this game very scary, it was more creepy and dark.  It didn’t have me jumping out of my seat, except for maybe a few times, but I wonder how much my heart rate really changed throughout the game.  While it may not have been very scary, I did find myself “on edge” quite a bit.  I was constantly wondering what I was going to come across next and just what was going on inside of this patient's mind.

The graphics in Nevermind are amazing.  The environment design is very dark and unique and keeps you looking around at all times.  You never know what you will come across in each spooky world.  Every patient’s mind has a completely different look and feel, which keeps the game fresh and shows that the developers really put their time and effort into each world.

The music and sounds in the game are very good.  It is a pretty quiet game for the most part, but the creepy music and sound effects greatly increase the intensity of the game.  As you get deeper in the mind of the patient and things get creepier, the sounds and music do an excellent job of reflecting that.  The voice-overs are pretty good as well, but the developer has mentioned that they may be changed at a later time.

Overall, Nevermind is a great game, even being an early access title.  It is a fun, unique game that should only improve over time.  This game is full of potential and I am excited to see what the developers add and change to the game to make it better.  The game play, graphics and sound are all great already, so the possibilities are endless. I really wish I could have played it with a biofeedback sensor to see just how much it adds to the game.  Maybe I will pick one up in the future and try it out.  If I do, I will be sure to post a follow-up for everyone to check out.  

3.5/5

Thanks to Flying Mollusk for providing a code for review. 

Game Loading: Rise of the Indies (Movie) Review

The huge increase in digital downloading in recent years has made it very easy for indie game developers to get their games onto the consoles, PCs and mobile devices of the masses.  With so many new indie games being released every day, how much really goes into creating these games?  Game Loading: Rise of the Indies follows the lives of several game developers and the ups and downs throughout the process of creating games.

One of the main developers that the movie follows is Davey Wreden, one of the developers of The Stanley Parable.  He takes you from the beginning of development to the release date, showing all of the time and hard work that goes into creating the game.

Game Loading: Rise of the Indies does a great job showing the lifestyle that these developers live by.  Not only do these developers have to put in many, many hours into creating their games, they also have to find time, places and money to market their games.  This is where the many gaming conferences come into play.  This documentary takes you to a few of the major gaming conferences, such as the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), and shows how important these conferences are to the marketing aspect of the development process.  

Another interesting topic this documentary covers is how much easier it is for anyone, including children, to get started in developing games.  It goes into a little detail about how some schools these days are teaching kids the basics of coding at a very young age and gives input from many different developers and journalists about this topic.  

I found it very interesting to watch how much time, work and passion these developers put into their creations.  You do not need to be a gamer or developer to find this documentary interesting.  It does a great job of showing that anyone can create games if they put their mind and time into it.  

If you ever wonder what goes into developing indie video games and what kind of lifestyle these people live, check out Game Loading: Rise of the Indies!  Now, it’s time for me to get started on my first game!

3.5/5

Nightcap at The Gamer's Lounge - March 12, 2015

Welcome back to The Nightcap at the Gamer’s Lounge!  As always, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Releases This Week

• Assassin’s Creed Rogue (PC) - March 10

• Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (PS3) - March 10

• Cities: Skylines (PC) - March 10

• DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition (Xbox One, PS4) - March 10

• Flame Over (Vita) - March 10

• Hotline Miami 2 (PS4, PS3, Vita, PC) - March 10

• Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble (PC) - March 10

• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 3 (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - March 10 (PSN) and 11 (XBL, PC)

• Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3) - March 10

• Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters (PS3, Vita) - March 10

• Ori and the Blind Forest (Xbox One, PC) - March 11

• Sid Meier's Starships (PC, Mac, iOS) - March 12

• Trine Enchanted Edition (Wii U) - March 12

• Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (3DS) - March 13

Next Week’s Releases

• Awakened Fate Ultimatum (PS3) - March 17

• Battlefield Hardline (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - March 17

• Bladestorm: Nightmare (Xbox One, PS4, PS3) - March 17

• Final Fantasy Type-0 (Xbox One, PS4) - March 17

• Jamestown+ (PS4) - March 17

• Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas (PC) - March 17

• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 4 (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - March 17 (PSN) and 18 (XBL, PC)

• Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 2 - Atlus Mugged (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, iOS, Android) - Week of March 17

• Woolfe - The Red Hood Diaries (PC) - March 17

• Worlds of Magic (PC) - March 19

• Mario Party 10 (Wii U) - March 20

News of the Week

• New DLC for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the Claptastic Voyage and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2, are both arriving later this month.  Claptastic Voyage is a campaign add-on and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2 raises the level cap to 70.

• Microsoft has announced the Halo: The Master Chief Collection Xbox One Bundle, which comes with the 500GB Xbox One, a wireless controller, headset and Halo: MCC.  The bundle will cost $349 and should be on shelves this month.

• XMPT Games’s has announced that their arena combat game DiscStorm is coming to Vita, PC, Mac, and Linux this summer.

• Grand Theft Auto V's online heists are finally available on all available platforms, and the feature is part of the game's title update 1.21, which also contains other bug fixes, improvements, and features.

• Sony Japan has announced an official release date of March 20 for the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Vita in China.

• A new Hard Mode difficulty is available for Dying Light, and goodies like new costumes, weapons, vehicles, and more are on the way.

• Sony has announced that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End won’t be coming this year.  It is now slated for release in Spring 2016.

• PlayStation Mobile will be ending this summer according to a note in the PlayStation forums.  Content distribution will be stopped as of July 15, 2015. After September 10, you will not be able to re-download purchased content either.

• Titanfall season pass and DLC are currently free in celebration of the game's one-year anniversary.

• Slightly Mad Studios has announced yet another delay for Project Cars, which has been pushed back to sometime in May.

• Update version 2.50 for the PlayStation 4 adds the ability to quickly boot up your game, Facebook integration, the ability to upgrade Sub-accounts to Master accounts, Remote Play & Share Play at 60 fps, expanded accessibility options, and the ability to upload video to Dailymotion.

• Two new free maps, Broken Hill Mine and Broken Hill Foundry, are heading to Evolve soon.  Both maps will be free and will be available first on Xbox One on March 31.  PC and PlayStation 4 versions will be available on April 30.

• Driveclub’s March 1.12 update includes the replay feature (single events and tours), a new driver level 50 award (Ferrari 599XX Evoluzione), support for Twitch and Ustream in multiplayer, as well as refinements to drift mode scoring, bug fixing, etc.

• Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Gold members will get an advanced screening of Dead Rising: Watchtower. All you’ll need in order to watch is the Crackle app on Xbox One or Xbox 360.

That is your Nightcap at The Gamer's Lounge for this week.  See you next week!

Nightcap at The Gamer's Lounge - March 5, 2015

The Nightcap at the Gamer’s Lounge is back after a short hiatus!  As always, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Releases This Week

• Helldivers (PS4, PS3, PSVita) - 3/3

• La Mulana EX (PSVita) - 3/3

• OlliOlli 2 (PS4, PSVita) - 3/3

• Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines - 3/3

• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 2 (XB1, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - 3/3

• ScreamRide (XB1) - 3/3

• Shiftlings (PS4, PC) - 3/3 (XB1) - 3/4

• Tormentum - Dark Sorrow (PC) - 3/4

• White NIght (PS4, PC) 3/3, (XB1) 3/4

• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (Wii U, 3DS) - 3/5

• OlliOlli (Wii U, 3DS) - 3/5, (XB1) - 3/6

• Zombie Army Trilogy (XB1, PS4, PC) - 3/6

Next Week’s Releases

• Assassin’s Creed Rogue (PC) - 3/10

• Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (PS3) - 3/10

• Cities: Skylines (PC) - 3/10

• DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition (XB1, PS4) - 3/10

• Flame Over (PSVita) - 3/10

• Hotline Miami 2 (PS4, PS3, PSVita, PC) - 3/10

• Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble (PC) - 3/10

• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 3 (XB1, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - 3/10 (PSN) and 11 (XBL, PC)

• Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition (XB1, 360, PS4, PS3) - 3/10

• Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters (PS3, PSVita) - 3/10

• Ori and the Blind Forest (XB1, PC) - 3/11

• Sid Meier's Starships (PC, Mac, iOS) - 3/12

• Trine Enchanted Edition (Wii U) - 3/12

• Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (3DS) - 3/13

News of the Week

• The March Games with Gold titles are:

  • Rayman Legends - XB1

  • #IDARB - XB1

  • Tomb Raider - 360 (Until 3/15)

  • BioShock Infinite (On 3/16)

• The March PlayStation Plus titles are:

  • Counterspy (PS4, PS3, Vita)

  • Oddworld: New ’N’ Tasty (PS4)

  • OlliOlli 2 (PS4, Vita)

  • Papo & Yo (PS3)

  • Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishments (PS3)

  • Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4)

• Sony has announced 5 new titles that will be added to the PlayStation Now streaming service in March:

  • Infamous 2

  • Twisted Metal (2012)

  • R-Type Dimensions (featuring R-Type 1 & 2)

  • Alone in the Dark: Inferno

  • Operation Flashpoint: Red River

• It has been confirmed that players of Smite on PC will have the ability to transfer purchases and progress to the Xbox One version.

• Warner Bros. announced that there will be a moble Mortal Kombat X game that will have unlocks for the console and PC versions.

• EA and Visceral Games have announced a premium program for Battlefield Hardline that gives you four new “super features” and early access to the game’s story-based DLC.  The program will cost $50 and the “super features” include masks that give unique gameplay benefits, a gun bench that tracks weapon kills and visual customization, premium-only tournaments and ladders and legendary status for replayability.

• Blizzard is going to allow WoW players to buy WoW gold with real money.

• Interplay has announced plans to remaster ClayFighter for PC, which is planned to release in 2016.

• Club Nintendo has started sending out Smash Bros. Soundtracks to anyone that managed to register both versions of the new Super Smash Bros on Wii U and 3DS.

• For all of you Amiibo hunters/collectors, Marth Amiibos will be returning to stores in April.

• Players can now reserve their free Xbox One games through the Games with Gold program through their Xbox 360’s dashboard.

• Square Enix has revealed that Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remaster is coming to PS4 on May 12th.

• Hideo Kojima has confirmed a September release for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which has also been confirmed as the final game of the series.

• Curve Digital is bringing Ludo Land’s Four Sided Fantasy to Wii U, Xbox One, PC, PS4, PS3 and PS Vita.

• HBO Go is now available on PS4.

• Sony plans to release their PlayStation virtual reality, Project Morpheus in the first half of 2016.

• Halo: MCC received a big update that fixes matchmaking and party issues.

• A new Survivor Mode has been released for Alien: Isolation, which is included in the games fifth DLC pack, The Trigger.

• Wasteland 2 is heading to Xbox One and PS4.

• Hamonix has announced that Rock Band 4 is coming to PS4 and Xbox One.

That is your Nightcap at The Gamer’s Lounge for this week! See you next week!

Nightcap at The Gamer's Lounge - February 12, 2015

Upgrade your PSN Sub Account, check out a new Ghostbusters Board Game and much more at this week’s Nightcap at The Gamer’s Lounge.  Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Releases This Week

• Evolve (XB1, PS4, PC) - 2/10

• Unmechanical: Extended (PS4, PS3) - 2/10

• Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 (PSVita) - 2/11

• Decay - The Mare (PC) - 2/13

• The Escapists (XB1) - 2/13

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS) - 2/13

• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS) - 2/13

• New 3DS XL (Console) - 2/13

Next Week’s Releases

• Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (XB1, 360, PS4, PS3) - 2/17

• Deadrock (PC) - 2/17

• Hand of Fate (XB1, PS4, PC) - 2/17

• Pillar (PS4) - 2/17

• Resident Evil Revilations 2 - Episode 1 (XB1, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - 2/17 (PSN), 2/18 (XBL, PC)

• Total War: Attila (PC) - 2/17

• The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (PC) - 2/20

• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U) - 2/20

• The Order: 1886 (PS4) - 2/20

News of the Week

• Resident Evil HD Remake is Capcom’s fastest selling digital title in history.  It also broke the Playstation Network record for opening day sales of a digital game.

• EA and Visceral have announced that over 6 million players have participated in the second beta test of Battlefield Hardline.

• R.B.I. Baseball ‘15 has been announced along with numerous new features and improvements, such as authentic ballparks, online multiplayer and stat tracking.

• EA has confirmed that BioWare’s “Shadow Realms” has been cancelled.

• Major League Gaming is opening the Call of Duty Championships event to the public.  Fans can purchase tickets to attend the event for $50 and $100, which includes some exclusive DLC and other goodies.

• Playtonic Games, a new studio that consists of a programmer from Donkey Kong Country, a designer from Banjo-Kazooie and other former Rare members, have teased their first project titled “Project Ukulele”.
   

• Awesome Games Done Quick had 9.4 million viewers this year.  Awesome Games Done Quick is a speed-gaming event in which competitors complete games as quickly as they can.  The event is broadcasted on Twitch.

• A Ghostbusters Board Game has been listed on Kickstarter and has already almost doubled its $250,000 goal in just 3 days.  It will be the first officially licensed Ghostbusters board game ever produced.

• Ubisoft is releasing the Overrun DLC for Far Cry 4 which contains a new PvP mode and other additions.  This mode tasks players with controlling a designated zone.  This DLC pack also contains four new maps and a dune buggy vehicle.

• Dying LIght’s first DLC, Cuisine & Cargo, has been released.  It is available as part of the Season Pass only and has two hardcore missions that let players investigate buildings sealed off in the very first days of the outbreak.  

• Bethesda has announced that they are having a press conference at E3 for the first time ever.

• Sonic Boom has been the worst selling Sonic game of all time, selling under 500,000 copies.

• Playstation Network Sub Accounts can now be upgraded to Master Accounts.  Once users turn 18 years old, they can log in to their PSN account and upgrade to a Master Account.

Stop back next week for more news and information!