By Anonymous on Jul 29, 2017 11:30 pm Dave and Tamoor check out the new gem from the folk behind Bastion and Transistor, Supergiant Games. A party based RPG with elements of a crazy sports game.
One of Nintendo's more enduring creations from the past decade are "Miis"--cartoony, user-created avatars that have since appeared in numerous titles across Nintendo platforms. Nintendo has expanded upon these avatars through games like the 3DS StreetPass titles and Tomodachi Life, which saw players put Miis in a variety of comedic relationships and situations.
With Miitopia, Nintendo aims to further evolve the concept of a Mii-focused game--a role-playing adventure in world populated with Miis of all kinds. Sadly, however, Miitopia is far from the virtual paradise its title might suggest.
In the colorful world of Miitopia, sinister happenings are afoot. The Dark Lord has been stealing the faces of the world's populace and placing the visages on its horde of minions. This wave of terror has left many eyeless, mouthless, noseless Mii-people in its wake. A mysterious traveler--played either by your personal Mii or another Mii living on your 3DS that you select--stumbles into a city during one of the Dark Lord's attacks and is called upon by a higher power to put a stop to the face-taking madness.
It's a pretty silly story, but that's the point. Miitopia isn't supposed to be a "serious" RPG, but rather a goofy adventure you plop your Miis into. Your party members--as well as the roles of major non-player characters--consist of Miis you make, download, or add to the game via QR codes. Want to make the Dark Lord look like your boss at work, fill up your party with your coworkers, and create a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson lookalike to play the part of a helpful sage? Or create a love triangle between Princess Bubblegum, Bobby Hill, and Peter Griffin? You can do all that--and more.
Making a fantasy world filled with Miis is a cute idea inspired by Tomodachi Life, but another concept that carries over from that game is inter-character relationships. As your party members hang out together at inns, travel to new locations, and fight at each others' side, little events occur that will raise and lower their affinity for each other.
These events are often depicted with funny cinematics and dialogue as characters talk, argue, train, and help each other out in combat. The randomness and goofiness of these scenes is part of Miitopia's appeal: It's fun watching the Miis you've put into the game gradually become weird BFFs (and maybe more).
Unfortunately, once the novelty wears off and you look beyond the basic "putting Miis in a silly fantasy world" concept, Miitopia starts to lose its luster. The role-playing adventure behind this silliness is an incredibly basic affair that quickly grows tiresome. It initially shows some promise: As your party-member Miis come into the world, you assign them various jobs for combat (with some unlocking later in the game). Some are based on typical fantasy archetypes, such as Warrior, Cleric, and Thief. However, the game also offers more out-there classes like Pop Star, Chef, and Cat. You also assign characters a personality type, such as Cool, Stubborn, or Airheaded, that can affect the way they take actions and guard against attacks: A Cool character might dodge enemy attacks more frequently, while a Stubborn one can sometimes take extra turns.
Unfortunately, aside from your main character, all your comrades are controlled by AI and act according to their own whims.
Mixing a job, a personality type, and a Mii of your choosing sounds like it has potential for some really fun implementations in turn-based combat. Unfortunately, aside from your main character, all your comrades are controlled by AI and act according to their own whims--and the status of their current inter-character relationships. It's frustrating watching them waste MP and items when you know that you could do a better job fighting if only you had control over them.
However, you can do a little bit more than just watch your three allies fight. You can pull party members aside to give them HP- and MP-restoring "sprinkles" or put them in a "safe spot" to recover from status ailments, but the lack of full party control or even limited AI guidance makes you feel like a passive observer rather than a leader.
Another big stumbling point is Miitopia's exploration--or, rather, the lack thereof. When you enter dungeons and other dangerous areas, your party of Miis moves automatically through a linear area, stopping only for enemy encounters, treasure, brief character skits, and the occasional fork in the road--which is the only time you actively guide the characters during these scenes. It's supposed to be cute watching the Miis banter while stumbling through forests, caves, and mountains, but once you've seen your mage talk about how they love dogs for the 50th time, you'll wish the game's fast-forward feature were even speedier.
At the end of every quest area is an i nn where you can have characters board together, play (notably slow) minigames, spend money to buy new gear, and eat stat-boosting food. Shopping in Miitopia works very differently than in other games: If you see that a character wants to buy something, you give them money, send them out, and hope they actually buy the gear they said they would instead of getting distracted and coming back with bananas.
The fun of seeing Miis you put in various roles do goofy things wears thin after just a few hours.
Feeding your party is a neat little idea, though: By giving your characters food at the inn, they'll earn bonus stats. Giving them food they really like will boost their stats much more, while food they dislike or hate has a much weaker effect. It's a neat concept, but it's again hamstrung by the game's tendency toward randomness. You don't know if a character likes or dislikes a particular food until they're eaten it at least once, and there's a fair bit of frustration in procuring a rare, potent, stat-enhancing meal--only to find that the character who needs it most absolutely hates it.
Ultimately, lack of player input and randomness makes Miitopia feel like a slow slog you mostly watch rather than play. It's certainly cute, and it boasts the typically high production values you expect from Nintendo in terms of visuals, music, and dialogue. However, the fun of seeing Miis you put in various roles do goofy things wears thin after just a few hours, and while the game can reignite a bit of that initial joy when you add new Miis to the game at certain milestones, you still have to trudge through a lot of repetition to get there. If you're looking for a deep, engrossing game filled with Miis of your making, I'm sorry to say that adventure is in another castle.
Ready your titans, pilots. Titanfall 2 is joining EA's Origin Access PC subscription service this coming Tuesday, August 1.
The action packed shooter is finally making its way onto Origin Access after an announcement made earlier this month that it, along with Battlefield 1, would be available on it and EA Access by September.
Much like EA Access on Xbox One, Origin Access is EA's version of a sort-of Netflix for games. Pay a flat fee of $4.99/£3.99/€3.99 a month and get access to a wide library of different EA favorites to download and play. The service has expanded from 15 launch titles to over 70 now, and will continue to expand over time.
If you haven't gotten your hands on this one yet, it might be a good time to give it a go. Unlike Titanfall, Titanfall 2 has both a single-player campaign and the same high-octane multiplayer the first game was known for. New titans, new abilities, new maps--you cant go wrong.
By Anonymous on Jul 29, 2017 09:30 pm What was Ed Sheeran's song really about? Did Cersei warn her victims? Lucy and Tamoor delve in to the songs of Game of Thrones and the secrets they hide. Beware of spoilers!
By Anonymous on Jul 29, 2017 08:30 pm Its a big year for Sonic the Hedgehog with Forces and Mania so lets all escape from the city and look back on the series 26 year long history together.
There are a ton of cheap backpacks out there, but the Everki Beacon is a quality pack that is built to last. For its shell, the Beacon uses a lot of mesh padding, and there's rubber padding at the bottom that offers a little protection in case you drop it. The Beacon comes with a water-resistant tarp that allows you to protect it from the rain. The pack also has a separate laptop compartment that can fit the largest 17-inch gaming notebooks. In general, the backpack has a bunch of compartments that can hold all your school supplies. To top it off, the Beacon looks good, comes with a chest strap, and is comfortable to wear with its soft shoulder straps.
Price: $112.73
Printer: Brother HL-L2340DW
While there are certainly cheaper printers, Brother's HL-L2340DW laser printer is arguably the best budget solution on the market. Setup is easy, ink cartridges are relatively cheap, and it works over Wi-Fi, which allows you to print from mobile devices via Apple AirPrint or Google Cloud Print.
Price: $120
Speakers: Razer Leviathan
Razer might be better known for its gaming headsets on the audio front, but it also makes a quality soundbar. The company's Razer Leviathan speaker sounds clear and crisp, and it offers a ton of bass with its included subwoofer. The soundbar is also small enough to be tucked under monitors and supports NFC pairing, Bluetooth, optical, and auxiliary inputs. In addition, it supports Dolby Digital Surround with two 2.5-inch drivers coupled with two .74-inch tweeters.
Price: $189.99
Webcam: Logitech C920
Logitech's C920 webcam is great for both streaming and video calls. It's a 1080p camera that has two mics, which allows it to capture stereo audio. The C920 also offers low-light correction, so you can use it in dim environments.
Price: $58.58
Mic: Audio Technica ATR2500
While the Blue Yeti is a highly recommended microphone for streamers and video/audio producers, Audio Technica's ATR2500 shouldn't be overlooked. It's a cardioid condenser USB microphone that can be found on sale quite often for $69.99, which makes it worth a look. Near-professional audio doesn't have to cost you $100-plus, and if you're a student, you can always appreciate saving money without sacrificing quality.
Price: $99.00 (frequently on sale for $69.99)
Entertainment: Netflix Subscription
At $7.99 a month, Netflix is a great, affordable way for students to unwind. The streaming service offers over 6,400 movies and 1,600 shows and works on almost every computing device out there. Users can also download select videos to watch offline, and the service can be canceled anytime.
Price: $7.99 per month
Delivery Service: Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime gives you so much: free shipping, extra discounts, Prime Video, Prime Reading, and even Twitch Prime benefits (such as no ads and free games). You can almost find anything you'd need to buy on Amazon (books, school supplies, electronics, you name it), so the free shipping and extra discount on certain items is enough to justify a membership. And if you tend to wait until the last minute for things, many areas get same-day shipping and free two-day delivery.
Price: $10/month or $100/year
Set Top Box: Nvidia Shield
The Nvidia Shield not only supports your standard array of popular streaming apps like Netflix and Amazon Video, but it allows you to play a bunch of Android games and stream PC games from locally networked computers. The device supports Google Assistant AI, so users can ask it to keep them up to date with reminders and more. Finally, it supports Google Cast, which allows people to stream videos to the device using their phones.
Price: $199.99
Portable Bluetooth Speaker: Logitech UE Boom 2
Logitech's UE Boom 2 is arguably the best portable Bluetooth speaker around. It's loud enough for small parties, rugged enough to survive five-foot drops, and waterproof for up to 30 minutes. This makes it a great speaker to use in the shower or at the beach. It's also got pretty good battery life and can last 15 hours on a single charge.
Price: $150
Router: Netgear Nighthawk AC1750 Smart Dual Band WiFi Router (R6700)
Whether you're editing documents over Google Docs or engaging in a competitive multiplayer match, Netgear's Nighthawk AC1750 has got you wirelessly covered. It supports more than 12 devices and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless signals. Its range is aided by three external antennas, and it's quite fast, with download rates that can hit 450Mbps.
Price: $95
Pre-built Gaming PC: Cyberpower PC Syber Vapor Elite
CyberPowerPC offers great pre-built rigs at affordable prices. The company's Syber Vapor Elite is one that's powerful enough for design work and video production duties. Oh, and it's also a pretty competent gaming PC with its quad-core CPU and GTX 1060 GPU. The Syber Vapor Elite is small enough to fit into the tiniest dorm rooms and apartments without much issue. The company also allows you to tweak the configuration. We recommend spending $1,155 so you can get an external optical drive and a 240GB SSD coupled with a 1TB HDD.
Price: $1,155
Keyboard: Corsair K68 Water Resistant Mechanical Keyboard
Those who are particular about their keyboard should look into Corsair's K68 since it comes with smooth Cherry MX Red mechanical switches. It also has a rubberized gasket underneath the keycaps that not only makes keystrokes quieter, but protects the innards from getting damaged if you spill liquid on it.
Price: $100
Mouse: Razer Naga Hex V2
Razer's Naga Hex V2 mouse is designed for MOBA players with its eight programmable side buttons, but they also come in handy for productivity. Video producers, photographers, engineers can program keyboard shortcuts to these buttons to make their applications easier to use. Even writers can use these buttons for simple actions in word processing applications.
Price: $80, can be found for $60
Mobile Gaming: Nintendo New 2DS XL
Nintendo's New 2DS XL is the latest iteration of the 2DS/3DS, and while it's late in its life cycle, there are so many great games to play on it, especially if you have yet to jump in. The New 2DS XL is a bit more compact than the New 3DS XL and sports a sleek design and two large screens. When you have some downtime during commutes, between classes, or after exams, jump into Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Fire Emblem: Awakening, or Xenoblade Chronicles.
Price: $150
Power Bank: Anker PowerCore 10000
With mobile devices being so essential to our daily lives, it's important to keep them up and running. That's why it's important to carry a power bank. One of the best portable chargers is Anker's PowerCore 10000. As the name implies, it offers 10,000mAh of juice. That's more than enough to fully charge an iPhone 6 three times over. Considering it offers so much battery life, it's pretty small. To top it off, the PowerCore 10000 also offers high-speed charging.
Price: $26
Earbuds: Plantronics Backbeat Fit
You can find cheap earbuds everywhere, but finding quality wireless ones can be a challenge. Luckily, there's Plantronics' Backbeat Fit. The Bluetooth earbuds are designed for fitness, which makes them great at keeping the "freshman 15" at bay. They're sweat-proof and water resistant with their IP57 rating, and wrap around the ear for a stable fit. They also last up to eight hours on a single charge, which makes them great for lengthy study sessions.
Price: $79.90
USB drive: LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0 (32GB)
A USB thumb drive is one of the most essential tools in high school and college. Whether you're moving large video files, bringing your Powerpoint presentation to class, or just taking your essay to the library to print, thumb drives are clutch and a must-have. The LaCie XtremKey, in particular, is built to withstand harsh conditions since it's secured in a hardened waterproof aluminum case. It's also a USB 3.0 thumb drive, so data transfer will be pretty fast. We recommend the 32GB version since that's pretty spacious, but sizes up to 128GB are available.
Price: $45
External Hard Drive: WD 1TB My Passport
While a USB stick works great in a pinch. If you want something larger to archive videos and documents, we recommend getting a beefier external hard drive. WD offers one terabyte solutions that scale up to 4TB with its My Passport HDDs. The portable drive is pretty fast with its USB 3.0 support and allows users to reach read and write speeds of 174MBps and 168MBps, respectively. The 1TB SKU retails for $53, which makes it pretty affordable.
Price: $53
Windows Laptop: Dell XPS 13
There are a plethora of Windows laptops out on the market, but arguably the best travel-friendly one is Dell's XPS 13. It features excellent build quality and can be outfitted with good internal specs that include a quad-core i5 CPU, 8GB of memory, and a 128GB SSD. It also comes with a 1920x1080 IPS touchscreen display coupled with a 64-bit version of Windows 10.
Price: $930
Apple Laptop: Macbook Air
Apple's devices are usually pretty expensive, but the company's MacBook Air is very reasonably priced. For $750, you can get a thin and light 13.3-inch Apple notebook that's equipped with a quad-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Despite the laptop's small size, it's got a battery that can last up to 12 hours.
Price: $750
Gaming Laptop: Gigabyte Aero 15
While Dell's XPS 13 and Apple's MacBook Air are great portable notebooks, they can't match the power that a gaming laptop offers. With its 1080p IPS panel, quad-core 7700HQ CPU, GeForce GTX 1060, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD, it offers balanced specs that make it great for gaming or productivity. It's also very portable for a gaming laptop and offers good battery life.
Price: $1,899
Chromebook: Asus Chromebook C202SA-YS02
For the student who just needs to do some word processing and browsing, there's the Chromebook category. Asus' offering here might only offer 16GB of storage, but it doesn't need much since its operating system is essentially just Google's Chrome browser. It's also only $199. Still, for that price, you get a spill-resistant keyboard and decent specs that include Intel's Celeron N3060 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. Because the Chromebook isn't very power hungry, it can also last up to 10 hours.
Price: $199
Tablet: Asus ZenPad 10.1
There's a sea of tablets out there, but for the student, Asus' ZenPad 10.1 is a compelling choice. The one-pound 10.1-inch tablet is affordable and uses a 1280x800-resolution IPS panel that's equipped with a quad-core 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. It also supports Micro SD cards up to 64GB.
A new update for Niantic's popular mobile game Pokemon Go has arrived. The newest update fixes a number of bugs, including those related to freezing and crash scenarios. This update also fixes a "motivation decay bug" for Pokemon who have less than 3000 CP.
Additionally, the new Pokemon Go update brings back Team Instinct leader Spark. As Polygon explains, Spark had gone missing, and fans petitioned for him to return.
With the new update applied, you should see version 0.69.1 for Android and 1.39.1 for iOS. You can see the full patch notes below, as posted on Niantic's website.
Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft isn't the only big company that has something to say about Rockstar's decision to delay Red Dead Redemption 2 until 2018. During a recent earnings call, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said the delay for Rockstar's hugely anticipated Western provides "a little bit of opportunity" for EA and others in the industry. At the same time, Jorgensen pointed out that big games can help grow the entire industry, including hardware as well.
"What we've found historically, we've had many times where we've gone into quarters that looked daunting because of the competition," he said (via SeekingAlpha). Think back to [Grand Theft Auto V] when it came out, and what we actually found is it grows the overall market. It drives console sales. Oftentimes, many of those titles get bundled to help drive or reduce the price of a console for the consumer, and it drives excitement in the marketplace, and we like that. It benefits the consumer and it benefits us because it generates a lot of buzz around games."
Jorgensen pointed out that EA has always competed against the biggest titles in the industry, and this does not both the publisher much. "So I don't think it bothers us, but it excites us, I'd say instead. And you might remember, no [Red Dead Redemption 2] that was originally in the plans for our third quarter, fourth quarter of the calendar year, so that does open up a little bit of opportunity, I think, for everybody."
Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez said earlier this year that Red Dead Redemption 2's delay is "clearly" a positive for Ubisoft. "The absence of that game is of course giving us a better window for the launch of some of our games."
Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming out in Spring 2018 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Regarding the delay, Rockstar said earlier this year that it needed more time to "deliver the best experience possible for our fans."
DICE's World War I shooter Battlefield 1 continues to be a huge hit. Publisher Electronic Arts announced this week that the game reached 21 million players as of the end of June. Here is EA's exact wording on the milestone: "Battlefield 1 had more than 21 million players joining the game as of quarter end." This is up from 19 million a few months ago.
Games sales and revenue from add-on content stands to grow further still, as DICE will launch the next expansion pack, In The Name of the Tsar, coming out for everyone to buy in September. Overall, EA said it believes Battlefield 1 will "continue to evolve as a content-rich live service."
And at Gamescom in August, EA said it will reveal some kind of new ... thing for Battlefield 1--and it sounds pretty ambitious.
"At Gamescom, we will detail our plans for a new offering that will bring the richest Battlefield 1 experience yet--including the all-out warfare, epic multiplayer battles and War Stories campaign that have defined the game, plus new maps, deeper progression, and additional fan-favorite game modes, all in a single package," CEO Andrew Wilson said in prepared remarks.
For more on the next Battlefield 1 expansion, watch the video above. And for more on EA's earnings call, check out the linked stories below:
Electronic Arts is one of the biggest and best-known video game publishers in the world, with numerous projects in the works at the same time. Don't expect the company to slow down its release schedule, however; the publisher is sticking with what works. During a recent earnings briefing Q&A, an analyst asked if EA has the opportunity to space out its non-sports games (titles like Madden and FIFA are released every year), and EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said no way.
"Never too much product," he said with what sounded like a laugh (via SeekingAlpha). "I think we like our regular cadence. I think we've found a good cadence obviously with Battlefield and with Star Wars Battlefront. We're trying to make sure that we're leveraging our relationship with Disney on the Star Wars property, so aligning those where possible with their theatrical release schedules. So right now, our plan is not to change our cadence schedule."
Jorgensen added that it's too early to talk about the release schedule for BioWare's new IP Anthem or any projects from Motive Studios. Right now, EA is feeling "pretty comfortable" as it relates to its release schedule and its pipeline of in-development games.
"We believe it creates a nice top line growth that's all organic from our teams, and we're very focused on making sure that it's very profitable along the way," he said. "So we want to continue to drive both the top line and the bottom line through new IP, existing IP, new live services, and margin expansion across all of those."
EA's next big shooter game is Star Wars: Battlefront II, which comes out in November. Before that, EA will launch the latest instalments in the juggernaut FIFA and Madden franchises.
With just a few days left in July, streaming giant Netflix has announced all of the movies and TV shows coming to the service for August, along with a list of what's leaving next month.
Some of the notable additions for August 1 include The Matrix trilogy, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, and the Will Smith movie Wild West West. Also due out in August is the Michael Keaton McDonald's movie The Founder (August 2), the third season of the Netflix original Voltron (August 4), and the card-counting movie 21 (August 15).
Other high-profile new releases include the Netflix originals The Defenders (August 18) and Death Note (August 25).
As for what's leaving Netflix, movies that leave the service on August 1 include Babe and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, while Superbad leaves Netflix on August 4. American Dad seasons 1-4 are leaving on August 15, while seasons 1-7 of The League leave on August 30.
You can see the full rundown of what's coming to and leaving Netflix below for the US specifically, as rounded up and compiled by GameSpot sister site CNET. Check out the stories linked below to see the coming and going lists for Hulu and Amazon.
By Anonymous on Jul 29, 2017 07:30 am The LawBreakers beta is now open for all to try out, we jumped in and played a few rounds! Here is one of our best ones!
By Anonymous on Jul 29, 2017 05:30 am Blizzard shutdown a fan made World of Warcraft legacy server, and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is getting an Esports tournament at Gamescom!
Blizzard has revealed base salaries, benefits, and more details for players looking to sign with the Overwatch League for its first season.
Teams will be able to sign players to one-year contracts within the August 1 to October 30 signing window. The minimum salary for players is $50,000 per year.
In addition to a base salary, players will receive health insurance, retirement plans, housing for the season, and at least 50% of prize pool winnings (distributed among a team). The total bonuses in Season 1 will amount to $3.5 million, and at least $1 million of it will be awarded to the Season 1 champion team.
Addressing roster and team composition questions, Blizzard also clarified that teams can have between six and 12 players with no "region locking" on the basis of players' home countries or nationalities. You can find all the details on the Overwatch League website.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment recently announced that Silicon Valley and The Big Sick actor Kumail Nanjiani has been cast in Middle-earth: Shadow of War as an Orc. Today, we got a new look at what Nanjiani's Orc will be like.
In a new trailer, Nanjiani discusses his role and talks about the personality of the Orc that he plays. The Agonizer, as the Orc is called in-game, is a pretty fierce-looking monster--but he doesn't act the part. Check it out above.
"He wants to be badass, he wants to be cool, but he really second-guesses himself and he overthinks everything," Nanjiani says in the video. "He writes these insults, and then in the moment he's not sure if they're good or if he can commit to them."
Honestly, The Agonizer sounds pretty much like one of Nanjiani's other characters, such as Dinesh Chugtai from Silicon Valley or his various appearances in Portlandia.
Shadow of War launches on October 10 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. WB recently released another trailer that showed the infamous character Shelob as a human. You can see that video here.
Recent Articles:
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
Dave and Tamoor check out the new gem from the folk behind Bastion and Transistor, Supergiant Games. A party based RPG with elements of a crazy sports game.
What was Ed Sheeran's song really about? Did Cersei warn her victims? Lucy and Tamoor delve in to the songs of Game of Thrones and the secrets they hide. Beware of spoilers!
Its a big year for Sonic the Hedgehog with Forces and Mania so lets all escape from the city and look back on the series 26 year long history together.
The LawBreakers beta is now open for all to try out, we jumped in and played a few rounds! Here is one of our best ones!
Blizzard shutdown a fan made World of Warcraft legacy server, and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is getting an Esports tournament at Gamescom!
No comments:
Post a Comment