By Phil Hornshaw on Jan 03, 2019 06:47 am
Looking Back At Looking Forward
The world of video games is a swirling, ever-changing place where nothing is guaranteed--games no one thought would exist come out of nowhere, while others that seem like foregone conclusions get delayed into oblivion. We cover an industry that's often extremely tough to predict, which is exactly why each year, we try to make predictions about the coming 12 months. Sure, anything could happen, but it always feels great to be right--and we've got some good evidence on which to base some educated guesses. In 2018, our predictions ranged from some safe-seeming bets like remasters, to wishful ports across the Pacific, to announcements that happened much differently than expected. Our editors made 11 total guesses for 2018. Not all of them were wrong--but how many do you think we got right? You'll have to read on to find out. As long as we're thinking about what didn't come true in 2018, it's worth taking a look at the great games that did make it into our hands. Check out our Best of 2018 hub for rundowns of all the games that caught and kept our attention last year, the gaming moments that defined the year, and the titles we're most looking forward in 2019. We'll also have predictions for 2019 coming soon, so be sure to check those out. And if you've got predictions of your own, or stories of amazing prognostications that came true in 2018 despite all odds, be sure to leave them in the comments below.
Nintendo Will Announce Mother 3 For Switch
It might have been wishful thinking, given that we've predicted Mother 3 coming stateside each of the last few years, but we really thought there was a chance this year. That's because releasing the Earthbound sequel for the Nintendo Switch seemed like a pretty ideal both for Nintendo after a record-breaking 2017 put the console in a whole lot of hands. Ravenous Nintendo fans are hopeful for the game, and the Switch would be a great fit for a localized version of the original GBA game as part of Nintendo's digital content offerings. Unfortunately, just because a thing makes a lot of sense and would would bring joy to a lot of people doesn't mean it'll happen. Another year has come and gone and Mother 3 seems no closer to finding its way to your Switch on this side of the Pacific. We were wrong about Mother 3 showing up last year, but the chances still seem pretty good it might eventually. And Reggie Fils-Aime knows Nintendo fans want the game in the US--so there may well be hope for it in 2019. Verdict: Wrong
Nintendo Will Release Another Zelda Game Or Expansion
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was both a huge game and acclaimed by players and critics when it released in 2017, so we predicted that Nintendo would want to ride that wave into the future as it continued to build the Switch's library. The two DLC packs Nintendo offered for the game seemed to go over well, but there's definitely still room at the periphery of Breath of the Wild to make it even bigger. And given the massive success of both the game and the Switch in 2017, it seemed like Nintendo had an opportunity to print even more money with another Zelda offering the year after. We figured that more expansions for Breath of the Wild, beyond that first annual pass, would likely pop up this year as Nintendo found more value in its huge adventure. Another possibility: a new take on a classic Zelda, just in time to take advantage of the Switch's digital storefront and its big new install base. Unfortunately, the only fresh appearances of Link we saw in 2018 were in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. There wasn't any movement on Nintendo about its flagship franchise, in fact, and the last we heard about any DLC for the game was back in December when Champions' Ballad was released. Maybe that's because Nintendo is gearing up to make 2019 the Year of Link? That seems...unlikely, but it's always tough trying to predict what Nintendo has planned. Verdict: Wrong
Bethesda Game Studios Will Announce Its Next Game At E3 2018
Bethesda's big press conference extravaganza at E3 each year is usually packed full of games, and since we hadn't heard much from the studio behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, it made sense that Bethesda would hit us pretty hard at E3 2018. In particular, the next installment of the Elder Scrolls series seemed to be due for some news. Skyrim might be on everything that plays games, including Alexa, but the game was first released in 2011. We were very right about this one, with Bethesda hitting the gaming public with two big announcements. First, we found out about Fallout 76, an online multiplayer addition to the Fallout franchise. And as expected, 76 was released just months after Bethesda told us about it at E3. But that wasn't all Bethesda Game Studios had to offer at the event: it also teased The Elder Scrolls VI. That game is coming, uh, sometime, and Bethesda has given pretty much no information about it at all apart from showing an image with the title over it. And then Bethesda went and announced a third game: Starfield, which got its official debut trailer at E3. That's two announcements, so our speculation that we'd get news of a Bethesda game--and that one would release soon after it was announced--was right on. Verdict: (Extremely) Right
Nintendo Will Announce (And Release) Smash Bros. For Switch
Well, this one's pretty obvious. We speculated that with Nintendo chugging along with a lot of acclaim around the Switch, it was time for a new Super Smash Bros. Nintendo hasn't disappointed on that front--Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is here, and Nintendo really did lean into the "Ultimate" part. The game is huge, featuring every character that's ever been on a Smash Bros. roster before, plus multiple game modes and a lengthy single-player campaign. We loved Smash Ultimate almost as much as we loved being right about the game showing up this year. In our review, Edmond Tran gave Smash a 9, writing, "it's still astounding that a game featuring characters from Mario Bros, Sonic The Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and Street Fighter all interacting with each other actually exists." Smash Ultimate also made our list of the best games of the year--that's how great it is. It sure is nice being right. Verdict: Right
Cyberpunk 2077 Will Be Re-Revealed At E3 2018
We were hoping to see Cyberpunk 2077 make a big splash at E3 after a whole lot of time had passed since the last reveal of information about it, and we were not disappointed. Not only did CD Projekt RED bring Cyberpunk to E3, but it also brought a huge, gorgeous hands-off gameplay demo. It only showed that behind closed doors (although CD Projekt made the demo available online in August), but it was enough to remind us all why we were excited about it in the first place. Cyberpunk's open world of Night City is huge and full of things to do, and there are plenty of ways in which the RPG will react to your actions and change around you. All in all, Cyberpunk is looking great and we learned a ton about it at E3 this year, making this prediction satisfyingly correct. Verdict: Right
Mass Effect Ain't Dead; Trilogy HD Remaster Will Come This Fall
This one might be kind of right. We expected that, in the aftermath of Mass Effect: Andromeda, Electronic Arts would let BioWare's sci-fi RPG franchise cool off, but it wouldn't kill it. Instead, we figured BioWare would take the opportunity to re-release an HD remastered version of the original trilogy. A re-release of the original three games could go a long way to repairing the bridges between BioWare and fans who felt burned by Andromeda, bringing them back into the series' world and potentially revitalizing it, bit by high-res bit. The hope, of course, is that Andromeda will be a misstep but not a fatal fall for the beloved franchise, and instead provides the developer with some lessons that can improve Mass Effect and the rest of what BioWare has to offer in the future. No HD remastered version of the Mass Effect trilogy made its way to us in 2018, nor was one even announced, sadly. That doesn't mean it's not being planned for the future, though. In fact, BioWare's Casey Hudson gave fans a cryptic note on November 7, otherwise known among the Mass Effect faithful as N7 Day, suggesting that there's more coming for the series in the future. So perhaps Mass Effect isn't dead! We don't know what BioWare might be planning, whether a new Mass Effect game or a remaster of the old trilogy. But at least there's still hope on the galactic horizon. Verdict: Wrong, but with a glimmer of hope
From Software's Project Teased At The 2017 Game Awards Is Tenchu
E3 2018 saw the first real information about From Software's next title. Bummer for this prediction: it wasn't a new Tenchu game. Instead, From showed off gameplay of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a game that riffs on feudal Japan and stars a ninja, fighting monsters, demons, and various other creatures. It's a departure from both Dark Souls and Bloodborne, adding a lot of speed to the proceedings, but it's definitely possible to feel the influence of the From's past games on this new effort. We might be forgiven for getting the exact nature of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wrong, on account of the fact that Sekiro really did start its life as a Tenchu title. A lot of the hallmarks of the stealth ninja series seem like they're making their way into Sekiro too, and the phrase "Shadows Die Twice" is a reference to Tenchu 3. So while From Software isn't technically making a new Tenchu title as predicated, this is pretty dang close. Verdict: Half-Right
Nintendo Will Release The N64 Classic
We got the NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Edition in 2016 and 2017, respectively. So it stood to reason that Nintendo might decide to continue printing money in 2018 with another miniature version of one of its classic machines--the N64. After all, the console had plenty of standout, watershed titles, including Super Mario 64 and the original Super Smash Bros. With the way that the other Classic consoles have made major impacts on the market and among Nintendo fans, even encouraging a similar tiny console from Sony, the N64 Classic seemed like a no-brainer. Sadly, Nintendo didn't bring out a new classic console this year, and what's more, the current classic consoles will be discontinued after the holidays. That's basically negative progress on our prediction. Thanks a lot, Nintendo. Verdict: Wrong
Blizzard Will Announce Diablo 4
We couldn't have predicted just how this one was going to play out. Blizzard's lack of Diablo announcements in the last few years made an announcement of the next chapter in the franchise feel inevitable for Blizzcon 2018. We were right that Blizzard did have something up its sleeve for Diablo--but we, and just about everyone else, were very wrong about what that Diablo thing turned out to be. At Blizzcon, Blizzard announced a new entry into the Diablo franchise, but it wasn't a new numbered installment. Instead, it was Diablo Immortal, a mobile game, and fan response to the announcement was pretty intense. It included booing and one Blizzcon attendee asking if the game's announcement was actually an early April Fool's Day joke. We got hands-on with Diablo Immortal and found it pretty impressive, but while the controversy seemed overblown, it's obvious that fans are ravenous for a new, full-fledged Diablo game. Verdict: Wrong
Phantasy Star Online 2 Will Finally Come To The West
Phantasy Star Online 2 is performing well for Sega, even five years after its 2012 release. The MMO even got a release on the Nintendo Switch in 2018--in Japan. With the game trucking along with ports and expansions five years later, it seems like it would make a lot of sense for Sega to expand its audience. Phantasy Star Online 2 still isn't available in the West, but we hoped 2018 would be the year that changed. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. We're still waiting to hear anything on the front of PSO2 making its way out of Japan, and even with the Switch release, there's no word of a western release. Maybe 2019 will be the year an English version of Phantasy Star Online 2 finally becomes available. Verdict: Wrong
Spyro Trilogy Remaster Announced
In 2017, Activision released the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, a remaster of the first three Crash Bandicoot games. Fans had been asking for a Crash Bandicoot re-release for years, and they finally got it. With the N. Sane Trilogy in the past, the next logical step was a re-release of another classic PlayStation platformer series: Spyro the Dragon. Activision must have been thinking the same thing, and the N. Sane Trilogy performed pretty well. Not only did the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a remaster of the first three games in the franchise, get announced, 2018 also saw its release. Justin Clark gave Reignited an 8 in our review: "The Reignited Trilogy is the best kind of collection that not only brings a beloved series up to current visual standards but also proves just how well-built the original titles were," he wrote. Verdict: Right
Predictions Total
4.5 out of 11 For making predictions and prognostications that mostly just boil down to educated guesses, a success rate that's not too far off 50 percent feels pretty respectable, overall (although maybe we're just biased). Hopefully this means we're improving in our predictions since our track record at the end of 2017 was pretty dismal. Here's hoping (predicting?) our look through the crystal ball at 2019 will be even more successful.
By Chris E. Hayner on Jan 03, 2019 06:00 am
The final season of Gotham is going to be a wild ride, based on what has been seen so far. With the city of Gotham cut off from the outside world and villains reigning supreme, it sounds practically impossible for any kind of happy ending. Don't count out Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), and their allies just yet, though. While we do know some of the massive things happening in the final season--like the arrival of Batman in the series finale--there are still plenty of mysteries we're dying for answers to. How will Bane be introduced? What happens to Selina (Camren Bicondova) after being paralyzed? And the question that plagues every season: How is Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) going to somehow survive this time? Thankfully, during a visit to the Brooklyn sets of the Fox series, GameSpot had the chance to speak with the cast about what to expect from the final season. With Gotham returning on January 3 for the first of its final 12 episodes, there's plenty you're going to want to know before Season 5 kicks off, whether it's what's happening with Jeremiah (Cameron Monaghan) or how Lee (Morena Baccarin) will be different after Hugo Strange (BD Wong) brought her back to life. Gotham Season 5 premieres Thursday, January 3, on Fox.
No Man's Land is a scary place
In the Season 4 finale of Gotham, Jeremiah blew up the bridges that connect the city to the outside world. Now, when Season 5 picks up three months after the explosions, Gotham is a very different place. Criminals are in control as the city has been divided among various gangs. Meanwhile, there's one small piece of land that Jim Gordon and what's left of the GCPD has managed to maintain. "The gangs are fighting each other and Gordon is literally and figuratively on an island," McKenzie said. "He's sort of on an island within an island of the little territory the GCP controls, surrounded by all these hostile forces."
Penguin is reigning supreme... for now
With the gangs at war, there's one man sitting pretty at the beginning of the season. Penguin has set himself up as a very important person in Gotham City. "All the major resources in a way have to fall through him," Taylor explained. "Like most war profiteers, he also controls all the ammunition. If anyone is going to rise up to try and take over, essentially they have to go through Penguin to have the means to do so. He's in a very good place when we start off."
And his relationship with Gordon is more dangerous than ever
The dynamic between Penguin and Gordon has been one of the craziest in all of Gotham. They're never exactly friends, but they shuffle back and forth between being in an uneasy alliance and a flat-out bloody feud quite often. Now, with the city devolving into utter chaos, viewers are going to see a new type of relationship between the two, as they may be the only things that can keep each other alive. "We really go more in the direction of 'I hate you, I need you,' you know what I mean?" Taylor explains. "This happens between a lot of the characters. Because they're all competing for control and they all have their own territories, they were all vying for more and more of this limited resource, which is just what the city [is now]. You see these relationships where it's like it is an alliance, but at the same time the second someone slips or turns their back, that's when the knife goes in. It's this razor edge of trust that Penguin and Gordon are walking. We'll see who wins."
Get ready for Bruce's final steps toward becoming Batman
We already know Batman will appear in the final episode of the series, which flashes forward 10 years. However, this last season will see Bruce Wayne take those final steps toward becoming the Caped Crusader fans have been waiting for, especially when it comes to his work with Gordon and the GCPD. "Bruce is essentially a part of the GCPD. He is working very intimately with Gordon, and Bullock, and Lucius, and Alfred and all the good guys are together having to do that," Mazouz said. This is a far cry from the days of Gordon chastising Bruce for putting himself into dangerous situations. With so little left in Gotham, he's run out of options that aren't Bruce Wayne.
Let's talk about Bane
When it was announced Shane West would be coming to Gotham to play the iconic villain Bane, there was still quite a bit of mystery about him. We know the character's name is Eduardo Dorrance and he is a friend of Gordon's who comes to Gotham to help restore order in the city. Clearly, there's a plan he has yet to clue Jim in on, though, given he'll be revealed as a major villain in the final season. According to McKenzie, it won't take long for Eduardo to go full-on Bane. "I think when his character appears, because of their shared history and because of where Jim is--in a bad spot in Gotham--his friend's appearance is very welcome," the actor teased. "It's a way of helping him out of his current predicament. But their history is complicated, and as much as they saw hard times together, the level of trust you reveal through action that the story is not quite as simple as they served together [in the military] and they are best buddies. It's a little more complicated than that, in a good way, and I think it reveals itself rather quickly to be something a little more sinister and a little more complicated."
What's the deal with Jeremiah?
Gotham's flirtation with the Joker has been going on since Season 1. When Cameron Monaghan first appeared as Jerome, a murderous child of the circus, viewers thought he'd surely become the Clown Prince of Crime. From there, the character went through several evolutions--and some serious disfigurement--on the path to becoming Batman's greatest foe--though he never took on the name. Ultimately, he died at the hands of his twin brother Jeremiah. Now, in Season 5, Jeremiah is this show's take on Joker and Monaghan can't wait for viewers to see how that plays out. "I liked playing Jerome a lot, but Jerome was extremely just chaotic and destructive in a way that was... It was representative of the anarchic side of the Joker, but I don't think it necessarily captured a lot of the obsession and his meticulousness," the actor told GameSpot. "There's a level of genius to this guy. I think that that's what's fun about exploring this."
Selina is down but not out
In the Season 4 finale, Selina was shot by Jeremiah for no other reason than Bruce cared about her. While she didn't die, she was left paralyzed by season's end. That's a strange turn for the character that is to become Catwoman, but showrunner John Stephens made it clear that Selina's story is far from over and will include some help from an old friend. "We kinda know she's not gonna be paralyzed forever," he said. "So, the question is, what is the journey to becoming unparalyzed, and how does that journey end up changing her? Because obviously the Selina we've seen so far is not necessarily the same Selina we've seen within the comic books, you know? So the journey of becoming unparalyzed, which kind of vectors through [Poison] Ivy, changes her in a way that pushes her even further towards who she ends up being later on."
Hugo Strange has made some alterations to Lee after her near-death experience
Selina wasn't the only one left in a precarious position at the end of Season 4. Riddler (Cory Michael Smith) and Lee seemingly killed each other. That's definitely not the case, though. And for Lee, when viewers see her again, she's going to be quite a bit different, thanks to Hugo Strange. "She's definitely changed," Baccarin said. "He's been definitely messing with her. But in a weird way, what has happened also brings the old Lee back a little bit. There's like a crazy switch that's gone back and forth, I think that's as best as I can say it, and then it gets better." Of course, in Gotham better normally means much worse. With that in mind, it should be interesting to see what happens to that character moving forward.
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