Thursday, 31 August 2017

Here's A Look At Shovel Knight's Order Of No Quarter Amiibo Three-Pack

Almost two years ago to the day, Yacht Club games unveiled its plans for a Shovel Knight Amiibo. This year at PAX, a new line of Shovel Knight Amiibos were revealed immortalizing the playable (or soon to be playable) Order of No Quarter Knights. The three-pack of Amiibos features Specter Knight, Plague Knight, and King Knight.

Brian Shea got a chance to see them in person while at the show and took a few pictures of the new figures.

Here's a closer look at King Knight who will be starring in his own campaign very soon with the King of Cards.

Specter Knight also starred in his own campaign with Specter of Torment.

Finally, here's Plague Knight who starred in the Plague of Shadows expansion.

Here's another shot of The Order of No Quarter from a slightly higher angle.



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LEGO Millennium Falcon Is The Biggest Set Ever

LEGO has announced yet another new Millennium Falcon, the ship that made the kessel run in some unspecified time or distance depending on how deep you want to get into this.

The new set, which does have a specified amount of pieces, is 7,541 pieces, which makes it LEGO's biggest set ever. The previous Millennium Falcon set also set the record for the biggest set at time, at over 5000 pieces.

This Millennium Falcon, which you can find without having to flee from an Imperial search party, measures 33 inches long, 22 inches wide, and 8 inches high. If you're trying to figure out whether that will fit on your LEGO shelf, you might need to extend those shelves out a few feet.

The set will run you a measly $799.99 when it comes out on October 1. What Star Wars ships do you wish to possess in LEGO form?



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See Why There’s More To The FFXV/AC Crossover Than You Think

Last week, Square Enix and Ubisoft surprised the gaming world by unveiling a collaboration that would have the Final Fantasy and Assassin's Creed series paying homage to each other. The first phase of this collaboration is a free DLC event for Final Fantasy XV called the Assassin's Festival, so we downloaded it to see how well these juggernaut franchises meld.

After spending about 30 minutes with the new content, we were surprised and impressed by its scope. Yes, the premise is a little silly, but it seems that the FFXV team was fully committed to its execution regardless. Join me, Kyle Hilliard, and Leo Vader as we explore the festival and apply our dubious assassin skills to new situations.

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GI Show – Mario + Rabbids, Yakuza Kiwami, Gamescom's Highlights

Welcome back to The Game Informer Show! On this week's episode, we gush over the bizarre hybrid of Super Mario, Ubisoft's Rabbids, and Firaxis' XCOM, Dan Tack weighs in on Absolver, and we discuss Nintendo's indie push with Kyle Hilliard. After some great community emails, we go around the table and share our top 3 most exciting stories from Gamescom 2017 with Jeff Cork and Elise Favis.

You can watch the video below, subscribe and listen to the audio on iTunes or Google Play, or listen to episode 362 on SoundCloud. Also, be sure to send your questions to podcast@gameinformer.com for a chance to have them answered on the show and win a prize by becoming Email of the Week!

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Our thanks to the talented Super Marcato Bros. for The Game Informer Show's intro song. You can hear more of their original tunes and awesome video game music podcast at their website.

To jump to a particular point in the discussion, check out the time stamps below...

2:45 - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
20:45 - Absolver
24:25 - Warriors All-Stars
29:30 - Nintendo's Nindie-indie push
37:35 - Yakuza Kiwami
42:55 - Community emails
1:07:10 - Spoiler-free Game of Thrones discussion
1:22:05 - The 9 most exciting things from Gamescom 2017



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Everybody's Golf Review – Charm Only Gets You So Far

Having the Hot Shots Golf series (as it used to be known as in North America) on PS4 is undeniably great. I was hoping that since the game isn't tied to a platform launch like it normally is, developer Clap Hanz would be able to stretch out and offer more than the normal collection of courses and unlockable opponents. That's the intent of Everybody's Golf, with its online courses and hub world you can wander around. However, the disjointed implementation of those plans is where the game trips up.

Despite having various modes available as separate destinations from the hub world (including career, online play, and Open Courses), no one mode satisfies. Career mode is the usual gauntlet of beating characters in order, but the path is marred by the slim offering of only five courses out of the box. You are left with too much grinding on the same courses and holes, even with different parameters added like small/large holes and penalties for going into the rough.

These same courses are available in the online Open Courses sections. Here everyone runs around in the environment and posts scores on leaderboards, but they aren't directly playing each other (for that, you have to go to a specific competitive online section), although you can see players and communicate with them. You can fish, swim, and find special items and currency in the Open Courses. However, these activities are not that interesting, largely because you've been on these courses a ton already.

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To play directly against other players online (standard local multiplayer is also an option) at launch, you only have two options: creating/finding a stroke play lobby or heading to the Turf War mode. Turf War is fun; your team has a limited amount of time to score better on select holes than the other team to claim the hole. The problem is the matchmaking can be uneven, since a team with more players has an advantage. Even worse, you get no reward for winning – another weird dead end.

It would be nice if what you did in the online portions of the game helped unlock the career mode courses faster, like how many other titles preserve your progress across modes, but that's not the case. The career mode and hub world feel further isolated because both act like tutorials in that part of their function is to explain core concepts. But what are they an intro to if the online portion they ostensibly open into is underdeveloped itself?

At least the three-click gameplay is reliable, and in one of the game's few positive steps forward, it uses clubs that get better the more you perform with them. With different sets to try out, I like taking a chance with ones that might be harder to golf with for the payoff of potentially better shots and the fact that I'm improving them with every outing.

This franchise's attempt to step out from its own shadow is only half successful, and not because it dared to do so in the first place, but because it didn't dare enough. It also lacks a singular vision, and instead feels like a collection of parts pieced together. Sony has promised online tournaments and other additions post-launch (two DLC courses are already grayed out in the course selection screens), and an inaccessible online gate is present, but that's meaningless at this point in the game's life. Everybody's Golf is fun to play – as it always has been – but that's not enough to fulfill its own ambitions or mine.



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Super Replay – Pokémon Snap Episode 4

After the marathon that was Shenmue II, Andrew Reiner and I decided it was time to play something that didn't require quite so much long-term commitment. We wanted something that felt closer to a walk in the park, or a leisurely ride through a park, which is how we landed on Pokémon Snap. The Nintendo 64 favorite offered Pokémon fans their first look at their favorite creatures in 3D and, for our purposes, doesn't tell an elongated story about revenge.

Despite our intentions to play something a little less intense, we still want to make sure we get a photo of every Pokémon in the game. We will also be passing the sticks in order to foster some competition. At the end of every episode we will make sure to check and see who took the best photo.

Enjoy the episodes, and leave comments! We plan on reading them out loud during the episodes just like we did with our last few two-person Super Replays.

Episode 4
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Episode 3
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Episode 2
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Episode 1
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Games Done Quick Hosting Emergency Marathon This Weekend For Hurricane Harvey Relief

Games Done Quick, a bi-annual game speedrunning marathon that raises money for various causes, has announced that they are holding an emergency marathon this weekend Friday 8:00 PM EST to Sunday 8:00 PM EST.

Both Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick raise millions of dollars every year, so the emergency stream for Hurricane Harvey relief could potentially raise a lot of money for much-needed aid. The streams show speedrunners going through games through various methods and criteria, taking down twenty hour games in less time than a movie.

This time, Games Done Quick is partnering with the Houston Food Bank. Further and updating details can be found on the organization's twitter account.



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Atlus Might Be Teasing Catherine Follow-Up During Recruitment Livestream

Atlus held a stream today intended to recruit new employees for its Studio Zero internal development team, who was recently announced to work on Atlus' RPG Project Re Fantasy. The live stream, however, was themed after Golden Playhouse, the framing device used for the 2011 Atlus narrative puzzle game, Catherine.

The stream was hosted by Trisha, the host of Golden Playhouse. Catherine was framed as a dramatic TV show that was being shown to the player with Trisha introducing and closing the game out with moral messages. During the recruitment stream, Catherine music frequently played, and Trisha teases future surprises about her next job.

A subtitled version of Trisha's segments can be found below, but any Catherine projects from the studio would have to wait until their fantasy RPG project gets off the ground. What form would you want a Catherine sequel to take?

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Our Take
Catherine had some problems, but most of the story was well-written and relatable. We hope a new game in the series is coming and lets the Persona team tell a story with more adult characters again.



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Life Is Strange: Before The Storm – Episode 1 Review

Life is a series of struggles we can't avoid. The original Life is Strange explored the concept of rewinding time to ease conflict and create different outcomes, but Life is Strange: Before the Storm is focused on reality. In this prequel, you have no special powers. You are forced to face life head-on and confront its painful plights. New developer Deck Nine uses Awake, the first of three planned episodes, to emphasize choices and emotional turmoil. Awake retains the essence of Life of Strange (with plenty of callbacks to the original), but now you play from the perspective of Chloe and see her budding friendship with Rachel Amber. The result is an episode that pulls at the heart strings despite some stumbles.

Before the Storm takes place two years after the death of Chloe's father (and three years before she reconnects with Max), and she's still grieving. Her depression has taken a toll, causing her to rebel and not care much about anything or anyone. Playing as a younger Chloe is a nice change of pace, as she isn't completely the confident free-spirit she was in the original. She's still figuring herself out, and has more naivety and vulnerability that makes her more sympathetic. Rachel Amber is on the opposite end of the spectrum; she's popular, gets good grades, and has a financially stable family. The pair meet at a concert and embark on a complicated friendship, as they're both facing their own trials.

This episode is a slow burn, gradually introducing you to Chloe's world. You travel to familiar places like Blackwell Academy, and to new locales like a punk club. One of my favorite aspects is seeing Blackwell students from the original game, like Victoria Chase to Nathan Prescott. However, you see younger versions that foreshadow their future. Yes, Victoria is still a stuck-up brat, but you start to see the beginnings of her concern for Nathan, while watching Nathan deal with his own difficulties from his father's influence.

This episode also sets up Chloe's conflict with her mom and new boyfriend David well, providing insight into why Chloe's so angry and distraught. It also doesn't forget to show the impact Max had on her life, which was the focal point of the original game. Max is mentioned a lot to show Chloe's hurt that she moved away, and isn't there to help her through the hardest time of her life.

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Even with several parts that feel genuine, Chloe and Rachel Amber form their friendship at an unnatural speed. They've only known each other for a day, so their interactions can feel forced. In their second time hanging out, you can already decide if you want to tell Rachel Amber if you want to be more than friends. That being said, they have some fun bonding moments, such as playing games like Two Truths and a Lie and observing people and making up stories about their lives. The most authentic part of Awake is how Chloe mourns the loss of her dad (dream sequences heighten this), and Rachel Amber's reaction to finding out some disturbing news about her father. Both girls are recognizing harsh realities together, and I felt for both of them in their anger and sadness.

Without the rewind feature, you're mostly exploring and making choices. The change makes sense for the story, and I didn't mind it. Dialogue plays a larger role, and Deck Nine does a good job creating interesting interactions, such as Chloe playing D&D and allowing you to pick her moves and responses. The only new aspect that didn't entirely jive with me is Chloe's backtalk option. During certain conversations, you can talk your way out of things by being brazen. You need to pick a string of "correct" dialogue options that relate to what the person just said and goes with the tone of the conversation. Mostly, this is Chloe throwing insults and threatening people, including talking back to her principal to get out of an after-school visit and convincing a bouncer she's tough enough to enter a shady music venue. Sometimes Chloe's insults are so over-the-top, I didn't believe she could have gotten away with talking to any human like that. When it beats you over the head with Chloe's rebellious side, Awake feel disingenuous.

As you explore, interacting with certain items can open up dialogue options, and Chloe can tag special places with graffiti akin to Max taking extra photos in the first game. Some areas also have obstacles that you must get past, like finding a way to steal wine or getting a jammed quarter out of a machine. These sequences never go on too long, and I enjoyed the focus on the story and characters. As this is the first episode, I can't say for sure how far-reaching the choices are, but you do have plenty of decisions, including how you treat other characters, whether to steal money, and even what clothes Chloe wears, which characters notice. I wish this episode had a few tougher choices, but hopefully future episodes have more agonizing ones with satisfying payoffs.

Awake shows you a broken Chloe - someone at her lowest. Everyone hits those trying times in their lives, and what Awake does best is illustrate how much another person can make a difference in those situations. The emotional pull is strong, and the story's strength is its relatability. This first episode has me intrigued at how Chloe and Rachel Amber will make it through their distress, and it also has me rooting for them. 



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Call of Duty: WWII Beta Launches One Day Early

The beta for Call of Duty: WWII was supposed to launch on September 1st, but Activision has pulled the lever a day early for players with codes or anyone who has preordered early on consoles.

The second beta, which is on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and features some content that was not in the first beta, which was exclusive to PlayStation 4. Chief among the differences is the Aachen multiplayer map, new for this beta.

The beta begins today and ends on Monday, September 4. The game itself releases on November 4 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.



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Destiny 2 Live Action Trailer Released For Launch

Bungie and Activision have released a new trailer celebrating the launch of Destiny 2's world and lore, depicting a battle against the invading Red Legion.

The trailer, dubbed "New Legends Will Rise," functions as a short film introducing players to the world of Destiny 2 and is directed by Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Voght-Roberts.

A truncated version will also air on during Saturday's game between Florida State and University of Alabama. Let us know what you think of the trailer below!

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Submit Your Question For Our Call Of Duty: WWII Podcast

All month long we've been rolling out exclusive features covering Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty: WWII to go along with our September cover story on the game. Now it's your turn to get answers straight from the studio heads that are steering the game's development. Do you have questions about the campaign? Thoughts on the beta? Now's your chance! Leave a comment below and we'll get answers from studio heads Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield in the next special edition podcast.

Subscribe to The Game Informer Show podcast by clicking here and get ready for the bonus episode airing this Friday.

Click on the banner below to enter our hub of exclusive content on Call of Duty: WWII.



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Oxenfree Coming To Switch Soon

Oxenfree, the narrative-driven 2D horror game from Night School Studio, has been announced to come to the Nintendo Switch, via a Morse Code tweet.

The tweet, which contains an image of Oxenfree running on a Switch with a foreboding caption, also included this accompanying text: -.-. --- -- .. -. --. / ... --- --- -. In Morse Code, this translates to "Coming Soon."

Oxenfree was praised at release for its strong dialogue and characterization at its 2016 release. No release date for the Switch version has been revealed yet, but the language in the tweet implies the wait should not be too long. You can find our review of the game here.

[Source: Night School Studio Twitter]



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Wednesday, 30 August 2017

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Episode 3 Review – The Past Informs The Present

Telltale recognizes the importance of laying narrative groundwork in its games, establishing character motivations in early episodes with an eye toward payoffs in later installments. That strategy is evident in More Than A Feeling, in which the titular Guardians have a well of competing motivations and desires established through backstories and flashbacks. That tension gives Episode Three the most emotional resonance so far, but the reoccurrence of another ancient temple, along with some technical problems, hold things back.

An important new character enters the scene in the latest episode; Mantis’ first appearance in the Telltale version of the Marvel universe echoes the naïve but earnest portrayal established in the recent film treatment. Her empathic powers provide a good bit of the humor, and establish the impetus for emotional conflicts to come to a head between several of our leads.

The most important of those conflicts is the backstory between Nebula and Gamora, a fraught sibling rivalry with life-and-death consequences. The flashback mission about what created the original rift between the two is fun to watch unfold, especially since we get the opportunity to see it from both perspectives. 

Both Gamora and Nebula have been profoundly shaped by the results of that encounter, which can also be said for most of the rest of the cast and their own personal losses. While it’s a theme we’ve seen throughout the season up to this point, the idea of losses that profoundly shape us has special significance, as the opportunity that these losses might be wiped away begins to tear the team apart. 

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With the whole galaxy to explore, I admit to some disappointment that this story once again winds its way toward another not-so-mysterious ancient temple. It’s such a notable repetition that Rocket even jokes about the location’s tedium upon arrival. Instead of a thrilling new vista or wonder to uncover, the third episode’s finale unfolds in a space that looks remarkably like other places we’ve already visited. 

Meanwhile, the traits that have so far defined the season endure without much change. Facial animation and voice work combine suitably well to squeeze some genuine emotion out of the colorful alien heroes, and the writing elicits some smiles, if only rarely chuckles. Action scenes are welcome, and present some cool combat exchanges. However, they still feel stilted, especially as brief stuttering loads sometimes pause the action in crucial moments. 

While I’ve yet to run into any irreparable technical problems, I had to deal with a temporary progression bug in Episode Three, in which an essential conversation pop-up didn’t appear, halting my ability to move the story forward. On a subsequent reload of the sequence, the problem inexplicably resolved itself, but not before I’d spent half an hour trying to figure out what I was missing. 

Telltale continues to do some fun things with these familiar comic-book heroes, especially in fleshing out character backgrounds in compelling ways. More Than A Feeling wraps up the initial conflict, and lays out a new one to carry us into subsequent episodes. If this installment fails to dramatically up the tension, at least it maintains a solid storytelling pace, and fans of the galaxy’s most loveable space misfits should continue to find moments of fun.



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The Overwatch Community Is Buzzing About Junkertown's Queen

The newest map in Overwatch, Junkertown, has some clues about a character fans are speculating might be the next playable hero in the game.

When Junkertown was announced, it was narrated by a mysterious voice of a character who claimed to be Queen to the town and has a distinct distaste for Omnics. Until the map was released, however, the small bit of dialogue from the character was all fans had to go in. Almost immediately, the community discovered posters of the character around Junkertown, giving people a design to visualize.

This isn't the first time Blizzard has gone cryptic with hinting at new characters. To varying degrees, different characters have been teased both in-game and outside of it, even before the game officially launched, as well as all the post-launch characters. If Queen is intended to join the Overwatch cast, she would be the first character after Blizzard's announced slate of DLC characters that included Anna, Sombra, Orisa, and Doomfist. 

Assuming Queen is coming to the game, how would you want her to play?



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The Virtual Life –Trying To Survive A Little Red Lie

Little Red Lie is the latest release from Will O'Neill, who created Actual Sunlight, a narrative-driven experience that dealt with themes of suicide and isolation. Little Red Lie, which follows two characters as they navigate the mundane yet terrifying labyrinth of daily life in Toronto, is in much the same vein as Actual Sunlight but focuses on the weight that modern economics has on a person's mental and emotional state, relationships, and humanity. I played through Little Red Lie and found myself disheartened by the story and its bleak world, but captivated by the strength of its storytelling and brutal, unflinching gaze into despair. 

I talked with O'Neil about his creative process, philosophies, and the merit of games as political art.

Javy Gwaltney: Both Little Red Lie and Actual Sunlight are despairing games with a bleak perspective on people trying to make it through modern life. Actual Sunlight deals with depression while Little Red Lie turns its gaze on the viciousness of capitalism. These games don't seem to allow for much hope. What informs these games and their brutality?

Will O’Neill: In both cases, I would say personal belief. I'd say the most optimistic thing you could say about either is that they express the idea that some kind of change is needed – that there's no future in going on the way things are as depicted in the games. In the case of Actual Sunlight, that would mean an unwillingness to confront your present reality, and in the case of Little Red Lie, it would imply an unwillingness to confront our collective future. I think everybody knows this – everybody knows there is no such thing as functional American capitalism in a world where nobody can be a truck driver or a cashier, for example – but there is a certain staring-into-the-headlights of it all that we just can't seem to escape.

We all know that the rich and the famous and important are going to bug out, cut and run as soon as things look really bad, but we keep buying magazines with them on the cover regardless. We all know all of these things – I don't see why a game shouldn't be unflinching about it. If anything, I'm disappointed with what I see as the false and misplaced optimism of so many others.

Do you think there’s no way out? Of the cage, I mean.

I think the funny thing is that we'll face a crossroads at which we could essentially construct a utopia of automation and technology, but only if it is shared. And that is when the same old monsters will stand up to say that they own it all, but that they're willing to lease it at generous rates. And then things go in precisely the opposite direction. And that is what I think will happen – but I do think that it could be different.

Little Red Lie, however, is essentially about how human nature all but guarantees it probably won't. And that is my perspective, absolutely. And it's ambiguous, morally, because so much of what inspires the bad action in Little Red Lie is family, and a loyalty to it. I mean, the intergenerational relationships themselves are an expression of that weird contrast – that the Baby Boomers have sort of screwed the generations that follow, but it's not like they're aliens or some invading force. They're our parents. Maybe they don't care about "us" in a broader perspective, but they care about you more than anything in the world. It's like you've got Boomers who are still working, because they need to make money for their unemployed kids, and yet those kids in a wider sense can't get a job because that Boomer won't leave it.

So I do hope that people will take away something more nuanced than simple doom and gloom from it all. Did you feel that aspect of it, or did you find it so overshadowed by the bleakness of it all that it was tough to cut through to that?

Yeah, I felt the tug of war aspect. These people care about you but at the same time...you eventually need them to give up what they can't give up. It's a very effective articulation of the human condition and generational strife.

That's good! I'm concerned that we're all rubbed so raw by real life now that harshness gets amplified, even in fiction. At the same time, I think it's the duty and entire purpose of art to be honest and speak from the heart. I would be doing a disservice to it to have done Little Red Lie any other way.


Right, I mean it’s terrifying to be alive right now, no? Missiles over Japan, economic despair. I often wonder what the role of political art in dire times is. Is it to try and effect change or to be a portrait of the times? Some mix of the two? Where do you think Little Red Lie, with its focus on capitalism and family and depression, fits into that equation?

I try not to not overestimate the power of art, no matter how much I care about it. Ultimately, if there is real conflict in our time and an upending of our political system, it won't be because people are inspired to seek love and equality for all – it will be because they have nothing to eat, no security of any other kind, and nothing to lose.

So I think art probably serves as a portrait and a record of the time, and it can inspire people – there are plenty of instances in recorded history where the first thing that bad people do is round up all of the intellectuals, artists and others who might articulate the truth in a persuasive way and silence them, one way or another. So there is definitely real power in words, and in art. But ultimately, if change comes, I think it will be real and material deprivation that truly drives it.

It's sort of a race to the finish, isn't it?

What do you get out of it all, as the creator of these games? Why do it?

I guess I find it satisfying to express something that I think is honest in the middle of a lot of dishonest noise. Aspirational pop culture is a never-ending symphony that beats on you all day, and Little Red Lie is that single triangle note that hits at the very end. It's tiny, but you hear it. And you know it's something different.

But I don't know if I'd even have an answer to that if someone didn't ask me directly. Speaking what you think is the truth and trying to express it in a way that is at least beautiful, however pointless, is something that I think justifies itself?

It's what being a writer or an artist of any kind is, right? You're doing it because you think it's real, and it means a lot to you. But Actual Sunlight was definitely a reaction to what I thought the pop-culture version of a guy like (depressed protagonist) Evan Winter was, and everyone in Little Red Lie is very much the same.

One of things I've noticed about both Actual Sunlight and Little Red Lie is that they're very minimal in terms of interaction. A lot of it is visual-novel text segments at points. I imagine a few questions people would have about these experiences are "Why are these games? Do they work as games? Why not a novel or short story anthology?" And I have my own answers to those, as someone who loves the medium, and is always examining how it uses interactivity in interesting ways, but what about you as the creator? Why should both of these be games as opposed to a more passive creative medium?

With Actual Sunlight, the interactivity was important precisely because it gave me something to take away from the player more and more as the game went on – as a reflection of the increasing myopia of the protagonist. You had little agency regardless, but when you lost what little you had, you felt it. In Little Red Lie, I use interactivity as a way of simulating directly the way I think we all process the lies we tell – that we think one thing but have no choice to say another. I think giving a tactile layer of action to that gives you a connection to the characters that you couldn't find in another medium.

But, of course, I also think there is just an inherent mechanical empathy that comes with moving a character on a screen, and literally walking in their shoes. That is definitely why I prefer the graphical style to working in something like Twine, as a lot of narrative-focused game developers do.

I think a lot of games beat their chest when it comes to interactivity by throwing so many actions at the player. Like, "Here's 47 different ways you can slit this guy's throat" or "Here's a major story decision that can have a dramatic effect on the ending," but sometimes it's nice to have interactivity draw attention to how powerless people can be, like the famous you're-damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't binary decision at the end of GTA IV. Niko's screwed. He's always been screwed since he set foot in Liberty City because the systems are opposed against him and the people he loves.

Yeah, absolutely – I loved Niko's missions with the CIA / NSA stand-in agency more than anything, because he was finally working with a character who understood how foregone everything was. At one point the guy says to him, something like, "Just like in the old country" in Niko's language, and that was so brilliant. That encapsulated so much about that story. Loved it.

But yes – in most games, interactivity is used as a mode of empowerment. Level progression is a mode of empowerment. Achievements, trophies, everything: It's all a fantasy of being in control of your life and being able to succeed through skill and hard work. And the less of that people have in real life, the more attractive it gets in art.

And the less of that people have in real life, the more attractive it gets in art.

Let's talk about Sarah and Arthur for a bit. Like, Sarah is obviously sympathetic for a number of reasons (her poverty and love for her family) but I think Arthur, who's rich and disgusting and awful, ends up being the more interesting of the two characters because LRL asks us to try and understand this vile person. What led you to splitting the story between the two characters? Why focus on on that sort of character for half the game? There seems to be a lot of faith in the player to play as him for that long and not to bail when it becomes too much?

Yes, I think it's important that people do understand him, definitely, for the sake of contrast. What I was trying to show was that while you've got Sarah, who is out in the world trying to get by, making choices that matter, and having to live with the consequences of her decisions – even when they're unfair – you've got somebody else at the same time who is an endless ball of hurtling chaos.

But also one who, because of their money and stature and power, is able to effectively get away with all of it. And again, I felt like in a pop culture story, the character of Arthur Fox might be rich and evil, but he'd also remain erudite and clever throughout, to be Sarah's 'match' so to speak. But he isn't. He's just an ignorant, mean-spirited jerk with a drug problem and too much money. Absolute power that has corrupted absolutely.

And I think it's important that people see a character like Arthur Fox all the way through. You know, a thing about people like Rob Ford (or Donald Trump)  is that it's all sort of funny, isn't it? Like, you hate these guys, but you feel like maybe you could have a drink with them (or at least before you could) or maybe they know a good dirty joke. But that's what they're like at arms-length. You don't want to be in the way of these people, or to have something that they want. It very quickly becomes a very different story. It wouldn't have been honest to write half of Arthur Fox – you have to write the whole thing.

So many times you have this archetype and there is something about them that feels, I don't know, very false. Like the Patrick Batemans or Gordon Geckos where they can talk their way into everyone's bed or pocket. And with Arthur there's something that feels grounded, like the muck is there because the player has a constant connection to his brain and it's ultimately very disturbing but compelling. You can see what makes him attractive to people but just how awful he is, is inescapable.

Exactly! Yes, I think you understand precisely. Several people have told me that their favorite character in the game is the bartender. She's one of the rare people in the game who doesn't need or want anything from Arthur, who doesn't exist in his social or professional milieu. I like her, too. And I also like the brief parts of the game where you control Melissa and Sarah's parents – that for a few moments, you get glimpses of how other people see the main characters.

Because for all her loyalty and better qualities, Sarah is definitely arrogant and superior – and you see that implied in her red text all over the place, but it's nice to get it from other people as well. And it's nice to see a bartender tell Arthur Fox to go f---himself.

It's a dense game. There's a lot there. Maybe too much. I think it definitely suffers against something like Actual Sunlight, which was very narrow in scope.

Did the expanded scope lead to things you're not happy with? Flaws that are in plain sight?

I mean, there are pieces of the writing that I like more than other parts, but I don't know about huge flaws in plain sight. Maybe the biggest flaw really is the length – I'm asking a lot of players to get through this, and I know it. At the same time, I'm not afraid to kill my babies. There were 5 or 6 entire scenes cut from the game. I don't think I could have made it much shorter than I did...!

And I think the other problem, as I've alluded to, is that I think it's very much against the zeitgeist. When I released Actual Sunlight, I felt like it was really well-received because there was a lot of interest in that kind of game at the time – certainly because of Depression Quest – but now I think people are generally looking for something more positive.

I mean, if Dream Daddy is the narrative hit of the summer, I think that says it all. Arthur Fox is no Dream Daddy. And I find that even narrative-focused games where I went in expecting horrific endings – Tacoma and Night in the Woods, for example – the endings are really quite upbeat.

They're inspirational, whereas with Little Red Lie, the most inspirational thing you can take away is that maybe, if we can make the world nothing like it is now, we'll have a shot. Oh, but we probably won’t.

Do you see yourself making more of these kinds of games, which are seemingly rooted in nihilism?

Yeah, absolutely. Because these games sell so terribly, I'm actually intending to make two more games with the existing art that I have now.

The first one is going to be about chronic pain, and the second one is going to focus on what people will probably call toxic masculinity, but which I will think of as the pretty sad story of the guys I grew up with. And the scripts for both of those are actually kind of half on paper and half in my head already, so I can promise you that there will not be another large gap in my output…god willing!

For more on games about hope and despair, check out The Virtual Life on Nier: Automata.



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Two Hundred Artists Collaborate On Reanimating A Super Mario World Episode

If you have fond memories of coming home after school and watching the inexplicable Super Mario World cartoon, this video will relish in ruining them.

This animation collaboration, organized by Andrew Dickman of Electric Heroes, brings together over 227 artists and animators to reanimate 255 scenes from the Super Mario World cartoon episode about Yoshi's origins, titled "Mama Luigi." The animators employ their own unique or inspired art styles for each scene, creating a strange but entertaining mix.

In this episode, Luigi recounts to a bafflingly infantile Yoshi how the green plumber plucked the similarly green dinosaur from an egg, took him to Bowser's castle, and ate the King Koopa out of house and home until Bowser just sort of gets tired of it and leaves.

Watch the episode below and check the video's info for a full list of all the participating artists and animators.

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Activision’s CEO Talks Call Of Duty, Crash, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

We weren't the only people visiting Sledgehammer Games last month. While we were at the studio to get a look at Call of Duty: WWII for our cover story, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg was there to check on the game's progress. He was gracious enough to set aside some time to talk with us about Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, and even PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in a lengthy conversation.

Game Informer – We just wanted to ask the obvious question: Why World War II again? How long has it been in the company’s mind? What was the decision like to choose which studio to kind of tackle this throwback?

Eric Hirshberg – Great question. I wish there was a more scientific answer; it really is a little bit of instinct, and a lot of conversation. I think there are several elements. First of all, there was a time not too long ago when everybody in the Call of Duty community was fatigued with modern and was asking for innovation and asking for new experiences, and that’s what led us to start experimenting with taking the franchise into the future in the first place. I think with the benefit of hindsight we can all agree we might have had one more future game than we needed [laughs]. Not to make any comment on the quality of the game from last year, but I think that while there were a lot of innovations and a lot of fun new things that players got to do, it was one future game too many. 

Two-and-a-half years before that, we started both feeling ourselves as players, and also starting to maybe hear that desire for a return to our roots. And again, when these games take three years to make, it’s a bit of a fool’s errand to try to perfectly time the changing tides of opinion with the slate. So that’s not the only thing that we listen to; we also listen to the passions of our teams, and I’m a huge believer that you don’t get great games that teams aren’t passionate about making. So no matter how much I think the time is right for one thing or another, or how decisive I am in that opinion or discussion, if there’s a team who doesn’t have the passion or a bunch of great ideas for that game or that environment, that’s another road to failure that you have to make sure you stay off of. In this case, the stars really aligned.

I think the original desire at Sledgehammer was to make Advanced Warfare 2 for very understandable reasons, because what developer doesn’t want a sequel and to start a long-standing sub-franchise that they sort of have unique ownership over? But, as soon as we opened the conversation about “Hey guys what do you think about WWII? There’s a small group of us who thought it might be the right time to take us back to our roots.” And, you asked a question about why this team, all of us wanted to play a World War II game made by Sledge, meaning they have – you know I think each of our lead studios, you know, very compatible in many ways, but each brings a certain flavor to the franchise, which I think has been a part of its success is that we have these slightly different riffs on the theme, and I think that Sledgehammer’s unique contributions are fitting with their name. It’s impact, cinematic scale, that sense of big Call of Duty moments – I think they do those as well, or better, than anybody. 

So that, paired with the big war, the big epic scale of the greatest war ever fought, the grandest scale war ever fought, just felt natural, so it didn’t take long for them to get really excited about it, for their team to get excited about it, and they were off and running. So it was a conversation really early in the process and it went well, and here we are.

Do you feel like the tides could ever fully rotate again and you go back to Advanced Warfare? 

Oh god [laughs]. Just uh, proba– I don’t know [laughs]. I don’t wanna take a decisive position. It’s one of those things that, you know, if you stay on the train long enough, the scenery keeps changing.

Do you see this as just a one-off to satisfy the old-school fans, or do you see this as future direction for all of Call of Duty?

Well, you know I can’t reveal things on the slate that are several years off, but no I don’t necessarily see it as a one-off; I think that World War II and historical settings more broadly are very rich territory, and I think there’s every possibility that that could become an area that we explore more than once. 

With the shift toward the social space and dynamic events like that, has there ever been any consideration toward moving Call of Duty toward a game-as-service instead of an annualized franchise?

Yeah, that’s another great question. First of all, I know this sounds like a little bit of a hedge, but I think it already is in many ways, and in many ways was one of the first. I mean, there’s more than one way to create a community that sticks around for many years and continues to play together. Call of Duty has a very high percentage of players from year to year who come back and purchase the new game and keep playing together and move their social network to the new game. Now, I understand that the properties it doesn’t have are that sort of continuous world with expansions and a continuous string of accomplishments that carry over from game to game, so it doesn’t have those things that I think classically people associate with a persistent platform, but it does have a very stable community that has been very committed to the franchise and very “sticky” for a very large number of people, which is, I think, one of the main benefits of a game as a service. 

I think that we have tried to find the right solution for each franchise individually, and Call of Duty has really benefitted from that annual innovation moment, that annual reengagement moment where a lot of people, who maybe played for a couple months and had a great experience but moved on to other things, come back and check out the new game, and there’s advantages and disadvantages to both. We’ve experienced the other side of the coin within our own slate; Destiny has advantages to how sticky that game was for the core players and how long play sessions were and how long they stuck around to play, and then also we see that sometimes it’s harder to bring a new player into an environment where they feel like “Oh, I’m three years behind my buddy who’s been playing persistently for that length of time.” So I think there are gives and takes on both sides. 

I think on Call of Duty, we actually have a system that works with the annual release, but I think there’s more we can do to unify the player no matter where they’re playing. You’re seeing us now starting to have some success with releasing content wherever players are. You just saw us release a big zombie pack in the Black Ops III community, and that game is two-and-a-half years past its launch, but it’s super “sticky” and there’s still a passionate group of players playing it, so we want to be wherever players are and we want to provide great content wherever players are, so we’re starting to have some success with that. I think there’s more we can do to unify the player experience if there are going to be people who move around from game to game. There are players who buy the new game, try the new game, maybe have a satisfying experience with the new game, but still decide “I’m going to go back to the previous game because more of my friends still like that, so I want to play MP with them,” or “I want to get the clan back together” or whatever. 

There are people who shift into the new game and never look back. I think that our goal is to not necessarily completely reinvent the things that are working, but to make the experience for “I’m a Call of Duty player, I like multiple titles within the franchise” – make that experience better, create more benefits for being a loyal player, those are things that we’re working on and trying to improve.



from www.GameInformer.com - The Feed http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/08/30/eric-hirshberg-talks-call-of-duty-crash-playerunknown-s-battlegrounds.aspx

Bungie Partners With Direct Relief For Houston Aid

With the ongoing massive natural disaster event happening in Houston, Bungie is partnering with the humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief to provide aid to victims of the hurricane.

In a blog post today, Bungie Community Manager David Dague (known as DeeJ to the community) outlined how Destiny players, or really anyone, can help contribute to the cause. Through the Bungie Store, players can purchase a commemorative pin that gives them a unique emblem in Destiny 2, with all profits going to Direct Relief. 

Check out Bungie's blog post right here for details on how to purchase the pin or contribute to Direct Relief directly.



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The Division Fall Update Adds New Modes, Map Area

Ubisoft sent through word today about what players of The Division can expect from the upcoming fall update. The answer? Quite a bit. 

The West Side Pier is an entirely new section of the game map to explore, made up of two full game zones. Those new zones play host to two new game modes. The first is a PvE mode called Resistance, in which opposing factions have teamed up and attack in waves as they confront teams of four allied player agents. The second new mode is entitled Skirmish, a PvP experience in which two teams of four players compete to get the most kills in a specified time, with points earned for defeated enemy players. 

The update also adds a new social hub called Camp Clinton, positioned close to the new game zones. 

Beyond new content, the update also aims to continue to adjust and polish existing game mechanics, including improvements to the previous Underground DLC, and new optimization tools to improve the stats of favored equipment loadouts.  

The Division is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. While Ubisoft is promising a fall release for the Resistance update, we’ve yet to learn an exact date.   

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Here Is A Rundown Of Today's Nindies Showcase

Nintendo aired its Nindies Showcase, a presentation focused on indie games coming to Nintendo consoles, and we've summarized every announcement from today's show. 

Super Meat Boy Forever – The long in-development, sort-of Super Meat Boy sequel lead off Nintendo's Nindie direct showcasing a new motivation for Meat Boy to take on Dr. Fetus again: the kidnapping of his and Bandage Girl's child, Nugget. Meat Boy can now punch while doing his familiar platforming, allowing him to defeat enemies and even get a little distance on his jumps. The levels will also get harder each time you replay them. Forever isn't a Switch-exclusive, but will be coming to the platform in 2018.

Shovel Knight: King of Cards – The final campaign in the Shovel Knight saga puts players in the armor of King Knight. The campaign will boast four new worlds, 30 new courses, new weapons, new abilities, and a dedicated card-game. Shovel Knight: King of Cards releases in early 2018.

Mom Hid My Game – Known previously as Hidden my game by mom - escape room, an iOS and Android game, the bizarre point-and-click puzzle game is coming to Switch and 3DS with exclusive stages. The game will be available late 2017.

Golf Story – The increasingly rare, truly exclusive game, Golf Story is an RPG where players play golf. Its presence during the Nindies Direct showcased general gameplay as well as disc golf and drone flying. The game will be available September exclusively on Switch.

Floor Kids – Noogie. Scribbles. O-live. These are all breakdancing styles featured in Floor Kids, a rhythm/battle game that features an original soundtrack by Kid Koala. Floor Kids features freestyle dance controls, and a variety of characters with their own break moves. You'll be able to tear it up first on Switch this holiday.

Wulver Blade – Drawing inspiration from classic games Golden Axe, Sengoku, and Knights of the Round, Wulverblade is a side-scrolling brawler that supposedly offers a "historically accurate storyline." Played solo or cooperatively with a friend via local, you are tasked with helping Britannia defeat the Romans. Wulverblade will be released first on Switch this September.

Poly bridge – Another "console exclusive" for Switch, Poly Bridge is a port of the popular puzzle/engineering game for PC, in which players are tasked with building bridges that can support the weight of vehicles crossing it. Featuring over 100 campaign levels and a sandbox mode, Poly Bridge should find a nice home on Switch this holiday.

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition – A console port of the critically acclaimed PC narrative adventure, with the first of five acts released in 2013. The TV edition comes to the Switch with the first four acts included alongside the final fifth one in 2018.

Earth Atlantis – A 2D shooter that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that is covered entirely by water. With multiple ships and weapons, the player takes controls to fight mutants and sea monsters. Coming Fall 2017.

Next Up Hero – From some of the people behind Scribblenauts comes an action game where you assemble an army from your past lives. When you die, you make a corpse run and recruit your former self to join you in battle. The game also features co-op with both joycons. Coming Early 2018.

Steamworld Dig 2 – In this sequel to Steam World Dig, the player takes the role of a female robot searching for the first game's protagonist. The game boasts new graphics, areas, and enemies, and will world premiere on the Switch on September 21.

Mulaka – Lienzo's upcoming action-adventure game Mulaka is based on Tarahumaran culture and set in northwest Mexico. It features a hero who can transform into a variety of animals, including birds and bears, as he battles massive enemies. The Switch version is coming in early 2018, and it includes exclusive features and functionality

Yono and the Celestial Elephants – People have made comparisons between Yono and the Celestial Elephants and Zelda, thanks to its dungeon design and focus on exploration. Yono's titular elephant is an adorable hero for this journey, and he can spray water from his trunk. It's a console exclusive coming October 12.

Dragon: Marked for Death – There's been online chatter about Inti Creates' upcoming game for more than five years now, when it was apparently in development for 3DS. Now this pixelated side-scroller is coming to exclusively to the Switch in Winter 2017.

Battle Chef Brigade – This hybrid cooking game/side-scrolling adventure is a strange recipe. It only makes sense that Trinket Studios' game is being published by Adult Swim Games. It's coming first to Switch this holiday season.

Morphies Law – A four-versus-four multiplayer shooter where everyone plays as a Day of the Dead-style skeleton and each shot changes the size of your character. Do well and you'll grow in size, making you easier to hit. Lose often and you'll much smaller and harder to hit. As teams shoot each other, they build up massive avatars representing their team's strength. The team with the largest avatar at the end of the match wins. The game is expected to hit this Winter.

Sausage Sports Club – A multiplayer party game where everyone plays a variety of physics-based party games on a fictional reality TV show as a sausage. You can flop around as various Sausage-shaped animals on a number of arenas in Fall 2017.

Light Fingers – An adventure game for up to four players, Light Fingers features an ever-evolving "clockwork board" that's procedurally generated and offers a tabletop experience you can take with you. The game is expected to hit early 2018.

Nine Parchments – A four-player dungeon crawler in the style of Gauntlet but with more involved spellcasting. As you level up you unlock more characters, stronger magic to wield, and more. Coming holiday 2017.

No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again – Freshly announced by Nintendo and Suda 51, Travis Touchdown is returning in another No More Heroes game. The CG trailer showed the father of Bad Girl, the psychopathic princess from the first game, trying to take revenge on Travis for killing his daughter. The trailer also points out that the game is directed by Suda, which is the first game with him in the director's seat since the first No More Heroes. No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again is running on Unreal Engine 4 and and expected in 2018.

So what interested you during the showcase? Were there any indie games you're definitely going to buy or are watching more closely now? Let us know in the comments!



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