The battle for Maple World begins as the first part of the Heroes of Maple update, Reborn, lands in MapleStory on June 22.
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Pox Nora E3 2016 Trailer
At E3 2016, Desert Owl Games announces that Pox Nora is coming to PS4 and PS Vita.
E3 2016 Day 1 Recap – Civilization VI, Xenoverse 2, Lawbreakers, and More!
By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW)
Lawbreakers Written by Brad Baker
E3 has arrived once again, and while MMORPGs remain slim pickings at the major convention, there is plenty of gold to be found within these halls. With rumblings of new consoles, VR tech hitting the mainstream, mobile games breaking every boundary, and some of the biggest developers butting heads with their A-Game titles, I can’t say I found a single dull moment in the show. Unfortunately much of the excitement of our first day on the grounds is still hidden behind publishers’ precious embargoes. But with Xenoverse 2 and Civilization VI on the front lines, I still have much greatness to share.
Table of Contents:
Bandai Namco – Tekken 7 and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Nexon/Bosskey Studios – Lawbreakers
A Dear John Letter to “Legend of Titan” Developers:
Dear “Legend of Titan” Developers,
Seriously guys. What the fuck? Are you even trying? Below there will be a video that I want ANYONE who reads this to watch. It’s going to look markedly familiar. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Legend of Titan is a shooter out of China. Apparently Chinese developers don’t even have to be original or creative; this isn’t the first thing I’ve seen from a Chinese development team that all but robbed another creation; but Blizzard? Is that the fight you want to take on? Blizzard, creator of World of Warcraft, Diablo, Rock and Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings? I don’t pretend to understand Chinese law, or Chinese Copyright law, but this “Legend of Titan” game looks really familiar to me. I just can’t place it. Let’s look at a visual:
Oh hey, is that Battleborn? No, not Battleborn. Call of Duty? No, that’s not it. I KNOW. OVERWATCH. They blatantly ripped off Overwatch to try and make a few bucks over in their home country. To their credit, there are a few new art assets, but holy damnit. Instead of “Legend of Titan”, why not call it “Lawsuit: The Video Game” or “Underview”? Come on guys. I know game development’s fucking hard. But that’s . . . I’m not even sure what that is. But I promise you, if myself and Colton can get our hands on this and connect to a server? You’ll see a video for it. You have my word on that. It was produced, though I use that word lightly, by “Xi’an Vulcan Network Technology”, and it’s a mobile game. Apparently they spent two million bucks developing this. ON WHAT? Securing the name, and then lines of coke to do off of prostitutes? I want to know where that money went. To the fine folks at Xi’an, if you’re throwing money around that hard, us fine folks at Bottom Tier are looking for a little start-up capital for a game we want to develop: Realms of Combatmaking. Thoughts?
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Trailer
Star Ocean‘s newest game is on the way, very very soon! But if you want to have a peek of what you’re in store for, look no further!
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Day One Bonus:
The next thrilling Star Ocean game is coming! On June 28th, 2016 it hits the PlayStation Network, for which I cannot wait. For those who pre-order the Digital Day One edition it will also come with a really cool exclusive dynamic character theme. The theme features the main characters, Fidel in the city of Central Resulia, Miki in her hometown of Stahl, and Relia in the team’s spaceship, with music from the soundtrack composed by Motoi Sakuraba. This one might even replace my Final Fantasy VII dynamic theme or Final Fantasy X one.
There was also some E3 coverage that showed off the game, the very dynamic voice acting, and it was really quite fantastic. The Star Ocean franchise has had my eye since the very first game, and though Star Log #4 happened at E3 I do not see it on their YouTube. The above link will feature a story trailer which you should absolutely take notice of.
Best E3 Trailer – “Only One”, Kanye West
. . . Don’t give me that look. Of course I don’t mean that. But it got your attention, yeah? Yeezy, or “Kanye West” as he is known on this particular plane of existence, is less a man, and more an entity. He is something that happens to other people, that occurs in their lives, generally without warning or knowledge. One of his tracks might get played for the unwitting person while in the car, or on YouTube. But for those of you who don’t know, Kanye West is designing a game, and I believe he announced it around the same time he dropped his “Life of Pablo” album. Now, I think Kanye is a lot of things. Kind of a colossal prick sandwich, incessantly over-hyped [not just his music, pick a thing], but he is a phenomenal self-promoter. Sure, he has tons of money and can have his shit hyped anywhere in the world practically, but he is great at talking about himself, and that matters when promoting yourself. You have to believe in yourself too. I can respect that. But let’s talk about that trailer.
The song in the background is conveniently his “Hit Single”, Only One. The song and game are a tribute to his mother, Dr. Donda West. That’s a beautiful thing to do, I won’t lie to you guys. As a song, that’s brilliant, and it was actually really quite good! But the game? It’s pretty. Lots of clouds, and angels, as far as we get to see. Why does it look like a heavenly version of “Robot Unicorn Attack”? There’s still no release date, still no actual gameplay, so in essence, it’s a REAL E3 TRAILER. The game is about his mother traveling to the gates of Heaven, so I’m not going to bash that, because that’s just cold, and I can’t afford a beef with Yeezy. Away from all the sentimentality though, he went on record saying that making video games is “hard”. Well no shit it’s hard! Those multi-million dollar budgets aren’t for nothing! Unless if it’s Arkham Knight. Looking at that PC release, boys.
At the end of the day, or the start of the day, I’m not suggesting that Kanye needs to stay out of gaming. Because that’s elitist talk, and I’m not about that life. I think a tribute to a fallen mother is wonderful. But a game tribute? That to me, sounds like someone trying to make as much money off the passing of a family member as they can, and that’s not comfortable to me. Unless she was a gamer; in which case, you know, maybe she would’ve wanted it. I’m not here to speculate, because I don’t know them like that. But there was a trailer for “Only One” at E3 this year, and it really gave me something to think about. Personally, I think there should be some combat. Like, his Angelic Mother kicking the shit out of demons or Earthly hands trying to pull her back down. I just don’t have any context on why he’s actually making a game other than to try and milk some money. Maybe album sales are falling off? Anyone else remember when he was trying to farm money on Kickstarter? If it’s an honest tribute? Wonderful. If he’s just trying to monetize the death of a loved one? That’s about the scummiest thing a human being could do.
I didn’t tag the video in this because I couldn’t find a trailer that didn’t link to someone elses’ channel and I refused to upload it to mine. It’s less than a minute long and you can find it easily on YouTube. I promise.
BERSERK Musou – Is this wise?
Okay guys, let’s talk E3 type announcements! Koei-Tecmo, a company that I borderline on worship, announced BERSERK. The upcoming game in the Musou franchise is fucking. BERSERK. Why do I always type BERSERK in all caps? Because it fucking needs it! For those of you who are uninitiated/unaware/hate anime, Berserk is one of the most grim, depressing, fucking violent things I’ve seen ever. And I love it. It’s gripping storytelling. Guts goes around brutalizing people with his blade, and is generally speaking, a badass. Guts is a bad motherfucker. I can’t believe I get to write about this, either. Here we go though! There are some really taboo and uncomfortable shit goes down in this series. Stuff like:
- Little boy Guts being raped by Donovan
- Casca gets raped by Griffith
- Griffith basically murders everyone but Guts/Casca to become God Hand Femto. [Skull Knight saves them]
- The Rape of the Faeries of Misty Valley
THESE ARE THINGS THAT HAPPEN. And there’s other really uncomfortable stuff that happens. Not to mention the tons of gratuitous violence. Now, do I think it shouldn’t be made into a game? Lord no. I love Berserk. It’s practically built for this style of game. But I wonder, is this stuff going to be alluded to/mentioned/ SHOWN in game? I can’t help but wonder. Will it be 18+? Rated MA? AO? Is Koei okay with the potential backlash? And there could be, because parents are idiots sometimes, and buy their pre-teen kids ridiculous shit they have no business owning. It’s something that’s really been on my brain since it was announced. Thanks to Kristine Kasuka for making sure my facts were more or less in order also!
Do you think it should be censored? Edited? Stuff kept out? Do you want the uncomfortable stuff put in? Sound off below if you’d like!
Guild Wars 2- The White Mantle Raid Press Preview
By Blair Nishkian (Tagspeech)
Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down to play Guild Wars 2 with the game’s team lead, Jason Reynolds. He and his friends lead us through a preview of an upcoming raid, which is only one small part of a series of new content patches making their way into the game. The raid he showed us was brutally difficult and a lot of fun – it required the team to split in two, something that’s always rewarding to pull off successfully. One team was required to go around back and shut off defenses, while the other had to charge straight up the middle through the gates.
The fortress was owned by a group called the White Mantle, which is a villainous sect venerable players might recognize from the original Guild Wars. Like all villain cults, the White Mantle deal in old gods, apocalypse, and general nastiness. The powers that be in Guild Wars 2 aren’t even asking any questions now that they know the White Mantle are around – they are just getting adventurers together and kicking in the door. And kicking in the door with more than a dozen other players is always fun, especially in Guild Wars 2, a game designed around group content.
I chose to be a Mesmer, a class I enjoyed in my previous time playing of the game. My allies were mostly elementalists, and I think I saw one warrior. I immediately regretted my decision – why didn’t I choose my main class, the ranger? Damn. Well, it was too late for that. I had to make it happen. We wiped a few times, but the devs were patient with us and held our hands through the encounters, which were your standard ‘avoid big glowy sections, attack enemies, kill the adds, etc.’ There’s only so much you can do to dress up a raid – we’ve all pretty much been there at this point. You either like them or you don’t, and I have to say that, unfortunately, I don’t care for them. But that’s not to say I didn’t have a good time. I enjoyed listening to the devs talk about the game itself, the writing, and some of the little touches they’ve added to this content to bring it to life.
The environments were gorgeous, and it was nice to see the minimalist color scheme of the GW2 box art and menus come alive in the White Mantle’s stark red-on-white uniforms, castles, and courtyards. It gave the entire area a very surreal quality, like we were breaking into some sinister version of Disneyland taken over by bright and cheerful, Stepford Wives-esque cult killers. It was a welcome reprieve from the usual ‘black and purple tentacles, old golds, blah blah blah’ garbage. Why can’t we evil have smiley face stickers and fresh, attractive colors? Just look at the Nazis, those monsters knew the power of fashion.
Anyways, we killed the boss, we killed the mini boss, we got to the end, you know the drill. What I did notice was that in these raids, players and their avatars interact with one-another. For example, certain events involving a powerful enemy mesmer might cause one player’s character (a Guardian) to say “That’s one powerful Mesmer.” To which the resident Mesmer, another player, might reply, “She’s not that great.”
Banter! I love banter. MMORPGs never have banter, especially between PCs during PVE content. This is a nice touch, the kind of thing that makes the tedium of raiding a lot less insufferable.
Anyways, it all looks fresh, shiny, and tight, which is what we’ve come to expect from ArenaNet and the Guild Wars 2 team. If you’re a fan of the game, you’ll be happy for the coming raids. If you haven’t played the game, go check it out. If you’re not a fan of the game, but you love raids, maybe give it another shot – it could change your mind. Do what you want, I can’t control your brain. At least not yet. Give it ten years.
League of Angels – Fire Raiders Gameplay Trailer
Interested in League of Angels – Fire Raiders? Check this out, and then go forth to command your favorite characters in heated battles!











