Yearly Archives: 2016

Holiday Decisions: PS4 or XBox One?

Launch Trailer - Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2 _ PS4, X1, Steam - YouTube

Which one is “Perfect” for you? Let’s find out together.

Hey everyone! Jason the Head Console Writer here. I was recently asked a question that I really had to sit down and think about, all biases aside. I’m only human, so of course I have them. A friend, Matt asked “Now that Sony and Microsoft have re-released their consoles, which one should I get? Have you ever written an article on the console wars?” And I haven’t, other than to say “Console Wars are stupid”. But, now that there are new Xboxes and PS4s, it’s still totally worth it to buy an older model, or to buy the non-4k version. If you don’t have a 4k TV, or don’t plan on getting one, obviously you don’t need a PS4 Pro. That’s a given. But I really had to sit down and give it some thought. Is one console superior to another? Does it really matter which one you pick? The question for today is: Which one is right for you? My personal favorite? Definitely the Playstation 4. It has the games I want to play. And while I don’t like to talk exclusives, they do matter, let’s be honest with ourselves. These are some of the exclusives for both consoles to possibly consider:

  •  Xbox One: Forza, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo 5, Cuphead [still to be released], Sunset Overdrive, Crackdown 3, and in general, Sports Games/Shooters I feel tend to be better on Xbox One if you’re gonna get a console for it.
  • PS4: Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Final Fantasy X, Street Fighter V, King of Fighters XIV, . . . Senran Kagura. . .Uncharted 4, The Last Guardian [one day. . .] Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank.

I know I listed more Playstation 4 exclusives, but I was able to think of more right off the top of my head, and after doing some research, the Playstation 4 does have more exclusives than the Xbox One by a pretty vast margin. That’s not to say it’s better for you, the consumer though. You have to ask yourself, “What kind of games do I want to play? Am I a social gamer? If so, what do my friends have, and will I enjoy getting it too?” Here’s what I think the Xbox One and Playstation 4 excel at.

  •  Xbox One: Sports Games, Racing Games, Shooters, I feel like these are all much better attuned to the XB1. WIth games like Forza, Halo, Battlefield, Madden, NBA 2k, these shine bright on the Microsoft console. I enjoyed playing online with Xbox more to be honest, it felt smoother, better as an online experience, at least back on the 360. It was good on the One too though. MMOs that appear on the One are also very strong though. If I’m not going to play ESO on PC [which I am], I’d play it probably on the XB1, unless I had friends that were playing on PS4.
  • PS4: Fighting Games, Anime Games, Weird Titles, Gritty Survival Games. If you’re an anime/manga fan, or a fan of beat ’em ups or strategy games, you want a Playstation 4. Nobunaga’s Ambition, Dynasty Warriors, the older FF games, SAO, pretty much any decent to amazing anime/JRPG, they are all over here. DCUO was/is on the PS4, Final Fantasy XIV, probably one of the best MMOs of all time in my opinion, is supported by it and won’t be on the PS3 in the next expansion.

I, truth be told, know very little about the 4k consoles, because I don’t have a 4k TV [yet]. Only then will I concern myself with them. But there is the PS4 slim and the XB1-S, and we have one or two more things to discuss. The XBox One has backwards compatibility that works and makes sense. It took them years to get to it, but they did. PS4 has the “Playstation Now” service that you can pay a monthly fee for, which lets you stream a fairly large variety of PS3 games to your console on demand. While that’s a very cool feature, it costs money, in addition to PS+, and any other streaming services you choose. XB1 is superior in that regard. If you were already a 360 fan and had games you wanted to come back to, that service is much easier to use. Both services have a free monthly game service if you pay for their online [PS+ and Games for Gold or somesuch], and frankly, PS4 started off with much better free games. That has sort of waned for me. That’s really a nonissue for me.

Final Verdict: Pick what you love, folks. It’s the holidays, it’s time to do something nice for yourself and your loved ones. Are you shopping for someone else? These are but a few of the things I think one should keep in mind when deciding on a new console. There are always other factors: Price, Controller Comfort, what your other loved ones use, and the list just goes on. These are a few of the things that matter to me when selecting a console. I hope that this will help empower your decisions just a little bit more, and help you find what’s right for you/your family in the Holiday Season of 2016.

Have a question you want me to take a stab at? Some gaming philosophical question/top ten/game editorial? Please feel free to find me on Twitter [@ishyjulu] or anywhere on social media and I will gladly do what I can to make that happen for you.

Subsiege

Subsiege is a buy-to-play sci-fi strategy game developed by Icebird Studios for PC and will be available for purchase on Steam Early Access sometime in March, 2017. In Subsiege it is now 2063 and the climactic disaster of overpopulation and over-consumption has resulted in the depletion of many important land-based natural resources. Now we must dive into the depths of the ocean in search of new resources to exploit if we hope to continue surviving. Can you handle the pressure of an underwater resource war?

Features:

Strategic Battles: Gear up and head off to war in large 12 player battles where coordinating your efforts with your teammates is key to achieving victory.

Oxygen Management: Don’t just worry about hostile enemies. You’ll have to carefully manage your oxygen levels and fight for oxygen sources if you even want a chance at acquiring underwater resources.

Monsters: Avoid the swarming monsters of the ocean’s depths. They won’t take kindly to you invading their territory.

Arcane Dragons

Arcane Dragons is a free-to-play mobile fantasy action RPG developed by Redbana Us Corp. for iOS and Android devices. In Arcane Dragons humans and monsters used to live in harmony with one another, but that clearly isn’t the case anymore. It is now your job to act as a village defender and protect its people from the aggressive dragons that no longer seek a peaceful living. Will you fall short of everyone’s expectations or rise to the challenge with your elite combat skills?

Features:

Three Classes: Become a Warrior, Wizard, or Archer and use your weapons and skills to clear dungeons full of strong monsters. Each class has its own role in a party, whether that be blasting foes with spells or pelting them with arrows.

Dungeons: Fight your way through dungeons, slay monsters, and defeat bosses to gain experience and loot. Grow even stronger to take on the most difficult dungeons imaginable!

Costumes: If you feel like you’re getting lost in the crowd, then you can get yourself a costume to help your personality shine through!

PvP: Play against other defenders in 1v1 or 3v3 battles that will put your skills to the ultimate test. Prove that you’re just as capable as you think you are!

Battlerite

Battlerite is a free-to-play fantasy MOBA developed by Stunlock Studios for PC and is available for purchase on Steam Early Access. It gives players the chance to experience a unique combination of a fast-paced fighting game with some top-down shooter elements mixed in as well. With fans cheering you on and bloodlust coursing through your veins, nothing will be able to stop you. Use skill-shots, timing, and your reaction speed to take on both friends and foes on your quest to unleash your inner champion in Battlerite!

Features:

Arena Matches: Fight 2v2 or 3v3 battles in different kinds of arenas where you will square off against enemy champions to prove your worth.

Ancient Rites: Perform ancient rites so you can gain access to new powers and grow even stronger. Use your rites to customize your gameplay and counter your opponents to become even more effective.

Bullet-Time System: Use Battlerite’s bullet-time system to review your death and plan out your actions next time around. It’s also great for re-watching some of your epic dodges that you make!

Hellion

Hellion is a 3D space survival game developed by Zero Gravity and is planned to be released on Steam Early Access sometime in January 2017. Hellion is both a fusion of both survival and space sim genres, giving players the unique chance to fight against not only each other, but a semi-realistic space environment as well. Hard space vacuums, extreme temperatures, radiation, and resources are just a few of the things you’ll need to be on the lookout for in the deep recesses of space. Will you create a reliable crew of space-faring explorers, or will you take to the less moral route of looting and pillaging the hard-earned resources of others? Only Hellion will give you the chance to find out!

Features:

No Interaction Restrictions: There are no safe-zones in Hellion. If you come across another player you’d better be ready to put your trust in them or drop them before they have the chance to drop you.

Exploration: Use your spaceship to explore the deep recesses of space and discover the remnants of humanity. Who knows what resources, or foes you might discover.

Newtonian Physics: The entire universe is roughly based around Newtonian physics, including full orbital mechanics for celestial bodies and even your ship itself!

Immortal Conquest

Immortal Conquest is a free-to-play mobile strategy game developed by NetEase Games for iOS and Android devices. In Immortal Conquest players will be able to manage their own cities, expand, and forge alliances with other players from around the world in an effort to acquire more of the limited land resources on a huge game map. Players will have to race against each other across the real-time map to expand their control throughout the limited 2 million pieces of available land. Will you be able to create an empire, or will you struggle to get by on the leftovers of other players?

Features:

Alliances: Alliances will enable players to gather resources more quickly, occupy new lands faster, and fight against other players and alliances as effectively as possible. It won’t be the strongest player who comes out on top in Immortal Conquest, but the strongest Alliance.

Seasons: Every season will have rewards for the players and alliances that reach its objectives. Once a season has completely finished the entire game world resets so players can race to acquire land one again.

Resource Management: You’ll need to be careful with how you spend your resources, whether it be furthering the development of your cities or creating more units to use.

SMITE Patch 3.23 Preview – Nike Revealed

SMITE Patch 3.23 Preview -

Today’s SMITE patch stream focused on the reveal of Patch 3.23, “Wings of Victory,” which includes some epic Odyssey Skins and the reveal of the Goddess Nike.

 

Anubis Odyssey Skin:

  • Voice Pack evolves with animations through match.
  • Abilities set minions on fire and send them flying.
  • Equippable recall effect and emote comes with the skin.
  • Comes with new music theme.

 

Item Changes:

  • Celestial Legion Helmet Nerf – Offering too much protections and power at the same time.
  • Hydra’s Star – Cooldown reduced by 5%
  • Hydra’s Lament – Cooldown reduced from 15% to 10%
  • Obsidian Shard Nerf – Brought more in line with Spear. 70 power reduced to 60.

 

God Changes:

Erlang Shen – NERF…?

  • Spot Weakness no longer ignores basic attack movement penalties.
  • 72 transformations – Mink allows you to regain this ignore of movement penalties. Turtle Shield and Mink attack buff durations reduced from 6s to 5s.

Hades – Buff

  • Blight Duration from 5s to 8s.
  • Shroud of Darkness doesn’t knock back minions.
  • Pillar of Agony protection buff boosted early game.

Jing Wei – Nerf

  • Explosive Bolts no longer offer crits at rank 1. 5% less crit per level.
  • Agility – Cooldown increased late game from 12 to 16.

Khepri – Buff

  • Base health up 30 to 490 hp.

Nox – QoL Buff

  • Candles now only blown out by god damage.

Osiris – Buff

  • Gaining a little anti-magical protection from passive to survive late game fights.
  • Fragmented – 1% magical damage mitigation per stack.

Terra Nerf

  • Terra’s Blessing (ult) cooldown increased to 110s at all ranks

Thoth Buff

  • His damage is fine. Players need help landing his abilities more consistently.
  • Hieroglyphic Assault – Increase projectile speed by 20%
  • Evade and Punish radius up from 3 to 4.
  • Glyph of Pain mana reduced and now scales slowly, 25-45s instead of 60 at all ranks.

Tyr Gameplay Change

  • Change Stance available at level 1!

Nike Reveal

Lore: Mysterious and lost. Gave medals to those victories in battle. Close ally of Athena. Gains her fame for participating greatly in the war of titans with Zeus. Became Zeus’ right hand goddess.

Role: Warrior. Backline enemy face crush gameplay style.

Hit Chain has a cleave attack on third hit. 1, 1, 1.5 damage.

Passive: Achievement based. Three Goals. By accomplishing each goal you gain stacks that increase power and movement speed. Same goals every game.

  1. Kill 200 minions.
  2. Kill 10 gods.
  3. Have 2 allies that are level 20.

A laurel appears over every character on your team, growing brighter as you complete each one.

  • Ability 1: Two straight line ranged cleaves. If you hit the same enemy twice in a row, you gain protection shred. With Plan of Action, You get third strike. You disarm if all three hit the target.
  • Ability 2 (Plan of Action): Passive: HP5. Active: Augments her first, third, and ultimate with new effects. Adds flat damage to your next ability.
  • Ability 3: Long leap with knock-up on landing. Doesn’t knock enemies back, so she can go straight into attacking. Plan of Action makes her leap faster.
  • Ultimate: Sentinel of Zeus: Gains visual armor to show enemies she’s ready. When activated, she gains a health shield (40% of max) and slows. With Plan of Action, buffs shield to 60% and increases the slow. When in her Ultimate form, Nike’s voice pack gets an angelic booming overlay.

SMITE Patch 3.23 Gallery: