Yearly Archives: 2018

Hidden Gems: The Final Fantasy Legend

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Hidden Gems - FFL

Roleplaying Game marketing in the 80s-90s was a very tenuous, risky time. The only RPGs we had access to were on computers — games like Ultima, Might & Magic, Wizardry, The Bard’s Tale, Putt Putt Goes To The Moon — you know, the classics. We saw so many peculiar choices because the executives likely thought that a new franchise would not succeed in America from Squaresoft. Since Final Fantasy 2j and 3j looked visually similar to Final Fantasy 1, we saw neither one of them (and again, marketing probably didn’t think that would sell). It might also be their difficulty. I cannot say for certain. But that’s why our Final Fantasy 2 and 3 are their 4 and 6 because we missed games in the franchise. It’s, as another reviewer has said, Chronologically Confusing. We were slowly getting fun console RPGs, but it was quite the wait. Dragon Quest became Dragon Warrior (though that was due to copyright issues of another game out in America), FF4 became FF2, and then there’s the Final Fantasy Legend.

Hidden Gems - FF Legend - Overworld

Where do you go from here? No, really.

I actually had the pleasure of playing The Final Fantasy Legend when I was a kid. We were visiting with family and me and my sister shared a Gameboy and one of our relatives had the game, so I got to play it. And boy did I burn through some batteries! But I did not find out until well into adulthood that The Final Fantasy Legend went by another name: “Warrior in the Tower of the Spirit World ~ Sa·Ga”. The Final Fantasy Legend series isn’t even a part of the Final Fantasy franchise! The other Gameboy series, Final Fantasy Adventure isn’t either! Well, it is and it isn’t. It’s a spin-off, and the beginning of the Mana Franchise, but that’s another tale for another day. The SaGa series was still fairly new, and I have a feeling Squaresoft did not have the confidence it could succeed on its own; instead, they opted to link it to the Final Fantasy series, as that already had clout in America, with the successful run of the first game (Final Fantasy).

Hidden Gems - FFL - Creation

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN!?

I can’t really blame them, the market was not as strong for RPGs as it is now, but it was still a curious choice. It had a lot in common with Final Fantasy 2j though, in that your weapons and armor determined a lot of what you could do, and it also featured a “class system”, starring humans, mutants, and monsters. The player got to pick their party, between which they wanted, and the class and gender certainly mattered. This is a game that would have benefitted highly by being born in the Internet age. That leads me to one of the most serious downsides of this game: How do you know what you’re doing? How do you know what abilities/attacks do? What weapons increase what stats? What meat is going to turn your monster into what new monster? What attacks will they have? You won’t! Not without the Internet, or serious experimentation. That’s what makes this game so insanely hard, not the actual gameplay: Learning the game is the major hurdle.

Hidden Gems - FFL - Meat

Ah, yes. Dragon Meat that turns you into a Gazer. Makes sense.

Each class gains strength and power in different ways. Humans are powered up by getting potions and equipping certain weapons and armor. Dex always seemed the strongest to me, so Dex weapons (and equipping several of them) would mean you just blitz through most enemies. Mutants randomly learn new powers, and some of them can even be weaknesses! You can learn an elemental weakness or an elemental strength. You can only have x amount of abilities, and one will be overwritten for new ones. You can’t lock them down. So you just have to fight and fight and fight pray. Monsters gain new forms and abilities by eating meat. Specifically, the meat of fallen enemies. Ideally, you probably want to farm certain enemies, if you have the knowledge of what x can turn into, but as a kid in the 80s/90s? You didn’t. There is a pretty intricate system that you go through, that determines what you become based on what you are and what you eat (it’s a tier system). You don’t know that as a kid, but now, thanks to code dumps and Gamefaqs, we can min/max our way through these amazing systems.

Game Boy Longplay [078] The Final Fantasy Legend (Part 2 of 2) - YouTube

Time to fight God. As you do.

The story was nothing to write home about, but most of the early Squaresoft RPGs had pretty bland straightforward stories. It seems like the party is trying to climb a tower to paradise, but it’s sealed. The party will travel to different worlds (World of Continent, World of Sky, World of Oceans, World of Ruin), collecting spheres of various colors, and doing battle with the evil forces. Once players get to the Creator at the end, they learn that it’s all basically a big game by the Creator to see the forces of good do battle with the forces of evil. So what do they do in response? What would any tabletop RPG party do? They attack God. Then they win (ideally), killing God, and seeing a door that could very well lead them to paradise. But they go home. Ugh. This game was so confusing because of the translation though. This game possibly had the worst translation of any Squaresoft RPG to date. That would be a fun research project, to figure out why Squaresoft and Enix could not hire people that simply understood the language and its nuance, or Japanese people who understood the nuance of English. Was it really that rare? I was a kid, so I don’t really know. But the game explained nothing well, and players well left mostly in the dark.

Final Form: 

Hidden Gems - FFL - Battle

Yay Monsters!

The Final Fantasy Legend suffers from being developed in the wrong era. Had this been made in the age of the Internet, I know it would have been a classic. It had lots of options and ways to approach the game for all three classes, as well as a little chance thrown in for good measure. The story, while not award-winning, was at least interesting (when you know it), and for the Gameboy, this was a masterpiece in my opinion. It’s a shame that they did not have the faith in the SaGa franchise that they should have (a far more challenging series than Final Fantasy, let’s be honest), because if they had, SaGa could be a household name like Final Fantasy and not what it is now: A cult phenomenon for nerds on the Internet. You know, like me. Something marvelous could have happened, but instead, SaGa does not have the reach it should. This is a game that I think all retro RPG fans should play, but they should play it twice: Once without any help, to understand what it was really like, then break out the Gamefaqs guides to figure out what you’re actually doing.

Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Review

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Cruise Control

It’s the beginning, of the end, of the beginning.

Confession time: I did not complete Ni no Kuni 1. Yet Ni no Kuni 2 has been one of the most compelling and engaging RPGs that I’ve played in quite a while. It does offer up a lot of standard JRPG/Anime/Fantasy tropes for the plot and why we’re doing what we’re doing, and I’ll do my best to avoid any spoilers of the major plot points, but even with that, I’ve quickly fallen in love with this world. Part of it may have been that it has that Studio Ghibli feel that many anime fans (myself included) have come to know and love. There are Studio Ghibli members in the game’s credits, so while the game may not have the Ghibli name on the cover, it certainly conveys the storytelling magic the studio is known for.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Evan

Evan might be a dork, but he’s our dork.

Evan, one of the main characters, also has cat ears, suggesting that somewhere along the line these two races interbred or magic occurred. The Kingdom where he was the Crown Prince fell under siege by an evil group of Mice, and at the same time, a President in our world, Roland, somehow found himself mixed up in this realm of adorable anthropomorphic creatures and humans. The evil faction claimed the king’s “Kingmaker”, which is a massive beast that defends the realm and is the proof of nobility. Each of the major kingdoms has one tied to their king. It’s a very desirable power, and a kingdom without one cannot function. Evan escapes thanks to his friends, and now is trying to set up his own kingdom and bring peace to the land.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - The World

Everything about this is beautiful.

There are several differences from the original Ni no Kuni, such as familiars being replaced with Higgledies (which results in combat engine changes) and no transporting between worlds. Instead, we have a Kingdom to run, which will take up all of that time you’d normally spend in a more modern setting (and then some. Trust me, I’ve been absorbed in Kingdom building). Ni no Kuni 2 is a JRPG with a fairly mature setting, showing us the vices that come with power, the bonds that hold people together, and bonds that are torn apart. I’ve been absolutely engrossed in this story and none of the major characters have felt boring or flat. The game shifts between action RPG, Kingdom Simulator, and RTS, because now that you run a kingdom, you’re going to need an army.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Combat

Even combat feels cinematic.

Ni no Kuni 2 on its own is not an insanely challenging game, but there will be points where you’ll be glad to be a little overleveled or have rare gear from random encounters (which is conveniently color-coded). Though you start off with only two characters, you’ll meet several more friends to join your battle, and you’ll have to decide which three you want to run with, depending on what you need. When you’re in an area/dungeon, combat happens immediately. You see the enemies in real time, and if you damage them with your attack buttons before they see you, you get a slight edge. You have two attack buttons (Light and Heavy), Jump, and your Skills/Spells are done with a combination of two buttons. You can’t spam them though. You’ll see blue gems above your Health, which fill up by attacking enemies. Each of these is a Mana Point, and skills require a certain amount of MP. You’ll also receive early on the “Arm Band”. It lets you equip multiple weapons, up to three melee strikes and one ranged. You’ll see all of them in your main UI, and as you attack, you’ll build up a meter, known as the Zing Meter. When you use a skill, this meter resets for that weapon but having a Zing Meter at 100% can change properties of skills that are used.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Arm Band

Equip three weapons, swap at your leisure, and make your opponents explode!

To make this easier, you have three settings (Auto, Semi-Auto, Manual) for swapping weapons. Personally, I use Semi-Auto. When I use a weapon’s Zing Meter, it will swap to the next weapon, taking a little of the busy work out of it. If you’re in Auto, it will do all of the management for you with your meter and in Manual, of course, you do it all yourself. I’ve had a lot of luck using Semi-Automatic, personally. You can control whichever character you want, and if they die, you will take control of someone else. The AI has been in my experience very solid and didn’t do ridiculous things or waste items. Combat was ultimately very easy to approach, and I learned that many enemies can be afflicted by status ailments, or outright stunned if you interrupt their skills/hit them at the right times.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Higgledies

Higgledies can really save your bacon in a pinch.

Familiars are out though, and you receive new allies in battle, the Higgledies. They’re adorable little mana creatures that come in groups and run around in battle to help you with Passive Abilities and Active Abilities. Each has its own personality (Shy, Outgoing, Brave, et cetera), and an element attached to them. You don’t control them directly, but they will do what they can to help you based on their personality. You don’t want all shy/cowardly Higgledies and should try to balance them out with Braver personalities to keep them in line. When it’s time for them to use their special powers, they’ll have a ring on the ground, and you’ll run up and activate them. I have seen them use those powers without me doing it, so I wonder if your AI partners do it for you? Whatever the reason, the Higgledies can be powered up in your kingdom, and there are lots of ways to find them, from hidden locations to conjured in a pot in your kingdom.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Higgledies

The chibi look of the overworld is so damn adorable.

There is no transition for battles when you’re on the world map, you change down to a chibi (small, cute character) and the enemy packs are also represented the same way. Running into them will initiate a battle, and like in dungeon encounters, there’s a ring around the fight where you can run away from if the fight is too hard. There are one or two (on average, for a first-run through an area) gigantic, high-level monsters tucked out of the way on many of the maps. There’s nothing special about them, they’re just strong. You can tell because an enemy that’s probably out of your range has a red-colored name and the weaker ones are blue colored. There are also special monsters in the world who have a glowing purple aura. These are notorious, powerful monsters that have bounties on them. Even if you are the same level, do not engage these! They are ridiculously strong, and I tend to come back ten levels higher and even then, exercising caution. The ones for side-quests were a little easier, but overall, these are powerful, dangerous challenges to overcome.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Tactics Table

Tune your strengths and weaknesses to any encounter! DO IT.

The Tactics Table is one of the ways you can make the game just a little bit easier for yourself. You’re given it in the course of the main story, and as you win battles, you’ll gain Battle Points. Battle Points level up the Tactics Table in one of several ways, and the higher the level, the more points it costs. You can change “Spoils Settings” “Monster Affinities”, “Elements and Ailments”, and “Arts of War”. Each of these has a slider that makes you pick one type or the other, except Arts of War. Fortunately, you can tune several different sliders for whatever you need at the time, and their titles are very self-explanatory as to what they offer you.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - It All Starts Here

Out here, in the mountains…

You don’t have to use this if you don’t want, though you’d be absolutely foolish not to. The other part of the game that lets you increase your power is the Kingdom Building system. You start with a very tiny kingdom, barely a village. As you grow and add buildings, you can learn new spells and techniques, improve and craft new equipment, receive free random items, and increase the power of your military. You can have farms, a training center to increase EXP from battle, and so much more. There are dozens of plots of land to fill, and it uses a separate currency, KG (Kings Guilders), instead of normal Guilders. You gain these as the game is turned on, so if you want to idle for them you certainly could. There’s a cap to Spoils (random, useful items) and KG that you gain this way, so keep an eye on it.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Recruit

Everyone wants to join your kingdom. But they all want something. . .

Recruiting villagers is incredibly important, and when you come upon them they’ll have some manner of sidequest for you to complete. Each has a use and specialty, so attach them to the building they are best suited to. Occasionally they’ll ask you to fulfill another duty, which will help you learn more about them and give you (and the kingdom) more resources. I found myself investing as much time in this as the main story, and would often take breaks from the action to go home and adjust what my kingdom was doing. You can level up buildings, research new things, and a lot of this stuff takes time. Were this a mobile game, this would be where the money-scheme would take place. Thankfully, that’s not the case. You can gain incredibly useful stuff here if you simply take the time to explore it. Sometimes it will be required, like the Military Force.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - RTS

Total War: Ni no Kuni.

There is the odd banner standing on the world map, which represents a military battle. Activating it will give you the name of the battle, and what level it suggests. This is not your character level, but the level of your military characters. You can have up to four equipped, and the units will surround your main character when in these RTS situations. You can rotate them around you, and there’s a Rock-Paper-Scissors system in place (Red, Blue, Green) for melee units. Ranged Units are yellow always. As you kill and have units killed, Military Might will decrease, and running out will spell Game Over (puts you outside the battle). You can use some of the Military Might on special abilities and to refill lost units. These battles have phases and requirements to win, and are pretty damn challenging. Taking over enemy fortifications like cannons will be key to winning many of these battles. This system will be a part of the main story quest in a few places, so it’s highly advised to spend some time playing with it and making a decent military force out of it. That’s the only way the military characters level up, after all. One of the best parts is that you do not have to train/recruit troops. They magically refill at the end of a battle.

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Explosions

Cool guys don’t look at explosions.

There is one thing that really frustrated me and it had no reason to: Items. You’ll see sparkling items all over the world, in cities, dungeons, on the world map. They’re free items of varying usefulness (pebbles, cloth, food ingredients), and that’s wonderful. What’s infuriating is they respawn after battles. So I find myself going back to collect them over and over. It just took up so much of my time and I realize it’s a silly thing to be frustrated about, but I most certainly was. Ni No Kuni 2 does encourage you to go back to areas more than once. It’s such a vast world, and you’ll find that there are parts of zones you cannot go to, though you can come back in a while with a new spell and explore these spots. This is made easier with the Travel Doors, represented by blue energy you can activate, which creates portal waypoints. So while the story is fairly linear, you can always go back and find new things, and many sidequests will take you back through old spots.

 

Ni no Kuni 2 Review - Scenic

I had such a hard time narrowing screens down: Either they are embargoed, or there was something else that fit too.

So Much To Do, So Much To See: 5/5

I don’t give very many 5s, and for good reason. It takes a lot for me to think a game is truly that spectacular, but Ni no Kuni 2 fits into that category. Even if you set aside the gorgeous music, the absolutely stunning graphics, the interesting characters, and lovely setting, this has a story that is far deeper than the adorable graphics might indicate. There are so many things I did not talk about either because there are secrets I uncovered or things that will be explained in the tutorial. It even has its own form of social media with Leafbook, where people in the world comment on things you’ve seen and done. Clever wordplay, a story that has me on the edge of my seat, plenty to see, do and learn. I can see each playthrough of this game being approached in a different way, from characters, skills, and order of operations in the Kingdom building. There are definitely differences from the first game, and all it does is make it even more appealing. I have not been this captivated by a JRPG since my youth, and I love that feeling. It takes me back to when I was much younger, just presented in a much prettier, more accessible way. I still have so many questions about the world, and its secrets, and I’m looking forward to uncovering them. Ni no Kuni 2 being on Steam is also a godsend, giving more people than ever the ability to play an incredible game.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

Attack on Titan 2 Offers A New Perspective on the Story

Attack on Titan 2 is now live from Koei Tecmo, for PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Windows PC via Steam. The game allows players to experience the game in a whole new way, through the eyes of a custom-created Scout. This will offer a fresh perspective on the series’ events, playing as a new character instead of one of the important main characters. Players will experience the newly improved Omni-Directional Mobility Gear offering advanced freedom of movement and targeting precision to counter enhanced Titan movements. Players will go flying into battle against devastating titanic foes, and mastering this equipment is key to ensuring survival.

Among the new features are Buddy Actions (which are support options team members can offer to each other) such as Rescue, Recovery, and Titan Transformation. Yes, your teammates can transform into Titans and help you do battle. Titans also have new enhanced movements, and so Scouts will have to think tactically and use new abilities in order to survive. Mastering evade-style attacks like the hook drive ability, or long-range moves like sneak attacks will be invaluable in your quest to stop the Titans.

There are also new online modes in Attack on Titan 2, such as Annihilation Mode; a gripping 4v4 mode where Scouts have to compete for the highest score through defeating Titans and capturing bases. Fight against each other to claim the highest score and ascend to the top of the leader boards. In Story, Co-op players can call upon their friends to aid them as they complete the main storyline’s gripping narrative. This is just the beginning of a captivating new online mode featuring playable Titans will be made available after launch.

Atari Officially Introduces the ‘Atari VCS’ Inspired by Over 40 Years of History

Atari VCS News

It’s hard to think “video games” without also thinking Atari. One of the most iconic consumer brands and entertainment producers is proud to announce that the “Ataribox” will now be known as the “Atari VCS”. The company will also be showing off the Atari VCS to the press at GDC this week, as well as the Classic Joystick and Modern Controller prototypes. The pre-order date for the Atari VCS will also be revealed this April. Inspired by the iconic silhouette of the original Atari 2600 Video Computer System, the new Atari VCS has already generated considerable excitement within the gaming community. Its skillful blend of modern lines and reverential details, combined with contemporary content technology and new innovation, has evoked positive reactions from Atari fans both new and old.

Atari VCS Logo

The Atari VCS logo itself is a combination of the past and present, even this showing the rich history of the Atari brand. Industrial design and graphics are essential parts of the brand’s DNA and part of what makes every Atari game an adventure for the player. Today’s Atari design, engineering, software and marketing teams all endeavor to bring similar levels of care and attention to the new VCS. Atari intends its new video computer system to change the way you interact with your TV, just as the original Atari 2600 Video Computer System first did more than 40 years ago.

“Every person at Atari and every partner involved with the new platform is just as fanatical about the brand and its heritage as our biggest fans are,” explained Michael Arzt, Atari COO of Connected Devices. “With the Atari VCS name, we know how important it is to get everything completely right and that’s why we briefly paused an imminent launch late last year. It was a difficult decision with the countdown underway, but we weren’t willing to go forward with even one thing out of alignment. We hope that Atari’s fans appreciate our extreme attention to detail and are as excited about the Atari VCS as we are.”

Perhaps we’ll finally see the final Swordquest game? Only time will tell!

 

Stationeers Preview

Written by Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

After the initial success of DayZ, the creator Dean Hall left Bohemia Interactive, and we haven’t seen much from him since. While he did try his luck with a VR title, it wasn’t really of the same caliber as DayZ. After hearing about all of his passionate ideas, and where he brought DayZ to in the end, I was expecting a lot more from him. Now Dean Hall is back with a game heavily inspired by both Space Station 13 and Space Engineers, but with its own take of being a simulation game set in space. Since I have been a big fan of both of these games, I also got very interested in Stationeers, primarily because of its very serious look towards surviving in space.

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

When you start Stationeers, you need to know one thing about the game. It’s not gonna be easy. Although it is mostly very simple and straight forward, it’s going to take a while before you figure everything out. When you have some basic knowledge on how to survive in space, and have played the earlier mentioned games, you are already familiar with the controls and how important it is to get the basic fundamentals down in for your survival. The harsh and brutal environment has been taken from Space Station 13, along with its controls, and has been combined with the type of building mechanics found in Minecraft and Space Engineers, to result in Stationeers. While the controls will take you a few hours to figure out, the logic behind these controls make it easier in the long run since you will be working with a lot of tools, and switching between them needs to be fluent yet simple.

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

When starting a new game in survival mode, you are stranded on an empty moon and you have to Matt Damon it up like in the Martian. First thing first is power. Since you are in space, the first only usable power source you can use is the sun. Just like in real life, what we’re using on the international space station is a whole bunch of solar panels. Solar Panels are the easiest and cheapest source of power in space, and you will have to focus on getting a solar panel up first. Especially since everything you’re doing is draining power from your battery, so it is a priority to get this sorted out as quickly as possible. Also, I might have forgot to mention, but this game is actually quite difficult!

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

Since the tutorial only teaches you how the controls work in a very basic introduction, you are simply let loose to the wolves when it comes to your survival. For a new player it will take a few tries before everything works correctly and you don’t kill yourself through a lack of preparation. This game seriously isn’t easy when it comes to setting up your base of operations. Think of Minecraft videos where some young kid has set up a whole factory, automating everything for his survival and whatever he wishes to do in the game. This is basically what the whole process looks like for everything you have to set up in Stationeers. Even wiring everything up, making sure your base has enough power and electrical wires is a process you will keep building on, and your network of wires will keep evolving over time. Who would’ve thought that surviving in space could be this hard?

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

After hours upon hours figuring out how to make something that resembles a home, you’ve now wired everything up properly so new batteries are charged and your solar panels actually follow the path of the sun to get the most optimal amount of energy you can possibly get. You are only one step further than you started and it is time to set up all the other crafting stations so you can get your production on the way. When starting a new game, you are given a few chests with materials and food to get you off the ground and get your production going, but you better prepare yourself for when the resources run low.

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

Since you are on a moon, chances are you will find a lot of minerals like iron and copper, that are both used a ton when making materials. So together with your mining tool you can mine these up, and slowly mine away parts of the moon to get enough materials for whatever you are building. But don’t forget, your goal is also to get off the moon, and while the moon you’re staying on is quite large, there is still a finite amount of resources. Don’t make the mistake of mining down in the cave: Despite the floating in space type of thing, there is still fall damage and you wouldn’t want to break your legs on an important mission like your survival.

Stationeers Preview Screenshot

Conclusion

Stationeers is a game you will have to take slow, because rushing through it is almost impossible. Obviously this seems a little odd to say, but when you think of sandbox games it usually is really straight forward with what you have to do, and getting yourself set up takes little to no time. This is very much different in Stationeers. The game isn’t really laid back like that, and while the controls and principle of building things is by itself somewhat simple, it still requires a lot of thought behind it, and you will mess up plenty of times before you do something right. I do enjoy games like Stationeers, but I did have a lot of trouble initially starting out. It took me several hours to figure some of the basic things out, and even after this I had a lot of trouble trying to get everything set up. The game isn’t a cakewalk, it will take an extensive amount of time before you really start to enjoy this game, and before you will slowly get to more exciting stuff. If you prefer a more laid back game, perhaps Stationeers isn’t the right game for you, but if you stick with it I’m sure that if you like everything related to space, that you’ll love Stationeers. While it is still in Early Access the game still can go lots of ways, but it is definitely already a very solid and fun experience.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – Launch Trailer

The gorgeous and expansive world of Ni no Kuni returns this week with Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom! The upcoming RPG from famed Japanese game studio Level-5 Inc. also has involvement from composer Joe Hisaishi and former Studio Ghibli animator Yoshiyuki Momose. It will be available on PS4 and Steam for PC this Friday, March 23rd, 2018.

 

Amazon GameOn Brings Competitions to Devs and Players

Survival_Arena_Redeem_Prize

Amazon recently announced ‘GameOn’, a cross-platform competitive gaming service for developers. It will allow for easy integration of competitions natively into their games on mobile/PC/Console through a set of APIs. GameOn is built on AWS cloud infrastructure and works on any operating system, giving developers the ability to scale quickly, while allowing them to invest more time in what they do best—designing great games. As competitive gaming continues to grow around the world, Amazon decided to move with the times with GameOn, which allows players to compete for in-game and real-world prizes funded by Amazon.

This also allows developers to drive engagement and increase monetization of their games. GameOn currently supports leaderboards, leagues, and multi-round competitions and gives developers the flexibility to create custom events such as local and regional competitions. Developers can also enable players and streamers to create their own user-generated competitions and invite participants, allowing players to connect with friends and expand their gaming network. Millennial Esports’ Eden Games, the developer behind some of the world’s most successful racing franchises including V-Rally and Test Drive Unlimited, uses Amazon GameOn to scale the size of the competitions they run in Gear.Club. “GameOn has made it easy for us to add leaderboards and tournaments in-game,” said Pascal Clarysse, CMO, Eden Games. “GameOn saved us months of development and a whole lot of maintenance and logistical overhead in the long run.”

Amazon GameOn will be powering competitions in highly anticipated sequels from Vector Unit and Lima Sky with the ability to win prizes in both Beach Buggy Racing 2 and a brand-new Doodle Jump title. In addition, new upcoming releases from Canvas Games, Superpower, PlaySide Studios, and Asmodee Digital will leverage GameOn technology to bring competitions to their fans. Developers can use GameOn APIs for free until May 1, 2018. After that date, the first 35,000 plays per month are free for a limited time, then developers will pay $0.003 per play. Physical prizing fulfilled by Amazon will only be available in the U.S. at launch.

“Game developers have consistently told us they are looking for ways to increase player engagement and retention,” said Marja Koopmans, Director, Amazon Competitive Gaming. “We built Amazon GameOn to give developers simple, yet powerful tools to foster community through competitive gameplay.”

More info can be found for developers at this link.