The ‘Pokémon Go’ wearable costs $35
Next month, Nintendo is going to fulfill the childhood dreams of thousands of people who grew up in the 1990s: It’s releasing Pokémon Go, an app that lets you catch pocket monsters in the real world using your smartphone. That alone is pretty exciting for fans, but if you’ve been following the game you also know that the app is getting a companion wearable that lets you play it without looking at your phone. Today at E3, Nintendo gave us a price for the wearable: $34.99.
For an accessory to a smartphone game that’s a pretty steep price, matching the cost of a new 3DS title. For die hard players, however, the Pokémon Go Plus wearable might be worth it: it’s the only way to play the game without pulling out your smartphone. Using it sounds pretty easy — if the wearable is blinking blue, there’s a Pokémon near you. Players can press the button to try to catch it. A rainbow light pattern means success, while a blinking red light denotes failure. Simple. Effective. Casual. Still kind of expensive.
On the other hand, there’s no other way to casually catch Pokémon during your morning jog. Nintendo didn’t give a hard release date for the app itself, but said the wearable will be out at the end of July. If you’ve been waiting for this one, you won’t have to wait much longer.
Nintendo’s ‘Ever Oasis’ is a dungeon crawler in the desert
Okay, Nintendo may have said it was only bringing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sun and Moon to E3, but we all knew something else would show up during the show. Well, here it is — Ever Oasis, a brand-new action RPG for the Nintendo 3DS.
At glance, Ever Oasis looks kind of like a cross between Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy — tasking players with assembling parties of adventurers, exploring dungeons, solving puzzles and building up a town in the heat of a desert oasis. Believe it or not, that odd combination of game elements actually makes sense: Grezzo, the studio behind Over Oasis, is also the company Nintendo used to port Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask to the 3DS. And its director? Koichi Ishii, a man famous for working on Final Fantasy and the Seiken Densetsu (Legend of Mana) games.
Nintendo hasn’t given us a release date for the new game, but if town-management team-based dungeon crawling sounds like your bag, keep tabs on this one.
’Mario Party: Star Rush’ doesn’t make you wait your turn
The mini-game mayhem of Mario Party can be a lot of fun, but the franchise has always suffered from its board game origins: when it’s not your turn, there’s nothing to do but wait. With Mario Party: Star Rush, that changes — Nintendo’s next entry in the series does away with individual player turns in favor of a more hectic group “scramble” turn. In other words, Mario Party is getting a fast-paced upgrade, and that’s a good thing.
Nintendo kind of snuck the announcement of the new 3DS game in under the rug, hiding it at the end of a press release for the new Zelda game — but the game looks like a fresh take on a old idea. The group mini-games are still the main focus, but the game board no longer has set paths. Instead, characters can move across at tiled landscape at will, and every player moves simultaneously. This opens the game up to more robust strategies, like choosing to start the ‘boss fight’ minigame right away.
If you’re not a Toad fan however, there is a trade-off: Star Rush’s main mode is called Toad Scramble, and everybody plays as the anthropomorphic mushroom man. The other Mario characters still play a major role as recruitable Ally characters, but aren’t technically playable themselves. I guess that settles the argument of who gets to be Luigi.
Mario Party: Star Rush will be available on 3DS on November 4th.
‘Breath of the Wind’ is the boldest ‘Zelda’ game in years
Nintendo wasn’t lying, or even exaggerating. There really has never been a Legend of Zelda game quite like Breath of the Wind, and the series should be all the better for it. I’ve extensively played (if not quite finished) every major Zelda game, but that familiarity with the series rarely came in handy throughout the 45-minute demo I played at E3 today. I was confused and disoriented, not quite familiar with how I should be interacting with my surroundings — much like Link himself after being awakened in a shrine with no clear direction on where to go.
That’s not a bad thing — in fact, it’s just what the series needed. Ocarina of Time set up a play style that the subsequent Zelda games have rarely deviated from. New moves were added, controls were tightened, but it all felt like iterations on the same model. In Breath of the Wind, that’s largely out the window. Yes, you can still lock onto enemies, parry attacks with your shield, dodge and slash with your sword, but there’s a wide variety of different weapons at your disposal now. You can pick up a broken tree branch and use it to attack for starters, beat down a few goblins, steal their clubs, grab a wood-cutting ax and more.
It’s easy to swap between weapons, which is good, because there’s a new durability system at play here. Every weapon you have can get damaged and eventually break if you’re not careful. And if your goblin club is nearly broken, you can just chuck it at an enemy to do double damage before it finally falls apart.
The world of Hyrule is even more significantly changed than combat. As Nintendo has mentioned already, Breath of the Wind is a massive open-world that you can explore in any way you want. Whatever you see, you can go to — enemies or some environmental challenges might stop you along the way, but you can try. I only got to see a portion of the Great Plateau in the 20 minutes of I had to explore the area, and Nintendo says that’s only one percent of the game’s total area.
Beyond just size is what you can do in Hyrule. First off, you can jump whenever you want, only the second time you’ve been able to do so in a Zelda game. (1989’s Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link was the first.) You can also climb trees and cliffs and basically interact with the environment in a host of ways — once you get your hands on that axe, you can start felling trees, for example.
And once that tree is down, you can chop it up and collect wood; once you take down an enemy, you can harvest its weapons or armor to make a shield. The amount of stuff you can collect in the environment is vast and varied, and it’ll all come in handy. In particular, you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled for various food items, because you won’t find hearts in bushes anymore. You’ll instead need to collect food from around the world and save it for when you need a heart boost — you can even combine ingredients and cook it to get a bigger boost.
This is all to say that there’s tons to do in Breath of the Wind before you even dig into the game’s story. But fortunately, for those who want to get into the meat of the plot, it isn’t long before Link starts getting nudged down his path. The game may not hold your hand in terms of teaching you mechanics, but it doesn’t take long to get into the story if that’s how you want to play it. Following the direction of a voice in his head, Link soon raises a variety of shrine all around the world of Hyrule to start exploring. At a high level, it looks like these shrines will be the game’s version of dungeons, but you can play them in any order you want.
You’ll meet an old man on the plateau (who looks suspiciously like the King of Hyrule in The Wind Waker), and he tells you that you’ll need his little paragliding tool to get off the plateau without falling to your death. He then asks you to head into the shire that’s accessible on the plateau to get some treasure you can barter for that paraglider. So that first encounter is a bit scripted, and unfortunately I didn’t actually get to play the Shrine and see what comes next, but a Nintendo representative assured me that you don’t need to follow the game in any prescribed path.
Ultimately, there’s enough familiar here to make the game feel like a classic entry into the Zelda series — not 15 minutes into the game, there was the first glance of the malevolent spirit of Ganon encircling Hyrule Castle. But the massive, interactive, living world coupled with the mysterious introduction to the story (Link is resurrected after 100 years!) makes for a game that feels significantly different than any Zelda that preceded it.
What’s perhaps most impressive is that Nintendo pulled this off not by putting Hyrule mostly underwater or by moving things into the clouds, as it did in The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, respectively. The classic overworld is still here — it’s just more expansive, varied and interactive than ever before. If Nintendo can keep this feeling alive throughout the entirety of the game, the company will have managed to pull off the biggest reinvention of the series since the release of Ocarina of Time nearly 20 years ago.
‘Titanfall 2’ doesn’t ditch Microsoft’s cloud; it builds on it
When the original Titanfall launched exclusively on the Xbox One, Windows and Xbox 360 in 2014, it took advantage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud system, which allowed developers at Respawn to add AI teammates and enemies in a low-lag gaming environment. It also meant that some regions, such as South Africa, never saw the game because Microsoft’s dedicated servers simply didn’t exist in the country. This all changes with Titanfall 2.
The sequel is multi-platform, heading to Xbox One, Windows 10 and PlayStation 4, and it takes advantage of multiple cloud systems. In fact, it uses “every cloud,” according to lead programmer Jon Shiring. Through a partnership with UK-based server company Multiplay, Titanfall 2 will use Azure, Google and Amazon cloud services, plus bare metal systems — physical servers that sit on racks in big data centers.
“Since this launch is going to be even bigger than the last game, I really wanted to make sure that we had an insane amount of scalability and reliability,” Shiring says. “What’s really important to me is the game just works. …I want the game to be hosted everywhere, to find places near our players and make sure that we have absolute stability and reliability.”
Respawn founder and CEO Vince Zampella — you may know him as a co-creator of Call of Duty — says that the multi-platform approach gives the team much more flexibility.
“Obviously the partnership with Microsoft was fantastic for us, but now as we’re expanding out, the more flexibility we have, the better service we can offer the players,” he says. “Being on Azure and Google and Amazon, it’s just added benefit.”
With the original Titanfall, Microsoft’s regional cloud servers could max out in terms of player numbers. For instance, 2 million people participated in the game’s trial period across Xbox One and PC, and at one point the European servers were unable to host any more players. At that point, Respawn had to shift the extra European players to US servers on the East Coast, which increased their ping — the amount of time that it takes for data to transfer between separate locations. In online multiplayer games, high ping is a death knell, or at least a serious frustration for competitive players.
At the time, Shiring told Engadget, “We don’t look forward to doing that at all, but if we have a bunch of people sitting unable to play the game, then we’re going to make sure that the experience is good enough -– maybe not ideal -– to get them playing.”
Shiring is confident that the new server infrastructure will be able to handle anything Titanfall 2 players throw its way. But, just to be sure, Respawn is holding a multiplayer technical test before the game launches on October 28th. Developers want to enlist as many players as possible so they can squash the kinds of bugs that only appear when tons of people boot up an online game at the same time.
“It’s a brand-new system and that’s one of the reasons we’re doing that multiplayer tech test, is to prove all this out and show that we’re ready for launch,” Shiring says. “Once we get there, it’s going to give us a really insane level of scalability being on every cloud and on bare metal as well.”
Look at all the kinds of Xbox One controllers you can custom-make
Peppy, colored customizable Xbox One controllers are coming. Well, in September. That said, you can still design and order the controller of your multi-colored dreams right now, online at the Xbox Design Lab. Until then, here’s some design suggestions — direct from Xbox’s booth at E3 2016. With the choice of colors on the face and shoulder buttons, joysticks, the controller’s faceplate and more, there’s apparently eight million color combinations out there, so some guidance on your $80 custom ‘pad may be appreciated. Blue thumbsticks sound like a good start.
Celebrate E3 and new ‘Zelda’ with this lavish Nintendo sale
E3 2016 is in full swing, and there’s already a bevy of titles being shown off that we can’t wait to get our hands on, particularly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon. Nintendo know this very well, and thus is running a special E3 sale from now through June 21 with up to 40% select digital games.
With an additional 10% off certain games for My Nintendo members, there are some real bargains here for digital copies of favorites like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for $4.79 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for $29.99. The Zelda franchise isn’t the only one to get in on the savings, with the Game Boy hits Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire available for $3.59 and $4.79 respectively.
If neither Zelda or Pokémon are on your radar, there are some decent savings on 3DS games like Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Story of Seasons and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward as well as scores of other titles. Wii U fans can pick up Splatoon, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and more for a discount as well.
Time to pick up some titles to expand your collection while finishing off that backlog. The wait for the new Zelda isn’t that far off, after all.
What you’re playing next: The best of E3’s opening day
The biggest show in video games starts off the same every year: with a seemingly endless torrent of announcements, teasers and surprises a full day before the show floor even opens. It’s nerve wracking, but wonderful; Never change, E3. On Day zero, EA, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Microsoft and Sony showed us the bulk of what’s in store for the next year in gaming: virtual reality, epic sequels and, of course, new hardware. Don’t worry if it sounds overwhelming though, our very own Jess Conditt and Tim Seppala are here to tell you everything that’s happening at E3.
Suffice to say, you’ll have plenty to play over the next year. EA kicked off the pre-show announcements with deeper looks at TitanFall 2, Battlefield 1 and teasers for Mass Effect: Andromeda and a whole mess of upcoming Star Wars games. Meanwhile, Bethesda boldly announced plans to create virtual reality experiences for both Doom and Fallout 4, a remaster of Skyrim for modern consoles and Quake Champions, a competitive, PC-exclusive eSports reimagining of the beloved franchise.
Looking for hardware? Microsoft has you covered with the Xbox One S, a slimmer redesign of the flagship console with more storage and a revamped gamepad. The company announced plenty of new games too, including Halo Wars 2, Gears of War 4, ReCore, Sea of Thieves and more.
Despite warning fans that it wasn’t bringing any new hardware to the show, Sony went ahead and blew us out of the water anyway. With a new God of War game on the horizon, as well as an exclusive Spider-Man game from Insomniac, a firm release date for The Last Guardian, a new property from Hideo Kojima and a slew of intriguing PlayStation VR titles that include the likes of Resident Evil VII, Batman Arkham VR and Star Wars, PlayStation fans have a lot to look forward to.
Follow all the news from E3 2016 here.
It’s never been harder to buy an Xbox One
Yesterday should’ve been a triumphant day for Microsoft. The Xbox One S is, on paper, a fantastic iteration on what was already a solid console. It’s a thin, striking machine with 4K and HDR support and a seriously attractive proposition for those who don’t have an Xbox One already. (By all accounts, that’s the vast majority of gamers.) But then Microsoft did something crazy: It announced the next next Xbox, code-named Project Scorpio. And now … why would anyone buy an Xbox One S?
Until about five minutes before the end of Microsoft’s press conference, the reasons were clear. While some have called 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray a pointless format in the age of streaming, it’s likely to be the gold standard for those who care about high-quality movies, given the bandwidth and compression required to stream 4K content. Even if Blu-ray isn’t your thing, there’ll be 4K content from Netflix and Amazon Video. There’s also support for HDR gaming. It’s in its infancy, but Microsoft announced that Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 would support the wider-color gamut it brings.
Then there’s the hardware. The One S is smaller, more attractive and fixes niggles with the original model. There’s a USB port at the front of the machine and no external power brick, and the new controller works via Bluetooth with your PC or laptop. At $299 (for the 500GB version), it’s a pretty compelling offer. If you’re one of the 40 million or so people with a PlayStation 4, why not pick up an Xbox as a 4K-capable media player and take advantage of some exclusive games while you’re at it?
But now we have Project Scorpio, and it’s going to be a completely different beast. It has a new CPU and GPU that will allow it to play “4K games at 60Hz” and support VR. That’s presumably through the Oculus Rift, as Microsoft announced a partnership with Oculus last year.
Microsoft says no gamer will be left behind, but that’s just not true.
At the press conference, Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, said that no gamer would be left behind and that all games and accessories will support all versions of Xbox One. But that’s just not true. Only Project Scorpio is confirmed to work with a VR headset, which is clearly an accessory. And there will certainly be games and experiences designed for VR that won’t be available for the Xbox One S. When you add the comments made since the press conference by Shannon Loftis, Xbox’s head of publishing, the status of the gaming promise seems even shakier. On a YouTube livestream Loftis said that “it’s up to the game development community” to decide whether or not there will be Scorpio-only games. That means we could see developers releasing some high-end games only on Scorpio. Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg has since denied this, which is confusing, but regardless, VR games will not work on the One S.
With this information in hand, it seems the only people who might want to buy the S are those with no interest in playing games in 4K or VR. But even if you don’t own a 4K TV yet, chances are you’re going to want one in a few years.
It’s only fair to point out that Sony too has an improved console on the way. The company admitted that a PlayStation 4 “Neo” is in development and will be sold alongside the regular PS4. As for when it’ll be formally unveiled, that’s still a closely guarded secret, but what we do know makes Sony’s new console a very different proposition than Scorpio.
Outwardly, Sony’s language seems identical to Microsoft’s. It promises that all games will work on the standard PS4 and that “all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4.” That implies that some titles may not be optimized to offer graphical improvements on Neo but otherwise every PlayStation 4 owner is taken care of. The difference between the two promises is really one of peripherals. While Microsoft is promising that the new console will be VR-ready, it will be the only Xbox to offer such functionality. Sony’s PlayStation VR, in contrast, will support every PlayStation 4.
What Sony is proposing, then, is simple: if you have a 1080p TV, use a PlayStation 4. If you have a 4K TV, use a PlayStation Neo. The latter system will have more power, but it’ll be used to make games that look better on a 4K TV. That’s the only difference.
Project Scorpio will offer experiences that no other Xbox can. Even if you’re not convinced by VR just yet, developers are embracing the medium. We’ve already seen a few heavy hitters announced for VR at E3 this year. Resident Evil 7 and Arkham VR both have the potential to be hugely entertaining takes on fan favorites. Knowing all of this, do you want to buy an Xbox One S, given that a fresh Xbox will be out in just over a year? I don’t, and I think 40 million gamers are going to agree with me.
We’re live from E3 2016 in LA!
It’s that time of year again…time to play all the video games! We’re back in sunny Los Angeles to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016, or as some (mistakenly) like to call it, the games industry’s Fashion Week. Last year’s focus was on big games, but so far E3 2016 sees virtual reality come into view, not to mention Microsoft unveiling two consoles, Sony finally giving us a launch date for PSVR, oh, and Resident Evil VII! All the show floor action kicks off today at 12PM PT, and we’ll bring you the latest news as it happens. We’ll also be documenting our experiences (from every literal angle) across our many social media channels, so make sure you’re following us there too! You can find all the important stuff right here.
YouTube
Snapchat
AIVAnet 