Destiny: Rise of Iron - It is Time to Be Reforged?

The new expansion for Destiny has officially been revealed, making it the first big addition to Destiny since The Taken King, and it's only going to be available for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. That puts Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Destiny players in a rather difficult situation: To upgrade, or not to upgrade?, that is the question.

Players will still be able to play Destiny (at least, for the foreseeable future) on last-gen consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), but no additionally new content will be made available for those particular versions of the game. The various players' characters on last-generation consoles will carry over to the current-gen versions of the game so long as those players are upgrading within the same console family (So, if a player decides to upgrade from the PlayStation 3 to a PlayStation 4 for example, their save-file data will resume from where they last left off. However, moving from say an Xbox 360 to a PlayStation 4 account will not work).

When the month of August arrives however, character progress on last-gen and current-gen consoles will also become entirely separate entities, meaning any progress made after August on last-gen versions of the game will not be carried over to the current-gen version of the game. So, unfortunately, this means that there is a deadline for player to make their decisions.

Asking fans of the game to spend hundreds of dollars on a new console and to re-purchase Destiny (and thus, all of the expansions) in order to continue playing, is an extremely bitter pill for many consumers to swallow. (I'm fortunate enough to have begun my journey on the PlayStation 4 thereby circumventing all of this frustration.) Fortunately, Bungie and Activision claim that they are attempting to work out some kind of program to make the transition a bit smoother.

“We are exploring potential options for players to upgrade Destiny from last-gen to next-gen and will have more to say about that with our hardware partners soon...” an official statement from Bungie reads. Perhaps we will know more during their E3 2016 presentation.



As for the expansion itself, titled Destiny: Rise Of Iron, there will be a brand-new playable area known as "the Plaguelands", which encompasses a devastated and dangerous part of what used to be Russia. Players will be introduced to a new breed of mutated Fallen.

Perhaps one of the saving graces about this new DLC is that the beloved Gjallarhorn rocket launcher is becoming a viable weapon once more. This time, it will reemerge with a new black and silver motif. The Twitch reveal stream promised new weapons and armor (a staple for any expansion at this point) a new campaign, new patrol areas, new social spaces, new PvP content, and a whole new raid.

However, all of this just means more of the same in a sense...more monotonous grinding on the same chapters of the story, more of the same weekly strikes and nightfall challenges repeated in a vicious cycle, and "new" raid rewards that are not worth the hours spent constantly fighting against the same enemies, in the same pattern.

The only aspect worth mentioning is the potential narrative this expansion could bring forth. I would prefer quality storytelling and plot-driven dialogue to any of the recently announced gameplay elements.

With Destiny 2, rumored to be released in the Fall of 2017, one has to ask whether or not it is truly worthwhile to partake in this expansion at all.

CRITIQUE

As for myself, I've had a very tiresome, love/hate relationship with Destiny.

Pros:

• Cayde-6 is voiced by Nathan Fillion.

• It's a well made shooter, but rather poor MMORPG because our customized characters have severely limited options, no options for dialogue, and no questioning of their initial revival. (What killed our guardians in the first place? How long were they dead? How are Guardians brought back to life? What causes perma-death?)

• Each gun managed to feel unique, with different recoil, spray, and design attributes.

• Boss battles seem to be rather epic in scale and ferocity making their defeat that much more entertaining.

Cons (Oh boy there are a lot of them...):

• The single greatest weakness of the original "vanilla" version of Destiny was its failure to use and adequately communicate the game's surprisingly extensive lore, unfortunately delegating all of the amazing character backstories and weapon analysis to trading cards that were only accessible online via Bungie's website. This was slightly improved with The Taken King's cinematics, but not enough to fully immerse players (and thereby restoring all of those that bought their initial copies to active engagement).

• The game has no matchmaking for raids whatsoever so unless you have six friends that can consistently play online, on a regular basis, coordinating responsibilities effectively, you'll be missing out on opportunities to earn the higher level and exotic gear only available through those raids, which often take several hours and do not guarantee anything worthwhile, ever. In addition, your progress resets every Tuesday rendering even the tiniest checkpoint uneventful. What I can't grasp is why Bungie refuses to include matchmaking. If you throw enough bodies at a door, it'll eventually open. Players will come to learn their roles in the raid much more quickly and they'll take far less time through trial and error.

• The solution to the aforementioned problem is to join an LFG (Looking For Group) website in the slim hopes of establishing a well-balanced team, getting stuck with an even more poorly coordinated group of players with constant dropouts and further mixed results.

• There are no options for private lobbies where you could customize the game types or play solely against your friends.

• The lore and truly flavorful elements of hte game are confined to cards called Grimoire, which are only accessible via Bungie.net which means one has to exit the game to get the full effect of the story's campaign.

• Clans have disbanded due to the constant repetitive and monotonous nature of this game.

• You can't rotate the character when you are at the character customization screen.

• You can't alter your character once it has been made. You must delete that character and start over from the beginning if you truly dislike their appearance.

• Players can't try a gun before purchasing it with Legendary Marks or Strange coins.

• Players STILL can not trade gear. If I happen to get more than one exotic weapon or piece of armor, I can not trade the duplicate to a friend of mine who has been trying desperately to obtain that item. It's absolutely ludicrous.

• Customization has become a nuisance due to the "Light" system, which has gone through several dozen revisions up to the sub-par current standard we have now.

• Every expansion's enemies are just re-tooled versions of existing ones. For example, the "Taken" in the Taken King were just shadowy-versions of pre-existing Fallen, Hive, Cabal, and Vex with shakier animations. The latest Rise of Iron enemies are just redder versions of existing Fallen. It seems to be very bland and unoriginal. Often I feel like this latest trailer exemplifies the lack of content with its frozen, barren landscape in the background.

• The so-called "social-spaces" are anything but social. They're just central hubs where players can store their loot, pick up bounties, cash in engrams in a feeble attempt at gaining a higher light level, and marketplaces for a few obsolete guns. Xur occasionally has what players need, but even he runs on a random number sequence.

• The whole game is online. Which means if you have a shotty internet connection or the game's servers are no longer in use, you essentially have a $60.00 frisbee.

Conclusion:

Now to those wondering, I've played a combined total of 563 hours (which equals 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours 44 minutes and 4 seconds) with all three of my characters on Destiny as of the time of this article. Comparatively, my best friend and clan leader ("The Seven Deadly Wins" is our Clan) played for a total combined time of 240 hours (1 week 3 days 53 minutes 52 seconds) with his characters and my other colleague just barely clocking in at 197 hours (1 week 1 day 5 hours 40 minutes 48 seconds). So, I've had far more game time than they have, yet both of them are refusing to play into Bungie's hands for the next expansion's asking price as am I.

Many argue that how many hours you have gotten out of Destiny is equal to the amount you've spent purchasing the game. However, my counter-argument to that is "how many of those hours were not wasted effort getting mediocre gear or grinding until you had to set the controller down and turn off the console from frustration? Was the game worth the full value of the $140.00 you've spent?" If the answer is not an IMMEDIATE yes, then there was a problem.

My qualm: $59.99 for the base game, $39.99 for the first two expansions (if you bought the season pass like I did as a year one owner) Dark Below and House of Wolves, an additional $39.99 for The Taken King, and now $29.99 for Rise of Iron. Grand total of $169.96 plus tax. Was it worth it?

When one thinks about the art of video games, it should be considered as an investment that players get some sort of fulfillment and joy out of, whether it be a great journey, a story that captivates, or some overarching sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. They game itself is far too much a lottery in that the random number generator determines the player's ambition.

Frankly, we as the players need to view this title with a bit more scrutiny. We need to be asking the harder hitting questions like "Why does the moon have the same gravity as Earth? Shouldn't Guardians be falling slowly after leaping into the air to dodge oncoming fire?" (The only classes of Guardians that make it seem "authentic" are the Warlocks and Titans).

Destiny: Rise of Iron is expected to debut on September 20, 2016. Hopefully it won't be full of empty promises and disappointments. My ONE hope is that Bungie has considered all of their faults and misgivings about what this game was versus what it could have been, applying that to the sequel in a proper and cohesive manner.



Works Cited:

Craft, Scott. "'Destiny: Rise Of Iron' Splits Progression For Current And Last-Gen Consoles." IDigitalTimes.com. IBT Media Inc., 10 June 2016. Web. 10 June 2016.

Koch, Cameron. "Bungie Is Looking To Help Last-Gen 'Destiny' Players Upgrade To Current-Gen For Rise Of Iron Expansion." Tech Times RSS. TechTimes Inc., 10 June 2016. Web. 10 June 2016.

Bandai Namco Announces Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 - Counting Down 2 E3

Bandai Namco announced today, (Tuesday, May 17, 2016) that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is releasing in 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

According to the press release:

Santa Clara, Calif., (May 17, 2016) – "BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. the premier publisher of anime video games today announces DRAGON BALL® XENOVERSE 2, the most expansive Dragon Ball® videogame experience to-date. DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 is currently in development at famed Osaka, Japan based video game developer, DIMPS and will be available for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and STEAM® for PC.

DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 is scheduled to launch in the Americas in 2016. Developed to fully utilize the power of current generation gaming consoles and PCs; Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 builds upon the highly popular Dragon Ball Xenoverse with enhanced graphics that will further immerse players into the largest and most detailed Dragon Ball world ever developed.  

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 will deliver a new hub city and the most character customization choices to date among a multitude of new features and special upgrades.The Dragon Ball franchise is a crown jewel and a perennial fan-favorite of Bandai Namco Entertainment’s robust anime videogame portfolio and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 will build upon that illustrious legacy.” said Eric Hartness, Vice President of Marketing at Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc.

“With Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, we’re working diligently with the Dimps team to pull out all the stops and push the Dragon Ball videogame experience to new heights.” 

Additional details and features pertaining to DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 will be revealed at E3 2016 (June 14-16, 2016) in BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.’s demo theaters, located in rooms 303 A and B in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

You can watch the announcement trailer down below.

I'm looking forward to seeing the gameplay in action at this year's E3 convention, but I am cautiously optimistic, especially since I wasn't really content with the combat system the first game had implemented. You can read my thorough review of Dragon Ball Xenoverse here. I'm eager to fight against Towa and Mira once more, but if key components of the game are still left unchecked, I may pass on this title.


Works Cited:

Schreier, J. (2016, May 17). Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Announced, Coming This Year. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://kotaku.com/dragon-ball-xenoverse-2-announced-coming-this-year-1777060267

The Underrated Underdog Console: Wii U

So the Wii U has been out in the U.S. since November 18, 2012. It's barely even three years old yet and people are tossing it aside like it's not worth making games for...it's gotten to the point where even Nintendo has started to convince themselves that the console is a sinking ship and that everyone should move on to the next project, codenamed: NX.

Developing software for the Wii U is a Catch-22 situation: Publishers and developers seem to think that they will not make much profit on the fledgling console, but by not developing for the system at all, Nintendo will never truly grow outside of their first party franchises.

What irritates and frustrates me the most is that these companies are often providing "half-assed" games when they do decide to contribute to the Wii U library because on the competing platforms (PC, XBOX 360/XBOX ONE and PS3/PS4, respectively) the games have all of their original features intact. As such, players that pick up a copy of the game for the Wii U are not getting the full value of what they initially paid for.

Warner Bros. for instance, did not include an online multiplayer mode for Batman Arkham Origins, while Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist has an online multiplayer mode, but no local split screen co-op.

Granted, this isn't the first instance of companies applying this "laissez-faire" (or "do-nothing") type of approach to Nintendo's platform. However, this practice has become far worse due to the sheer number of companies hopping on this informal policy bandwagon.

Treyarch, (and by the transitive property, Activision) in my opinion, is one of the worst offenders of this nonchalant apathy towards Nintendo and is guilty of making false promises on more than one occasion. This was evident during the Wii era with Call of Duty: Black Ops lack of DLC (although, that console's limitations were clearly evident) and with Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the Wii U now. It took Treyarch two years after the game was released to develop the Nuketown 2025 map, which was long overdue. Call of Duty: Ghosts by Infinity Ward in comparison managed to finally get the Freefall map several months after the other consoles received it.

Ubisoft proved that DLC was possible on Nintendo's latest hardware by offering transactions for Assassin's Creed III. Sources reported however, that these options would not be available for the latest installment of the franchise, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

On a much more positive note, Ubisoft creative director Jonathan Morin had briefly discussed his latest title, Watch_Dogs, stating in an interview with CVG (ComputerAndVideoGames) that it is "...a beautiful game on Wii U and it's cool to play it just on the GamePad". In addition a comparison between that version and the other on PS3 and XBOX 360 was made of Morin and he claimed that "On the Wii U, you can play on the GamePad screen. There are no new features or anything like that - it's the same game, but we're optimizing the controls for the beast that is the Wii U GamePad".

So there is some hope for the Wii U considering that a few (if not many) games will have all of the bells and whistles that the other platforms come with naturally. (You can read the conversation in its entirety here.)

That's not to say that all of the blame is on the third-party developers. Au contraire! Nintendo has not exactly done an optimal job of generating public awareness of what the Wii U actually is, or what it is capable of either. Initially, many folks believed it to be an add-on to the existing Wii console (perhaps due to the name). Thus, perhaps folks viewed it as an unnecessary peripheral rather than an entirely new home console.

The sad thing is that most companies are advertising that their games will be on "next-gen" consoles, but they deliberately exclude the Wii U. As such, it's fallen into this abstract, unknown, unspoken category.

How can Nintendo get back on top? I would suggest just belting out as many games as possible. There has been a positive shift since Mario Kart 8 was released and even moreso with Super Smash Bros. Wii U. Hopefully, with the sales of the Amiibo figures, profits gained from those sales can apply to some of Nintendo's major financial losses.

How this information will affect other publisher and developer opinions remains to be determined, but it does not bode well in this economic climate. On one last positive note, Nintendo's latest intellectual property, Splatoon for the Wii U is doing quite well as a third person shooter. It's a game where characters known as "Inklings"— beings that can transform between humanoid and squid-like forms, hide or swim through colored ink sprayed on surfaces using gun or brush-based weaponry. The object of the game is not to score points via kills, but through covering territory with the most amount of ink. It's a game that has become quite popular despite the sluggish sales of the home consoles themselves.

We as gamers need to be patient and keep watching to ensure that Nintendo gets its fair share of publicity and we need to stop treating it like the third political party in an election. The more competition between the three major competing companies, the lower the prices will be for the consumer.

My E3 2015 Predictions & Expectations

Nintendo

I'd like Nintendo to ideally make a new Custom Robo game. The last one that came out was back in March 19, 2007 with Custom Robo Arena. The development company is called NOISE and has worked with Nintendo for a number of years, however, it has been quite some time since their last title.

As such, I think it would be a great undertaking if Nintendo were to re-visit the franchise, especially with the release of the upcoming game, Little Battlers eXperience. In that game, (which is based off of an animated series about kids building miniature, remote controlled mecha models, battling them, all while taking on a secret conspiracy that utilize the mechs for their own ambitions) players can customize their mechs with a plethora of different parts and weapons. I feel as though this would be the perfect time to make this upcoming year the year of the mechs!

This holds merit when one considers that the upcoming title Xenoblade Chronicles X has giant humanoid mech suits called "Skells" ("Dolls" in the Japanese version), which are used to combat the various enemies in the expansive open world environment.

I also expect to see Starfox Wii U with an all new trailer for the game, as well as a brief glimpse into the main plot (if possible). I've been a fan of the Starfox games since the release of Starfox 64 (I have yet to beat it sadly, as I've only recently downloaded the game on the Wii's Virtual Console). I did however manage to complete Star Fox Assault and rather enjoyed the game.


Although Nintendo mentioned that The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U would not be featured at E3, I still sort of hope that maybe they will toss out a teaser trailer or something to whet our ferocious appetites. In addition, I eagerly await more information on Fire Emblem and the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover.

I'd like to see a brand new Pokémon Snap, and a new Metroid game as well, but perhaps those ideas should be locked away for now. I think it would be fantastic to be able to once again revisit the Metroid Prime Hunters universe with a sequel that has a truly dedicated multiplayer first person shooter experience (most desired on the Wii U) with Samus Aran, Weavel, Sylux, Kanden, Spire, Noxus, and Trace.

Sony

The one game I'm most interested in with regards to Sony is Tom Clancy's: The Division. I eagerly anticipate more details and gameplay footage that will assure that my decision to purchase the game will be a worthwhile investment.


Microsoft, Activision, & et cetera

As for Microsoft, Bethesda, and the rest, I want to be surprised and dazzled by their showcases. I don't know exactly what to look for, but I'm hoping that overall, I will be impressed.

Gamer Journalism: Pointing Fingers Without Taking Blame

As a gamer, I like to think of myself as among a group of individuals (male or female) that may or may not have a selective interest in virtual media. I've perhaps stated once before that video games are akin to books in that (more often than not) they tell a story of some kind, whether it's simple or complex. They come in a variety of different genres and styles, all with some sort of protagonist and antagonist. It's fair to say that one individual's tastes may differ from another's, but at the end of the day, those that use the medium are all collectively and equally described as "readers" or in this case, "gamers".

...Or so I thought. Apparently within the "gaming community" a storm has arisen. Rather, several storms are on the horizon so to speak, as gaming journalists are under fierce scrutiny as well as the very vulnerable medium itself. On social media, common hashtags have surfaced such as #GamerGate and #GamesSoWhite. (For those unaware of what is trending, there have been numerous political discussions regarding racial depictions in video games as well as sexism in video game culture.)

Essentially, a culture war has been manifesting over gaming culture diversification, artistic recognition and social criticism of video games, which all incorporate a gamer's "social identity". 

Gamergate for instance, was the result of a sustained campaign of misogynistic attacks back in August of 2014 against game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu, in addition to the feminist cultural critic, Anita Sarkeesian, who were subjected to severe cyber-bullying and multiple death threats. Now, while some individuals using the #gamergate hashtag have stated that their goal is to improve the ethical standards of video game journalism by peacefully opposing social criticism in video game reviews (which they claim is the result of a conspiracy among feminists, progressives and social critics) others have used more distasteful methods. It's become somewhat frustrating (as well as downright exhausting) as some gamers view this phenomenon as a detour of legitimate gaming reviews focused primarily on the premises of the games themselves while others view this as a rather valid critique.

The most recent trend has been about the depictions (or lack thereof) of minority characters in video games. I tend not to dwell too much upon how many minorities are visible in a video game (despite being a minority in real life), but every now and then, I'm reminded of the panel on Politics in Video Games I attended at ColossalCon back in 2012. That panel discussed many subtle issues in many of the games I played. I typically will create characters (whenever possible in a customizable game) reflective of my own racial skin tone, but for the most part I feel that it's mostly aesthetic and has no bearing on how I play the game. My skills tell the tale, not how my protagonist looks.

One troubling thought that never occurred to me prior to that panel was the fact that the protagonist of the Legend of Zelda franchise, Link, was a blonde haired, blue-eyed character that could have been easily associated with the Aryan race along with Princess Zelda, while Ganondorf, the antagonist (and the only male minority Gerudo character) was not, and was considered "evil" (In some of the games, he's merely jealous of Hyrule's prosperity and acted out of envy. One game in particular, The Wind Waker, comes to mind.) More often than not, there are few, if any, meaningful minority characters at all in a majority of video games. Most of the time, players are playing as a Caucasian male. This is certainly not reflective of the times. That's not to say that there should be mandated quotas, but some ethnic diversity is more than welcome.

Nonetheless, it has sort of popped my proverbial "bubble" in the fantasy realm. I now look at some of my games through a begrudgingly tainted perspective. A once enjoyable escape from the harshness of reality, has now become grossly entangled in its grasp.

As a political science graduate, I can obviously see the correlations between my favorite pastime and politics. However, as such, it truly pains me to see how hostile and divided the gaming community has become. I like to view the personal and political aspects of life to be somewhat equal, but separate entities (much like the separation of "Church & State"). There may be a bit of a spillover effect from one end to the other, or vice-versa, but too much of one aspect without consideration for the other can, and often will, produce disastrous results.

I suppose what I wish to happen is a tolerance AND a formal acknowledgement of the cultural and ethical dilemmas posed in video games, at least for now (that is, until gradual improvements have been made). Change will not happen overnight. In addition, many folks are not as tolerant of change as others (which is fine, to an extent). Yet, what players & journalists need to realize is that the industry itself is only one facet of the problem, while the consumers themselves are another. Both are at fault, as I see it, because consumers have the power to boycott those products that they don't agree with, thereby forcing developers to re-evaluate their content in order to produce a worthwhile product. (I've done so myself countless times).

I hope that as the dust settles, we can get back to discussing the plots and storylines of games rather than being so enamored with the political miasma of a game. Games are meant to be thought-provoking, amusing, and enjoyable...not capable of inducing undue burden.

E3 Nintendo 2013 Presentation

For those of you that missed the live coverage of Nintendo's E3 Direct, here is the video:

I'm really fired up for the new Smash Bros. title for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Especially since the announcement of Megaman as a playable character. His inclusion is a more than welcome addition to the Smash Bros. family.

It would seem that even the nameless "Villager" (now the mayor in the latest Nintendo 3DS iteration of the franchise) from Animal Crossing is getting the "star treatment" as well. If you notice his moveset, it is loosely based around the tools that one can utilize in the Animal Crossing series to make improvements to the town. I like how in the intro video, the character speeds off the moment he gets the invitation to join the fray, almost as if he's petrified that he's been selected. Yet, we see him not long afterwards with a smug look on his face after capturing Mario with his net. Also worth mentioning, with regard to his use of the net, is that it reminded me of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, in that the character Spike, from Ape Escape, also utilizes a net in a similar fashion to knock out opponents.