E3 2017: What Didn't Suck

So another E3 has come and gone. We had a ton of stuff to see, but want to know what's good? Want to know what didn't suck Donkey Kong balls? What to spend or save up for this fall or next year? I made a little list that showcases what was really cool. Enjoy.

Assassin's Creed: Origins

The latest game of the Assassin's Creed series looks to be an epic. Set in Egypt the game is set to go all the way back to the beginning, if the tittle doesn't tell you that already. The gameplay is tweaked a bit different this time adding more RPG-esque elements to the classic style we're used to. Gameplay shows that you'll use animals as well as the main character uses a hawk to scout the area.

Shadow of the Colossus

One of the best games of the PS2 is being remade and it is being remade in updated glorious graphics. The first one was a masterpiece so other than the graphics, there is nothing else they need to change. Hopefully it doesn't take 12 years for this to come out like The Last Guardian.

Days Gone

We saw another glimpse of Days Gone this time. Last year we saw just zombies hordes. A massive collection of zombies. This year we get a larger look of the world in this game. Zombies aren't the only bad guys you encounter as you also have to fight off marauders as well. In the gameplay demo, you see just that as they set off a booby trap to try to kill you. Luckily you can craft up traps or even use zombies to set things up and turn the tables around and make yourself the trapper. You can also get work from maurader camps as quests to go further on in the game. What is also unique is that levels change making certain encounters different as you play. There is a lot going on in this game.

Dragonball Fighter Z

I know, a Dragonball Z fighting game that is worth playing? I know they are all basically the same and they grow like weeds each year, bu this game is different. The art style is really impressive as it flows like you're watching the anime. It's 2D but at times it switches to 3D. It looks really stunning. so button mashing or no button mashing to win aside, there's that.

Metro Exodus

The third entry in the series. You've played the other two so what's different? The game has been described as sandbox horror in contrast to the other games meaning that you will have more non-linear levels compared to the linear ones in the past games. Along with this it's in beautiful 4k so kill mutant animals in high definition!

Doom VR

Doom was a pretty awesome game so what would be better? Playing it in not just VR but, VFR. I'm sure the F stands for fun, I think...

Crackdown 3

We finally get another Crackdown game. So, everything you love about the last crackdown game you'll love in this as everything is done on a grander scale. Grander abilities for agents, grander cel-shaded art style, and more explody goodness. Oh, and Terry Crews is in it so that's not bad.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Wolfenstein is back! Everyone rejoice, except Nazis. This game looks like it will be more fun than blowing up a barrel of Hitlers.

Beyond Good and Evil 2

This game is back from development Hell. All we got was a trailer, but then again a sure sign that this game is not in the scrapheap is all we need.

Destiny 2

We saw a bit more of Destiny 2. It's not going to be identical to the first Destiny. This time around there will be some tweaks. First off is that the newly revamped weapon system. Weapons will be classified as Kinetic, Energy, and Power weapons. This beef up other weapons as the Scout rifle and the grenade launcher so you can not only customize, but experiment using other weapons in the mix. Bungie seems to be very concerned to fixing a lot of issues with the first Destiny and making improvements. We can't wait to see the finish product when it comes out.

Vampyr

We saw Vampyr last E3 and we get to see it again for this one, joy! So for those who don't know, Vampyr is a action role playing game where you are a recently turned vampire doctor in old London. Like all action role-playing games, you have decisions that change the course of gameplay. What sets it apart from the others is how you level up in the game, feeding off of the citizens of London. As which choices and consequences you can kill and gain vampiric powers, but risk vampire hunters and London on your ass along with other vampires. You do have the option to not kill anyone in the game, but this raises the difficulty in the game and fighting off your enemies as well.

Everything Nintendo

Nintendo really came with their A-game this E3. It seems that even before their E3 digest they were giving us great goodies like the Mario and Rabbids game and a peak at the Switch version of Skyrim. When it came for them to finally show what they had in store for us it was worth it. We got a demo of Super Mario Odyssey which looks glorious. Inspired by the exploration and creativity of Super Mario 64 and Sunshine it looks like won't disappoint us. Splatoon 2 looks like it will be better than the first. New Kirby. New Yoshi. Also if that didn't have you excited just yet, not only do we have one Metroid game coming up, but we have TWO with Metroid Prime 4 in the works.

Games We Probably Want to See in 2017

2017 is here and there are promises to be made. No, not that promise to lose weight and quit smoking? Promise game developers, and companies promised to give us great game this year! These are so games that we either would like to play or at least hear more of this year.

Yooka-Laylee

We we're suppose to get this game last year which was a bummer. If you didn't know about it or haven't heard about the game, Yooka-Laylee, made by Playtonic, is suppose to be a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series that was on the N64. It is a 3D platformer that is pretty much its predecessor was and that make me really excited to finally get my hands on it. The reason it was delayed, again, was that they wanted it to be on the upcoming Nintendo Switch. Hopefully we will play this sometime this year, hopefully.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Another game we were supposed to get in 2016, Breath of the Wild is not your typical Zelda game. It is huge on the idea of scavenging and exploring the incredibly vast land of Hyrule to make food, and weapons that will help you on your quest to save it from Ganon. It is a huge call back to the original Zelda where things are not linear and it's all about you discovering secret trials and dungeons. We seem that we're going to get it soon when the Switch comes out. Let's hope that this is true.

Prey

The first Prey was pretty cool. This one is both a sequel and and an enhanced remake of the original. You are a character on a space station that, according to creative director Raphael Colantonio, every event that happens in the game is continuous instead of it being broken up in levels and missions. Instead of going to spirit form in the original, you will acquire the powers of various alien enemies giving a different spin to gameplay. I can't wait to see how this works out and how the whole thing plays and looks.


Allison Road

When we heard their was going to be a Silent Hills Game made by Guiellermo Del Toro we were excited. When we heard it was canceled we were devastated. Luckily we had P.T. which wowed us. Allison is considered to be an homage to P.T. and is basically have similar gameplay. It was quickly cancelled for a while and it is now back in production. So even though we might not gotten Silent Hills, but it is nice that we get to have something that came from it and hopefully it comes out some time this year.

Red Dead Redemption 2

We haven't gotten much news or saw anything about Red Dead 2 other than a teaser image of some guys in a sunset.  The series is basically the wild west version Grand Theft Auto. Hopefully we see something soon because the other games in the series were amazing. Especially if they still want to cash in on the Westworld hype that is still going on.

Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania is a much waited return to the classic 2D Sonic games. This is a real throwback. Not a enhanced version like Sonic 4 or some anniversary thing like Sonic Generations. A back to basics thing that is chock full of nostalgia and tons of easter eggs from the series. Sonic games have been pretty hit and miss, mostly miss but this looks very promising.

God of War

What do you do when you killed all the Greek gods? Kill the Norse ones. That is not the only new thing as they redone the gameplay completely from the ground up. There are more RPG elements as you build more knowledge points for weapons meaning that you'll be more skilled at using them as well a a newly revamped rage ability. We saw this at E3 last year we were blown away. We want more.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

We love the Mass Effect series so another installment is something good. The concept of Andromeda seems to be to give the players more meaning that you get to explore a more vast open world than the past Mass Effect games and have the player create characters with a complete free reign of skills to obtain.


Friday the 13th: The Game

We've seen the beta of this and everything looks wonderful. You can play as probably horny but terrible acting teen counselors of Camp Crystal Lake try to survive or Jason himself and hunt down everybody in a not so senseless blood bath, because they did neglect and drown you were were a kid while they were trying to bone. Anyway this looks great so it will be nice to see what the finished game will look.

Resident Evil 7

It seems that we have a lot of games that are going back to the basics on this list along with Resident Evil 7. This time around Capcom is scaling back with the action-horror elements and is doing pure survival horror with 7. You're roaming around a large mansion solving puzzles much like the original Resident Evil. While their might not be zombies there are monsters and the Baker Family you will need to fight off. The demos look promising so hopefully it delivers.

Kingdom Hearts 3

We haven't heard anything about this in a couple of years, but we've gotten multiple remixes and 2.5s and 1.8s and whatever. Square, just hurry up and release it. We're waiting for this and we are impatient.

Any games on this list that I missed and you can't wait to see or play?

Will People Switch Over to the Nintendo Switch?

     After a long period of guessing, speculation, and really ridiculous rumors we have finally caught a glimpse of the NX, oops I mean the new Nintendo Switch. It didn't disappoint. The rumors of it being a hybrid of a console and handheld were true. You can disattach and take it with you anywhere from cars, flights, and even take it with you to play with you and your friends after playing a real game of basketball and reattach it to the modem at home. The controller looks pretty awesome as well as you can connect it like a old school controller or take it apart and use it like a Wiimote. You can even connect it to the Switch Pad and play games just like the Wii U screen. Yes things look really cool but will all of this'll ad to the Switch flying off the shelves? Will it get people to put down their PS4 and Xbox One controllers and Switch over to the Switch?
     It does look like a big step up from the Wii U which is already a good thing. It is apparent that the Wii U's launch and run was more of a fizzle than a big explosion. At first it wasn't anything that was setting it apart from the Wii other that a game pad. But the it would take more than technology to get people to buy the Switch. It needs games.
     One of the big problems Nintendo had with the Wii U, was its library of games during its launch. It didn't have enough solid game titles to get consumers to buy. Third party games were even worse as we barely had those during launch. They were in a drought for a couple of years until they had to revamp their marketing strategy.
    Fortunately for Nintendo, they are well aware of this issue they had with game title, especially third party ones and are making a system that encourages third party companies to want to work with the Switch and third party developers do want to work with the system. People are also excited based on only a snippet of what the Switch has to offer. Again, the technology look great but it doesn't matter if you don't have games that people want to play, especially at the launch period. It's great Nintendo is well aware of this and have a strategy to make sure we have some good games to play right from the start. It does have potential for it to be huge. It will be a waste if Nintendo squanders its chances by not backing it up with the right amount of effort to make sure it does well. It is expected to sell 2 million at launch if the demand is well deserved. We'll see if whether people are going to switch over to the Switch.

What do you think?
   

Is The NX Nintendo's Last Chance For A Good Console?

     The NX is probably the biggest secret Nintendo is keeping right now. Since the past two years of what we've heard it being announced we know absolutely nothing about it. Also every bit of information from it has been rumors so far. Nothing legit or official. They have chosen not to reveal anything about it in the past E3 and more recently this Nintendo Direct happening today. You can kinda makes sense of Nintendo being reclusive. They're trying to do something extraordinary. And they kinda need it.
     What isn't a secret is the underperformance of the Wii U and the 3DS. Not that many people bought the Wii U. It is low even compared to the its console rivals the Xbox One and PS4. They did many attempts to try to boost up sales and it did somewhat work, but the company has still faced revenue lost for a few years. With this failure of the Wii U, and once upon a time the Gamecube, Nintendo is starting to repeat the previous failures of their former rivals Sega. In a recent interview with Alistdaily, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that one of the problems with the Wii U's failure was not successfully demonstrating the Wii U's software capabilities with consumers.
     If they don't think of it as their last console, then they ought to. Nintendo cannot afford another failure console. Fortunately they are aware of the issue they are facing. In the same interview Fils-Aime further stated:

"One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience. And we have to do a better job from a software planning standpoint to have that continuous beat of great new games that are motivating more and more people to pick up the hardware and more and more people to pick up the software."

     It is apparent that a lot is riding on the NX's success so it is understanding that they are taking their time to officially announce things. They're making sure everything is perfect and the NX raises standards and expectations. Whether things come out perfect or people are willing to buy the NX will be determined when we Nintendo finally announce what the console can do.

E3 2016: What Didn't Suck

Anothe E3 came and went. This year's E3 has been basically about one thing basically: games, games, games. Noone really left me surprised as each press conference and Nintendo Treehouse was all about giving gamers a ton of games and content to keep you entertained for the next year. What didn't suck? Let's see.

Crash is Back

Nostalgist of 90s video games rejoice! After all of the internet wishing and maybe thousands of mail Sony has gotten from you, they have finally caved in and Crash is finally back! Not in a brand new game, but instead his first three games are going to be remastered for the PS4. I remember playing these games on my PlayStation so I'm just as excited to play these remastered games as well. It's going to be interesting to see how everything will look. Hopefully this would lead to a revival of new Crash Bandicoot games in the future and the remakes would be Sony testing the waters to see if how he will do in this new generation. Until the remasters come out, you can get your Crash fix

Sea of Thieves

Rare is back with this game which was announced last E3. This time around we got to see actual gameplay. You get to see characters interact in town, swim in the sea, and of course drive and fight in pirate ships. It's nice to see a glimpse of what the game is about and what you can do. Hopefully no bears ruin this game, birds too.

Final Fantasy XV

We've seen the battle system before. It is moreso like the the battle system of previous games but a bit more fluid as you a switch between combat and weapons. This time around the is based on how you make combos switching from different attacks. This time around we actually got to see a boss battle against Titan. To see it the party battle something as huge as the Titan boss is something impressive.  Bottom line it does look cleaner and gorgeous just like everything else in the game. That and over 100 hours of gameplay I'm completely stoked to play this when it comes out.

Resident Evil 7

Much to everyone's surprise we're getting another Resident Evil game. It looks very different from the other games, especially the recent ones, as it's not so much action-horror. It seems to be going back to its roots, which is a good thing. A really good thing. The game is covered in so much mystery with Capcom just giving you a demo of you wondering around in a spooky old house. Regardless with what we've been giving and not knowing how this will fit into the main series, it does look cool. It is giving the series a new breath of life, after choking on Resident Evil 6.

God of War 4

As you can guess this E3 was full of surprise announcements. One of these was a new God of War. So this time around Kratos is a new daddy. The gameplay was pretty much new. Everything has been reworked including the Spartan Rage-timed ability. You gain knowledge points on weapons as well as craft resources. This game seems to be as Kratos said in the demo a new beginning as not only is the battle mechanics are new, you are in a new environment. This time around you'll be battling Norse gods and monsters, you know because you killed all the Greek ones. This overall looks great. Can't wait to see more.

The New Spider-Man Game

The teaser trailer looks crazy. The game is a joint project with Marvel, Sony, and Insomiac games. All we got was a teaser, but it showed a lot. The game does have a lot of potential that we're excited to see how it turns out.

The Last Guardian

We got to see another trailer of The Last Guardian. We got to see a bit more this time around. The art looks more colorful. Aside from looking at gorgeous scenery your character will be encountering other birddogs, which may try to eat you. Overall it looks beautiful.

Pokemon Sun & Moon

Nintendo decided to show us some gameplay of the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon. They tweaked the battle gameplay a bit. If you battled a previous trainer or another pokemon in the wild, you have an indicator of what moves work were really effective against that pokemon. We also got a peak of how the pokedex will work and it seems to be more organizing even indicating the evolutionary family of the pokemon you caught. We were also treated to our "Pidgey", "Rattata", and "Caterpie", of the Alola region: Pikepek, Yungoose and Grubbin.

Death Stranding

We got a stunning trailer without any gameplay. Even though the trailer didn't show any gameplay you can get some ideas of what the game is about. It looks to be another game where you scavenge for thing like Far Cry Primal which isn't a bad thing. It does seem nice to see that a collaboration between Kojima and Norman Reedus work after all after the cancellation of Silent Hills and PT. It looks great and we can't wait to see actual gameplay footage. Afterall we know it will be amazing since Kojima is involved. We get treated to a naked Norman Reedus so that's also a big plus.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

We finally got to see the new Zelda and it holy crap does it look good. This time around the new Zelda seems to be more technology based as Link will be going around all over Hyrule with his Shiekpad Pro accessing towers and dungeons, called trials. As true to Aonuma's word everything you see you can have access to and climb. They also tweaked clothing around this time gaining some RPG-ish rules to it. Some clothes help you in some environments. Also Link will have to forage and hunt this time around so he can have maximum health. You do get items as well as finding and crafting items to help you on your quest. There is a stamina meter that when low or out it limits Link. Breath of the Wild is giving a new spin on the franchise with it being vastly different than the other Zelda, also with Link jumping for the first time. The demo Nintendo provided as grand as it was was barely one percent of the game. Can't wait to see more.

Was there aanything I miss? Leave your comments.

Will the Nintendo NX Use VR?

VR is turning out to be a big thing this year. A matter of fact, a lot of VR devices will be released this year. Consumer versions of Oculus Rift are coming out in mere days as well as Playstation VR's release date and price has been revealed recently. It is becoming a trend. Everyone seems to be catching on to it. Will Nintendo catch on the trend? Will the NX support VR?
      Ever since the NX was announced Nintendo has been very tight lipped about it. There was a supposed leak about what the controller could look like and work, but we can take that with a grain of salt and brush it off as being fake. They have announced what it will support, including the 3DS, PC, and smartphones but not exactly how. We basically know nothing. Could it very well support VR as well?
     VR seems like it's going to be a big thing in gaming with a lot of companies interested in it as well as people who are looking forward to it as well. It would be a terrible thing for Nintendo to pass this up, especially if they want to undo the errors of the Wii U. President of Nintendo, Tasumi Kimishima did promise that the company would do and try plans that were outside of what they normally would do. However if they do decide to go the VR route, the NX shouldn't be solely VR. They should however do something like having the NX support a VR device, pretty much like how the PS4 supports PlayStation VR. Also hopefully they learned their lesson with the Virtual Boy.

Games We're Checking For in 2016

2016 is here and that only means one thing. No, that not that resolution to lose weight or quit smoking, video games. 2015 was kinda ok. We got Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront and Bayonetta is finally in Smash Bros. 2016 is looking to be even bigger and better. Here's a list of games we cannot wait to play this here, or at least hope they won't be delayed and we'll actually get to play this year...

Star Fox Zero

It's nice to see that the Star Fox series isn't gone, forgotten, and only relevant in Smash Bros games, sorry F-Zero. we were teased about a new potential Star Fox game all the way back in E3 2013 when Shigeru Miyamoto showed us a small demo in a Nintendo Direct. Star Fox Zero plays a lot like the earlier Star Fox games like Star Fox and Star Fox 64. It also incorporates a bit of mechanics from the cancelled Star Fox 2 for the SNES like the leg Airwing. Miyamoto states that Zero isn't a reboot, but more of an reimagining of the Star Fox 64 game where each mission is more episodic than 64's cinamatic approach.

Yooka-Laylee

We all remember playing Banjo-Kazooie on the N64. We also missed playing it after Rare was bought be Microsoft and haven't done much with the franchise. Yeah we did eventually get Nuts & Bolts but it wasn't the B&K that we weren't used too. Well fortunately Platonic Games, former employees from Rare, has heard your cries. As stated above the gameplay of Yooka Laylee is very reminiscent to Banjo-Kazooie as its your traditional 3D platformer where you will have a ton of things to collect. It even has you transform into various things, like Banjo-Kazooie. When it ended its Kickstarter, it made over three million, so it's an understatement that people are dying to have this game.

No Man's Sky

No Man's Sky is simply beautiful and stunning. The game pretty much involves you exploring different planets in search for material and lifeforms.You are dealt with an enormous sandbox of planets and star systems to explore all which seems to be individual and running independently in real time. As almost as the universe you are exploring in the game, the possibilities of what you can do in this game is endless.

Legend of Zelda Wii U

There is not much that can be said about this game as Nintendo has been pretty much hush about it. All we know is that the thing of the new Zelda game is all about exploration. Zelda Wii U is pretty much going back to the roots of the original Legend of Zelda game where the its just you exploring a large Hyrule map, except this time the map is much, much larger. Zelda Wii U gives us what is possibly the largest map of Hyrule in the series ever.

Doom

It's been awhile since we had a new game in the Doom franchise. A matter of fact almost twelve years. The game has been in development ever since 2008. Years went by and people got worried that the game was probably cancelled. The folks at iD decided to start everything from scratch in 2011 and that is how we got this. They've seem to have gone back to the basics and there is nothing wrong with that at all. It plays like old Doom and looks like new Doom. What's more to ask?

Uncharted 4

If you're new to the Uncharted series it is basically you, as Nathan Drake, going through exciting levels where everything is action packed and there are always surprises at every turn. Nathan's almost like an Indiana Jones, that steals. This time around Drake has been out of the thief business for three years. He is now getting back into the business after his long lost brother suddenly shows up. It is supposedly the last Uncharted series Naughty Dog will be working on so if that isn't a reason to buy I don't know what is.

Cuphead

I'm pretty much excited about this myself. Cuphead gives us a return of the shoot em' up genre. It's pretty as well with the classic 1930s cartoon animation. Seriously, it's like Mickey Mouse meets Contra.

Final Fantasy XV

Believe it or not, we've been waiting for this game for so long. The current and fifteenth installment of the series was once suppose to be Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which we thought we would never get after many postponements from Square Enix. Well we can now have a sigh of relief as it is now here and it is definitely will be releasing in 2016. Like Zelda Wii U, XV will be all about exploration. You and your party will be traveling across a huge map full of destinations and secrets that you will find and explore. What's different than the other series is that artistically the world you are in is a mixture of our world and the fantasy world, meaning that you'll be able to see giant admantoise  as you're driving down a highway and will actually encounter goblins, a staple enemy of the series, in caves. We were able to play a demo earlier and it was ok. Can't wait to play the whole thing in its entirety.

The Last Guardian

After years of postponement and tears of hope we have our prayers answered. Not much has been heard of this game for so long, we even thought that this game would be quietly cancelled, until it was recently revealed at E3 in 2015. The game has been in development hell since 2007. Helmed by director Fumito Ueda, Guardian will look and play just like popular and well renowned games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. You're a boy who has to navigate and solve puzzles through a giant ruin with this giant dog-chicken creature.

Dark Souls III

Unlike a lot of these games listed, we weren't really waiting for years or a long period of time to finally get to play Dark Souls. That doesn't mean that people have not been clamoring for another game in the series. Being the fourth installment Dark Souls III pretty much plays like its predecessor II, which I don't know how good that is being so damn hard. What's new to the series is a new gaming feature Ready Stance in which you can deal more damage to an enemy as well as faster combat gameplay. So if you like the last Dark Souls game, or just like dying over and over again I think you would love this.

What games are you looking forward to playing the 2016?

Pulling the Plug on the PlayStation Vita's Successor Part 2: Should Sony Quit Handheld?

     If you haven't read my post last week, number one, shame on you here's a link and number two I'll give you a brief explanation if you're too lazy to click, again shame on you! It was recently announced that Sony will not be making a successor to the PlayStation Vita. In the last post I gave reasons why the decision was obvious. To keep it short, it all came down to sales, lack of quality games and exclusives, and basically Sony sweeping it under the rug. Yes, Sony is done with making handheld console and games, but should they?  Welcome to part 2.
     Again, the Vita turned out to be a huge bust, but if they wanted, Sony could've tried again with the next system. If you want to look at Sony not giving up and do a successor to the Vita, you can look at it from Sony's rival Nintendo. Nintendo has had its list of failures as well as successes. You can't forget the Virtual Boy which was the company's biggest failure to date. The Wii U and 3DS even started out badly. Both suffered lack of sales compared to their predecessors and a good line of games to play at the start. It wasn't until Nintendo decided to launch a series of campaigns to help turn things around and boost sales did just that. There have been a increase of sales of sales for the Wii U and 3DS in the past year.

     But let's look at things from a realistic view. Sadly there is no place for Sony in the handheld market anymore. Nintendo still dominates the handheld market. Mobile gaming is on the rise. Sony, sadly has become a relic. From a techonlogical stance, there isn't anything Sony can do to keep up. They did try to do something with touch screen technology but it ended up looking and feeling awkward. It is obvious that Sony has decided to focus on other things as well. Again like Nintendo, they could;ve turned things around of they wanted to, but the truth was and is that they didn't and they saw it as pointless to do so and move on.

What are your thoughts on the subject. Should Sony make another handheld system?

Pulling the Plug on the PlayStation Vita's Successor Part 1: Why The Vita Failed

Handheld Gaming. It was and, in some ways due to mobile gaming, is a huge thing. I, myself prefer playing handheld games compared to games on console for the sole purpose that I can go anywhere. From anyplace in the city to anyplace in the house, I can play games. We have come a long way from when the Game Boy came out where we had to play an 8-bit game on a tiny screen, IN PROPER LIGHTING to systems like the Vita with amazing graphics and in 3D like the Nintendo 3DS. It's amazing to see how things can go in the future, except with the Vita...
     If you haven't heard, over the weekend it has been announced that there will be no successor to the PlayStation Vita. As shocking as it seems, not really, there are reasons why it probably wasn't a hard decision as to why Sony decided to pull the plug on making another PlayStation handheld.
     Let's start with the most important, sales. Sales is the huge factor as to why we will not have a successor. When the Vita first came out, it sold over 325,000 units in Japan, which was ok, but sales started to slump in the following weeks. Overall, in the first quarter, February 2012, it has sold 1.2 million units worldwide and over 2 million in software, compared to the PSP's 2.2 million in 2007, but most importantly short compared to the Nintendo 3DS' 3.61 million in its first quarter. Sales continued to go down for the Vita after its first year. As of now, it has sold approximately 4 million from its launch to December 2014 compared to its rival the 3DS' 53 million (17 million in 2014) and its predecessor the PSP's 80 million.
      The second is the probably the second most important, games. The Vita did not have a strong library of games to play. They didn't have that many exclusives that people wanted to play. What they had to offer nobody wanted and what they tried to get they couldn't deliver. What they had you could've played on the console games and were much better versions. Why would you play Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD on the Vita when you can get it in better resolution on the PS4? Having games, importantly a strong exclusive gaming library is important to get people to solely play that system. Nintendo has learned this when the Wii U suffered in its earlier years when it had nothing to play and noticed sales picked up when they finally gave us an abundance of games to play later on.
      Lastly, Sony did not care. They barely did any marketing for the Vita and the games they had to offer. When sales kept plummeting, they barely did anything to help pick things up. At least with Nintendo and the 3DS' sales which were less than the DS's managed to turn things around with doubling down on pushing the system out and giving us better titles to play with. Sony just did nothing hoping that people will eventually play the Vita and just quietly pushed it under the rug when less and less people picked it up.
      We know why it probably was a good decision for Sony to pull out of the handheld game and not make a successor. Another question could be despite how the Vita fared, should they? That's for Part 2. Stay tuned.

     What do you think contributed to the PlayStation Vita's demise?

Sony, YouTubers, and Digital Media Part 1: Is Cable Truly Done For?

     YouTuber Joshua Ovenshire A.K.A The Jovenshire, from Smosh Games, made a video concerning the recent announcement Sony made at E3 this year. Starting soon, Sony announced that it would be expanding its service, PlayStation Vue to more cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco. PlayStation Vue is a service allowing its users to purchase single cable channels and stream on the PlayStation 4. In the video, he states that PlayStation Vue will be a big deal as, what he claims it will change media forever. Ovenshire is acknowledging the current trend with digital media. It is popular with the younger demographic as this generation is starting to prefer watch content online compared to watching shows on TV. There are less and less young people watching TV. But the question is will this move on Sony be or will it be the beginning of the end of cable?
     First of all, cable isn't going anywhere. It is true that people are preferring to watch shows online, companies like Time Warner and Comcast have their hands in things have they have in so deep that not even Superman can loosen their grip. Cable stations are, slowly but surely, adapting to digital formats and have been doing so in order to compete with the Netflix and the Hulus. Ironically, cable companies are working with these services like Hulu in order to get people who prefer watching things online to watch their channels. Also, the offer Sony is making to its customers isn't new. It is very similar to Sling TV. Sling TV, like what Sony is hoping to do, is an online TV service the offers channels for $20 a month, cutting out cable. Sling has barely made a dent competing with Comcast's second quarter earnings. Sony may have a harder time as not that many people are buying PS4s for TV.
     Ovenshire might be on to something. Eventually we might see cable go, but it's going anywhere soon. Vue service offers more channels than Sling, yet Sling is cheaper with its $20 compared to Vue's $50, but I highly doubt that PlaySation Vue will be the cable slayer, especially considering how Sling has fared and the number of people who buy PlayStation 4s to do things other than playing games. For something to make people who really jump from its gonna have to be a much better service provider.

Sony E3 2015 Press Conference: The Good, The Bad, and The Not So Last Guardian

Welcome to part II of my critique of all the E3 press conferences. Microsoft's conference was pretty good. Is Sony's better?

Good

The Last Guardian

The game that many thought wouldn't be made was finally announced. Things were looking a bit shaky for The Last Guardian. The production of the game started in 2007. There have been delays with the direction the product was going, people leaving, and there was even an issue with trademarking the name. Now that is over and out of the way. The game is actually happening and is finally here. With it being made by the studio who gave us Ico and Shadow of the Colossus the visuals are stunning. If you already haven't heard of the game you are a boy who has befriended a creator and you both must navigate through the ruins of a castle, almost like Ico. You have to solve puzzles as you go through the castle. The game comes out 2016, hopefully.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

This game does look interesting. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic earth where civilization as we know it ceased to exist due to a "sudden darkness." Instead of the apocalypse that we usually see with ruined buildings and deserts where everything looks like crap, the opposite happens. Nature takes over to a point where everything looks like the pre-industrial revolution, except we get machine animals as well. The game looks like you will have to incorporate a bit of stealth as in the trailer the main character has to sneak in the bushes in order to stay hidden during a hunt and try not to have the lookers find her and warn the other machines.

No Man's Sky

A lot of work has went in to No Man's Sky. The game is your standard sandbox game on steroids. Promising to explore a ton of planets and solar systems. We were only able to see a couple of planets, actually going to one in the demonstration. Overall the game looks amazing and anyone who plays it will have a ton to do.

Street Fighter V

Like Hitman, we only saw a blip of Street Fighter V, but unlike Hitman, we actually got to see how gameplay will look. It looks cool so far. There will be a beta in July so I can't wait to see more.

Destiny: The Taken King

This is an DLC of Destiny. The expansion promises more gear and maps. The DLC will be set in some time after you defeated Crota and jis father is not very thrilled about it, taking his revenge out on you. The other Destiny DLC was great, so hopefully this will be even better.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

This game looks insane. Syndicate seems to be what the Assassin's Creed series just need in order to spark fresh new life into it. The game will feature you switching between either as a male or female lead character, which is a first in the series. It is also the first game in the main series where you play as a woman. The action in the trailer looks swift and amazing. If the action in the game looks half as good as it does in the trailer, this will be a win.

Final Fantasy VII

Holy shit. Final Fantasy fans rejoice. Your prayers since the 2002 days have been answered. We are finally, especially since the awful tease that was the PS3 Tech demo, a Final Fantasy VII remake. They only showed a teaser and it only leaves me wanting to see more.

Shenmue III

Sony's press conference this year is officially the conference of making nerd dreams come true. Along with The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy VII,  Sony has been hearing fans and have announced that Shenmue II is being put on kickstarter. I see this more as a final test to see if people really want this to happen instead of actually needing money to make the game. I never played the first Shenmue games, so hearing this I'm interested to not only see this go through but to look back on Shenmue 1 and 2 to see what I was missing out on.

Uncharted 4

To close the show, Sony show some gameplay of Uncharted 4. If you're new to the series the game loves to put you in visual fuckup situations where you will be moving your way through the environment in order to live through some crisis either with bad guys gunning you down on a sunken cruise ship or whatever. This time you're in a gun fight that turns into an epic car chase in a Favela. Seeing how this all goes down has me excited to see more.

Bad

World of Final Fantasy

This game looks cute, but I see no reason to this game other than Square Enix trying to do something cute. At least Theatrhythm had a purpose as you could play classic songs from the series.

Call of Duty

You Play one COD, you play them all basically.

Meh

Firewatch

The trailer doesn't look very intriguing. I know there's going to be big on exploring, but it looks like ti would be boring.

Hitman

The trailer was nice, but there wasn't enough of the gameplay in the trailer. I can't make heads or tails of how this game will look compared to the other Hitman games. Hoorah Hitman is back?

My post for Nintendo's Digital Event is here!
My post for Microsoft's Press Conference is here!

This Is A Pre-E3 Post

     Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time again. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is here again. Every once in a year we prepare and look forward to hearing and seeing what the biggest gaming companies have to offer us this year and the years ahead. We see trailers and gameplay from upcoming games. We get excited and make plans on how we are going to save up on getting these games. So, enough chit chat, what do these companies have to offer us this year?

Microsoft

     First things first, let's start off with Microsoft. A standard Microsoft conference at E3 would be basically showing off the capabilities of the Xbox console and what games you would play on it would sit a bit of the back seat  Last year at E3 Microsoft decided to be more about games instead of how you can watch YouTube and Netflix the Xbox One. That was bit of a good thing after all that's what you bought the console for in the first place. Microsoft has promised that they will be more about first party games at this E3 and I cannot be more happier about that news.
     We know that their big exclusives Scalebound, Crackdown, and Quantum Break will not be there as they decided to show them off at Gamescon, so that is bit of a bummer. But don't fret we will be hearing about their other titles like Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider which I am excited about. Recently we had heard that Microsoft has made a deal with the Oculus Rift, so we can expect to hear more about that.

Nintendo

     Nintendo has been passing making live press conferences at E3 for awhile, instead deciding to make Nintendo Direct announcements. these directs have become a big thing as well as never failing to disappoint. The directs for last year, while still good, have been a bit underwhelming compared to the previous year. Nintendo gave us a bounty of amazing games to look forward to in 2013 with Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8, and Super Mario Land 3D.
     Last year we did have some great announcements like Splatoon and Yoshi's Wooly World, but again, it's wasn't as bountiful as the previous year. Hopefully they can deliver for us this year as they kinda still need it to help further sell the Wii. I'm sure we'll will hear more about Mario Maker, a platform creator which will hopefully put those Super Mario hacks to shame. It looks amazing and filled with Mario crap that will make the biggest Mario addict happy for years.
     Sadly Zelda Wii U will not be there which is sad as I, along with a ton of people are excited to see more of. There are rumors of Retro Studios and Platinum games have something cooking up and that could possibly be a new Metroid game. That would be amazing as we seriously need a new Metroid game on this system badly. Also what we need badly is an update of Star Fox Wii U so hopefully we will hear more about that.

Sony

     So last year, Sony took a page form Microsoft's old playbook and decided to make their conference about the functionality of the PS4. There's a good possibility that we'll still be in for that at this year's conference, but hopefully they won't. Honestly there isn't enough games on the PS4 that is sparking my interest which makes me sad because I love Sony and PlayStation. So hopefully this year Sony can deliver on that. Luckily for them it was just announced that Street Fighter V will be, so far, only on the PS4 and PC so that's a huge plus for them.
     One of the big news Sony has is that there will be a new Ratchet and Clank game that will be a PS4 exclusive which will go along the the new movie coming out in the near future. From the trailer it does look interesting. We will hopefully hear more about Fallout 4 which will be a good thing. Fallout 4's announcement has pretty much set the internet by storm so hearing more about it would be amazing, as well as seeing more of it in action.
     Another game everyone is looking out to hear is Doom. It's been awhile since we had a Doom game and I remember being in love of Doom back in the day so it feels great that there we're getting a new game in the series. The new Doom game is going to be a reboot other than a continuation of Doom 3. This is good as Doom 3 wasn't. It will be interesting to see where iD will take it. It will be more interesting if we see gameplay.

What are you looking forward to at E3?