ZeroAnd09

Today Bungie held its 2021 Destiny 2 Showcase. It offered players a look into what's in store with the new season, Season of the Lost , and upcoming expansion, The Witch Queen . Before getting into the meat of the presentation, it was revealed that since going independent two years ago, Destiny 2 has gained 20 million players. Overall, there is a lot of content to dive into and to keep things short, I'm super excited for the future of Destiny. Season of the Lost Season of the Lost  is launching today and will run from August 24, 2021 until the launch of The Witch Queen  on February 2, 2022. Mara Sov has returned to the Dreaming City to find much has changed. Her brother Uldren now fights with the Guardians he so despised. Xivu Arath, sister of Oryx and Savathun, goes to make war with her formidable fleet. Due to Savathun's meddling in an unspeakable number of affairs, Mara Sov seeks an audience with the Witch Queen. A new seasonal activity takes shape in the form of Astra...

Much to my son's delight, Tripwire Interactive has revealed DLC for the hit "ShaRkPG" Maneater . Truth Quest  is set to release on August 31, 2021 and follows our favorite shark and narrator (Chris Parnell) to the mysterious Plover Island Military Complex. Since the end of the last game, our narrator has been given a name, Trip Westhaven, and relegated to the online video streaming platform "ViewTube". Plover Island is the source of many a conspiracy theory, particularly those involving the naval base nicknamed "Site P" which played host to the US Marine Wildlife Program. From the Tripwire release: "Fight new evolved creatures – Battle fierce wildlife including new evolved apex predators as you battle your way up the food chain to regain your regional dominance. Add new evolutions to your arsenal – Feed on military personnel and evolved wildlife to grow your shark further, and find new evolutions to gain more powerful abilities." The traile...

  Ahead of the Witch Queen  reveal scheduled for tomorrow, Bungie released a teaser trailer finally showing off Destiny's next big bad, Savathun. Up until this point, there has been a lot of speculation regarding her appearance, so to finally see her crowned, winged form emerge is truly something spectacular. The teaser is only 15 seconds long and our lady says one thing. "Truth...is a funny thing." There is already a lot of speculation about what that could mean, where she is, and what the husk-like forms in the waters are. While it's fun to discuss and play the guessing game, we only have to wait less than a day now to have it all finally revealed to us.

  Voidtrain is a survival game set during WWII where a team of engineers has devised a way to escape Nazis through the use of an interdimensional train. Voidtrain  is currently in early access and appears to be an Epic store timed exclusive. It comes from NEARGA, a developer/publisher out of Russia. Their previous game was Desolate  in 2019. Voidtrain was released in early access on August 12, 2021 and has a TBA release date for Steam. Currently, it is on sale for $29.99. Voidtrain  has been on my radar for some time, ever since the crew at Neebs Gaming  mentioned it. I'm not typically one for survival games, but the truly unique concept caught my interest and I made it a point to download. A full review will be coming, but I wanted to share some impressions after an hour with the game. Like any early access game, bugs are to be expected. Bugs can be reported via the official Discord server, and NEARGA promises that they are aware of most bugs and working on fi...

Lake is an upcoming slice-of-life story game from Gamious and Whitethorn Games. It is set to launch on September 1 for Xbox Series X/S and Steam. Set in 1986, Meredith Weiss is called back to her hometown of Providence Oaks, Oregon to help her father, the local mail carrier. For two weeks she will step away from her career at a software company across the country. For these two weeks, the player will guide her in the day-to-day of delivering mail, interacting with folks both old and new, and ultimately deciding where her future may lie. To be honest, the plot screams of a Hallmark movie special. "Watch as a middle-aged woman leaves her big-time job in a busy company to go to a backwoods town. Along the way, she'll learn a lesson about life and love." It seems to be a bit generic in that regard.  But, I won't deny that there is an appeal to driving around the Pacific Northwest and experiencing a slower-paced story. Lake  looks gorgeous with a unique look. Expect more...

  Twelve Minutes is an upcoming interactive thriller from Luis Antonio and Annapurna Interactive. It is set to release on August 19th on Xbox Game Pass, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Willem Dafoe, James McAvoy, and Daisey Ridley live out a traumatic evening as a couple (Ridley, McAvoy) is besieged by an intruder (Dafoe). As if this weren't bad enough, "the man" (McAvoy) is stuck in a time loop of 12 minutes. Here, he must relive the horror over and over again, unless the player can gather information about the situation and change the outcome. It's an interesting concept backed by an all-star cast. The game is presented in a top-down fashion, giving it a heightened cinematic sense. As someone that values story above most other things in a game, I will say that I'm quite excited by this. It is implied there are numerous outcomes and ways to navigate the game, so replayability would likely be high. At $25, the price point is enticing enough. Expect more cov...

On August 4th, South Korean developer Nexon unveiled their upcoming looter shooter, Project Magnum . Not much is known about the game at this moment, but here is a rough Google Translate of the video description: "Project Magnum’ is the first PC and console-based multi-platform game introduced by Netgames, and it stands for the online looter shooter genre. You can enjoy a different game by adding third-person shooter combat to the RPG know-how that Netgames has accumulated." I was unable to find any information on Nexon's site regarding the title, nor anything from NatGames, the other listed developer. Both have extensive experience working with MMOs in South Korea and Nexon handles Final Fantasy XIV for the country. There is no release date available at the moment. So, all in all, not a lot of info to follow up on a very cool-looking trailer. The trailer shows off several images which remind me of previous games. We see a giant floating orb hovering next to a walled c...

Today at EA Play Live a special surprise was revealed at the end of the show. EA is bringing back Dead Space with Motive as the development studio. It will be a remake of the first game and will be available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. There is currently no release date. Motive is a studio out of Montreal, Quebec and its most recent release was Star Wars: Squadrons . Dead Space was a popular survival horror trilogy released back in 2008 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. EA Redwood was the initial developer before Visceral Games took over for the remainder of the series. Dead Space 2 was the critically acclaimed sequel released in 2011. Unfortunately, it was decided to chase trends and Dead Space 3 , released in 2013, became an action shooter and lost much of the survival horror roots that had helped make the series so popular. Additionally, there was Dead Space: Extraction, an on-rails shooter for Wii and PlayStation 3, and Dead Space Ignition , a visual novel ...

Casual and free-to-play games have surged in popularity over the past several years.  There’s no denying their ability to hook people who may have never picked up a controller in their life.  And when it comes to free-to-play games, many developers and publishers strive to find the next concoction that will whip the world into a frenzy.  And then there are those that decide to throw everything and the kitchen sink into their game.  By following the latter approach, did publisher Reality Squared Games spell success or doom for their new title, League of Angels ?

What do you get with equal mixes of bullet hell shooter, odd 16-bit nostalgia, and a slathering of stereotypical fantasy?  A mess.  You get a mess.  Magic Barrage could be compared to Frankenstein’s monster when thinking about the parts that went into its creation.  So it’s little surprise that playing the culmination is just as horrific.  Developed by Gameguyz and published by Reality Squared Games, Magic Barrage entered beta on December 17 th .

With so many games constantly being released, it’s hard for players to pick just one title and play it exclusively.  And due to the nature of the typical MMORPG, the amount of time invested can range from a few hours a week to something more like a part time job.  And that’s why it’s so important to pick a game worth that time.  Because with the responsibilities of day to day life, folks don’t want to waste their precious time on a bad game.  And it seems that publisher, Aeria Games, has designed their latest title, Aura Kingdom , with this in mind. There are certain key points that any enjoyable MMO has to hit on to make it just that, an enjoyable game.  And as I spent time with the game in its pre-closed beta state, I found myself having a grand time.  The polished writing of the quest dialogue, the pleasant and cheery visuals, the light-hearted music, and the engaging gameplay all culminated in quite the enjoyable experience. Taking Aura Ki...

Day two of E3 was kind of slow for me as I'm not a huge fan of Nintendo for multiple reasons.  Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't hate Nintendo.  It's just that their lackluster software line-up and constant cookie cutter sequels of their franchises have worn thin.  I just can't get excited about playing Mario 25 on a next-gen console using current-gen technology. However, there is one title that Nintendo has acquired that demands my attention.  2009 was a low point in gaming for me.  I was getting burned out on the over abundance of first person shooters that had saturated the market.  I wasn't having fun playing games anymore.  Just when I was about to throw in the towel, I picked up a title that turned all of that around.   Bayonetta  was an exuberant, shameless, punishing treat of a game.  It was ridiculous and over-the-top without shoving it down my throat.  To this day, it remains in my top 10 games of all time. A seq...

With only a day in, E3 2013 is proving 2013 is going to be a tremendous year for gaming.  With two new consoles, exciting additions to beloved franchises, and tantalizing new IPs, it's like Christmas come early.  While there's certainly a lot of content to cover, I'll be sticking to what has excited me the most thus far. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 MercurySteam and Konami blew me away with their 3D reboot of the Castlevania series.  Following the story of one of the first Belmonts and his radical transformation with one of the best twists in a game, this has been a long anticipated sequel.  For the first time, we get to play as the fabled count.  What other secrets will be uncovered?

My preview of Perfect World Entertainment's upcoming title, Neverwinter , is up at GamingClimax.com !

My interview with Aeria Games about their upcoming title, Scarlet Blade, is up at GamingClimax.com !

My preview of upcoming shooter, Absolute Force Online, is up at Gaming Climax !

My tour with the City of Steam dev team is up at Gaming Climax !

My preview of upcoming sci-fi shooter PlanetSide 2  is up at GamingClimax.com !

343 Industries has released the latest live-action trailer for Halo 4 .  "Scanned" shows a captured Master Chief being "interrogated by the new enemy faction, the Prometheans. As the Chief's mind is probed, we get a glimpse into his past as he was a young boy who was abducted and put into the SPARTAN program.  We see the surgical upgrades he received and that not all Spartans survived the process.  The Chief then receives his MJOLNIR armor which up until this point, we've never seen him out of. While we may never get a live-action Halo movie, this and the Forward Unto Dawn  web series almost fill that void.  But, after the disappointing mess that was District 9 (the spiritual successor to the Halo  movie project), I'm not sure we want Hollywood getting their hands on the franchise. There's only a few more weeks until Halo 4  is released.  Get ready!

My preview of upcoming game creation tool, Gameglobe is up at GamingClimax.com !