Author: blitzen34

Hello, my name is Benjamin Le. I am an avid gamer whose passion resides in Marketing for the Video Game Industry. This site is for people to read about gaming news and how the industry works. Please feel free to reach out to me at lebenjaminj@gmail.com for any questions.

NINTENDO’s Online Service Date Announced!

Nintendo’s Upcoming Network Plan

If you own a Nintendo Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you’ve been appreciating the free online multiplayer. Well, a countdown to the end has begun. Nintendo will release its premium online service: Nintendo Switch Online by 2018. Similar to Playstation Network and Xbox Live, this will be a paid monthly service.

Pricing*

1-Month Membership
$3.99 (USD)
3-Month Membership
$7.99 (USD)
12-Month Membership
$19.99 (USD)

Enjoy online services for free until the paid service’s official launch in 2018.

Features:

An Online lobby and voice chat through a dedicated phone app.  You can invite friends to play online, set play appointments and chat with your friends. The phone app will be released during summer 2017 for free in a limited form.

You will also gain access to “Classic Game Selections” that will include online play for certain games. Whether these last as long as you have the subscription or you have to pay for them, remains to be seen. You’ll also have more deals for eShop. This will not be replacing the Virtual Console.

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Opinion

In the end, it is cheaper than PSN and Xbox Live currently but the Switch still has limitations. There is no Netflix or common apps that most modern consoles have and only a few games for the Switch warrant the online service. Whether or not Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holds your attention online will dictate how valuable the service will be. While popular online franchises like Call of Duty or Battlefield may release on the Switch in the near future, Nintendo doesn’t have the back catalogue for most gamers to invest in the service. We’ll see how popular the Nintendo Online Service will be. I think it’ll do well depending on the “Classic Game Selection,” especially if they offer the games fans have been asking for. This includes the Super Nintendo, N64, and GameCube titles.

 

Sources:

Nintendo

IGN

Shenmue 3 will not be at E3

Fans of the old Dreamcast Japanese game, Shenmue, were excited to hear the series would be receiving their 3rd title. Announced at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2015, Shenmue 3 excited fans since the last entry in September 6, 2001 ended unconclusively. A Kickstarter was announced and raised over $6 million thanks to fan support. The game would be released on the Playstation 4 and supported by Sony as well.

Unfortunately, Ys Net, the developers of the game, have announced they will not be attending E3 or any summer game shows for Shenmue 3. They did release a Development Report Video which is below. It doesn’t show much but a simple character model moving.

Ys Net also stated that the game will most likely miss their December 2017 initial release date.  Despite the amount raised, it takes a long time to fully develop a game, especially as massive as Shenmue 3. Developers often overestimated their release date which gives fans false hopes. While fans are disappointed, I hope they haven’t given up hope on the project.

Sources:

Eurogamer.net

Gematsu

Far Cry 5 and the Importance of Settings

Far Cry 5 will have a full reveal trailer this Friday, May 26th 2017. Based on pictures and confirmations by Ubisoft, the game will take place in Hope County, Montana, a fictional city. Based on the promotion picture, you can see churches, the iron cross, guns, sinner scarred into a prisoner and the image imitating The Last Supper from Leonardo Da Vinci. Obviously, this game’s setting will be controversial but I don’t want to talk about the obvious anger that will come from this game. I want to talk about the importance of setting and what appeals to audiences.

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Most games don’t use Americans as villains. Especially not games made for a world-wide audience. Most modern games based in America with villains generally are set in the past such as the Mafia series, L.A. Noire, and Red Dead Redemption to name a few. Rarely are Americans the villains, especially not White Americans. This will be a new set of villains who may have a focus on Christianity which is a new archetype that is rarely explored as well.

Choosing Montana is an interesting setting because most games rarely take place in open American land. Most open-world games such as GTA or Saints Row are often based in New York, L.A, or Chicago. Montana is new state most games have never touched and the new setting can appeal to players who may have been tired of the wild areas such as the Himalayas in Far Cry 4 or the jungle of Far Cry 3. This game will take place in a country most players are familiar which can attract older and newer players.

I personally enjoyed Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon but had no interest in 4 or Primal. The sequels felt too similar to one another. However, being based in America now has definitely caught my attention. I hope this game brings new ideas to the franchise besides skinning animals to buff your character and taking territories. While it was fun in the first two, I am already tired of the formula and fans are too based on sales of Primal and 4. Expect to hear people complaining on social media soon about the game soon. The teaser trailer is below

Upcoming Game News 5.22.2017

 

Destiny 2 will be coming out September 8, 2017 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox one. It will be released at a later time on PC. For the PC, the game will exclusively be on Battle.net, the Blizzard online platform, and will support a 4K resolution and uncapped frame rate. This means you will not be able to play it on Steam or buy the game independently.

PS4 users will receive year-long timed–exclusive content ahead of Xbox One and PC users. It will most likely range from weapons, armors, and loot maps similar to the first game.

There is a ton of new information in the sequel and I’ll attach the link below if you’re interested. This includes story, weapons, new game modes, and even DLC!

Destiny 2 update

South Park: The Fractured But Whole was delayed from its holiday 2016 release to October 17th, 2017. Pre-ordering the game will give you South Park: The Stick of Truth and “in-game assistant” Towlie from the cartoon for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One users. If you haven’t played the first one but enjoy the humor of the cartoon and a decent RPG, I recommend still buying this game. You can check out the trailer below to see if you might be interested in the sequel.

Trailer

Red Dead Redemption has unfortunately been delayed to 2018 with no specific release date yet. As of now, there are only screenshots from the series itself. No news on the story, whether it be a sequel to the game or a potential prequel.

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