Titanfall 2 Co-Op Drop and Free Weekend Play!

Titanfall 2’s July 25th update includes new horde mode and a free weekend!

For people who enjoy mechas, fast-paced action, first person shooters, and Attack on Titan, Titanfall 2 is the game for you. Despite decent sales for the franchise, Respawn, the developers of the game, continue to pump out new and free content for the series. The new game type will be a Players vs Environment (PvE) called Frontier Defense. Fans of the first game will remember it from the original. The update will release July 25th which includes more maps, Titan Upgrades, and a free weekend to play.

Frontier Defense:

A four player cooperative mode. Your task is to protect the harvester from 5 waves of enemies. Like every horde mode, you’ll earn currency to purchase traps, upgrades, and abilities unique to the mode. There are 4 levels of difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Master. Insane can be considered one but it’s a feature mode.

There will be 5 maps for the game mode: Homestead, Forwardbase Kodai, War Games, Rise, and Blackwater Canal. Rise is the new map from the previous Titanfall game. There will also be unique upgrades to your Titan and Aegis Ranks exclusively for this mode. If you buy the in-game paint job with real money, you’ll receive double XP until August. 28th.

If you’re interested, the trailer is below. I’m a huge fan of Titanfall 2 and I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of fast-paced shooters.

Sources: Respawn, Polygon, Eurogamer

New Nintendo 3DS Ends…in Japan

Recently, Nintendo has announced to halt production of the New Nintendo 3DS in Japan. This is based on a recent post on Nintendo‘s Japan website regarding the New Nintendo 3DS. The recently announced New Nintendo 2DS  will be taking over the production line instead. It is a sleeker model and has better firmware. In a comparison of the two systems, the new 2DS will have no gyroscopic features and of course, no 3D.

Reasons, why they are stopping 3DS production, is mostly because the fad is dying. Nobody is interested in playing games in 3D and rarely were games using the gyro feature. In fact, several of Nintendo‘s recent games for the system didn’t even have 3D support including Pokemon Sun and Moon and Super Mario Maker. Not only that, but it’s a more subtle way of saving money since gyroscopic features and 3D projecting screens would save Nintendo more money.

New Nintendo 3DS will still be made worldwide but this may be a sign that Nintendo will be moving away from 3D for their previous handhelds. Sales for the 2DS have been better than the New Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo 2DS seems more popular as the Nintendo portable sold 490,000 units in Japan and 770,000 units in North America in the last fiscal year. North America shows a little more interest in the New 3DS hardware—400,000 sales in the last fiscal year.

Based on my opinion, I think this is the best move for Nintendo. I’ve rarely used the 3D capabilities because of the strain on my eyes and because it wasn’t very fun. It was a nice gimmick to have but didn’t really appeal to anybody in the long run. All people wanted was a fun hand-held system and the New Nintendo 2DS can still do that.

How do you feel about 3D gaming and if you owned a Nintendo 3DS, did you use the 3D often?

Sources:Artechnica

Nintendo JP

Polygon

Valve Brings the Ban Hammer

With the Steam sale finally ending, people can finally spend their summer playing their new games. Unless you’ve been using hacking tools, then you’re banned. In fact, Valve has banned over 40,000 people on July 6th. This is a record high ban since October 2016 where 15, 227 accounts were banned. Anybody who was caught by Valve Anti-Cheat was instantly banned although 5000 of them are based on normal ban reviews.

Many of the accounts were banned after purchasing cheaper copies of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. All the accounts banned had an approximately $8,674 worth of cosmetic items for the game. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the few games made by Valve whose cosmetics can be sold by other players due to the rarity of certain designs. Some of them go for over $100 depending on the limited release of the item. The real lesson is to not hack to earn real money in video games. Especially not for cosmetics.

How much have you ever spent on a free game? Personally, I’ve probably spent over $200 on MapleStory in my middle school days.

Sources:

Eurogamer

Polygon

SteamDB

TLDW: Splatoon 2 Nintendo Direct. July 6, 2017

Today’s Nintendo Direct was focused on Splatoon 2. The direct included more story, guns, and gameplay. It also included more online social features and is the first game that will use the Nintendo Switch Online App.

New Equipment:

Gears are the new equipment which will include buffs for each style of clothing. There are hats, shirts, and shoes! They will affect aspects of the multiplayer game. Some examples include faster respawn time, faster movement, and adjusted speed. Gear will be sold by fun characters called: Jelfonzo, Flow and Bisk! Murch the Urchin can add more buffs to your gear or remove some as well. Clothing is more important than ever in Splatoon 2.

Weapons will still be sold by Sheldon from Splatoon. You can fast-forward through his dialogue. There are three types of weapons: Main, sub, and Special! Some of the guns have been readjusted for Splatoon 2.

  • Standard Shooters now include a dodge roll!
  • Rollers can be used vertically
  • Chargers can now store the charge while becoming a squid
  • Splashers throws a bucket of ink
  • Blasters shoot blasts of ink

New Weapons:  The Clash Blaster-short range gun that leads to explosions. Flingza Roller: It can change shape and throw even further. Goo Toober is a charger that can charge for a longer time. Dapple Dualies: lighter guns which mean more manoeuvrability around the map.

New Subweapons: Autobombs that can track enemies and Toxic Mist which creates a poison Area of Effect. There are more to come

Special: Fill the gauge to use the special. You can now see if enemies have their specials to prepare yourself ahead of time but looking at the scoreboard.

Tetra missles: lock on missile barrage. Ink Jet: Fly and shoot blasts of ink. Sting ray: a charger that can shoot through walls. Splashdown: Aoe downward smash. Inkstorm: rains ink around the map. Bomb launcher: throws a array of bombs. Ink Armor: Armors up you and nearby allies with Ink. Negates damage. Baller: giant explosive hamster ball.

Game Modes:

There are new and returning game modes for Splatoon 2. Turf War still exists and focuses on inking as much of the territory as possible. There is also a new Dancing/Rhythm game in Inkopolis Square, the new hub. Amibos will give you access to new gear and save your Squids/Kids gear setting. A horde mode called Salmon Run will grant you access to new gear if you can survive. It’ll also include unique bosses such as Steel Eel, Flyfish, and Steel Head that were revealed during the direct. During this mode, the environment, weather, and light will change.

Ranked Battles:

Ranked Matches will be held in three game modes.

Tower Control: Stay on the moving tower platform to move it towards the goal. It’ll stop at designated areas which will make for some intense action. Splatzones: King of the Hill mode. Rainmaker: Capture the flag but it’s a super weapon. Protect the weilder at all cost to earn points. Each mode will have its own rank and if you’re really good, you can move up two ranks! You can team up with friends as a pair or as a team of 4.

Of course, there are new maps: The Reef, Mussleforge fitness, Inklet Art Academy, Starfish Mainstage, Humpback Pump Track, Sturgeon Shipyard, Port Mackerel and Moray Towers. I hope you enjoy the Marine based puns as much as I did.

Two new girls: Marina and Pearl. They’ll be your new SplatFest host! In fact, the next SplatFest will be on July 15th in the free online demo. It’s Ice Cream vs Cupcakes!

The Online App: SplatNet 2

Nintendo will launch a companion app with Nintendo Switch Online App called SplatNet2. It will co-release with the game on July 21st exclusively on smartphones. The app will include online features for Splatoon 2‘s online multiplayer such as:

  • Rank Listing
  • Stats
  • Different Stage Schedules
  • How much your characters “Inked”
  • Voice Chat
  • Create Private Lobbies with friends

The service is free for the rest of the year. Once 2018 beings, it’ll cost $19.99 annually which is cheaper than Xbox and PlayStation. More info regarding the service will be announced over the upcoming months.

MiiVerse 2?

Players can send each other pictures that they’ve drawn into private mailboxes. They can also be displayed in the game similar to Splatoon on Wii U. They’ll be displayed Inkoplis Square and certain maps in the game. The pictures can be shared across connected social media as well.

Future Content

Splat Brella Gun which can shield and dash all in one weapon. Bubble Blower that creates floating landmines that can spread the ink around the map. Of course, there will be new gear and new stages. There is scheduled to have about a year of updates and 2 years of Splatfest! Nintendo has been doing a great job of keep their IP’s fresh and keeps fans in for a longer time than most companies these days. So this game will continue to be updated so don’t get cooked…Stay off the hook!

 

Sources:

Splatoon 2 Direct

Nintendo’s Twitter 

Kotaku

Polygon