Top 5 Things Microsoft Should do at E3 2018

Exclusives, Exclusives, Exclusives

I’m a fan of all consoles and was actually an Xbox “fangirl” since its release. However, this generation, Sony completely sold me with the PlayStation 4. They truly listened to gamers with the price point, better-designed controller, and of course its high-quality exclusives.

While I love PlayStation this generation and may very well prefer them from now on, there’s no saying why Xbox couldn’t “win” me back. I believe the first step is making quality exclusives that make gamers want to go out and purchase an Xbox One or Xbox One X. I think it’s safe to say, PlayStation has exclusives that people would  specifically purchase a PS4 for.

In a nutshell, if Microsoft had a few new IPs or exclusives that looked to be up to par with the likes of Uncharted 4, God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn, I think this could cause Microsoft to “win” this E3 and get people excited and talking about their product.

With the Xbox One X being the most powerful console out there, maybe that will encourage developers to want to exclusively work with Microsoft; who knows.

Regardless, I’m excited to see what they have up their sleeves for E3 2018. Their conference this year is 2 full hours long, compared to the normal 1 hour to an hour and a half conference time. Suffice to say, Microsoft has something cooking for E3 2018 (hopefully).

     Price drop on Xbox One X

With the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro being significantly cheaper than the Xbox One X, there’s no doubt that some people may gravitate toward Sony, purely based on price. In my opinion, there’s not much bringing people over to Microsoft’s side unless you’re a die hard fan, love Halo or Gears of War and really feel the need for that performance boost the Xbox One X provides. However, how many people would pay an extra $100 for that? I could be totally wrong, but those are just my thoughts. And as some people know, I have nothing against Microsoft. I want to see them succeed like Sony has this generation. More for us gamers, right?

If Microsoft managed to bring the price of the Xbox One X to $400, I think this would be a HUGE win for them. I believe many people would pick up the ‘X’ because it isn’t such a hefty price tag.

Writing this now, I’d actually be kind of shocked of this didn’t come to fruition. It would be a major headliner for websites across the internet.

Focus on games; we don’t want cars and musical acts

In the past, Microsoft has decided to focus part of their conferences on musical acts related to games like Just Dance and it’s a complete bore-fest. It’s about the time my friends and I zone out and go onto our phones.

Same goes for when they bring a real car on stage to promote their new Forza game. Don’t get me wrong, the car looks cool, but is it E3 appropriate? Many people watching are waiting for game announcements and the people attending are either waiting for the same thing or are gaming journalists. Most of us don’t care about a shiny new car on stage.

We want game and console content/news throughout the entire show.

    MCC update/Halo 6

This is inevitable. I was probably one of the biggest Halo fans back in the day. I’d say that ship sailed with any release after Halo 4. I actually really enjoyed the campaign for Halo 4. I can almost guarantee a Halo 6 announcement is coming at E3. It’s Microsoft’s most well-know and popular exclusive.

I predict (or more so dream) Halo 6 multiplayer will be going back to its roots. So “bye-bye” jet-packs and armor abilities. I can see this really happening because Call of Duty and Battlefield have both done this recently. We are seeing people get tired of the futuristic FPS; for multiplayer anyway. If Halo 6 does indeed seem to go back to its roots, color me extremely excited.

To add to this theory, Halo’s developer 343 Industries is making a big push at updating and fixing Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Before I go any further, it’s about time and I cannot believe it’s taken them this long to fix it. This game should’ve been a massive success and I can’t believe they screwed it up. *Ahem*, anyway. I could totally see Microsoft pushing for a classic experience with the Master Chief Collection while promoting Halo 6.

   Cuphead 2

This may sound extremely random, but a sequel to Cuphead could cause a lot of hype in my opinion. Is it an exclusive to Xbox? No. It’s available on PC as well. However, it isn’t available on PlayStation and I think this is a game so unique and strongly loved that it would be a win for Xbox at E3.

I know the game will take long to create because of it’s unique development process; everything is hand-drawn. But an announcement would be huge and would get a lot of people talking.

 

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What do you hope to be announced at E3 2018 in a few days? Let me know in the comments below!

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5 Comic Books/Stories an Entirely New Batman Game Should Take Inspiration From (E3 2018)

Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham franchise is one that can be described as popular and successful. According to TechTimes, Batman: Arkham Knight (the last game in the franchise) sold 5 million copies in just three or so months in its release. Now, just imagine how many copies were sold among the whole franchise since Batman: Arkham Asylum was released in 2009.

Prior to the Arkham franchise, the only universally loved video game superhero game was Spider-Man 2. The franchise has initiated a push from Marvel to jump in on the successful video-game action like Warner Bros. was able to do with the Arkham franchise. We see this with Insomniac Games’ upcoming Spider-Man game, with the trailers looking extremely promising.

The Arkham games are profoundly praised for its combat system. It has so much fluidity, you can’t help but not feel like Batman. Combine that with the original voice actors from the beloved Batman: The Animated Series and this franchise quickly appealed to not only gamers, but hardcore Batman fans as well; a recipe for success and a success that was and still is.

There have been rumors on what Rocksteady is working on next. Those rumors mostly surround a Superman game. However, Warner Bros. Montreal has had a slew of rumors on what their next Batman game will be about.

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Call me crazy, but I want a new Batman game entirely devoid of the Arkham franchise. Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely adore and love these wonderful games. But, I think it’s time for something new. Will Warner Bros. do that? I can almost assure you they won’t. Why change something that makes them money? At the end of the day, it’s all about business and Arkham Knight proved that the franchise is still strong.

With all that being said, I’m going to talk about five Batman stories that would be a refreshing take on a Batman video game.

Before that, I think there’s a few things that need changing to distinguish itself from the Arkham games:

Combat: No one can deny, the combat in the Arkham games is almost flawless. As mentioned above, it really makes you feel like Batman. However, even though it can be perceived as flawless, doesn’t mean a new combat system can’t knock our socks off.

What would I like to see? Keep the countering system but somehow make the combat system close quartered and personal. Yeah, it’s cool to wipe out a bunch of thugs and maneuver from one end of the fight all the way over to the other so effortlessly. But how realistic does that look and feel? I want to feel like I’m in an actual fight.

It would be awesome to see the brawn and strength of Batman as he fights each person in a personal way. We got a glimpse of this in the Batman versus Deathstroke fight in Arkham Origins, but I’d love to see this greatly explored and perfected.

Villains: Leave the Joker out. At least for the first game or two. The Joker is no doubt the most popular Batman villain and I love him as well. But between video games and films, I think the audience is on Joker overload. I’d love to see them focus more on some not-so-popular villains in the main story and not just leave them for a side mission. Such as: Hush, Riddler, Mr. ZSasz, Talia al Ghul, Two-Face, Wesker/Scarface. I know he was prominent in two of the three Arkham games, but I have to throw in Scarecrow, as he’s my favorite Batman villain.

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Gotham by Gaslight

Sign me up solely based on the setting of this Batman comic. This comic follows Batman in the late 1800s in Vienna, around the time Jack the Ripper arrives.

We were actually pretty close to a Batman: Gotham by Gaslight video game and it looked pretty awesome. Here’s a clip below:

The game was clearly in the middle of production, but can we talk about how good Batman’s cape flows? Dare I say, this cape looks better than the one we see in the recent Batman games? Anyway, cape aside, imagine new-gen graphics with this setting and story. It would be something entirely new and fresh to any Batman game.

The Court of Owls

This story features highly trained assassins called Talons. It sends Batman not only in a struggling battle physically, but mentally as well. It would be cool to see this level of artistry transferred into a video game, without Scarecrow being at the center. This game would bring us a villain(s) that the mainstream audience wouldn’t necessarily be familiar with. It would bring such a fresh idea and story to a Batman game for consoles.

Batman: Year One

We haven’t really experienced a video game of Rocksteadys’ caliber that explored Batman’s origin story. Yes, by now, anybody who is anybody knows the origin of Batman. However, we’ve never experienced it in a video game before. Yes, there was Batman: Arkham Origins (developed by Warner Bros. Montreal) and a Scarecrow induced flashback in Batman: Arkham Asylum. However, that played more into his origin stories with his most famous villains and even Detective/Commissioner Gordon.

It would be awesome to see the origin story fully-fledged out. And I, of course, want to see these scenes:

 

During Batman: Arkham Origins’ marketing, there was a fantastic CGI trailer that captured what it would be like to experience Batman’s origin story that didn’t just focus on his childhood and the year he becomes Batman. Let’s see his teenage years, early adulthood, etc. that pushes him to put on the cape and cowl.

The Long Halloween

Another story revolving around the Bat’s early days, Batman races to figure out the identity of someone who kills a person each month. We see a lot of Batman’s detective side, something that was prominent in the Arkham games already. But, as I’ve said previously, just because a developer did something great, doesn’t mean you can do it another way that is just as great. Imagine detective portions of the game being more than just scanning objects.

We see so many of Batman’s rogues gallery make an appearance in this comic book, that the game could feature more prominent sections of each villain, instead of just a side mission, like Rocksteady has done previously with the Arkham games. Especially with the advancements in game consoles recently.

Batman Beyond

Not initially starting as a comic book, Batman Beyond followed the like of Batman: The Animated Series. As someone who always thought “Bruce Wayne IS Batman. There can be no other,” I was quickly surprised to see myself liking Terry McGinnis so much, who takes the role of Batman as Bruce Wayne is too old in age to continue the physical and mental toll it takes for the late night crime fighting lifestyle.

McGinnis naturally fits the role of Batman. Someone who loses a parent, is selfless and wants to do good in the world. It’s fun to see an inexperienced youngster take that role and try to fill the shoes of Bruce Wayne in the cowl.

While McGinnis takes the role of Batman, that doesn’t mean we’re entirely without Bruce Wayne. Wayne takes on the role of someone like Oracle; always in McGinnis’ ear, helping him and overseeing everything he does.

It would be awesome to see a futuristic Batman game and what better inspiration is there than Batman Beyond? I’m just picturing a Batman and Iron Man game in one, set in a futuristic city. Sign me up.

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With all that being said, what do you think? Do you want another Arkham game or would you like to see an entirely new Batman franchise takeover? Or are you just on Batman fatigue? Let me know in the comments below!

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Horizon: Zero Dawn Film Fan Cast and Video Game Films Discussion

Alright. I love Horizon: Zero Dawn. We all know that. Now let’s cut to the chase.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of what a fucking cool film Horizon: Zero Dawn could turn out to be. And I know what you may be thinking; “Kate – Video game films are terrible.” And I won’t disagree with that. The Angelina Jolie helmed Tomb Raider films were the peek of video game films. That’s not saying much. While the films were decent popcorn flicks, they by no means were fantastic movies. Since then, each video game film has gone down hill.

Recently, Hollywood is making the push for video game films and it’s no surprise. According to Venture Beat, 1.2 billion people were playing video games in 2013. And we can only assume that that number has increased. With the nerd and geek pop culture being enormously popular, with the inclusion of events like Comic-Con, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Twitch-Con, etc., it’s abundantly clear people love video games. Can you imagine if a film company knocks it out of the park with a popular video game film adaptation? Just a small percentage of 1.2 billion gamers would be a massive success.

However, that’s the hard part. Film companies are finding it extremely difficult hitting it out of the park. It’s a known fact that a huge majority of the time, if a film is both a critic and audience success, the film will remain to prosper for weeks after it is released. For example, let’s compare Wonder Woman – a film that was praised both by critics and movie-goers. That film remained to make a good chunk of money for weeks after it’s release. Now, compared to Justice League, that film was a financial and critic flop and is expected to lose millions of dollars. Now, like I said, there is always an odd-man out and that is Suicide Squad. That film was not well-liked among critics, but remained to make a ton of money for Warner Bros.

So what does all of that rambling mean? That film companies need to take these video game films seriously if they want to make the most amount of money possible. 1.2 billion gamers is a lot, added to the general public and these video game film adaptations could really be the next superhero/comic book film phenomena.

Most recently, Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed and Warcraft were all films that were not well-liked among critics and it showed in their financial success. Assassin’s Creed made around $250,000,000 on a $125,000,000 budget. You may be thinking that that’s a profit, so it must be good, right? However, film companies want to make way more than twice it’s budget. The film had a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Furthermore, Warcraft made fans hopeful that this was the film to change the poor video game film adaptation streak. However, the film received a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and made around $434,000,000 on a $160,000,000 budget. That’s a bit better than Assassin’s Creed, but imagine if the film was a critic success? Film companies would make much more of a profit.

With all of that talk, if Sony Pictures were to make a Horizon: Zero Dawn film, the studio would have to go with all guns blazing; get a great script written, great director and a fairly decently-sized budget.

Horizon: Zero Dawn has such a rich story that you can spend the first 20 minutes or so just exploring Aloy’s experience being cast out from her tribe at a young age, without a mother and head right into the relationship with Rost and her training to win the Proving. After that, the film can take off and be an interesting story for fans and general movie-goers. The interesting thing about Horizon: Zero Dawn is that while it’s set in the future, people have grown into a primitive lifestyle among vast technology. With SFX these days, it wouldn’t be extremely difficult to bring the technology and animalistic machines to life on the big screen.

So with all of that beings said, here’s a quick fan cast I put together (just for fun):

Aloy: Rose Leslie (Mostly known for Game of Thrones)

 

Rost: Hugh Jackman

Sylens: Mike Colter (Mostly known for Marvel’s Luke Cage)

Helis: Tom Hardy

I hope we hear something in the future that Sony is interested in making an Horizon: Zero Dawn film. Until then, I’m crossing my fingers that Tomb Raider is a great film.

 

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Cuphead is a triumph in almost every single way

When Cuphead was originally announced at E3 a few years ago, it immediately caught my interest. As someone who is a Disney World-fanatic, and one who is just a fan of vintage things in general, this game caught my eye right away. In a world of first-person-shooters and multiplayer games, platformers are few and far between. Although, they are starting to regain popularity. Yes, there are your Ori and the Blind Forests and Shovel Knights, but Studio MDHR’s Cuphead achieved something so unique that I just had to write about it.

As I mentioned above, I’m a big Disney-World-fan and have been for pretty much my entire life. There’s no denying that Cuphead borrows its graphical inspirations of 1930s cartoons, much like Disney animations in this era. And in a world where hand drawn productions are almost a thing of the past, Cuphead acquired this look with a great color palette, as well, and it’s paying off big-time. There’s nothing like seeing the hand-drawn-style as you progress to World 3 and seeing new animations for each new boss fight.

Immediately, as Cuphead is put into World 1, you’ll notice the jolly music right away as you maneuver Cuphead to boss battles and “Run and Gun” levels. Run and Guns are just fancy talk for a more platforming and a gunning down enemies approach, while boss battles are exactly what they sound like. Each level gives such a unique sound that somehow embraces the new theme every time. You’ll hear these songs over and over again, unless you’re a Cuphead prodigy, but they’re so pleasing to the ear that I never once wished to turn the music off. And with recordings inspired by jazz, you can’t go wrong. Some of my favorites include “Carnival Kerfuffle” and “Die House.” And as a side note, the Carnival Kerfuffle level was one of the hardest for me. I played that a million times with a great amount of frustration and it turned out to be one of my favorites on the soundtrack. It just goes to show how great the jazz music is in this game.

With so many levels in this game, I’d think it would hard to bring a variety to each level. But I’m happy to say that I never felt levels to be redundant or feel like any previous boss I’ve beaten before. While there are always 3-4 “stages” in every level, they wont feel like any other level previously. Each boss will have you thinking of strategy and how you can beat them, whether that’s in gameplay or how you choose your weapon layout. Be prepared for some crazy bosses and while you may utilize some of the same techniques and strategies, you’ll never find one boss to be the same as another.

Photo Credit: Polygon

Photo Credit: Polygon

Don’t go in thinking these levels will be a walk in the park. You’ve probably heard by now that Cuphead is extremely difficult and I’d almost be willing to say that’s an understatement. I’ve heard many people compare the difficulty to Dark Souls. I’ve never been that gamer who breaks controllers or punches a wall, but let me tell you, I’ve come close while playing this game. I remember when I first started, I had wished the game gave you checkpoints during each boss, but you’ll improve by each level and won’t necessarily need it (although I’m sure you’ll be wishing for it). Once beaten, you’ll get so much satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment, that you’ll want to play more. While each level is hard, it’s the fact that there is really no room for error during these levels that makes it so difficult. If you don’t conquer everything almost perfectly, you’ll fail – over and over and over again (like me). I am definitely not someone who is good at this game. When I see people who are, I am baffled. But more power to ya, I’m super jealous. By World 3, I’ve died 500 times. Let’s just talk about that for a second. That’s about 10 levels, give or take a few, and dying about 50 times each. BUT, I will beat this damn game. I have a love hate relationship with it. I get frustrated at almost every level but I’ll say it; I fucking love this game. I’m one level into World 3 and I’m ready to conquer King Dice and that Devil.

In an industry filled with thousands of video games and thinking there isn’t much room for a unique game to soar through, Cuphead did just that. If you can get past the difficulty and persevere, I know for a fact that you’ll appreciate this game. It’ll bring you back to platformers like Aladdin and The Lion King for Sega, Contra and Mario, of course. So, please give this wonderful game a chance. The developers deserve it so much. There’s a wonderful story behind the making of this game and what the developers went through to get this game completed. It’s made out of pure passion and that really shines through when you play it.

 

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PlayStation is winning the console race and here’s why

It’s nothing revolutionary when I write that PlayStation has sold significantly more units to date than its competition. According to Business Insider, Xbox One has stopped reporting its earnings as of January 2016. However, it was reported during that time that Microsoft’s Xbox One had sold 20 million units up until that point. To compare, Business Insider also reports that PlayStation has sold 50 million units since December 2016 and is at an approximate rate of one million units sold per month.

Whether you liked Microsoft’s original vision for the Xbox One, everyone knows it wasn’t well received. With Microsoft’s quick redirection for their third flagship console, the company was already fighting to regain support for the Xbox One and they have done a pretty darn good job if you ask me. Bringing its attention back to gaming, rather than a full-on entertainment console was a smart move. Getting rid of things like an “always online” feature and the inability to share games, among others, was a definite indicator that Microsoft was listening.

With all of this being said, there is a reason PlayStation has continued to succeed in the “console race.” Fortunately for Sony, they hit home-run after home-run right out of the gate. Being a gaming-centric console spoke volumes to gamers world-wide, making it a hit as soon as it was announced. However, there is one thing that makes PlayStation stand out from Xbox One and that is the quality in its exclusive games.

I’ve always been a huge supporter of Microsoft’s Xbox brand. The original Xbox introduced me to the first game I was truly obsessed with; Halo. And while I didn’t think I could be even more addicted to a video game, Halo 2’s multiplayer hit me like a tidal wave. Microsoft has some moments and video games that will go down in gaming history. Examples being Halo or the introduction and success of Xbox Live. However, PlayStation has succeeded in making quality exclusive titles that when people ask me which console is better, I have to give the advantage to PlayStation 4. While there are some moments where a PlayStation exclusive has fallen flat(I’m looking at you The Order: 1886), there is no denying games such as the Uncharted series, The Last of Us, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, The Last Guardian(and more) are at the very least “good” games.

Sony’s most recent PlayStation 4 exclusive embodies what I believe Sony is so great at achieving. Horizon: Zero Dawn was first announced at E3 in 2015 and was on a lot of people’s radars since then. After being delayed, the game was finally released February 2017. The game succeeded on all fronts; story, game design, character development, and a great soundtrack. While it didn’t get perfect scores across the internet, it was pretty close. The game has an 89% on metacritic.

While Nintendo has some of the most recognizable characters and franchises in general, the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo Switch came at such odd times in retrospect to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, its hard to compare Nintendo’s latest console outings to them.

This isn’t a post to say the Xbox One is a piece of shit. I actually prefer a lot of things on the Xbox One over Playstation, like its dashboard, Xbox Live and controller. But, there is no denying that PlayStation exceeds Xbox One in the exclusive-games department.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below!