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2016 and Gaming: A Year in Preview

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Kenny Keelan

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As we’re closing in on the end of one year and getting ready to start the next, a lot of people are reflecting on the year that’s past and others are looking at the year to come. I’m one of those looking to the future and I’ll tell you why: 2016 and the coming years after are going to be an extremely exciting time for games. While gaming has always been a longtime passion of mine, I do have to admit that it has felt like, in the last couple generations, innovation and creativity had been been steadily decreasing while market saturation has been steadily increasing. It wasn’t looking good as the market was looking stale and things weren’t change. Sure, there were gimmicks that came and went but nothing really stuck. There were few real surprises and the things that jumped aboard the hype train were mostly games we’d been anticipating and asking for, for years. There was a lot of vaporware, a lot of E3s that came and went that left us wanting more and spending more time laughing at the flaws than celebrating the wonders. In my honest opinion, the fifth generation was the last generation that truly brought us wonders we never thought we’d see possible and all the last couple generations did was expand on that. We never saw anything truly groundbreaking and that’s part of why 2016 is going to be an exciting year: we are going to see a lot of broken ground and whether or not it will be truly successful, we finally see companies going out and taking risks and those are the kinds of moves that change gaming for the better. Follow the jump for our preview of the year to come and what to watch for!

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Freedom Planet 2 announced

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Sonic like platformer Freedom Planet has new trailer and a launch window. The game is a bit of a cult classic, playing to lovers of sonic, 8 bits, and other nostalgic choices.

developer Stephen DiDuro says on the Freedom Planet 2 site: “The original Freedom Planet was modeled as a tribute to Sega Genesis platform games,We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, what’s fun and what’s frustrating, what we should expand on and what we can afford to lose. With all of this in mind, we feel that we are ready to bid farewell to nostalgia and create a sequel that will define Freedom Planet’s identity as a franchise.”

[youtube id=CHAYtSUfW0c]

 

 

 

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Halo 5 Forge Used to Create Star Wars Hoth Map

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Halo’s Forge mode has always been powerful, and its latest installment is keeping up the tradition, with Halo 5 giving players an unprecedented set of tools and palettes to work with. As always the community has gotten hold of forge mode and made some truly amazing things, including tributes to lots of other games. One user inparticular has re-created the iconic snow battle of Hoth from the Star Wars franchise. An imgur user by the name of Bearskopff posted a gallery of the Hoth map in Halo 5. It features a massive AT-AT walker, which took up almost half of the object limit allowed in Forge.hothHalo5

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Rail Gun aims to bring “most immersive ever” controller to market

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

It seems like most of the time, gun shaped controllers for FPS games are pretty much flops right out of the gate. Peripherals have to work with multiple games, multiple types of hardware, and across regions. Yet for the new wave of VR to truly feel immersive, you need to have a variety of controllers that can adapt to almost any situation, and first person shooters are first in line. Rail gun is aiming to do just that.

Consisting of five different components, Rail gun attaches to the rails that come standard on all airsoft guns. Since it attaches to an Airsoft gun the user can feel the real recoil and gunfire noises while playing their favorite FPS game. Rail gun is compatible with almost FPS games for PC, Xbox, Playstation and even Virtual reality devices. This is truly the new frontier of VR peripherals. To really feel like you are in a war, you have to not only have the sounds, the lights, and the images, but also the feel of a gun in your hand.

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Diablo 3 Season 5 Details, Starts January 15

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Diablo 3 is one game that consistently has gotten better over the two years its been out. The first version of the game 1.0 was nearly unplayable. Over powered enemies, and endless loot grind, a real money auction house that allowed player to just buy victory, and a lack of diversity for hero builds all plagued the early game. Most if not all of that has been fixed now, the game has been patched a 20.00$ expansion released, loot fixed, the RMAH is gone, and there is no more loot grinding (ok its still a grindy game). So now the only thing left is a few balance tweaks. Blizzard has not been neglegant on that! Through out the 4 seasons that they have had so far, they have pathched, fixed exploits, and generally just tried to not be evil towards their paying customers.

Now Details on season 5 are emerging. First the actual notes right from Bungie

  • Season Journey Updates
    • Seasonal Legendaries Removed – All legendaries from patch 2.4.0 on will be “immediately available” regardless of Season participation.
    • Haedrig’s Gift – New item-based reward will give players set pieces as they progress in the Season Journey, with all pieces given out by the completion of Chapter 4.
      • Barbarian: Might of the Earth
      • Crusader: Thorns of the Invoker
      • Demon Hunter: The Shadow’s Mantle
      • Monk: Monkey King’s Garb
      • Witch Doctor: Raiment of the Jade Harvester
      • Wizard: Firebird’s Finery
  • New/Updated Conquests
  • Cosmetic Rewards – Season 5 rewards include the Conquerer’s Boots transmogficiation, exclusive Portrait Frames, and the Wickerman Pet.
  • Season Rebirth – Non-Seasonal characters can be “rebirthed,” resetting them at level 1 and removing all items and accomplishments except: player name and time played.

Blizzard isn’t shaking the boat in terms of Season structure with Season 5, the shift from Seasonal Legendaries to a full set will change the difficulty curve. The jump from hitting level 70 and dressing down in Legendaries to earning that first full set is likely the most challenging content jump for new players. This could potentially reduce the number of plays who stick around for the full season.

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Bungie bounty is back tonight only in Sparrow racing

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Destiny’s “Bungie Bounty” event, during which you can earn special prizes by beating the developer at its own game, returns tonight, December 22. Starting at 4 PM PST / 7 PM EST, Bungie developers will hop into Sparrow Racing League matches on Xbox One–beat them and you’ll get a special emblem.

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“If you can match against us, you’ll be racing against some of the very same developers who created the Sparrow Racing League,” Bungie said in an announcement. “This is your chance to beat us at our own game. If you can place in the top three, we’ll deliver [the emblem above] to your Postmaster. Every race has a trophy.”

The event runs for a period of two hours, ending at 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST. Be on the lookout for Bungie community managers “DeeJ” and “Cozmo” on Xbox Live, as you’ll need to match up with them for a shot to win. However, it may not be them actually behind the controller.

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Hacknet Launches on Mac & Linux Today

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Hacknet from Surprise Attack Games & Team Fractal Alligator launches today on Mac and Linux.

Hacknet is an immersive, terminal-based hacking simulator for Windows, Linux and Mac. Dive down a rabbit hoIe as you follow the instructions of a recently deceased hacker, whose death may not have been the accident the media reports. Using old school command prompts and real hacking processes, you’ll solve the mystery with minimal hand-holding and a rich world full of secrets to explore.
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Bit, a hacker responsible for creating the most invasive security system on the planet, is dead. When he fails to reconnect to his system for 14 days, his failsafe kicks in, sending instructions in automated emails to a lone user.  As that user, it’s up to you to unravel the mystery and ensure that Hacknet-OS doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Exploring the volatile nature of personal privacy, the prevalence of corporate greed, and the hidden powers of hackers on the internet, Hacknet delivers a true hacking simulation, while offering a support system that allows total beginners get a grasp of the real-world applications and commands found throughout the game.
Hacknet is available now on PC via Steam and the Humble Store. Mac and Linux versions were heavily requested after the announcement of the game and the developer is now working on supporting those platforms as soon as possible.

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Hacknet’s Linux/Mac versions were made using FNA, a new reimplementation of the XNA framework. Hacknet is the debut title for FNA’s first official release, which will be available on Monday, December 21 at http://fna-xna.github.io/. “Given the UNIX-based nature of the game, it’s not surprising that the number one request we get is to add Linux support,” said Matt Trobbianni, developer of Hacknet. “Initially I thought this wouldn’t be possible given the game was developed in XNA and has some complex platform code, but with some help from Ethan “flibitijibibo” Lee and his FNA libraries, we’re excited to be able to bring the game to Linux and also Mac users.”

Launching for Windows PC’s in August 2015, close to 100,000 gamers have purchased Hacknet to date and it enjoys an overwhelmingly positive (>95%) user review rating on Steam.

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Steam winter sale to begin December 22nd

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

DAM YOU PAYPAL YOU SPOILED IT

this image appears to tell us when it starts.

Valve has a horrid track record of concealing literally anything from anyone ever, so it really ought not to come as a surprise that the time and some details of the next steam sale have been revealed. Shacknews broke the story that an image had leaked out of a PayPal advertisement telling the public the date of the start of the sale.

We also know there will be no flash sales again, just as with the autumn sale just a few short months ago. I however think this is a good thing, as the sale is quite broken when everyone just waits for the lowest price. I actually wrote about that very thing  recently and personally im quite all right with the new format.

 

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Psyonix has made over 50 million on Rocket League

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Developer Psyonix’s amazing super powered ultra fast sports racing car game is crazy fun. Dont belive me? Read my review or check my steam library and see all the play time. However it also seems that at least according to the Wall Street Journal its also crazy profitable.  In an interview with the WSJ Psyonix said ““Rocket League” has raked in nearly $50 million in revenue and amassed more than 8 million registered players since its July launch on PC’s and Ps4s”

This is pretty unprecedented for an indie game from a small studio with out a backing by a major publisher. the report also details how Psyonix spent over two years and a figure close to two million dollars to develop Rocket League. That figure is quite large for a studio considered by many to be an “indie”. When asked how they manged studio founder Dave Hagewood said ” “We paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the industry,  including Mass Effect 3 and Gears of War.”

Perhaps most interesting is that the article also tell us that the most recent addition to Rocket league, the famed deloran of Back to the Future, was not something Psyonix sought out. Rather Universal (the studio that owns the property) came to them and said we want to work one of our properties in to your game, lets get a deal made.  Hagewood added, “It didn’t really sink in until they told me they had to get Steven Spielberg’s approval.”  and when it comes to additions to an already existing great game the hits just keep on coming for Psyonix. Since adding the Delorian, Psyonix has done a deal with Bethesda to add the Vault Boy from Fallout 4 to the game, and more recently it added a pile of holiday goodies through an update that includes antlers, Christmas trees, and Snow Day, an unranked three-on-three play style that trades the giant soccer ball for a giant hockey puck.

No doubt there are many more planned additions to this already amazing game, and I personally cant wait to see what Psyonix has up their sleeve.

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Steam sale: the greatest good, or the worst evil?

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

The Beginning

I remember a time when you couldn’t get computer games any way but by going out to Funcoland, or another store to buy them. In those days places like Funcoland had bargain bins, whole large bins full of games that were often rightly called shovelware. Most of these games would have fit right in on todays overcrowded indie game sphere, with the one difference that they had a box. Digital distribution has killed the bargain bin box, but not what lived inside it, it’s found a new home on Steam, and to a greater extent the twice annual steam sale.

LORD GABEN BE PRAISED

Deep Discounts

As I peruse the current steam sale a title catches my eye “Angels Fall First” is an indie tactical, infantry, first person shooter, set in space, where you fly your ship in first person too. Whoa, that’s a mouth full, all of that costs 14.39 (20% off today!) and that’s just one example of hundreds. This one happens to be in early access and absolutely screams feature creep, but it still caught my eye. Why? Well it had the right price tag (for me <15$) a laundry list of features and a flashy splash image that was featured in today’s deals.  It’s that kind of exposure that can mean a huge infusion of cash to a developer and major media coverage for an otherwise sleeper game. This has created a get rich or die trying type of culture in today’s indie game sphere where a game can go from being unknown to a major hit in just a few days, with no publisher or PR. The end result of this is that we get a lot of games that might not have ever seen the light of day going up on steam and getting a lot of sales during these twice annual times of deep discounts.

The Sale Now

Steam sales started out as something great. Twice a year Valve thanked their users by throwing them some pretty extreme sales on titles. The result was a great way to get your hands on games you might otherwise never play. It also had the perhaps unintentional side effect of giving huge boosts to several indie developers. The steam Green Tags have become legendary 20% 40% 70%, steam even has a tab for games under 10$ and games under 5$. The psychology of the sale keeps us buying, but is it really worth it? Its clear that Steam is playing its audience here. Steam knows at what price point people buy, and how much they have to discount a game to get it out the door in quantity. I remember the first time I saw a game on steam listed at 50% off, it was normally a 50$ game, and that green tag was just too much resist, despite having never intended to buy the game for various reasons, I put the game in my cart and bought it. Why? Because it was 50% off, I played about 20 minutes of the game and then got bored, never to play it again. It now sits in my library with literally hundreds of other 10$ titles that I buy on impulse because they are 10% off, and then install and play for 30 minuets or an hour then never touch again.

Gaben Steam Sale Love

I don’t think cheap games have to be bad, I got more play time out of Terreria that almost any other game ever, and it’s been on sale for as low as 1$! I also have plenty of 60$ games in my library that haven’t been touched. It’s really a question of quantity and availability. I have over 300 games in my steam library and somewhere in the neighborhood of half of those have never been installed. Now you chalk a few of them up to things like the full Valve pack which I picked up on sale (40% off!) and humble bundles (2$ for 5 games?|!!?!?!) but a lot of those games I would never have if it wasn’t for the steam sales. The sum total of those games represents enough capitol investment to purchase lots of new computer parts, or invest elsewhere.

On the other hand, I also have some games I doubt I ever would have noticed if they hadn’t been on sale. Dungeons of dreadmore, Recettear, and Oblivion fall in to this category. In 2011 I purchased all three of these in various steam sales for <20$ total for all of them. All three of these games have >100 hours of play time in my library. They all together cost about 15$ during that steam sale. That same year (the same sale even) I also bought Supreme commander 2 (>30$ and also 40% off) and that game never even got installed. It’s a great good and a terrible evil. While I have a lot of games, the more games that I have it seems the less inclined I am to play some of them.

Quality vs Quantity

The quality of the sale has also decreased recently, the most prevalent games get 10% discounts and the smaller indies get larger ones. Im not sure im ever going to play Doorkickers, but you can bet I have it in my library. Why? Because in 2014 it was on sale for 5$ and I thought it looked kinda neat. Turns out its basically a mobile tactics game, and really not up my alley at all. If I had bothered to do any research like I would have if I had spent 20$ (the games MSRP) I would probably have known this and been fine and not bought it. Instead I saw a green price tag with -75% on it, and decided I need the game regardless of the content.

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And so dear readers we arrive at our conclusion, and that is Caveat emptor (buyer beware) because Steam is an amazing platform for equalizing million dollar PR budgets and 0$ PR budgets. That of course creates an obvious problem. Those games with million dollar budgets also had three year (or longer) development cycles, whereas the others might have been put together in 6 months or 6 years, and not subjected to playtesting or quality control. Quality of the sale has also gone down as the number of sales has gone up. When you have 4 sales a year you have to find at least 4 sales worth of items to sell. While I appreciate the recent abolition of flash sales,  which were clear bait to get you to come back to the sale as many times as possible, but I honestly think its time for Steam to evaluate how its running its sales, and maybe cut down to one a year.

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Underrail leaves Early Access next week

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Disappointed by Fallout 4? I cant imagine why, but if you are and your jonesing for something that resembles old school fall out you might want to check out Underrail. The isometric RPG feel extremely similar to early fallout titles, mixed in with the tough and gritty world of Metro 2033. The game has a bit of sordid history first appearing over three years ago and since then appearing and reappearing in and out of early access and the media. Now the game will officially leave early access on December the 18th. The game is currently on steam, and its basically free at $9.99 but there is speculation that the price may go up when full release comes around.

check out the launch trailer right here

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Beta Report: Paladins Champion of the Realm

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Paladins Champion of the Realm, the newest game from Hi-Rez studios (creators of SMITE, and publisher of Tribes). The game features (so far) a cast of 9 characters who fight over a single point to capture. After capturing the point players must then escort a cannon to three “doors” which the cannon destroys advancing the game. Most games last about 10 minutes and feature fast paced action that’s pretty close to nonstop. The game currently features 9 Champions each of whom have 3 special abilities that are activated by a key press. In this way its very MOBA like, but the similarities end there.  Instead of towers, or turrets, the game has you capturing a point, for tickets. The more players on the point the more tickets you get. After 100 tickets, a “siege engine” spawns and you escort the engine to the enemies gate, where it fires at the gate and does damage. This all sounds pretty confusing but the game is honestly quite simple. Most of the game your directed directly to the objective that currently was needing to be achieved.

my favorite hero, the FOX

Paladins UI is very minimalist

The games major difference from other MOBAs comes in its card system. As you level up you are allowed to select a series of 5 cards which have unique effects on your three abilites. One might boost damage, one might boost duration, anotehr might cause a debuff on the enemy. This is how the game handles “builds” the cards are drawn at random from your stack as you level up, and you can earn more cards each time you level up, or you can purchase more cards  for in game currency or buy cards. Yes the game has microtransactions, its not yet clear how all of them will work, but it does seem clear that at least you can earn everythign thats currently in game just by playing. You would have to play a lot, but you could earn it all.

this screen is what you get when you level up

this screen is what you get when you level up

I found the game to be a lot of fun, I streamed it for two hours, you can watch the VOD here on my twitch channel, but watching 20 minutes of it should give you enough of an idea of what the game is about to decide if you like it or not. Most matches last less than 10 minutes.  Personally I love the games look, really reminded me of  Wild Star. Its very cartoony and bring, something that I honestly love. The style is often made fun of for being too childish, but for me dark games are just too much, I really prefer the pretty colors and particle effects. The Beta is very much a Beta, with new content being added very quickly. It also has its fare share of bugs, but there is a full forum for reporting bugs and I have no doubt that Hi Rez will work diligently to iron out the bugs, while adding as much content as they can.

Currently in semi-open beta you can sign up on the site or purchase access (buy in for 20$ here) on the Hi-Rez site. The game is I think its worth the the small buy in to get on the ground floor. The game is (At least according to wikipedia) planned for multi console release, so getting in early on PC should give players an edge. Judge for yourself by checking out the youtube and twitter content that Hi-Rez is putting out.

 

 

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Broken Deals: 41 Steam Games for $4.99

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Bundle Stars, has unleashed a huge new bundle. It contains 41 gmaes all of which appear in this format for the first time. you wont find this bundle anywhere else, and with games like Battle vs Chess, and Litchdom: Battlemage, the Killer Bundle 6 contains a staggering 41 must-play games. For the incredibly low price of just $4.99. The normal retail value of the featured games is a substantial $190, so that’s a saving of 97%.

Here is a partial list of the games in the bundle. 
●     3D Realms Anthology – Steam Edition (Windows/Mac) – A mega collection of 32 Steam games for Windows® and Mac including legendary classics like Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad, Terminal Velocity, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Blake Stone, Death Rally, Wacky Wheels and much more. Bundled for the first time, this incredible compilation is a must-have for all gamers who want to sample the great old days of PC and Mac gaming!
●     Lichdom: Battlemage (Windows) – A first-person caster with thousands of spell possibilities, brutal enemies and unprecedented character customisation. With limitless magical power at your disposal and brutal enemies around every corner, victory hinges on a combination of skill, strategy, and a vast array of spells to cast in the heat of combat!
●     Monstrum (Windows/Mac/Linux) – Monstrum takes the traditional survival horror formula and remixes it completely with procedurally generated levels, permadeath, and unique AI driven predators. Outrun or outsmart your predator in this exciting first-person game!
●     Battle vs Chess – aka Check vs Mate (Windows/Mac) – Animated fantasy figurines assemble in magical worlds and await your command. Execute skilful manoeuvres on the game board and catapult yourself directly into the battle with devastating attacks, chessman versus chessman.
●     Cast of the Seven Godsends (Windows) – A classic run ‘n’ gun action shooter with six colourful worlds to conquer. Wield weapons, cast magic combat spells, and enjoy a wonderfully retro-soaked, and highly polished, gaming experience.
●     Super 3D Noah’s Ark (Windows/Mac/Linux) – A first-person shooter with a difference. Now you can render animals unconscious with your fruit lobbing skills! Legend has it that the original source code to the PC version of this game was completely lost, and had to be reverse engineered and reimplemented using a modern rendition of the Wolfenstein 3D engine.
●     CrossCode (Windows) – A retro-inspired action RPG set in the distant future. CrossCode combines gorgeous 16-bit SNES-style graphics with butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story.
●     Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China (Windows) – A fresh take on air combat action gaming, with an intriguing twist – it’s based on the historical events of America’s secret volunteer squadrons that flew against Japan in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre of World War 2. Enjoy a single player campaign, and multiplayer for up to 16 players.
●     GemCraft: Chasing Shadows (Windows) – Fight your way through an epic story, unravelling mysteries and artefacts in this highly rated game! Create and combine powerful gems with towers, and use them in intricate ways to defend yourself against endless hordes of demonic monsters.
●     Horizon Shift (Windows) – Arcade nostalgia meets indie innovation in an explosive shmup crammed with power-ups, bombs, tons of unique ideas – and as you’d expect, total carnage!

You can pick the games up over at Bundle Stars for 4.99$ US (180$ retail)

Happy bundling!

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2nd Annual Game Awards Report

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Last night was the second annual Game Awards, with a full line up of presenters, world game premiers, and musical acts.  Most people probably came for the world premieres, of which there were several.  Included were: Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn, a Telltale Games Batman title, Far Cry Primal, Psychonauts 2, Quantum Break, Rock Band VR, Shadow Complex Remastered, Rocket League‘s Xbox One release, Star Citizen, and The Walking Dead: Michonne.

This is of course also an awards show so here is a list of winners and some of my reactions from the event:

GAME OF THE YEAR: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) – The polish studio behind The Witcher 3 really cleaned up this year, taking home several big awards. I guess I need to play it, since it was really off my radar since it’s a seriously large game that takes so much investment. Im not surprised this happened with the scale and scope, but it did have to beat out Fallout 4 and MGS:V

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR: CD Projekt Red – Ok I was surprised at this, I haven’t had a chance to play The Witcher 3 yet, but I know it’s a huge beautiful game, but I thought with two huge games this year Nintendo was a for sure this one.

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME: Rocket League (Psyonix) – This one actually kind of disappointed me, the other choices were Axion Verge, Her Story, Ori and the Blind forest and Undertale. All of which I think have better story since well Rocket League doesn’t have a story. There are way too many indie games for this award to work, like did anyone consider Besiege, or Honey pop  (ok that’s a joke). The guys at Psyonix deserve this for sure but I think its hard to nail this category since it just has so many things.

BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME: Lara Croft Go (Square Enix Montreal/Square Enix) – Ok this one was hands down going to Laura Croft go, no questions. If you haven’t checked it out do so. The only real competitor here was maybe the Vault game from Bethesda but the two are super different.

BEST NARRATIVE: Her Story (Sam Barlow) – Her story is not a game that I played, or even heard about at all before this awards show, I honestly disagree with this one it should have been Life is Strange, which I adored.

BEST ART DIRECTION: Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios) – Not surprised here, the bright color pallet and whimsical imagery win this one over the darker tones of most modern AAA games.

BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Ludvig Forssell, Justin Burnett, Daniel James/Kojima Productions) – Get what you pay for here, MGS:V was a great game, with amazing visuals, great sound, and a story that mostly did a good job, a well-deserved win here.

BEST PERFORMANCE: Viva Seifert (Her Story) – Other than the presenter confusing the game that won this award, I found myself again surprised that a game that was so under the radar cleaned up so well. I’m sure Viva’s performance was brilliant and this win means I need to check out Her Story for sure.

GAMES FOR CHANGE: Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment/Square Enix) – At least Life is Strange gets the nod here, I can’t help but think this is mostly because the main protagonist is a member of the LGBT community and thus the game focuses on some of those issues, but it’s nice to see the shout out.

BEST SHOOTER: Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo) – I am so glad this won. Splatoon is one of the best games of this year, and I am really glad to see it receive recognition for what it is an amazing multiplayer shooter.

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami) – Glad to see that Metal Gears Open world playground gets this award. The game is amazing, and if you haven’t played it go do it, that’s all I can say.

BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) – Another win for the polish CD Projekt Red, since this was one of the only major RPGs to come out this year I wasn’t super surprised.

BEST FIGHTING GAME: Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) *Disclaimer I know nothing about fighting games* Iv played this game at the arcade, and it’s a pretty game, but its also the only AAA fighter released this year, so the win is a gimme.

BEST FAMILY GAME: Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4/Nintendo) – Seeing Nintendo getting the shout outs at a major game awards show still feels really odd to me, but this has been an amazing year for Nintendo,

BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME: Rocket League (Psyonix) – there are other sports racing games?

BEST MULTIPLAYER: Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo) – This one I kinda disagree with, there were other great multiplayer games this year, and while Splatoon was the most original I don’t think it was the best and most polished. I really liked the idea of MGS:V winning this for Metal Gear online, but it didn’t happen.

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME: No Man’s Sky (Hello Games) – Can we stop giving the award to this game please? I get it ok, people want No Man’s sky, and have since they announced it like 4 years ago.

ESPORTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kenny “KennyS” Schrub (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive/Team EnVyUs) – This was a surprise to me, and it was less surprising than the next win.
ESPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR: Optic Gaming – woah, surprised here, expected this to be a League Team or at least DOTA2.
ESPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve) – this is a given since its getting its own League on cable TV. With the annoucment that we will be getting a show on TBS on Friday nights and with over a million dollars up for grabs, CS:GO is going to win this no problem.

TRENDING GAMER:  Greg Miller – who? Sorry but I have no idea who that is, honestly and I watch a lot of YouTube.  Props to greg for the win, guess I know who he is now.

BEST FAN CREATION: Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios) – this flew under the radar, but it was really an amazing fan creation, playing portal again really made me happy and honestly made me wish for another portal game.

And that’s about that. The awards are still run by Geoff Keighkey and this year the aestitic shifted from spikes MAN MAN MAN style of last year, over to a cyber-styling that I really enjoyed. Also of note was Hideo Kojimas absence, apparently due to a legal issue with his (fromer?) employer Konami. Geoff called out Konami on how they were treating their golden goose. This was graet to hear. There was also a major tribute (like 15 minutes) to Satoru Iwata who’s genius is one of the major reasons Nintendo exits as a game company today.

There was also a huge packed line up of game trailers, premiers and additional information about already out games, take a look at all the video content below the drop

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Steam adds game deletion option

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Many people find themselves regretting a spur of the moment steam purchase, knowing that that game will stay in the see-through grey text of a game that is not installed taking up space for the rest of time you have a Steam account. No more, Steam will now allow users to delete games. This option while it may seem frivolous is huge for many people who like to keep extremely organized and not have large gaps in their Steam library. I mean, how many of us have literally 100 uninstalled games we have 0 hours playing? Just me? oh…. well if like me you just cant resist a good sale this new feature might be a much wanted one.

The new feature was discovered by a Neogaf user  and seems to functional right now. Removing games is a simple matter of choosing Help, Steam Support, selecting the offending game and banishing it into oblivion with the button labelled “I want to permanently remove this game from my account”. This is a far cry for the pervious method of even attempting to have games removed from the list which involved a ticket to steam support and a lot of hope and crying.

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