Destiny Sneak Preview

The PS4 exclusive “Alpha” build sneak preview for Destiny has come and gone, and now it’s time to weigh in with opinions. What IS Destiny? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Welcome to the “Destiny Sneak Preview” on eBash Bits and Bytes!

Overall, I think Destiny will be worthy of the hype when it releases later this year, though some expectations may need to be tempered – this isn’t a revolution for first person shooters, just an evolution. In the capable hands of third party studio Bungie, Destiny is a high quality AAA title: the mechanics are solid, the atmosphere is established, the soundtrack rocks, and the art style is impressive. After getting my hands on this early preview of Destiny, I can appreciate why it is hard for Bungie to describe what kind of game it is.

Since this Alpha build was very limited in content, it is hard to predict what players can expect when the full game is released. The Alpha included three distinct “pillars” or game modes: Story/free roam content, Co-Op “Strike” missions, and the “Crucible” or player versus player matches. Presentation was minimal, in other words, there were no cut-scenes and very few non-player-characters (NPCs) to describe the story or setting. Transitioning from one mode to one of the other two modes required a fairly lengthy load time – represented only by an outside view of the player’s space ship in flight. The limited presentation made even more disconnect between each mode. In fact, beyond the unifying structure of player progression, Destiny doesn’t seem to be anything we haven’t seen before:

Players can free-roam a decent size area by themselves (or with their friends) and shoot enemies, complete random objectives, collect “loot” or weapon and armor drops, and gain experience to level up.

The “Strike” or Co-Op missions require a group, and players can form a party with their friends or join a matchmaking queue for random players. The Strike mission in the Alpha was pretty challenging, and featured some unique boss fights – and much better loot than free-roam mode.

The third “pillar” of Destiny, the “Crucible,” was surprisingly well made and it was very fun to play in player versus player matches. There are three “classes” to choose from in Destiny, and at least at these lower levels (the Alpha capped player progress to only level eight) their main differences were only in their special abilities. The “Titan” class, for example, can punch the ground and send powerful shockwaves to kill nearby enemies, but the “Warlock” class jumps up into the air and hurls a ball of magical energy at the ground from a distance. One of the maps even had futuristic vehicles to drive and shoot at opponents with, giving the experience a strong “Halo” vibe – and that is a very good thing.

As good as these three modes are, it does feel strange that they are so dis-connected. The “player’s ship flying” loading screen is maybe just a placeholder for something more dynamic, but as it is, it seems really odd that I can’t be running around in free-roam mode and waiting in a “Strike” mission queue at the same time. Having to physically “fly off” the planet to join the co-op or versus modes’ queues is sort of old fashioned and tedious.

I’m also concerned that, as addicting as player progression and light-RPG elements can be, they can also be very limiting. Will high level characters be able to group up with their lower-leveled friends? Or will they only be able to play with each other if they are at the exact same level? I am always looking for more games that offer co-op mission and/or campaign content, but locking the “next level” down until players reach a certain player level feels too restrictive.

Until we learn what the finished game is like, I can only guess and hope for the best. Aside from the potential pitfalls of player-progression, a game like Destiny that features story/free-roam modes, Co-Op modes, and Versus modes should be a great fit for eBash Video Game Centers!

Destiny is a third party game developed by Bungie and published by Activision. It is scheduled to be released September 9th, only for the PS4 and Xbox One, and is predicted to be rated ‘M’ for Mature.

E3 2014 Part Two

With most of the big announcements from all the major companies out of the way, now is a good time to look at E3 so far. It’s also fun to see how close some of the rumors and predictions were to reality. Overall, I’d say that each company did pretty much what they needed to and at least met expectations. In this day and age of constant online news, it’s hard to produce huge surprises at E3 anymore, but there were a few jaw dropping events anyway.

Microsoft

What They Did – Microsoft set the tone for the rest of Monday’s big stage announcements by going first, and they did not disappoint. Their presentation was full of nothing but games, as promised, although some of them had already been announced Pre-E3. I had the expectation that announcing Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdive before the conference would allow Microsoft to fill their absence with even more game announcements, but there they were, announced with the rest of the games. It also seems that Advanced Warfare is being severely overlooked just because it’s another Call of Duty game, but the footage they showed was jaw dropping gorgeous and amazing!

The stage itself was set up to showcase the Xbox’s strength: multiplayer and even “asymmetric” multiplayer in games like Evolve, The Division, and Fable Legends. That means four players are controlling their characters with one control method, and a fifth player is controlling something else with a different perspective or even a different type of controller like a tablet or smart phone. Four players also took to the specially designed stage to show off co-op game play in Assassin’s Creed: Unity.

The greatest announcement of Microsoft’s show – and the greatest of E3 overall in my opinion – was the reveal that the rumored Halo 2 Anniversary remake was indeed an entire FOUR GAME “Master Chief” collection of Halo 1 through 4, including all the multiplayer maps and DLC, all in 1080p, 60 fps, and on dedicated servers. All of this, on one disc, for only $60, AND it includes the multiplayer beta for Halo 5 starting in December.

Sony

What They Did – Sony had a lot to announce, and it might have gone better if they followed Microsoft’s example and made some announcements Pre-E3. They showed a lot of games, but their presentation dragged a few times when they had to talk about the PS Vita TV, and the PlayStation Now and TV services. Sony also showed a mixture of third and first party titles, emphasizing that even the third party games were better on the PS4. Far Cry 4, for example, has a special co-op feature that allows a friend to join your game in progress – even if they don’t own a copy of the game!

The first party titles seemed to get the best reactions from the crowd, and I have to share their enthusiasm for games like Little Big Planet 3 and Uncharted 4. I’m still not sold on The Order 1866 and several of the “indie” titles, and many of the games they announced have a 2015 release in mind. I do wish more companies would follow Suckerpunch’s example and release DLC for games that can actually work as stand alone content for those that don’t even own that game – in this case, Infamous Second Son is getting some stand alone DLC very soon.

Nintendo

What They Did – They continue to march to their own beat, and their online-only broadcast was full of Nintendo’s quirky charm. They made no apologies or concessions that their Wii U isn’t selling well – they just stood up and showed off some games that proud Wii U owners can look forward to. I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of 2D platforming games, so all the Kirby and Mario games – including the ability to finally edit and create your own Mario levels – weren’t that exciting to me.

What is exciting to me – and probably everyone that plays video games – was the short but sweet reveal of a new Legend of Zelda game coming to the Wii U in 2015! Mario Kart 8 is already doing really well and boosting sales of the Wii U, and I expect the release of Super Smash Bros will boost sales even more. Maybe Nintendo’s approach to being the “secondary” console in people’s homes can be valid, especially with more “must have” titles like Starfox, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, and the Legend of Zelda.

E3 2014 Part One

Thousands of people are filling up the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 10 -12 to absorb as much news and info from hundreds of companies showing off their wares at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo – or E3 – and millions more are watching via the internet. I’m narrowing my focus on the big game companies and their “main stage” presentations, but even then, I’ll have to split my coverage into several blogs. Part One covers Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

Microsoft

What They’ve Done – After a rocky PR mess last year, Microsoft has course-corrected their next-gen console, the Xbox One, and lined up old and new entertainment divisions to make their visions of an “all in one” living room entertainment device come true. Sony’s PS4 may be ahead of the Xbox One in units sold, but it’s also available in over double the markets. Not to minimize Sony’s accomplishments, but their 7 million PS4s sold to Microsoft’s 5 million Xbox Ones sold isn’t that big of a lead. The Xbox One seems to be doing pretty well in spite of that PR mess last year. Recently, the Xbox has made other course corrections, and made a Kinect-less version of the Xbox One available for $399 – the same price as the PS4. Microsoft is heading into E3 with the most momentum: nothing but good news lately (positive changes to Xbox Live like offering free games every month and dropping the “pay wall” to services like Netflix), big game announcements pre-E3 (Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2), and the promise so show nothing but game after game during their main stage presentation.

What They Need To Do – They need to stick with their strengths – Xbox Live service, multi-player communities, all in one entertainment, and lots of 1st and 3rd party games – and build more momentum for the Xbox One. We also know they are making Xbox TV shows, but they should stick to games during their presentation. They’ve already admitted that Halo 5 is coming, but not until 2015. What new games will justify buying an Xbox One now? Are the rumors of a Remastered Halo 1 – 4 collection true? What other surprises will we see?

What They Did – coming soon.

Sony

What They’ve Done – Sony was in a very advantageous situation last year. By keeping mostly silent through the spring, and taking the E3 stage at the end of the day, Sony was able to sit by and let Microsoft nearly destroy themselves, swoop down at the last minute, and appear as the “white knight” company that would save gamers everywhere. The PS4 was not only more powerful than the Xbox One, it wasn’t going to require a constant internet connection, used games could be sold and traded, and (at the expense of not being bundled with the new Eye Toy camera) it was going to be $100 cheaper. Microsoft quickly got rid of the mandatory internet checks and also supported the used game market, but Sony’s message seemed to resonate with more people, and the PS4 went on to sell 7 million units in 6 months.

What They Need To Do – Sony needs to keep that momentum, and I’m not convinced they can. The main compelling arguments for purchasing a PS4 instead of the Xbox One seem to have all but disappeared. People have quickly forgotten that except for their slams against Microsoft at the end of their show last year, Sony’s main stage presentation was actually pretty boring. Sony can not repeat that type of show and should copy Microsoft’s strategy of showing nothing but game after game. The PlayStation division of Sony is doing really well, but the rest of the company is in really bad shape. Despite their early lead in units sold, Sony has had to close studio after studio, and key staff members of their best studio, Naughty Dog, have quit for unknown reasons. Sony needs to get on stage and convince consumers that they can still produce higher quantity and higher quality games than their competition.

What They Did – coming soon.

Nintendo

What They’ve Done – To understand my fears for Sony, we need to look no further than Nintendo, and witness how they’ve squandered their huge success with the Wii and fallen flat with the Wii U. The Wii took a different strategy – the so called “blue ocean” or untapped market of casual and non-gamers – and enjoyed early success. But, even though over 100 million Wii’s have been sold, and many Wii titles sold over 20 million copies each, the last few years of its life were not kind. Sales dropped dramatically as did the schedule of new games being released. When the Wii U was announced, it seemed like Nintendo was having a bit of an identity crisis. Were they trying to recapture their “core” audience or were they still trying to ride the waves of success with the Wii? What ever Nintendo was trying to accomplish, the results speak for themselves: despite an entire year head start over the Xbox One and PS4, the Wii U has struggled to sell only 6 million units.

What They Need To Do – Nintendo should quickly move on to yet another console, one that can actually rival the PS4 and Xbox One. They can still sell Wii U’s and even make this new console backwards compatible, but clearly their strange strategy of a tablet-like controller tethered to an under-powered console is not working. Nintendo has all but admitted that they are fine with being a “secondary” console in people’s homes meaning that they understand that people are buying either a PS4 or an Xbox One, and *maybe* getting a Wii U for the few Nintendo exclusives. Why is that acceptable? With a powerful console that can play all the popular third party titles, no gimmicks, AND those super popular Nintendo exclusives, Nintendo could become the primary console in people’s homes. It is, however, very unlikely that Nintendo will make such an announcement, so instead, they should also announce game after game and make more compelling arguments for people to purchase Nintendo products again.

What They Did – Nintendo is not getting on stage at E3. They are having a special “Nintendo Direct” internet broadcast on Tuesday. Report of that is coming soon.

Xbox One June Update to Add External Storage

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson announced on his blog today that external storage capabilities will be added to the Xbox One in a June update. From the announcement:

Easily Increase Games Capacity with External Storage Support

“It couldn’t be easier to increase your storage capacity of games and apps with the external storage support features we’re bringing in June. Your Xbox One system will soon support up to two external hard drives at once. Simply plug in your 256 GB or larger USB 3.0 external hard drive and once formatted, copy and move games, apps and game add-ons to increase your storage capacity at home.

This is also a great way to take your content to a friend’s house and get straight into a game directly from an external drive. You’ll need to sign in to Xbox Live if you’ve purchased your content digitally or insert a disc to verify your game ownership when you take your content on the road. The great benefit here is there’s no need to wait to re-download your game and all the DLC. With external storage support in June, you can also choose to copy full games and all of the associated content in one easy step.”

With a growing library of Xbox One games available to play at eBash, several of the Xbox One hard drives are already full or nearly at full capacity. Having external storage options will be very welcome.

Another feature included in the update is an option to set one profile to sign in automatically. Both features will be very welcome at eBash Video Game Centers. One of the conveniences that eBash offers is an Xbox Live Gold account on every Xbox console. Manually signing into those accounts every time a customer wants to use an Xbox One gets a little tedious. Thank you, Microsoft!

Halo 5: Guardians Announced

343 Industries announced that Halo 5: Guardians will launch for Xbox One in the fall of 2015.

But they have lots of plans for Halo, and we’ll hear more about them at E3 in just a few weeks. Bonnie Ross, general manager of 343 Industries, said in the announcement: “Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine. Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.” The game will run “at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade.

“Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a ‘journey,’ rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that Halo fans will be pretty excited [about] the special plans we have in store.”

If they’re teasing this announcement now, what else will they reveal at E3?? Could the “giant leap” that “begins in 2014” be that brand new game engine – running a Halo 2: 10 Year Anniversary Edition?!

More Bits Before E3

It appears Microsoft isn’t the only big company revealing new game information before E3. Ubisoft announced they will be releasing “Far Cry 4” this November, but their ambitious single/multi-player emergent survival shooting game “The Division” will be pushed back until next year.

Last year at E3, Ubisoft’s main stage presentation featured the best lineup of games, in my opinion, and they are sure to dazzle again this year. Announcing Far Cry 4 NOW, instead of during that show, makes me wonder what other secrets they might reveal? For the past two years, Ubisoft’s E3 presentation followed the same pattern: they showed off title after title, keeping their “best” titles for last, only to surprise the audience with ONE MORE game that shocked and amazed everyone. In 2011, the big shocker was “Watch_Dogs” an ambitious title that was supposed to be released late last year, only to be pushed back until the end of May. In 2012, “Watch_Dogs” was their “best” title saved for last, only to surprise everyone with something called “The Division.”

Far Cry 4’s development hasn’t been kept as a very good secret, so Ubisoft’s “out of the blue” announcement about it’s November release date is intriguing – but I can’t WAIT to see what secret title they reveal in just a few weeks!

Meanwhile, Microsoft keeps making announcements before THEIR big E3 presentation, with promises that their main show will be nothing but games, games, and more games. So, if they are already announcing games, now, how many MORE games will they announce at E3? I can’t wait to find out!

Xbox One Sold Without Kinect?

Microsoft announced today that, starting June 9th, the Xbox One will be available without the Kinect for only $399. The peripheral will be available to be purchased separately. This makes the Xbox One available for the same price as Sony’s PlayStation 4.

I imagine the option will also remain to buy it bundled with the system. Personally, I enjoy the Kinect and everything it offers, and I’m really surprised by this announcement.

With the sneak preview videos of the Xbox One exclusive game “Sunset Overdrive” already circulating the internet, followed by this HUGE announcement, I can’t WAIT to see what Microsoft is saving for their big stage at E3 in just a few weeks.

They must have a LOT of content planned, too much to fit in their one hour presentation. A quote from Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, confirms my assumptions: “We wanted to get this out of the way so that E3 could be about the games and the great platform lineup.”

Elder Scrolls Online Delayed on Consoles

Despite having one of the smoothest launches in MMO history on the PC, the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the Elder Scrolls Online game have been delayed for about six months. These console versions were scheduled to be released in June, so perhaps they’ll be ready by December.

Elder Scrolls Online is a fun hybrid of single player Elder Scrolls games, including a great amount of player freedom in character creation and exploration, and “normal” Massively-Multiplayer-Online games featuring huge PvP battlegrounds and challenging content designed for groups. The action is handled on PC capably with a mouse and keyboard, but I can tell that it will be really enjoyable for console controls.

The delay is unfortunate, but there is some good news: customers that buy and play the PC/Mac version before the end of June will have an option to transfer their characters and progress to either the Xbox One or PS4 version of their choice for only $20, including another 30 days of play time.

The PC version of ESO has been getting a decent amount of play by some of the regulars at eBash. I can only guess how many more people are waiting to try it on the Xbox One, but now they’ll have to wait.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfighter

Activision was going to reveal their new Call of Duty title on Sunday, but since it leaked on Destructoid and other sites, they’ve officially released their trailer:

Advanced Warfare is scheduled to be released on 11/4/14. It will be the first Call of Duty game developed exclusively by Sledgehammer Games. Sledgehammer pitched in with Modern Warfare 3, after the meltdown of Infinity Ward, back in 2011. Activision announced a few months ago that they are now giving Call of Duty titles THREE year development periods, by giving three studios alternating release schedules. Activision had been using a two year cycle with two studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, now Sledgehammer joins that cycle as the third studio.

As usual, the Xbox One and Xbox 360 will get timed exclusive content before it appears on PS3 and PS4. The Wii U has not been confirmed as receiving a version.

Xbox One Ultimate UI

This is a video that “PrimeGhost Gaming” uploaded to youtube and showyou.com. It demonstrates what more customization options *could* look like for the User Interface (UI) on the Xbox One!

Be sure to watch until the very end!