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Most Recent: PS4
Overwatch 2 announced with Story Missions and cross-compatibility with original game
Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 today at BlizzCon… but it’s not a sequel in the traditional sense. The game is first and foremost a cooperative shooter where players can team up together to take on narrative-driven Story Missions in a future where the Overwatch has reformed:
In the sequel’s action-packed cooperative Story Missions, players will experience the advent of a new Overwatch as Winston, Tracer, and other members of the original Overwatch join forces with a new generation of heroes. Players will take an active role in the Overwatch saga as a new global crisis unfolds through a series of intense, high-stakes four-player missions. As the story progresses, players will team up as different sets of heroes and fight to defend the world from the omnic forces of Null Sector, uncover the motives behind the robotic armies’ attacks, and come face-to-face with rising new threats around the globe.
Co-op players might also be interested in Overwatch 2’s “highly replayable” Hero Missions:
The battle continues in Hero Missions, where the Overwatch team will be called upon to go beyond their limits as they deploy across the planet, defending cities against robot invasions, taking on elite Talon agents, and battling the villainous forces laying siege to the world. In this highly replayable mode, players can level up their favorite heroes and earn powerful customization options that supercharge their abilities in co-op play—such as altering Reinhardt’s Fire Strike to ignite nearby enemies or modifying Tracer’s Pulse Bomb to cause a devastating chain reaction—granting the extra edge they need against the overwhelming odds.
While this might sound similar to some of the limited events that Blizzard rolls out from time to time, Overwatch 2 will also feature larger maps and “visual enhancements” that give each a new look. And speaking of Heroes, Overwatch 2 will introduce multiple new Heroes to the game’s universe, including an Omnic named Echo and former Overwatch commander known as Sojourn.
Overwatch 2 will also include at least one new gameplay type, Push, which pits two teams against each other as they try to help a robot push an objective to their opponent’s side.
While all of these new features sound like typical sequel things, Overwatch 2 is also cross-compatible with the original Overwatch. Overwatch and Overwatch 2 players will be able to compete against one another in PvP modes. Overwatch players will even be able to play on Overwatch 2’s new maps and every new Hero introduced in Overwatch 2 will also be available in the original Overwatch.
Overwatch 2 is currently in development for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. It doesn’t currently have a release date, but you find two new trailers for the game after the break. (more…)
Blizzard officially announces Diablo IV
Fans were surprised (and more than a little angry) after Blizzard chose not to announce Diablo IV during last year’s BlizzCon. That incident was the start of a rough year for the publisher, as they’ve had to endure layoffs, a plummeting stock price, and public backlash after they disciplined a professional Hearthstone player who supported the protests in Hong Kong.
But as another BlizzCon begins today, the company is attempting to right the ship. And that all starts with an official announcement for Diablo IV.
The RPG will plunge players into a darker and bloodier vision of Sanctuary that exists as a contiguous open world. This “bleak and shattered hellscape” has been overrun by the demonic minions of Lilith, but players will be able to fight back with legendary loot and, for the first time, personalized mounts:
In Diablo IV, players will attempt to bring hope back to the world by vanquishing evil in all its vile incarnations—from cannibalistic demon-worshipping cultists to the all-new drowned undead that emerge from the coastlines to drag their victims to a watery grave. For the first time in the series, Sanctuary will be a contiguous, seamless landmass comprising diverse regions ranging from the burning desert of Kejhistan, to the verdant werewolf-infested forests of Scosglen, to the harsh and rugged wilderness of the Dry Steppes.
So far, three character classes have been revealed for Diablo IV, and players will be able to choose from a brutal Barbarian, a magical Sorceress, and a shapeshifting Druid. Groups of players may even interact in a shared world to “tackle bigger challenges” or partake in some PvP combat:
Character Classes in Diablo IV
- The Barbarian, known for their unparalleled strength and brutal melee combat, utilizes a new and more powerful system in battle, Arsenal, which arms them with the ability to carry and rapidly switch between four different weapons at a time by assigning them to individual attacks.
- The Sorceress hearkens back to their Diablo II roots and shapes the elements to obliterate their foes by impaling them upon jagged spikes of ice, electrocuting them with bolts of lightning, or raining flaming meteors from the sky.
- The Druid is a savage shapeshifter whose updated playstyle empowers them to fluidly transform between werewolf, werebear, and human form to unleash the raw power of nature’s fury on the forces of the Burning Hells.
Diablo IV is currently in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One… though a release date has yet to be announced. A gruesome Cinematic Trailer for the game can be found after the break, along with the first Gameplay Trailer. (more…)
Data from Mortal Kombat 11’s first six months includes more than 205 million hours played
Mortal Kombat 11 was released roughly six months ago, and in that time it’s become one of the most popular games of 2019. To celebrate, NetherRealm Studios decided to share the data they’ve collected to sheds a little more light on how people play the game.
The big number that everyone will probably be talking about is the total number of hours that fans have sunk into the game… which is 205,262,299 hours. That is an astonishing amount of time to kill, and while every character undoubtedly has their fans, the three that have been picked the most are Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Noob Saibot. However, players preferred Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Liu Kang in Ranked Play.
Scorpion has the most wins, and the spectre is likely responsible for a lot of the 346,522,493 Fatalities that have been performed by players (though he’s also the character who’s most often on the receiving end of a “Finish Him!”). And that’s to say nothing of the 65,779,473 Flawless Victories that have been tallied.
You can find even more sanguine statistics for Mortal Kombat 11 in the video embedded above.
EA Sports cancels NBA Live 20
Executives from Electronic Arts delivered a pretty hefty amount of announcements during the company’s most recent quarterly financial report yesterday. But they also (once again) put the kibosh on this year’s entry in the NBA Live franchise.
NBA Live 20 was expected to launch during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in February, but now EA Sports has confirmed the basketball sim was canceled. The publisher shared a few more details about the cancellation on their official website:
For the past few years we’ve been making real progress with NBA Live, but we’re still not where we want to be. So with continued support from the NBA and the NBPA, we’ve been working on something new and meaningfully different – an experience that operates at the pace of culture, and will change the way you can play, connect and create in basketball.
We’re excited by what we’ve built so far, and yet we know the world is changing. New platforms are coming that will bring social connection, accessibility and player creativity to the fore. In a future of new possibilities, players shouldn’t be content with a game built for today’s realities and based on what we know to be possible, we feel we can go so much further with the new design.
That mention of “new platforms” is telling, as EA Sports plans to bring their next NBA experience (which may or may not be released as NBA Live 21) to “leading edge platforms” like the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. A release date for this new project wasn’t announced, but we should learn more about it sometime next year.
Posted in News, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Tagged NBA Live 20
EA: Multiple unannounced games coming in 2020, next Battlefield scheduled for 2021, and Dragon Age 4 is in the works for 2022 (or later)
Executives from Electronic Arts had a lot to talk about yesterday during their latest quarterly financial report. So let’s dive right in…
CEO Andrew Wilson kicked things off by confirming that the next game in the Battlfield franchise is being prepped to launch sometime during the company’s 2022 Fiscal Year (which runs from April 1, 2021 – March 30, 2022) for the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. In the meantime, developer DICE will spend 2020 creating updates and new content for Battlefield V:
Our Battlefield franchise and its community are also a major focus for us, and we’ll add new content and new ways to play Battlefield V in FY ’21. Targeting new innovation that will be enabled by next-gen platforms and a growing install base on the new consoles, our next Battlefield game is set for FY ’22.
With one of the company’s strongest developers taking an extra year to polish their next game, you might be wondering what EA has on tap for 2020. Thankfully, COO Blake Jorgensen used his portion of the presentation to fill in the gaps.
Jorgensen said that EA has multiple unannounced titles scheduled for release in 2020, including a pair of games from the publisher’s EA Partners program, and possibly at least one remaster (which would release alongside the already-announced Command & Conquer Remastered). He also talked quite a bit about Apex Legends, and confirmed that EA’s shooter will be coming to “new platforms and mobile” in the near future. While it’s possible he’s referencing the Switch in that quote, he’s more likely referring to the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett.
Looking further out, Jorgensen even mused about the status of Dragon Age 4. According to the executive, fans shouldn’t expect the next entry in BioWare’s acclaimed RPG franchise to arrive before EA’s 2023 Fiscal Year (which begins on April 1, 2022).
Finally, Andrew Wilson came back around to comment on the recent decision by the NCAA to allow college athletes to receive monetary compensation for their name or likeness. While many fans are hoping this means that EA will resume production on the NCAA Football franchise, Wilson would only say that the company is watching the situation closely:
With respect to NCAA Sports in general, yes, we have been in that business before as well. We saw the news today as did you, said by the NCAA Working Group. That news today was new to us. We’re still digesting it. We would anticipate that there is still a number of things that would have to happen over the coming years before we will be able to get back into that business, but certainly we’re watching closely.
EA’s next major releases, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Need For Speed Heat, will both be released in November.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Tagged Apex Legends, Battlefield V, Command & Conquer, Dragon Age 4
Watch the Launch Trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order right now
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be available on store shelves in just a little over two weeks… but that still makes right now a great time to take a look at the game’s Launch Trailer. The game was developed by Respawn Entertainment, and this new video gives us a quick glimpse at some of it’s Lightsaber combat, as well as a few of the Empire’s most deadly agents:
A galaxy-spanning adventure awaits in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a 3rd person action-adventure title from Respawn. An abandoned Padawan must complete his training, develop new powerful Force abilities, and master the art of the Lightsaber… all while staying one step ahead of the Empire.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 15.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Feel the love for this Launch Trailer for Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King
Disney struck box office gold earlier this year with their live-action remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King (though critical acclaim was much harder to come by). But don’t worry, the film studio hasn’t forgotten about the original animated films from the from the 1990s… or their game adaptations.
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King includes multiple versions of both games that were originally released for the Genesis, Super NES, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color by Virgin Interactive in 1993 and 1994. Sadly, Aladdin’s Super NES adaptation didn’t make the cut because it was published and developed by Capcom.
But the compilation also features a bevy of bonus features, including a rewind option for those harder moments, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews and galleries, several different visual filters, and a special Final Cut version of Aladdin that incorporates difficulty adjustments, camera refinements, and bug fixes:
Features
- Multiple Game Versions: Play through several different versions of the beloved Aladdin and The Lion King games that have been created over the years, including both console and handheld versions.
- Final Cut of Aladdin: An all-new “Final Cut” version of Aladdin, developed exclusively for this collection, is also included and features difficulty adjustments, camera refinements, bug fixes, as well as a few additional surprises for fans.
- Display Options and Updated Visuals: 1080p graphics and enhancements for modern HD TVs. Adjustable screen aspect ratios and borders. Custom filter options designed to replicate classic CRT TVs and other popular screen types.
- In-Game Rewind: Instantly rewind any of the games in real-time in order to retry difficult areas
- Interactive Game Viewer: View full game playthroughs, with the ability to skip forward, jump in, and start playing at any point
- Save Feature: Quickly save your progress in each of the games and continue your adventure wherever and whenever you want
- Museum Features: Take a journey behind-the-scenes and learn more about the creation of these incredible games. Watch video interviews with the original development teams or explore numerous galleries containing hundreds of previously unreleased HD concept images and marketing assets.
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King was published by Nighthawk Interactive and developed by Digital Eclipse, and it’s now available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
EarthNight dives onto the PC, PS4, and Switch on December 3
EarthNight is currently available to download for iOS devices through Apple’s Apple Arcade subscription service, but Cleaversoft’s hand-drawn platformer is also coming to the PC and consoles… and now we know when.
In EarthNight, dragons have captured the planet and forced the human race to take refuge on a series of massive space stations. Thankfully, a pair of heroes has emerged to take the Earth back while racing across the backs of these no-longer-mythological creatures:
Ever since dragons overtook Earth, mankind has lived in exile on space colonies orbiting the planet. Despite being faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, the unlikely duo — a sword-wielding freelance photographer and a young student blessed with ethereal superpowers — take it upon themselves to reclaim their home by skydiving through Earth’s atmosphere and striking back against the monsters below.
The two heroes approach their dragon-slaying mission with drastically different tactics. Stanley’s powerful legs allow him to make both high jumps and long leaps, while Sydney favors agility by making use of an air dash and double jump ability. Both heroes wield their bespoke skills to overcome hostile environments and push towards the vulnerable heads of their scaled serpentine foes.
EarthNight will be released for the PC, PS4, and Switch on December 3. A new trailer showcasing the game’s hand-drawn visuals and procedurally-generated dragons has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch
Tagged EarthNight