All Articles: PAX East 2018

Bethesda will bring “a big mix of stuff” to E3 2018

Posted on April 12, 2018 by John Scalzo

Bethesda held their first E3 Press Conference in 2015, and they managed to instantly win over the crowd by showcasing the first teaser trailer for Doom. In the years since, the publisher has doubled down on this strategy, and continued to focus on spectacular sequels and expansions to their biggest franchises.

And it sounds like 2018 won’t be any different.

DualShockers tracked down Bethesda’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Pete Hines, at PAX East 2018, and asked him what we can expect from the company’s E3 showcase. As in years past, Hines promised that fans will see “a big mix of stuff” that won’t be limited to one kind of game or genre:

[W]e have a lot of new stuff to talk about at E3. Whether or not folks realize it, this is the hell on Earth time for us with E3. We are in the midst of so much planning and work for all of that content but I’m really excited.

I think we have a lot of stuff that folks are going to like. To my earlier comment, it’s going to be a big mix of stuff that’s all over the place. It’s not going to be like all [one] kind of game or genre. It’s going to be a lot of stuff in a lot of different areas and hopefully, there’s something in there for everybody.

Bethesda always has a lot of irons in the fire, but aside from the constant drumbeat of The Elder Scrolls VI (and the two “big and crazy” projects that will precede it), we don’t have any idea what the publisher is working on.

I guess we’ll all find out together during Bethesda’s E3 Showcase, which will be held on June 10 at 9:30 PM (Eastern Time).

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Yoko Taro wants to create a third game in the Nier universe

Posted on April 10, 2018 by John Scalzo

Square Enix celebrated the first anniversary of Nier: Automata‘s launch over the weekend by hosting the rather appropriately-named Nier: Automata – One Year Anniversary Celebration panel at PAX East. But Game Director Yoko Taro took it a step further and confirmed that he would like to release a third game in the Nier franchise.

Speaking to the crowd during a Q&A session, Taro said, “I do think that we might actually be able to open another door in the Nier universe.” However, he also tempered expectations by adding, “I don’t know how long it might take, but I do want you guys to look forward to that.”

Seven years passed between the original Nier and the release of Automata, so we might be in for a long wait. In the meantime, you can watch a replay of the panel on the “PAX2” Twitch channel.

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Strogg and Peeker will be added to Quake Champions later this month

Posted on April 9, 2018 by John Scalzo

Over the weekend at PAX East, Bethesda confirmed that Strogg and Peeker will be added to Quake Champions later this month. Strogg is best known as the primary antagonist from Quake II and Quake 4. His diabolical personality will return in Quake Champions, and he’ll be joined on the battlefield by his constant companion, Peeker the Drone…

Strogg (Undying Infiltrator)
Half military-grade metal, half decaying flesh, and 100% ready to rage, the primary enemy from both Quake II and Quake 4 is back as Strogg fights to be freed from the Dreamlands and reestablish contact with his ruthless warlord Makron. Players will also be able to take control of Strogg’s sidekick Peeker, an airborne AI drone that shoots explosives. Enemy kills are turned into a nutritional paste called Stroylent that provides 25HP, but players need to act fast – other Stroggs can steal your Stroylent.

Strogg will be part of Quake Champions’s “April Update,” which will be available to download on April 26. It’ll also include a brand new map, “Awoken,” which Bethesda describes as a “misty labyrinth of tropical ruins.”

Posted in News, PC | Tagged ,

NIS America will bring SNK 40th Anniversary Collection to the Switch in Fall 2018

Posted on April 8, 2018 by John Scalzo

SNK has given NIS America a peek inside their archives, and the niche publisher has announced plans to bring the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection to the Switch this Fall.

Compiling “many of SNK’s classics from the 1980s,” the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection will include unlimited save points, a Rewind feature to replay tricky scenes, redesigned control schemes, and updated graphics at 1080p resolution. An SNK Museum will also feature unlockable “high definition artwork and original promotional assets.”

So far, NIS America has confirmed the inclusion of 13 games in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection:

  • Alpha Mission (Console/Arcade)
  • Athena (Console/Arcade)
  • Crystalis (Console)
  • Ikari Warriors (Console/Arcade)
  • Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (Console/Arcade)
  • Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue (Console/Arcade)
  • Guerrilla War (Console/Arcade)
  • P.O.W. (Console/Arcade)
  • Prehistoric Isle (Arcade)
  • Psycho Soldier (Arcade)
  • Street Smart (Arcade)
  • TNK III (Console/Arcade)
  • Vanguard (Arcade)

More titles for the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection will be announced at a later date.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged ,

Campo Santo will bring Firewatch to the Switch soon

Posted on April 8, 2018 by John Scalzo

Developer Campo Santo has announced (via their official website) that Firewatch is in the works for the Nintendo Switch. A launch date for the wilderness adventure has yet to be locked down, but Campo Santo is rebuilding the game from the ground up for the Switch, and they hope to release it “soon”:

Firewatch is coming to the Nintendo Switch!

When will it be out? All we can say is “soon!” Reengineering the sprawling meadows and towering trees of Firewatch’s wilderness to play perfectly on new hardware is no small engineering task. We’ve been hard at work stripping much of Firewatch’s tech down to the studs and rebuilding it to render the world more quickly, to stream and load faster, and to generally be more responsive. Nearly everyone in the Campo Santo office has a Nintendo Switch (and the rest want one). We know what a good Switch game feels like, and want to make sure Firewatch feels like one too.

Plus, we’re hoping to throw in a couple surprises just for the Switch release.

Campo Santo added that the “low-level optimizations and tech clean-up” that are being put into the Switch version of Firewatch will also find their way to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in a future performance update.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged ,

You Don’t Know Jack will return in Jackbox Party Pack 5

Posted on April 7, 2018 by John Scalzo

Jackbox Games will bring back “You Don’t Know Jack” in this Fall’s Jackbox Party Pack 5 on the PC, consoles, and other “major digital platforms.”

An announcement on the developer’s official website lays out all the details, and it looks the trivia game will include many of the features and question types that fans have come to expect. But it’ll also get a change of scenery so that Jackbox can mock “binge” culture:

We didn’t want to do another YDKJ just because we could. We wanted to wait until we had a fresh take on the classic formula. This version sees the game (and Cookie) acquired by the friendly corporate overlords at Binjpipe, your premiere media bingeing streaming service. It’s a big scenery change that’s led us to update the game in really fun ways, and given us a ton of new stuff to make fun of.

“You Don’t Know Jack” will also include support for up to eight players, as well as “new question types, audience integration, brand new fart sounds, a lot of old fart sounds too, streaming features, begrudging meme references,” and “more than one Frasier joke for some reason.”

Like the previous Jackbox Party Pack collections, Jackbox Party Pack 5 will also include four other games that’ll be announced at a later date. For now, check out the C2E2/PAX East Trailer embedded above. It’s a hilarious takedown of binge-y buzzwords.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One | Tagged

SNK Heroines gets a September 7 release date and Shermie joins the roster

Posted on April 6, 2018 by John Scalzo

Developers from SNK hosted a special 40th Anniversary panel at PAX East earlier this afternoon, where they confirmed that SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy will be released for the PS4 and Switch on September 7. Fans of the King of Fighters franchise will also be pleased to learn that Shermie has been added to the game’s roster:

Meet Shermie, a beautiful and hard-hitting grappler making her graceful return to the ring. Since first appearing in The King of Fighters ’97, she has remained a popular pick among players and is ready to take her place as the belle of the brawl with her devastating suplexes and bone-crunching drop kicks! Be careful, because one wrong move and you’ll get a taste of her Dream Finish, the Inazuma Leg Lariat!

Shermie’s Debut Trailer has been embedded above.

Posted in News, PS4, Switch | Tagged ,

Telltale will unveil The Walking Dead: The Final Season for the first time at PAX East 2018

Posted on April 1, 2018 by John Scalzo

Telltale Games has announced they’ll pull the curtain back on The Walking Dead: The Final Season at next week’s PAX East convention.

The first episode in the concluding chapter of Clemenstine’s story will launch for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices later this year. But first, the developers want to give fans a sneak peek at the game during a panel on Friday, April 6, at 12:30 PM (Eastern Time)…

If you’re unable to attend PAX East this year, you’ll be able to keep up with all the announcements by viewing a livestream of the panel on Twitch (via the PAX East #2 channel). Fans at home will also be able to tune in to an exclusive aftershow on the Twitch channel for Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time).

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