All Articles: The Order: 1886

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards

sxsw-logoCD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was on target once again as it collected another “Game of the Year” win this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Awards. In addition to its big win, The Witcher 3 won two other awards: “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in Narrative.”

The Witcher 3 faced stiff competition from several of last year’s other big releases, including Bloodborne and Rise of the Tomb Raider, both of which won a pair of 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards. From Software’s gothic RPG was recognized for its gorgeous environments in the “Excellence in Art” and “Excellence in Design” categories. Meanwhile, Lara Croft herself was named “Most Enduring Character” and her tomb raiding skills were honored with an “Excellence in Animation” win.

Finally, Her Story picked up some more hardware this weekend, winning SXSW’s “Mobile Game of the Year” award.

A complete look at all of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt nabs eight nominations at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards

sxsw-logoSouth by Southwest Gaming recently announced the nominees for this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, not surprisingly, has captured the most accolades. CD Projekt’s sprawling RPG is up for eight awards, including “Game of the Year.” It was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Art,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Visual Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Musical Score,” and “Most Enduring Character.”

Competing against Geralt of Rivia for “Game of the Year” is a familiar-looking quartet of games including Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Undertale. Bloodborne was actually a close second to The Witcher 3 with seven nominations.

Who wins at the 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined in part by a public vote that will hosted by IGN from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 12. The winners will be announced on Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) and you can watch it live on Twitch.

The complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D shoots the moon as the top-selling game in February 2015

legendofzeldamajorasmask-limitededitionThis just in… people really love the New 3DS XL. According to Nintendo, the consolemaker sold almost twice as many 3DS handhelds last month than in February of 2014. Though I guess that was probably going to be a given as people love every Nintendo handheld.

More surprising is the fact that people really love The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. Long thought of as the black sheep of the Zelda franchise, it took the top spot in the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games from February 2015. The handheld’s other major launch title, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, checked in at #10. When you add in digital sales, the game sold more than 290,000 copies in February, making it the best debut for any game in the entire series.

Majora’s Mask 3D beat out February’s other big release, Evolve, which managed to shoot its way to the #2 spot. Other new releases appearing in the February top ten include Dragon Ball Xenoverse (#7) and The Order: 1886 (#9), which only had a few days to rack up sales due to its February 20 release date.

The remainder of the top ten includes plenty of holdovers from January including the former #1, Dying Light. Techland’s zombie game drops to #3 and it’s followed by Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), Grand Theft Auto V (#5), and NBA 2K15 (#6). Another strong showing by Minecraft keeps it in the top ten for another month, this time at #8.

Overall, Game Informer is reporting that sales of hardware, software, and accessories all saw major improvement last month versus February 2014. And while Nintendo may have dominated with the New 3DS XL, Sony has once again claimed the top-selling console with the PS4.

If you’d prefer to read the full top ten from February 2015 in list form, you can find it after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Insert Quarter: It’s OK That The Order: 1886 is Short… But It’s Also OK to be Annoyed

insertquarter-header

Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.

The length of The Order: 1886 has been a hot topic around the virtual watercooler ever since a Let’s Player posted a video “confirming” that the game is only five hours long. Of course, not everyone plays games the same way. A professional streamer might be able to polish off The Order in five hours, but the average gamer playing an hour or two after work every night might need ten hours or even twenty. But that fact remains that paying $60 for a game that could be completed in five hours is not a great value proposition.

Polygon’s Ben Kuchera understands the length vs value argument, but he also believes that some games work better as shorter narratives. So who comes out on top of this rather silly debate? Actually, it’s everybody as it’s OK for games to be short, but it’s also OK to be annoyed at how short some games are:

The Order: 1886 has many, many problems, and its relative lack of length is not the most troubling.

But the pre-release stories about its supposed length, and what it means for its success, were passed around and fretted over endlessly among the gaming press and social media. The question of game length, and what it means for players, is a contentious one.

[…]

The Mona Lisa is, after all, very small. Does that mean it’s a lesser work of art?

Here’s the secret: Everyone is right.

The full article is available for your perusal at Polygon.

Posted in Insert Quarter, PS4 | Tagged

The Order: 1886, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, Hand of Fate, more added to PS Store

theorder1886-header

The Order: 1886, Ready At Dawn’s cinematic take on a centuries old battle between steampunk assassins and a pack of werewolves will finally make its PlayStation Store debut this Friday, February 20. Even with the explosive popularity of the steampunk subgenre in recent years, the PS4 game definitely has a unique look and might be one to check out.

Several other PS4 games were added to the PlayStation Store yesterday including Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, an enhanced re-release of the popular fighting game; Hand of Fate, an action RPG/deckbuilding game; and Trivial Pursuit Live!, a game show-like reimagining of the popular board game (it’s also available on the PS3).

On the Cross-Buy front, Q*Bert Rebooted brings the original arcade game and a “rebooted” sequel with hexagonal platforms to the PS3, PS4, and Vita.

More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita | Tagged , ,

New Releases: The Order: 1886, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Total War: Attila, More

newreleases021715

Do you believe that a secret cabal of soldiers guards the citizenry from an encroaching force of half-human/half-beastly hybrids? And do you believe that these men and women are the only thing standing between the total collapse of society and these so-called werewolves? You do? Great! Because Ready At Dawn and Sony Santa Monica will release The Order: 1886 for the PS4 this week.

It’ll be joined on store shelves by the more colorful Kirby and the Rainbow Curse for the Wii U (no werewolves in that one) and the more vicious Total War: Attila on the PC (the strategy game from Creative Assembly stars one of the most feared warlords of the ancient world).

Finally this week, Koei Tecmo will re-release Dead or Alive 5 for the PS4 and Xbox One as Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

The Order: 1886 serves up a new trailer before Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX kick offs very soon, and Sony’s The Order: 1886 will be part of the pre-game festivities. A new commercial for the PlayStation 4 game, which was developed by Ready At Dawn and Sony Santa Monica External, will air ahead of the coin toss. We don’t know exactly when, so if you’re curious, feel free to watch the commercial right here.

On the PlayStation Blog, Sony is quite pleased with the game’s cinematic presentation:

In development for over three years by Ready At Dawn Studios in conjunction with Santa Monica Studio External Development, The Order: 1886 harnesses the power of PS4 to bring you a visceral, cinematic storytelling experience the likes of which you have never seen before on a gaming console. Set deep within a unique vision of Victorian-Era London, you are put directly in the middle of a centuries-old war as Sir Galahad, a member of an elite order of Knights, against a powerful threat that will determine the course of history forever.

The Order: 1886 will be released on February 20.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged

Dive deeper into The Order: 1886’s story with this trailer

The release of Ready At Dawn’s The Order: 1886 is just about a month away, so here’s a new trailer that dives a bit deeper into the PS4 exclusive’s storyline. It seems that the battle between the titular Order and werewolf-like Half-Breeds is being interrupted by some kind of rebellion.

We don’t know what the rebellion is just yet, but if you want to see a man punch a werewolf in the face, then this trailer is for you. The Order: 1886 will be released for the PS4 on February 20.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged