Grave Gamer News & Views — scifi

Destiny Launches Globally on September 9th, 2014

“We first shared the design pillars of Destiny less than one year ago. We promised to redefine what players should expect from a Bungie game. We said we wanted to change the way people play games together. We set our bar high. For us, Destiny represents a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

– from Bungie.net

Bungie’s “shared-world shooter” – the first title coming out of the studio’s gates since 2010’s Halo: Reach – has finally been dated. Destiny finds a home on both current and next-gen consoles, releasing for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 simultaneously.

The public beta for the game begins Summer 2014, starting on Sony’s systems first.

EA and Disney’s Star Wars Deal a Decade Long Dynasty

The partnership between video game publisher Electronic Arts and entertainment empire Disney to produce games based in the Star Wars universe is reportedly a ten year deal.

Despite an early scare in which Disney, having freshly plucked the rights to the multi-million dollar franchise from Lucasfilm, stated intentions to move Star Wars away from big budget console titles in favor of the mobile market, EA reinstilled our faith in the force at E3 by announcing it’d be bringing the Battlefront series back to life under DICE’s tutelage. The news was a welcome departure from the grim future Disney preemptively foretold.

Beyond Battlefront, EA’s financial officer Blake Jorgensen said fans should look forward to a wide breadth of games based not just in J.J. Abrams’ new trilogy but titles featuring the whole of the extended Star Wars universe. “The beauty of the Star Wars franchise is it’s so broad and so deep you don’t have to do a movie game,” said Jorgensen, speaking at the UBS Global Tech Conference. “You can do a game that’s very focused on the world that’s been created around Star Wars.”

That’s not to say this new slew of games won’t mine Episode VII and its sequels for inspiration. Future games will indeed use assets introduced in the new trilogy, though Jorgensen was careful to note EA doesn’t plan on rushing movie tie-in games to hit any one film’s theatrical release. “We’ll try to align [new titles] with that marketing power that Disney has, but it won’t necessarily be aligned with the movies.”

In addition to Battlefront aiming its blasters for a Summer 2015 launch, EA confirmed that DICE – you may already be enjoying their work on Battlefield 4 as we speak… which is rude, since you’re only half paying attention to this article –  has already laid the early foundations for a number of Star Wars titles, all of which are implied to dip into various genres.

I’d call this a verifiable Star Wars renaissance not seen since Episode I opened the floodgates back in ‘99. Rest assured, even if the new films are as eye-gougingly bad, like then, at least we’re bound to receive a few memorable games.

N7 Omega by muju

Sega’s Next Alien Game to Star Ripley’s Daughter?

We’ve been aware of an Alien project being kicked around Creative Assembly’s offices for a decent while now.

The Sega owned studio is most renown for its long-standing RTS franchise Total War, but they have, on occasion, stepped outside their genre comfort zone on certain titles. If Kotaku’s report checks out, they’re leaping way outside of that zone. Enter the very recently trademarked Alien: Isolation, a first-person horror title for both current and next-gen that’s massively informed by games the likes of Bioshock and Dishonored.

Creative Assembly’s take on the mythos draws inspiration from Ridley Scott’s original Alien, placing a greater emphasis on stealth over direct combat. In fact, one studio insider says, besides a multitude of “clones and soldiers” to tackle, the majority of the game has you tangling with a single xenomorph.

Isolation is said to isolate your ass aboard a space station and, interestingly, has you assume the role of Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley – the heroine at the forefront of every Alien film that doesn’t include a Predator or a Fassbender. Before you call shenanigans, yes, Amanda is a canonical character; though she’s only briefly mentioned in a scene found in the extended version of Aliens (the company file didn’t list off run-in’s with galactic space monsters, however)… Okay, fine, I’ll nerd out all over you: That means Isolation is set in the fifty-seven years between the events of Alien and Aliens, with Ellen Ripley still drifting through space in cryo-sleep.

Apparently, Isolation was intended for a public unveiling at E3, but Sega wished to give the team an extension for quality assurance. As in, they want to be assured the quality of the game is nowhere as cavernously low as Aliens: Colonial Marines (aka The Most Disappointed I’ve Ever Been in My Adult Life).

Aliens is my favorite film of all time. Video games are my favorite hobby. Why the two can’t get along is anyone’s guess. I’m loving CA’s direction for the game. Sprinkle on all the atmosphere you want, but mowing down a hundred aliens doesn’t quite land near “horror.” Yet… Colonial Marines left acid burns on my expectations. I want to love you, Isolation. I do. For now, let’s just keep it all business.

Destiny Beta Arrives Early 2014, Called a “Massive Undertaking”

It’s starting to hit me. Bungie is back. And what they’re bringing with them is best quantified between “pants tightening” and “mind blowing.” That’s right: it’s pants blowing.

Though, some waiting is required before the world races into Bungie’s MMO-FPS hybrid, Destiny, due out sometime in 2014. But!While supplies hold out, your pre-order at a participating retailer gains you access to Destiny’s beta planned for the Spring. Bungie community honcho, Eric Osborne, labels the beta a “massive undertaking,” and I’m inclined to agree. The beta, which will be available across all platforms the game is on, encompasses way more of Destiny’s open-world than a paltry few disjointed sections.

“The Destiny beta, in many ways, is being treated like a full product launch,” said Osbrone in an interview with GameSpot. “We can’t just carve out three competitive multiplayer maps this time around. We’d only be gathering data on one facet of the overall experience – one that is the least resource intensive and most well understood by our team. Destiny demands more.”

Bungie wants to include rich, sprawling destinations in the beta for you and your friends to explore, introducing players to the core emphasis on discovering unique story elements, treasure, and engaging in “face melting action.” More importantly, Osborne wishes to stress test the game under the harshest conditions imaginable: by slamming Destiny into a wall of human interaction.

We can, and do, perform a lot of small to large-scale testing, but nothing beats a turbulent sea of gamers smashing up against our code, services, and content,“ says Osborne. "No amount of prediction or intuition can account for the delightfully random human element that will ultimately define Destiny.”

Destiny, the first title out of Bungie’s doors since 2010’s Halo: Reach, releases for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One next year, and is the first part of a proposed ten year cycle for the sci-fi franchise.

Check out this absolutely pants blowing trailer for the game called The Moon.