2014: The year that was

All things considered, as an opening year, for me I count both Blaster's Projects and Blaster's Reviews a success. At time of writing, Blaster's Projects is approaching 1300 pageviews and Blaster's Reviews just broke 4000 so thank you to all who do read my content. This post isn't going to be much, its just me providing a bit of back story to some of the content that was published in the last 10 months, as we leave 2014 behind us.

E3 2014: Ubisoft... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ubisoft

1.       Far Cry 4: I don’t personally care about Far cry. It looks to be the same as prior instalments

2.       Aisha Tyler: It sounds like she has been given more freedom when it comes to hosting the show and while they are funny in comparison to previous years, to me, the jokes aren’t funny, with a few exceptions. The background image on the screen looks like a lazy desktop background.

3.       Just Dance 2015: More Just Dace... next?

4.       Tom Clancy: The Division: See Microsoft press conference

5.       The Crew: Could you tell us more about the game that you haven’t previously announced?

6.       Assassin’s Creed: Unity: See X-Bone’s conference (this is becoming a pattern...)

7.       Shape Up: Its Ubisoft’s attempt at Wii Fit and it does look interesting, will I play it, probably not. But its the best game so far in this conference because I haven’t seen it before

8.       Valiant Hearts: The Great War: the game looks great (using the same engine as Rayman Legends and Child of Light), the trailer was great, but no gameplay...

9.       Tom Clancy: Rainbow Six Siege: I’m not going to make a opinion on a game that’s in alpha where we only saw a multiplayer game

This was boring to be honest. Most of the games shown were already shown off or unveiled and the new games were just bleak. I’m going to be spilling into next week for individual impressions on games and what I can find of the show floor. I will also be continuing the Transformers Marathon with Transformers: Energon so until then...

E3 2014 Impressions: SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS

EA E3 2014 Press conference

For note, I am skipping any information on the EA sports games

1.       Starwars Battlefront: Well... it was a nice snippet of footage from a documentary...

2.       Dragon Age: Inquisition: Ok, you’ve made a pretty world EA... Now what? The gameplay that was shown struck me as Multi person, third person perspective Skyrim. I haven’t played a Dragon Age so I don’t know if it’s normally like that or not. As I said in the Microsoft impression, it looks interesting

3.       The Sims 4: Because I have never played any form of The Sims, most of the improvements that were said meant nothing to me. The Sims AI has improved and you can now play with their emotions, that all that I retained

4.       EA UFC: The only sports game here because it is a new one (to my knowledge). Its UFC the game

5.       New Criterion IP: Its really early in development according to the trailer, but it looks fun and I’ll pick it up when I can as it has a Need for Speed Underground 2/ Burnout 3 feel about it (both of those are great PS2 games, pick them up when you can)

6.       Dawngate: I’m not a MOBA gamer, but if you like MOBA games like Dota 2, you’ll like this... maybe

7.       Mirror’s Edge: See Starwars Battlefront

8.       Battlefield Hardline: I stand by what I said before

This press conference was dull. Battlefield took up so much of the conference and EA Sports took up even more. I never look forward to EA’s conference every year and its reasons like this conference that’s the reason why. There were more games, but they were EA Sports. The finale of the press conferences is Ubisoft and I’m not liking the sound of it...

Also, just hit 400 page views, thankyou all for keeping up with these reviews and impressions.

The final of the big three:Impressions on the Nintendo Digital Event

 Nintendo Digital Event

1.       Intro Stop motion and filler: the stop motions are comical and shows off the fan opinions of Reggie while also, possibly, highlighting Nintendo’s opinions on franchises the fans want to return

2.       Super Smash bros Mii announcements: It was awsome seeing Iwata fighting Reggie in its intro (the effects were great, purely because they were over the top), then to highlight the Mii use in Smash 4 before Sakurai clarifies. The Mii Fighters themselves look interesting to play as. You can play as a Brawler (fast, but powerful melee combat with little range), a swordfighter (faster, but weaker then the Brawler, but use weapons like swords) and a gunner (great range, sports multiple ranged attacks but they might not have many good melee attacks). (note that this is all speculation). The Mii’s also appear to have customisable special moves, giving players the ability to swap between 36 specials between the three types of fighters. We also have a release day for the 3DS version... October 3^rd 2014. I don’t have high hopes for a Christmas with Smash bros WiiU after seeing this one...

3.       Amiibo: Nintendo’s answers to Skylanders and Disney Infinity. During the direct, there wasn’t a lot shown off but they did mention that they would be discussing it more latter on in E3 so expect a post providing more info latter. The Mario figure looks great though. We also know that Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8 will use Amiibo somehow (Captain Falcon in Mario Kart?). Also, I do believe the Mario Kart 8 footage, highlighting Luigi’s death stare was intentional and another great joke in this (unlike the last two, I’ve already watched this once so I can give more info)

4.       Yoshi’s Woolly World: (Try saying that 3x fast). I haven’t played a lot of Yoshi games (I’m yet to finish a single game...) but this new game does interest me. It looks great and like Kirby’s Epic Yarn, the wool motif works well in this and is incorporated well in the puzzles (from what we’ve seen). The plush Yarn Yoshi’s that were shown off look amazing (both in game and the real life ones that were used as a demonstration).

5.       Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker: Are you happy Captain Toad fans. If you’ve played 3D World’s captain toad levels, then you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into with this as that’s all that is in this game. It does look more refined as there are more things to do, but it’s Captain Toad.

6.       Legend of Zelda (WiiU): It looks beautiful, from what we saw, and it sounds like it’s going back to a progression similar to the original Zelda. Apart from that, we still don’t know a lot.

7.       Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: latter...

8.       Bayonetta 2: The gameplay still looks great from when we saw it at E3 last year, the inclusion of the first game was a good idea as there are people (like myself) who will be getting the game but haven’t played the first. There will alos be Nintendo costumes for Bayonetta like Peach, Link and Samus, each with their own added Nintendo touches. Bayonetta also has a October 2014 release so we finally have a release window.

9.       Hyrule Warriors: Zelda and Midna are playable alongside Link and Impa. It looks great (so good its giving me a excuse to play Dynasty warriors). The character designs for Link, Impa and Zelda look great, they are different but you still know who they are if you’re a Zelda fan. All that we have to do is wait until September 26^th, which is its current release day.

10.   Kirby and the Rainbow Cruise: If you have played Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Kirby Canvas curse, then you know what your getting yourself into with this WiiU title. It plays similar to Canvas Curse but also shares a trait with Epic Yarn in the form of form changes like Rocket and Tank. I do like the Clay art style with this but I wasn’t a fan of Canvas Curse, I might pick it up when I get a WiiU but there’s a strong chance I wont

11.   Xenoblade Chronicles X: Another game I haven’t had experience with its predecessor before hand, Xenoblade X does look good, but I’m not sure if it’s a CG trailer or if it’s in game footage. Its supposedly going to becoming in 2015 so I could change my mind between now and its launch.

12.   Mario Maker: Ever wanted to make your own 2D Mario levels? Now you can with this...

13.   Splatoon: A NEW IP FROM NINTENDO!!! Also, “Salty’s Splatoon, how tough are you?” Splatoon is a kid friendly version of Third person shooters. You shoot ink, try and cover the most terrain with your ink to win. You can turn into a squid that can travel fast through your own coloured ink. The concept seems wierd, but I’m curious about it.

14.   Palutena’s reveal: I knew this was coming, Palutena was leaked months ago. But it is a great trailer, not one of my favourites in comparison to the other reveals, but still great. She looks like a great fighter and will all the Kid Icarus Uprising banter that was in it. She is yet another character that I’m going to play as when I get the game. The art style for the trailer is the anime style used in the mini Kid Icarus videos on the, now gone, Nintendo Video app on the 3DS. I’m not too sure what to make of Dark pit at the end of the trailer though...

15.   Miyamoto at the end: On the show floor, I have no idea based on the Digital event.

From what I’ve seen so far of E3, this was better than the last two conferences that I’ve covered. There was a lot of time dedicated to games that needed it and the games that just had a trailer, like Bayonetta 2 and Pokémon Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire didn’t need any more information to be shown off then.  The Stop motion animations were genuinely funny and while it wasn’t a conference. It was still great, even I it was only a portion of the news. I’m going to be doing the last two conferences before I try and collect info on the show floor (which might be limited to Nintendo, but I will try and get more info). The next conference: SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS!!!

Sony at E3 2014. Impressions on the conference (or what i could see when the stream didn't glitch...

Sony Press Conference 2014

Pre show

1.       Killzone DLC: Never cared about Killzone, don’t care now

Actual Show (there were errors on Polaris’s stream so I’ll do a update with whatever I missed)

1.       Destiny: looks a lot like the original Halo trilogy, it looks great and something that I would pick up. The Beta is available July 17th

2.       The Order: Amnesia with Werewolf Zombies?

3.       Entwined: Tempest with Origami... I think. Its pretty at least

4.       Infamous First Light: Its Imfamous

5.       Little Big Planet 3: The new characters look interesting and they look like they could add a lot to the LBP formula. The game itself looks great

6.       Bloodborn:  1800’s Zombies

7.       Farcry 4: The world looks nice, in terms of gameplay: It looks like it plays like any other FPS

8.       Dead Island 2: Getting really sick of Zombies...

9.       Diablo III: Ultimate Evil edition: all the DLC for PS4

10.   Battlefield Hardline: Cops and Robbers. Nuff said

11.   Magika 2: It looks interesting, but I can’t talk much about it from the conference

12.   Grim Fandango remastered: Interesting, but there wasn’t anything to show

13.   Devolver: The games look interesting, and worth playing

14.   Let it Die: Suda51... What drug have you been taking now?

15.   ABZU: Journey, but this time under water

16.   No Man’s Sky: Interesting, but I’m not sold on the art style

17.   Direct Uploads to YouTube and Twitch: it will be helpful for Lets players and Streamers

18.   Making Free to play games best on PS4: JUST AS LONG AS THEY ARE ACTUALLY FREE TO PLAY!!!

19.   PS Now on selected Sony TV’s: Eh...

20.   Playstation TV: Stream lagged so all that I know is that its similar to a Playstation console

21.   Mortal Kombat X: Gore much?

22.   Powers: new graphic novel story/ TV show on the PS4. It looks interesting... from the concept art

23.   Ratchet and Clank the movie: it looks funny but there wasn’t a lot shown off

24.   Last of us Remastered: its Last of us, IN EVEN BETTER HD GRAPHICS!!! WITH THE DLC INCLUDED...

25.    Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain: It looks great, even if the trailer was just a CG trailer and no game play

26.   Grand Theft Auto 5 for PS4: its GTA 5...

27.   Batman Arkham Knight: Gotham looks amazing but JESUS CHRIST SCARECROW!!!

28.   Uncharted 4 A thief’s end: Is this the end of Uncharted, because the trailer gave off that impression

Because of other commitments, next will be Nintendo. The Conference itself was ok, but a bit mediocre in comparison to last year's

E3 2014 Impressions. Microsoft and the X-Bone...

Microsoft E3 2014 brief summary of what they showed off in 90 minutes

1.       Stage=mediocre (basic seats closer to the main stage but that could just be because of the venue). The light wrists on all the attendants was a good idea and worked well with some of the game presentations

2.       Intro speech by Phil Spencer = It was a good speech and a good crowd pleaser

3.       Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare= Don’t care, its the same style of trailer from all the other E3 COD news, stand stock gameplay. Took up to much of the conference considering what it was showing off

4.       Dan Greenawalt (Forza Hrizon 2 and Forza 5)= New Free DLC with the iconic racing track. Forza Horizon 2= Nice world, but seen the concept before with the Need for Speed franchise (PS2). Interested to see the definition of Open world freedom

5.       Evolve= Team fortress 2 meets Left 4 dead meets Alien. Looks nice but would have to see other reviews before considering getting it as its a X-Box exclusive for now.

6.       Vincent Pontbiand (Assassins Creed Unity): Assassins Creed in French revolution.  Nothing else new

7.       Dragon Age Inquisition: It looks interesting, pretty and if I had a X-Box One (or if I planned to get one, I would pick it up as it looks interesting).

8.        Sunset Overdrive: Same with Dragon Age Inquisition. Looks good and fun to play, would pick it up if I was going to get the console. It was also a funny trailer showing that there is still some humour left in the games on X-Box One.

9.       Cheesy comical DLC trailer for Dead Rising 3 is cheesy. The DLC looks good and if you like Dead Rising 3, I’d pick it up if I were you.

10.   Fantasia Music Evolved: (What is this madness, a game for the 360 here?). The Concept sound like it could be clunky

11.   Dance Central Spotlight: Already giving alarm bells for me as its digital only (though that could just be my experiences with bad Australian internet). Both Dance Central and Fantasia didn’t have a any form of gameplay or a trailer so I’m a bit concerned.

12.   David Eckelberry (Fable Legends): Expect a full impression for this one latter

13.   Project Spark: User Generated content: the game, though it does look pretty and since its coming to PC, I might check it out. Plus it has Conker in it...

14.   Ori and the Blind Forest: (Try not to cry, cry a lot...) beautiful orchestral piece in the background, gorgeous graphics and it looks to be a platformer (from the small amount of time there was gameplay shown). But its a X-Box One exclusive...

15.   Bonnie Ross (Halo) Halo 5 Trailer was vague like last year, Halo: Master chief collection= All past Halo games (main games) on X-Box One. Will include Halo Nightfall and Halo 5 Guardians beta

16.   Inside: I have no idea what to say on this

17.   ID@XBOX: Indie games on X-Box via self publishing

18.   Indiegames; You’ll have to look at this one for yourself as there are too many for me to list

19.   Rise of the Tomb Raider: Just a CG Trailer

20.   Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: More Witcher for you witcher fans. I can’t compare it to the last game as I haven’t played it

21.   Phantom Dust: Pure CG, I have no idea of how the game will play

22.   Tom Clancy’s The Division:  Tom Clancy meets post apocalyptic future

23.   Scalebound: Monster Hunter with Skin morph?

24.   Crackdown: Futuristic weaponry with a Saint’s Row style graphics. It looks interesting

25.   The developer videos that separated some of the games were good. I wished there was more of them as I needed a break just so that I could type these brief summaries.

They promised a lot of games, they delivered a lot of games. The conference was good but it needed to be paced better. I don’t think Crackdown should have been the finale for the conference considering what they showed off prior to it and what they showed off of it to begin with. It was good, if your a Microsoft fan then you should be excited for what’s to come. Up next Sony (because I’m trying to play catch up and its starting in 20 minutes)

E3, the best time of the year for gamers. My wish list/ predictions of the upcoming news

Well folks, its that time of the year again. The time of the year that, to gamers, is better than Christmas even though you get less from it. That time of course is the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3for short). With all the theories circulating around the internet at the moment. I thought I might join in on the fun and post a list of games I want to see this year (in some form). This list is in no order, its just what pops into my mind as a write this definitely not filler while I work on the Transformers marathon opinion piece on the matter. With that out of the way...

1.      Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: in the form of a actual game play trailer. The big thing for me for this game is that I want to see how Brendan and May look in 3D. The only other announcement that I want is a Emerald Story mode of the game, seeing as the first Pokémon game I owned was Emerald Version.

2.      A new Metroid game: I was only introduced to the series recently and, even though I haven’t played the 3D games yet, the series is a really nice adventure game. I would prefer it to be for the 3DS as I don’t have a WiiU at the moment (soon...), wether its 2D or 3D doesn’t matter to me. It would be a new Metroid game, something that hasn’t existed since Other M.

3.      A release day for Bayonetta 2: Bayonetta is another game that’s gotten my attention recently. I haven’t played the original (because I haven’t found a copy of it), but Bayonetta 2 does look, from a gameplay perspective, taking out the way she gets her powers... I don’t care if there’s a trailer for it, the main thing for me is a release day.

4.      Sonic Boom: There hasn’t been a lot of concrete news concerning Sonic Boom since it was officially announced earlier this year. A new trailer showcasing Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles and maybe some other characters would be nice, and maybe a new teaser for the show itself SEGA?

5.      Kingdom Hearts III: This is another, “I just want more info please” game. Square Enix is holding back a lot of information on the game at the moment, and seeing as the last trailer was from the D23 expo, new news would be greatly appreciated.

6.      “Poken Fighters”: Only shown off once as a teaser in a timeline of the Pokémon games last year, Poken Fighters, while hasn’t grabbed my attention like the other games on this list, is still interesting because this would be the first of its kind (officially) in terms of Pokémon Spin-offs, possibly being a Tekken inspired Pokémon themed fighting game.

7.      New Smash bros 4 news: but seeing as there’s going to be a 90 minute press conference on it, I’m guessing it’s a given.

Those are the games on my wish list of E3 News, its alot of Nintendo games, but that’s because I don’t have as much interest with the other companies. I still watch all of them (and give you all my impressions of them) and see what comes out, I might be pleasantly surprised.  Keep checking here when E3 is on to see all the new news (as soon as I find out) and all throughout June for the Transformers Marathon. Up first for it, Transformers Generation 1: First strike