Madden 15 - The Madden coverart tournament
Which NFL player will be on the frontcover of Madden 15?
EA Sports kicked off its cover athlete vote for Madden NFL 15 during the first round of the NFL Draft last night, and the event is slated to end after four rounds of voting on June 6. This voting poll will feature only 16 candidates this year instead of the standard 32, which is an unusual downsize from Madden 25's two brackets of 64 football players.
So far Alfred Morris of the Redskins’ is leading in the polls, but Another clash between Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick could bloom in the next couple weeks. They are both in the running to win the cover with the rest of the draft. Here is all 16 candidates for the bracket:
(1) Richard Sherman (CB, Seattle Seahawks)
(8) Alshon Jeffery (WR, Chicago Bears)
(2) Colin Kaepernick (QB, San Francisco 49ers)
(7) Nick Foles (QB, Philadelphia Eagles)
(3) Demaryius Thomas (WR, Denver Broncos)
(6) Luke Kuechly (LB, Carolina Panthers)
(4) Jimmy Graham (TE, New Orleans Saints)
(5) Eddie Lacy (RB, Green Bay Packers)
(1) Cam Newton (QB, Carolina Panthers)
(8) Antonio Brown (WR, Pittsburgh Steelers)
(2) Andrew Luck (QB, Indianapolis Colts)
(7) Alfred Morris (RB, Washington Redskins)
(3) LeSean McCoy (RB, Philadelphia Eagles)
(6) T.Y. Hilton (WR, Indianapolis Colts)
(4) Jamaal Charles (RB, Kansas City Chiefs)
(5) A.J. Green (WR, Cincinnati Bengals)
EA Tiburon also celebrated the first round of the NFL Draft by inserting each of the first round's 32 draftees into the Madden Ultimate Team card packs in Madden 25, as of today, so go get it! This is an excellent opportunity to thoroughly test each recruit to get your line up for the Madden 15 season right, without having to wait to play as them when the game releases.
Madden 15 is due to arrive August 26 for all consoles Next Gen and Current Gen. Just don't trust John Madden to predict which rookies will be picked by teams in the draft!
/Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
Dying Light Delayed until February 2015
This ain't exactly the best of ways to start of your Friday. But yes, it´s true. Techland has moved their releasedate for Dying Light (for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One) to February 2015. Why? You might ask yourself. Well, according to Techland it´s because of an "desire to innovate" the Zombie genre.
Techland will however release more information about Dying Light at E3 in June. So "hopefully", we will get to know what the "desire to innovate", really means in terms of gameplay. I just hope that this delay will lead to a even better game experience.
Press release:
"Dear Gamers,
We know you’ve been waiting on a Dying Light release date for quite some time now. After careful consideration, we have decided to release our upcoming game in February 2015. Since this means Dying Light will launch a few months later than originally planned, we feel obliged to explain the reasons that influenced this important decision.
When we started the development of Dying Light, we were committed to innovation. We wanted to give you a freedom of movement unprecedented in open world games. After many improvements and months of hard work, we have now come so close to realizing our initial vision we feel we cannot stop before it is ready.
We believe the Natural Movement element of our game will change what you expect from the genre, and we don’t want to sacrifice any of its potential by releasing too early. This quality-focused thinking underlines all our development choices and we hope you share our belief that the gameplay must always come first.
The new date ensures that we can fully realize our vision of an innovative open world game. We won’t need to make compromises or trade-offs on any of the five platforms we’re working on. For you, it means an outstanding, original game that makes the wait more than worthwhile.
Finally, we would like to thank our publishing partner, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which fully supports our decision. It’s a real pleasure to work in an environment where quality is universally accepted as the top priority. We believe that this is the only way to make truly incredible games.
We also have an additional announcement for you: starting next month at E3 2014, we’ll be telling you much more about all the exciting features and different aspects of Dying Light. Stay tuned!
-- Dying Light Team"
Does Nintendo hate gay people? - The Tomodachi Life incident
Yet another Nintendo game that doesn't feature same sex relationships.
Once again Nintendo have sparked a lot of contriversy over a game of theirs. And for all the wrong reasons i´m afraid. At first,i didn't understand what all the fuss was all about. Because i just saw something about a boycott against Nintendo of America last night (over Twitter).
But then i read CVG´s article about Tomodachi Life (which are set for a release to 3DS on the 6th of June). And now i´m both sad and angry over the whole thing. I don´t know if Nintendo realized this but it´s the year 2014 now.
It´s NOT the 40 or 50s anymore. And obviously they (Nintendo) haven't noticed same sex titles such as the Mass Effect series, The Sims or the Last of Us. It´s both embarrassing and shocking that Nintendo would do something like this.
But then again, Nintendo have done similar things in the past (with other titles). So i really hope that Nintendo will fix this and apologize for their ignorance towards the gay community. Because in my world, everyone should be able to play and enjoy their video games.
No matter if their gay or straight.
"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," Nintendo of America said in a statement provided to the Associated Press.
"The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary." - Nintendo of America
"You import your personalized characters into the game," Marini said. "You name them. You give them a personality. You give them a voice. They just can't fall in love if they're gay."
"We're using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization," a Nintendo representative said.
"We have been looking to broaden our approach to development whenever possible as we put all our energy into continuing to develop fun games that will surprise and delight players." - Tye Marini, a Nintendo fan
Source:
CVG
Grand Theft Auto 5 High Life are set for a release on May 13th
Are you ready to live the "high life"?
A part of me are really happy about the fact that Rockstar will release the "High Life" DLC for GTA5 and GTA Online next week (May the 13th). But the PC Gamer part of me are pretty upset due the fact that there´s still no PC version of GTA5.
I mean, how much longer do we have to wait really? It´s been over 8 months since GTA5 was released to 360 and PS3 (September 2013). Oh well, time will tell. Anyhow, the High Life DLC will offer new vehicles and weapons to both GTA5 and GTA Online.
So keep your eye´s open for High Life!
"Coming next week on Tuesday May 13th, it's time to expand your foothold in Los Santos with The High Life Update for Grand Theft Auto Online, which features new high-end apartments, multi-property ownership, four new vehicles, the powerful Bullpup Rifle and more. This automatic update to GTA Online adds five new options to the Los Santos real estate market at prime locations like Eclipse Towers, Richards Majestic and others, all featuring the latest new interior design. With multi-property ownership, you'll also now be able to own two distinct properties simultaneously." - Rockstar
Source:
Rockstar
The Evil Within is reviving the survival horror genre
The Evil The Evil Within will be released on the 29th of August in EU (for PC, PS3, PS4, 360 and Xbox One).
Upon making their way to the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partner find that a mysterious and powerful force lays in wait. As he witnesses fellow police officers being killed one by one, someone attacks and knocks Sebastian unconscious.
He wakes to find himself in a place where monsters roam. He is trapped in a world where death and madness are forever entwined, yet he must fight in order to make sense of it all. Confronting unimaginable horrors, as he struggles to survive―Sebastian has set out on a dread-filled journey so that he may uncover the mystery of the terrible force that lurks within.
Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil, has returned to his roots for his latest, and allegedly last, directorial effort with The Evil Within, a third-person survival horror game touted as a ''realization of pure horror". It's debut intended as the beginning of a franchise.
We should all hope that him retiring doesn’t bear fruit, as it would be a shame to lose such a critically acclaimed artist. This debut could also mean, that Mikami is trying to establish a successor to Resident Evil finally as wel.
As the self-proclaimed “father of survival horror,” Shinji Mikami took on this endeavor specifically because he believes there is a noticeable lack of survival horror games in the market. What often passes for survival horror is considered too action-focused by Mikami, and he hopes to bring back the balance of experiencing the fear of a horror game with the thrill of an action game as the sub-genre. This iconic thrill, was heavily destroyed by the Resident Evil franchise when Resident Evil 5 was released, and has yet to be resurrected.
Mikami has stated that the Winchester Mystery House played a part in inspiring the look and design of some of the environments. And they look very impressive. From the backgrounds, to the cinematics in the trailers, they are rendered beautifully; so much that you could have a tea party without being afraid of what would sit with you.
Labelled as a “Pure Survival Horror Game,” The Evil Within is designed to strike a certain balance between horror, and action elements. While not as expansive as Resident Evil, it will feature action, and platforming elements. Donning a third person perspective, the imagery on display is intended to be much more gruesome, and unnerving in order to separate itself from the Resident Evil series.
The horror elements are to be much more twisted, and a lot darker. You will experience environments shift, and change to disorient players and throw them off their guard. Much like Eternal Darkness on the Nintendo Gamecube did at one time, you'll find yourself paranoid, and stressed out perfectly.
To take us back to the Survival Horror roots, ammo and health is said to be extremely scarce. The player will need to resort to traps such as land mines, or melee weapons. I would also like to think that environmental areas will play a significant role as well.
I hope we have access to Furnaces, meat hooks, and chainsaws. Stealth can also be capitalized at specific points, such as when Sebastian eludes a chainsaw-brandishing monster, who could be a reference to the village mid-boss from Resident Evil 4.
The Evil Within will be an entirely single-player experience, though Mikami has hinted that Tango may decide to experiment with certain multiplayer elements, in the same vein as Dark Souls, via DLC. What this could also mean is a Season Pass, for more single player content, and a future movie adaptation. This would make a very good movie, just from the namesake.
In an attempt to disassociate survival horror games with “clunky”, unintuitive controls, The Evil Within will allow players to move and shoot at the same time. Weapons and items can also be selected in-game with the D-pad, or browsed through in a radial menu, whichever you may find preferable. These elements, and probably many others are borrowed from the Resident Evil franchise, although it should be smoother; and not as desperately taped together.
As in other recent horror games like Dead Space, HUD elements will be kept to a minimum in the interest of immersion. What few HUD elements there are can also be turned off in the options. I could imagine these will prove useless, as when you leave temporarily, then return the area being changed will cause you to need to familiarized yourself once more with the environment.
The Evil Within will feature 4 difficulty levels:
- Casual
- Survival
- Hard
- Akumu – which means ''Worst Dream'' in Japanese.
Filming the live action trailer:
The trailer that officially introduced the game was produced by the company Prologue Pictures, and was directed by Kyle Cooper. It was made using effects such as prosthetics, and makeup rather than CGI. To add to the bloodied effect of some of the characters shown in the trailer, such as the multi-armed 'Reborn' called Laura, the performers were to sit in a bath filled with fake blood for hours on end. The trailer took 3 days to complete.
Executive-producer Alex Dervin stated that some actors suffered discomfort during filming, but this served to instil ''some of the anger'' necessary for the roles. You can certainly appreciate the quality over the quantity, especially because it gives you the feeling of realistic gameplay. Also with the actors being themselves, it makes one believe they will be called upon for the Movie adaptation, were it to happen.
Will the comic be just as evil as the game?
Prequel Comic:
Produced by Titan Comics, there is to be a four-part comic series set before the events of the game, as it follows a young student called Dana as she searches for her lost friend. The first issue will be released on August 27th, only a day after the main game's US release. The series is to be written by Ian Edginton, with Alex Sanchez producing the art.
/Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
Competitive Call of Duty - The ups and downs
COD Black Ops 2 are still considered to be one of the very best COD titles in the series.
To start off, I would like to say that it is sincerely both an honor and a pleasure to be on board here at TGG. I hope you all find a sufficient and ample amount of enjoyment in my articles, which will be primarily eSports based. Here’s to many more! *Please note that my views and opinions are mine, and only mine.*
Fixating in on the topic of competitive Call of Duty, which has been gaining popularity for quite some time, it appears that many are never happy, I’d like to take a crack at this, and give my input as to why I believe fans and players are constantly complaining and disappointed.
Although fans and players are, and will always continue to be disappointed with competitive Call of Duty, it’s been more than evident to me that the title in the series, Call of Duty: Ghosts has disclosed their frustration more than ever. After giving it an adequate amount of thought, a likely cause of this misfortune could be due to the success of the game’s predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Although the competitive community perhaps didn’t notice it at the time, Black Ops 2 set the bar extremely high in terms of eSports settings, for years to come. It was perhaps the perfect game, not necessarily in terms of it’s gameplay, but more so in terms of the features the game brought to the table.
What more could the competitive community ask for? Competitive settings, which generally coincided with those of the MLG playlist. A playlist for competitive settings, (being League Play) something that Treyarc has always kept in the back of their mind, and above all, a ranking system.
What many fail to realize, is that the developers of Black Ops 2 were rolling the dice in going out of their way to accommodate these settings and features for community, in hopes that they’d satisfy those who took interest in the growing genre of competitive gaming.
As a result of this, players and viewers see CoD Ghosts as a “failure” so to speak, in terms of competitive play. This is nothing but an unmitigated response to Infinity Ward not quite ‘one-uping’ Treyarc in terms of the competitive settings they provided in their title.
However, in fairness, the basic settings are in fact all there. Infinity Ward provided the competitive community with their own team-based competitive playlist, just with no ranking system. If you ask me, some weapons in the game are in fact very unbalanced and overpowered, and the spawning system could use some touching up, but all in all, Infinity Ward gave the competitive players what they wanted.
I also think that Infinity Ward made an imperative mistake in not bringing back the popular game modes of Hardpoint, and Capture The Flag, which results in competitive play often appearing slightly tedious and monotonous at times.
Nonetheless, what the Call of Duty eSports community needed is still there by all means. If for whatever reason eSports become a worldwide phenomenon, I can’t foresee any Call of Duty developers putting forth a full-blown effort into it, but for now, they’re doing just fine.
/Doug Detwiler
The Gaming Ground
