Month: May 2018

Octopath Traveler: On the Town With Cyrus the Smooth-Talking Scholar

Octopath Traveler – then titled simply “Project Octopath Traveler” – had me at hello.

The art style of Square Enix’s RPG boldly asked – and answered – the question, “What if 16-bit graphics were dynamically lit with volumetric fog?” When the surprise playable demo dropped onto the Nintendo eShop last fall, I was pleased to see that the gameplay lived up to the uniquely impressive visuals. Now, as the July release nears, I played another 30 minutes of the octo-heroed RPG and its Bravely Default-esque turn-based combat system and once again came away very impressed.

This was my first introduction to Cyrus the Scholar, who joins Primrose the Dancer and Olberic the Warrior as the characters we’ve seen so far. Cyrus is a bit…self-confident, proudly boasting about himself in his conversations. He used to be an instructor at an academy but he got fired. His overarching goal is to try and find a missing tome. His action path is Scrutinize, which lets him get extra information, such as rumors, from conversations with people. (Olberic’s is Challenge, if you’ll recall from the demo, which let him challenge anyone, even townsfolk, to a fight.)

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Rosario Dawson Unsure If She’ll Return to Netflix Marvel Shows

Rosario Dawson, AKA Marvel’s Claire Temple, is unsure if she’ll return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to Screen Geek when asked at MCM Comic Con in London whether she would be returning to the MCU after Luke Cage Season 2, Dawson was uncertain.

Speaking to Screen Geek, Dawson said:

“I don’t know if I’ll be back after this, to be honest, but it’s been an amazing few years. I’ve been on a lot of different shows. I mean, I don’t know if maybe they do a third season of Luke Cage potentially, or maybe if they figure out some kind of way for me to be on The Punisher – just so I can feel like I’ve done every show. But it’s been like, my daughter is in high school, so I kinda wanna not be 3,000 miles away for work.”

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Star Citizen Offering A $27,000 Add-On Pack

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is offering an expensive new add-on pack for the hugely ambitious PC space simulator. The Legatus Pack, as it’s called, comes with 117 ships and 163 extra things like upgrades and skins. It costs….$27,000.

And that’s not all. To even view the Legatus Pack store page, you need to have already spent $1,000 on Star Citizen. If you haven’t, you’ll get a 404 error. For what it’s worth, 117 is almost the total number of ships available in the game.

Forum user Dakuisha has a roundup of everything in the Legatus Pack–see it here (via PC Gamer). Other forum posters have pointed out that you can contact customer support to view the Legatus Pack store page if you haven’t spent the required $1,000.

Star Citizen is the most successful crowdfunded project of any kind in history. It has raised more than $185 million, bringing in $35 million in 2017 alone. For more, check out one hour’s worth of gameplay from Squadron 42 in the video embedded above.

German developer and publisher Crytek is suing Cloud Imperium Games over breach of contract and copyright infringement claims. Cloud Imperium has since fired back.

Why It’s Called Battlefield V

The Battlefield franchise does not normally use Roman numerals for its titling convention, but that’s changing this year with the World War II game Battlefield V. But why? The official Battlefield Twitter account has the answer–and it fits with the game’s WWII theme.

The “V” is connected to the V sign, which stands for “V for Victory.” UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who led Britain during WWII, helped popularised this for the Allied forces.

“[The V sign] represents ‘V for Victory,'” the Battlefield Twitter account said. “The phrase and sign were popularised by Winston Churchill and used amongst the allies for much of WWII. It’s also why we chose to use the Roman numeral V instead of the number 5 for the title.”

In other news about shooter games and Roman numerals, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is officially titled as “Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII” and not “Call of Duty: Black Ops IV.” As it turns out, both IIII and IV are recognised as accurate, according to the curator of the British Museum.

Battlefield V launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Origin on October 19. It will be available in both standard and Deluxe editions; those who purchase the latter will get access to the game three days early, on October 16.

Additionally, EA/Origin Access subscribers can start playing a trial on October 11, which is notable because that is one day before Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches on October 12. Prior to its release, EA will also hold an open beta for Battlefield V later this year. Additionally, EA plans to talk more about the game at E3 next month.

For lots more on Battlefield 5, check out GameSpot’s roundup feature that covers everything you need to know, “Battlefield 5: Release Date, New Features, And Everything We Know.”

PUBG is Suing Fortnite For Copyright Infringement in Korea

PUBG Corp., the subsidiary of Korean publisher Bluehole and the studio behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for copyright violation over its own popular Battle Royale game, Fortnite.

The Korea Times reports that an injunction has been filed with the Seoul Central District Court alleging copyright infringement against Epic Games Korea. The suit, which was allegedly filed in January, was created “to determine whether the latter’s “Fortnite” was copied from the former’s “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.”

PUBG Corp. first suggested it was contemplating action over the similarities between PUBG and Fortnite back in September.

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Zack Snyder’s Next Movie is Apparently The Fountainhead

Zack Snyder has indicated that his next project will be an adaptation of The Fountainhead.

According to Deadline, Snyder announced that the adaptation will be his next project in response to a fan’s question on the social media site Vero. Twitter user @ChrisRa7en documented the exchange.

Yoku’s Island Express Review

A Metroidvania-pinball hybrid isn’t a thing I ever expected to exist, but Yoku’s Island Express feels like a breath of fresh air in a genre that’s felt crowded as of late. It’s fun, adorable, and wonderfully unique while still satisfying the things I love about 2D platformers. Even if its pinball paths occasionally got frustrating to navigate, I enjoyed every minute I spent with its charming, secret-filled campaign.

Yoku’s Island Express creatively fuses a traditional Metroidvania game with pinball mechanics in a way that feels surprisingly natural. You take control of a tiny beetle postmaster named Yoku, pushing around a ball and making deliveries on a large open-world island. There’s a fairly straightforward but cute story to follow, alongside a hefty amount of side quests, hidden collectibles, and other distractions.

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The Esports Highlights of the Week for May 28

More Fighting Games, some CSGO, a bit of PUBG and the OCS continues as we take a look at the Aussie Esports highlights of this week! Gfinity Australia’s Elite Series kicks off this weekend too — are you amped?

Be sure to head over and check out the rest of the esports hub! Remember you can email tips to me [email protected] or you can just click to send me an email. If you want, you can tweet suggestions at me as well, my twitter is down the bottom of this article.

CSGO – FACEIT Asia Minor OCE Qualifiers

These qualifiers were a bit of a shambles, but it was cool seeing what the community was able to scramble together. Streams weren’t prepared, the seeding was a mess — Grayhound and Order played in the first round in a best of 1, for example — but in the end there was some damn good Counter-Strike. Tainted Minds went on to win, and they’ll head to the Asia Minor now to compete for one of two spots at the FACEIT Major in England. Watch Yam go HAM (hey I’ve used that joke already) against ORDER (on an eco round, but still).

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