Welcome to the Garden, Eden Press Start to BGN Show Recap 25/10/2017

Hey! Listen!

Welcome back to Press Start to BGN, Laurier’s gaming show by a bunch of Game Design & Development students here at Laurier’s Brantford campus. The program is very new and so is our show, so for those who don’t know Game Design & Development is headed by Dr Scott Nicholson through the Brantford Games Network or BGN, hence the name “Press Start to BGN” which sounds like “begin.” This week on the show we invite our new host Eden to the group! Make sure to give her a warm welcome!  Thanks for tuning in!

NEWS!

• Mass Effect: Andromeda’s price has dropped incredibly fast and has tanked very hard in terms of success.
• Manveer Heir who has recently left Bioware also commented on the fact that the valid criticisms of the game fetishizing colonialism.
• Night in the Woods has been confirmed that it will be released to IOS and Andromeda in 2018
• Nintendo has announced a new 3DS XL
• Animal Crossing Mobile Nintendo Direct has been released
• You can now play original Xbox games on the Xbox One
• Pokemon Go Halloween Event is on Until Nov 2nd you’ll be able to collect Cubone, Misdreavious etc.
• NeoGaph has been shut down

What’s Coming Out Soon!

Here are your games for this week! Friday is looking little grim for my wallet. not gunna lie….

• Just Dance 2018 (Oct. 24th) (PS3, PS4, XB360, XB1, Wii, Wii U, Switch)
  • The hit family dancing game is back! With a release on the Switch and 40 brand new songs to dance to, the fun of swinging around a controller becomes even more fun. It’s also the last game being released for the Wii (RIP). There is also a “kids mode” exclusive to next-gen consoles that let younger kids play the game, and a Switch-exclusive mode called “Double Rumble”, which uses the 2 joy-cons to emulate a true experience! I’m gunna be 100% honest with you guys, this is arguably the best lineup of songs in a Just Dance game. (Except Despacito.)
• Destiny 2 (Oct.24th) (PC)
  • Okay so like, this game has been out for over a month, but it’s finally here for PC! Considered even better than the original Destiny, this game has a story you can actually follow in-game! (Although my roommate bashes it for being “written by a 5 year old”.) If you wanna play, I’ll be playing on PC, so join me!
• Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Oct. 27th) (PS4, XB1, PC)
  • Assassins Creed is the newest game in the Assassin’s Creed series, and it continues to look better and better. After the previous couple of games that Ubisoft put out in this series, Origins takes more of an RPG-style shot at the game, putting a little more into character levels, but still very much focusing on the experience of being an assassin. Since it takes place in ancient Egypt, you get to pet cats and worship them as gods! Also stuff about Templars and the Brotherhood of Assassins and the pyramids. Also, YOU CAN PET CATS.

• Wolfenstein 2 (Oct. 27th) (PS4, XB1, PC)
  • The sequel to the hit game Wolfenstein hits shelves Friday, and with it follows a whole lot of criticism! I’m gunna be honest with you though, if you can argue the phrase “Being a Nazi is bad”, then you probably shouldn’t be listening to this show. The Wolfenstein 2 Twitter ads have been blowing up with their anti-nazi and anti-trump standpoints, and it just makes me excited to play this game. The game is about killing Nazis, so pick up the game on Friday, and punch a Nazi!

• Mario Odyssey (Nov. 2nd) (Switch)
  • The hat has eyes and you can become a dinosaur. The newest Mario game is here, and it looks like a spiritual successor to Super Mario Sunshine? Super Mario Odyssey has you running around a 3D world full of strange (and some familiar) monsters and…wait, is that a human? In MY MARIO GAME? Anyways, it looks fun, and very much a Super Mario Experience!

PS+

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain // PS4
• Amnesia: Collection // PS4
• Monster Jam Battlegrounds // PS3
• Hustle Kings // PS3
• Hue // PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
• Sky Force Anniversary // PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4 & PS3)

Games With Gold

• The Turing Test // XB1
• Medal of Honor: Airborne // XB360
• Gone Home // XB1

Aaaand that’s everything! Time to get up and find a paying job so that I can actually fund these spending habits of mine. Next week is already making my wallet feel lighter, I’m already scared…

Topic of the Show

Hey guys, Jelena here! I used to write the news, but now I’m responsible for the Topic of The Show.

This week we got to know our new host, Eden, a bit better. She’s a first year Game Design student, and we’re super excited to have her with us. Her favourite game currently is Horizon Zero Dawn and the worst game she’s played is Paris’ pre-alpha narrative Twine game, The King of Thought. The first game she ever played was Prisoner of Azkaban for the PC, and her favourite game to play with other people is Overwatch on PC, although she did add in that she prefers single-player games, and is currently struggling to get Symmetra Dragon skin (but managed to pull, much to Paris’ dismay, a Mercy witch skin).

Eden is enjoying first year so far, but is intimidated by all of the older kids, since she is only 17. Don’t worry, we assured her that most of us upper year kids don’t bite.

What We’ve Been Playing:

EDEN

• Overwatch
  • From Blizzard Entertainment comes their 2016 first person shooter, multiplayer game Overwatch.
    Overwatch contains multiple characters to choose from to battle as with their strengths being linked to
    four main play categories: offense, defense, tank, and support. Choose your character and fight either
    one on one or on a team of six against other teams throughout the game’s various game modes and
    maps. With updates and events coming out throughout the year, Overwatch is available on PC,
    PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

PARIS

• King’s Quest
  • From Sierra On-Line and The Odd Gentlemen comes the re-imagined of the original game, the new 2015
    episodic adventure game King’s Quest. Unlike the original King’s Quest, the game is not point and click
    but rather lets players fully control the movements of their player character, being able to interact with
    different objects through the five senses. The story follows the story of King Graham when he was a
    young knight and is narrated as a story being told to his older self’s granddaughter. Choose how the
    story will end in this new installment in the King’s Quest franchise, available on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One
    and PlayStation’s 3 and 4.

JELENA

• Cuphead
  • From StudioMDHR comes the 1930s cartoon inspired run and gun game Cuphead. To repay a deal he
    made with the devil, Cuphead and his brother Mugman must fight a series of bosses to collect their
    souls for the devil. Play in both single and cooperative mode in this hand drawn, Max Fleisher animation
    inspired game, available on PC and Xbox One.
• Destiny 2
  • Return to the vast worlds of Bungie’s mythic science fiction, action roleplaying game in Destiny 2. Play as
    a Guardian, a guardian being given a power called Light to use to protect the citizens of Earth from
    various alien races. Play as one of three different alien species whom can be one of three attack classes;
    Titan, Hunter, or Warlock, as you protect the Last City from an alien race called the Cabal who have
    stolen the source of your character’s Light. Journey to regain your Light and find a way to defeat their
    leader Ghaul and his Red Legion army as you take back the Last City. Available on PlayStation 4, Xbox
    One and PC.
• Pokemon Moon
  • From Nintendo comes another installment to their Pokémon franchise, 2016’s Pokémon Sun and Moon.
    Pokémon is a roleplaying game that has players catching various species of Pokémon, battling trainers
    be it online or in the game’s story mode, take care of their teammates in Pokémon Refresh and more. In
    Pokémon Moon, players can find Pokémon exclusive to their version of the game and has their game’s
    clock running twelve hours ahead of their 3DS’s clock when they play. Available to play on the Nintendo
    3DS.

STEPHAN

• Cuphead
  • From StudioMDHR comes the 1930s cartoon inspired run and gun game Cuphead. To repay a deal he
    made with the devil, Cuphead and his brother Mugman must fight a series of bosses to collect their
    souls for the devil. Play in both single and cooperative mode in this hand drawn, Max Fleischer animation
    inspired game, available on PC and Xbox One.

• Middle-earth: Shadow of War
  • From Monolith Productions comes the sequel to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the new Middle-earth: Shadow of War. In this action role-playing game, the story takes place right after the first installment, having players be Tailon, a human ranger, on his path of forging a new ring of power to take down Sauron for good. Amass your armies and get ready for war, available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

• Overwatch
  From Blizzard Entertainment comes their 2016 first person shooter, multiplayer game Overwatch.
  Overwatch contains multiple characters to choose from to battle as with their strengths being linked to
  four main play categories: offense, defense, tank, and support. Choose your character and fight either
  one on one or on a team of six against other teams throughout the game’s various game modes and
  maps. With updates and events coming out throughout the year, Overwatch is available on PC,
  PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.