XCOM2 Details and Trailer Announced!

Welcome back, Commander.

2k games have been keeping quiet about any potential sequel to the fantastic XCOM Unknown Enemy, the successful 3D reboot of the turn based action strategy series. I was a huge fan of the remake, it was challenging and rewarding to see your recruits go from pathetic rookies who couldn't hit a Sectoid from point blank range to become battle hardened killing machines later on.
The permanent death aspect also hit you hard whenever a member died as you personally helped them grow...unless you were a save scumming bastard. (Which I was sometimes, no way was I going to leave a mission without my beloved Chinese support Li!)

IGN however have managed to get the first details about xcom2, it will coming to PC, Mac and Linux platforms in November 2015! No news has been released yet regarding a console version, so the 'master race' are probably feeling pretty smug right now. I personally think this is great news, isomeric strategy games just work better with a mouse and keyboard. Plus with all the internet controversy regarding The Witcher 3 and other games being being 'downgraded' or poorly ported from consoles, this gives 2k games a chance to make a perfectly optimized PC release. This is what PC gamers have been crying out for in the wake of recent multi plat releases. I'm hyped.

Check out the impressive first trailer below...!

It seems that things didn't end too well in the previous campaign and that the aliens appear to be the dominant race. In XCOM2, the XCOM initiative are now the aggressors, acting from a new mobile HQ and using their limited resources to evade and assault the alien oppressors. Recruiting soldiers along the way to create the ultimate resistance network.

There are some exciting key features that have been highlighted:

Procedurally generated levels! YES! Less predictability will make for a more unique experience and encourage more playthroughs.

Deeper mod support. Enemy Unknown's longevity was greatly enhanced by some challenging fan created tweaks and campaign mods such as 'long war', if you are twiddling your thumbs, go try that out right now! 2k games have apparently realized this and aim to support modders further. This can only be a good thing.

New content :
5 updates soldier classes.
Increased soldier customization.
More alien and enemy types.
Tactical combat and more. 

We could see a few of the new enemies in the trailer. I'm looking forward to tackling the constricting reptilian type, looks menacing and mobile. As for combat the trailer hunts at more CQC tactics by revealing the blade wielding soldier alongside familiar laser and plasma weaponry. I wouldn't be surprised if this was later announced for all platforms next year. I'll be getting the PC version for sure, if they build upon what they learnt making Enemy Unknown then I definitely won't be disappointed!

Corpse Party Live Action Trailer

Today after coming home from finishing at work at 11am on a Friday, my day was made even better by finding out that Japan has just released a trailer for the live adaptation of the Corpse Party horror game series!

Check it out!

 

What is corpse party?
Corpse party is a survival horror game that was originally released in 1996 and was made using the RPGMaker software, you may have seen many other games made with this becoming popular on steam. 'To the moon' is another example. Despite the simple graphics, it is possible to create an effective emotional narrative whether it is the poignant reminiscent feelings of 'To the moon' or a creeping sense of terror in 'Corpse Party'.

My first experience with Corpse Party was on the PSP, there has been several remakes since, one of which was even released on IOS! It has since led to a series of spin off games, manga and anime adaptations, now its time for a live action movie! I really, REALLY, hope that this doesn't suck. I really enjoyed the Japanese voice acting from the original game and how the characters interacted with each other. It managed to blend terrifying scenes with quirky humour, I'm intruiged to see how this will play out with real actors.

In the game there were a variety of endings, mostly bad that were based depending on the player's decisions throughout the five game chapters. Corpse Party is set in a Japanese high school that was built upon the grounds of an old elementary school that was torn down after a number of murders and disappearances took place. After conducting a ritual to ensure that a group of friends 'stay together forever', a freak earthquake transports the students to an alternate dimension where the elementary school still exists and is haunted by the murdered children. The students must find a way to escape, many of which die a gruesome death in the process.

I'm most intruiged by how they handle some of the more quirky dialogue scenes. The english translation was renowned for having some obscure OTT dialogue lines...the most famous of all is the 'butter up my pooper' line, which sounds completely ridiculous.

The original scene depicts one of the girls asking for medicine as she hasn't been feeling good, aka constipation. In Japanese the line can be read as "Thanks I'm going to apply some of the medicine real quick!" But the English translator decided to go with "Thanks! I'm gonna go butter up my pooper with it real good!" I mean, who says that!? Honestly?

The trailer actually seems to have a lot of potential, the effects seem a little tame so I hope they don't become too jarring against the real actors. There also seems to be a ju-on esque element too with the young children ghosts.

Pooper butter scene or not, I'm excited to see whether they can truly capture the morbid atmosphere of the games, or whether it will just turn into a generic low budget horror flick. 

HATRED is new video game violence clickbait

HATRED is causing outrage due to violence in context

Before I write anything I feel it is best to put everything in context by linking you to the trailer to watch and form your own initial opinion...so here it is!

DISCLAIMER: I do not feel that video games condone violence at all, if you think so I feel that you are a complete idiot. I have been playing games for years and years and consider violent people to be the most simple and lowest form of humanity. Games can be inappropriate for younger children yes, but that does not mean that it will cause them to stab their neighbours. It is a parents responsibility to judge what is appropriate for them, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER FORM OF MEDIA.

Now that is out of the way, lets take a look at HATRED, a gameplay trailer has just been released by the Polish developers 'Destructive Creations' along with a tweet saying "Spread it on the web! Share it! Bring it everywhere and let the haters hate! (And they will, oh they will...)" Now this immediately screams to me as a marketing gimmick. Jumping hot on the heels of Gamergate making gamers look like feminist hating death threat sending idiots, this trailer aims to get the game as much publicity as possible with shock tactics. The fact that the video has over a million views within 3 days says something.
You only need to briefly take a look at the Youtube comments to see how much butthurt this has created not just amongst game fans but in the media overall. Several blogs are over-exaggerating; calling this game a genocide simulator. I wouldn't go that far, it doesn't depict a sole target for extinction, I would rather use the term mass murder simulator.  The reason for many of these accusations is because several observers have taken note that many members of the production group are affiliated with far right wing, homophobic groups. Yes this makes them shitty people, but I see no indication of their targeted hate in the trailer at all, its a simple mass killing simulation.

The trailer depicts an edgy trenchcoat wearing, long haired thug with generic gravelled voice, the only thing missing is a fedora to complete the angsty image. Clearly designed to appeal to angsty teens with a persecution complex. He states that he wants to kill everyone, violently, and wants to die, violently. Loading up weapons into he incredibly deep pockets. The gameplay then cuts to show a minute of violent gameplay showing the player opening his door into an innocent neighbourhood and gunning down innocent civilians as they run and plead for help. Many people were especially shocked at the 'execution' scenes showing civilians and cops getting shot point blank as they flail and plead for their lives. This made me reminisce instantly about the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 mission 'No Russian', which also generated a ton of controversy for gunning down innocents in a busy airport. What most people forget though is that this kind of violence is nothing new - Manhunt, GTA, COD. Yet year after year people blow up in response to violence in video games. HATRED tries to push the envelope further by making the slaughter of innocents in the most dramatic and edgy way as possible as the sole objective of the game. At least it seems that way so far, from one minute of gameplay it is difficult to tell whether there is more of a context to be given. This is what makes violence in some games 'socially acceptable' but in others 'outrageous', context.  

The Last of Us was a commerical success, receiving lots of 'Game of the year' awards and praise from various press releases. The quest for a man and his young female dependant trying to survive in a society plagued by an infectious disease. People praised the story and the development of the characters, what a lot of people forget though is that Joel and Ellie killed A LOT of people on the way, sure, a lot of people wanted to kill them too but why is that suddenly ok? I'm also pretty sure that a lot of the medical staff at the end didn't deserve it?

How about Uncharted? Also incredibly successful, the hero Drake is an explorer who searches for relics Indian Jones style. He kills an huge amount of people, these people die and people just shrugs it off and laugh because 'they are the bad guys'. This is a modern story and the hero takes countless lives for the sake of treasure and shows very little afterthought when he does so. Yet no-one thinks twice about it because people aren't begging for their lives or scared of death so its OK?
Even in games where bad guys DO plead for their lives, often gamers hit the execute them any more because 'they are the enemy'.

I wonder what people would say if you dressed the HATRED guy as an American Spec Ops soldier, set it abroad and had the innocents as part of the 'violent ISIS community and culture' . Would it be acceptable then?
Other games such as Homefront, Spec Ops, and Payday have killable civilians as part of the setting. They are not the main objective but for example, in Payday during a Bank Heist, things often go wrong and police officers and innocents may end up as part of the body count. All for the sake of money, but its part of the gameplay so its OK, we have choices right?

This two faced approach of gaming journalism is really irritating, why choose a few games as a violence scapegoat for crimes yet accept the rest? Journalist sites are glorifying the violence in game because it so openly shows the violence in a dark setting, literally, look at that total lack of colour apart from all that edgy blood! To be honest, if the developers can get away with marketing this game for what it is, killing people, then maybe its better than other games out there who try to pretend it doesn't exist as part of their gameplay or try to justify the violence. Some people are too disturbed by this reality of life despite our media being full of suicide bombings, school shoots, public stabbings and so on. I would be more worried about walking home past a bunch guys on a dark night in the UK than some violent game.

I kind of drifted off my original point but violent games don't cause violent actions in real life. HATRED is a tasteless game, I agree. It also looks incredibly shallow from a gaming perspective, I enjoy rampaging in a game like GTA once in a way but it becomes boring fast. I can't imagine an entire game based around shooting unarmed people until police show up is going to remain 'entertaining' for a long time. This won't matter for the developers though, they have just created a huge amount of free marketing and promotion with just one tweet and a mini trailer. People are going to buy it to see what the fuss is about and out of morbid curiosity, then there will be the kids who also can't wait to shoot up the society because 'everyone is out to get me' and 'life sucks'. Hell I even wrote an article about it because the community butthurt was so fascinating. Well played Destructive Creations.