Overwatch and it’s Beautiful Disaster of a League

The Overwatch League’s second season is underway, and while its been mostly successful, there are several things diehard fans and players would like to see changed. Blizzard is in a tough position, balancing the competitive scene of the league with the experience of the player base at large, but there are issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible in order to preserve the legitimacy of the league and the interest of the fans. To understand where these problems originate we must first know how we got here.

The 2019 Oscars: Dylan, Tamur, and Brian make their predictions!

The biggest night in Hollywood is finally here! The 2019 Oscars will kick off tonight at 8pm on ABC. 2018 was a hell of a year for Film and to celebrate, Brian, Tamur, and I are going to play a little Academy Awards "pick em". Below, we are going to lay out all the nominations and their Vegas odds to allow the casual moviegoer more insight on the favorites and long shots. For each category, all three of us will be making our selections as well as adding an occasional note on why we're making that pick. To add a little more fun to the process, each time a correct pick is made we will be awarded the points that category is worth. For example, Best Picture will be worth 5 points while other major categories such as Best Director are worth 3 points each. Categories such as Best Supporting Actress will be worth 2 points and categories such as Best Costume Design will be worth 1 point. Whoever has the most points at the end wins (and if Brian loses I get to take his place on the hit web-series 'Things we may have tried'). May the best movie nerd win!

Anthem: The Complex Nature Of Hype and Expectations

It’s said you only have one chance to make a first impression. Right or wrong, so much of your life can be dictated by the first interactions you have with someone. It’s no different for video games.

The Division morphed itself into one of the most interesting and expansive games of the generation, however many remember it more for the buggy state in which it launched. Fallout 76 is unlikely to rise above the perception it earned upon launch of being an unfinished mess regardless of how they turn it around. More to this blog’s central thesis, Mass Effect Andromeda has become a solid spinoff, but the memes from the first few weeks tainted the reputation of not only the game but BioWare Montreal, resulting in low sales and the studio being absorbed by EA Motive.

Which brings us to Bioware’s current game, Anthem. A cooperative loot based shooter that should have been marketed as “you can be Ironman in space!”. Influencers, critics and those willing to pay a bit extra are already playing the game and the reviews are, middling to say the least. At the time of writing, the game sits at a 70/100, which may as well be a 0/100 based on the way games below an 8 are interpreted but that’s a different blog all together. Complaints range from bugs, to long loading times, and the Youtube mob is out in full force. This isn’t to say they aren’t justified, it takes a lot of work to make any game and that doesn’t go unappreciated. However, when people are paying $60-$100, depending on the version, they need to be cautious and make sure they are getting the best bang for their buck.

The hype culture surrounding games is partially to blame as well, sleek highly produced trailers and the seeming need for each triple A release to live up to an absurd standard, leave many games to feel underwhelming. At times it seems as if the conversation around these games boil down to “is it the best game ever? If not then it must be a disappointment”. Which in turn forces the marketing of the game to perpetuate the idea that this title is going to change games forever. So when it comes out and doesn’t feel as exciting to play, gamers are left disappointed.

New monetization schemes such as “games as a service” are also at fault. The feeling that games must make large sums of money beyond just the initial sale is forcing developers to make games they otherwise wouldn’t. There are reasons why games such as Destiny are considered disappointments when compared to Bungie’s Halo series, and a big one is the feeling that Destiny wasn’t finished upon launch. It was discovered content included on the disc was hidden away for future DLCs and this turned fans off and damaged its reputation. However, Destiny also made hundreds of millions of dollars over the game’s lifespan. If there’s one thing companies love more than money, it’s more money, and as such games like Anthem were born.

The idea isn’t the worst, if EA was keen on making this type of game, using BioWare, a studio known for epic RPGs, felt like a no brainer. Though in retrospect, forcing a team that built their reputation on story driven titles to make a cooperative loot shooter has seemingly not worked out, at least that’s how things are being presented.

To conclude if it were up to me, talented studios would be given resources to create the unique experiences they want. In this scenario the quality of the games would speak for themselves and this would drive sales. Things aren’t up to me, and I’m not the head of a company eagerly trying to please shareholders. So things are unlikely to change anytime soon. It will be interesting to to see if Anthem can put the pieces together and resolve the issues with patches. It will be just as fascinating to see if the players stick around or if the game is doomed based on first impressions.

 

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Apex Legends The Journey To Being The Best Battle Royale Game

Innovation in industry is often dictated by trends, videos games are no exception. From the modern military shooters of the mid to late 2000s, to the current fad of Battle Royale games, most large companies see something succeed and want a piece of that action. Often times these companies miss the mark, see Medal of Honor compared to Call of Duty and NBA Live compared to the NBA 2K series. What do those two “copycat” game series have in common other than being discontinued aside from the occasional come back attempt? They’re both published by EA. Yes, the company many consider the worst in America. It should be clarified that it wasn’t voted worst gaming company, but instead worst company full stop. It may come as a surprise to you that this company currently has the hottest game in the world, despite it being another entry that could easily be hand waved away as a copycat. But how did Apex Legends do the seemingly impossible and supplant Fortnite, at least for the time being, as the Battle Royale king? Let’s find out.

New Titanfall Battle Royal (Apex Lengends)

Apex Legends is a new Battle Royale game created by Respawn Entertainment set in the universe of Titanfall. The game takes place after the events of the Titanfall 2 campaign and sees squads of 3 face off against one another to be the last ones standing. Players will be able to choose between various “Legends” who are characters with different abilities similar to Overwatch or Black Ops. This should lead to interesting team configurations adding a layer of strategy to the somewhat overplayed genre.