Diving Into Pokemon GO - Part 1: The Data

Hey! What's ongoing on out there?! Thanks for stopping by. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of a Pokemon game fanboy. I started off on Pokemon Blue, and it was really the first game that ever made feel like I was on my journey. And because of that the Pokemon games have always held a special place in my heart. Needless to say, after the debut Pokemon GO announcement, I've been anxiously awaiting it's release. With many sources speculating on a February release, I figured now is a good time to see what conclusions can be drawn from the whole of publicly available information. This will be a 2 part project. This post will be a collection and summary of available information, and Part 2 will be the analysis, speculation, and conclusions.

Background Information:
All of the significant background information regarding the concept and history can be found in the following press conference. It's long, but there is TLDR under the video:



TLDR: Pokemon GO is the brainchild of Satoru Iwata of Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokemon Company. Originally conceptualized in 2013, the idea was to bring Pokemon the game into the real world via augmented reality on a mobile platform. At some point Niantic was tapped to provide the real world mapping and mobile platform development, as they have experience doing this in their game Ingress. Nintendo was tapped for the development of the Pokemon GO Plus; a bluetooth enabled device to be worn around the neck or wrist. It is equipped with an LED and motor. It will be used to send players notifications, when they are not in app. The game will be free to play, and is expected to have an early 2016 release. Also there was a mention of possibly marrying, future generations of the DS games with Pokemon GO.

During the above video the following trailer was shown. Go ahead and watch it, and I'll post some observations under the video:

• From the first scene we can tell that players will receive alerts regarding the location of wild Pokemon with directions. 
• If you pause the video at 26 seconds, you'll see that the alert states "Wild Pokemon" and shows a distance and direction of travel, but you can also see that there appears to be a silhouette of a Pikachu. 
• When the video continues to 30 seconds, we can see that this player is being directed to a location named Minato-ku in Tokyo, Japan (here's the Wiki page). 
• At 33 seconds it appears that a player is alerted to the existence of a nearby Pokemon via the Pokemon GO Plus device. If you listen closely, you'll hear a chiming.
• Before the 1 minute mark we see three first gen Pokemon, all with what appears to be HP bars and level listed. 
• We also see that there are items available (assumed to be gathered through microtransactions). Multiple Pokeballs are shown and a Honey. 
• Interesting point though, it does not appear that any of the players have to battle any of the wild Pokemon before successfully catching them.
• At 1:06 into the video, a trade is shown. It is assumed to be via bluetooth or NFC due to proximity of the players and the animation showing a direct swap.
• At 1:16 it appears that one player launches an unprovoked attack (not a challenge)
• By 1:35 it appears that a group of trainers have challenged another group to a battle.
• Around the 2 minute mark we are introduced to a timed "event/ boss battle". It appears that multiple trainers are facing off against Mewtwo.
• At the end of the battle, there is a congratulatory message is displayed on a large screen stating that Mewtwo was captured. 

Niantic Interview With Gamesbeat:
I've pulled down several relevant details unveiled in a Gamesbeat sit down interview with Niantec's John Hanke; CEO and Mike Quigley; Chief Marketing Officer, and will be posting them directly below. The full interview and article is here.

"GamesBeat: I’m curious about what you think of mapping Pokémon onto this engine where location is such a big advantage. Location can also be a challenge or disadvantage in some other ways, though. In some past location-based games, if there’s not enough players in an area, they’re not really socially connected. If you have to travel very far to find something, is it really worth doing?

Hanke: We’ve learned a lot on those fronts with Ingress. Even if you’re in a small town — I grew up in a town of 1,000 people in Texas. We had that as a design goal. If we’re going to build a game that works with location, it has to be fun for people anywhere to play, in small towns as well as San Francisco. If we designed something that only worked in San Francisco, it wouldn’t be a real success. We wanted it to work globally..."

"GamesBeat: How do you plan to handle the distribution of different items and things in the game?

Hanke: Our goal is to make it so you can walk out of the house and within five minutes, you can find Pokémon. It may not be the most rare Pokémon in the world, but there’ll be a population of Pokémon living near all our players. Gyms will be a bit more rare. You want to find gyms so you can level up your Pokémon and battle there, so it will take a little more effort to get there.
Pokémon will live in different parts of the world depending on what type of Pokémon they are. Water Pokémon will live near the water. It may be that certain Pokémon will only exist in certain parts of the world. Very rare Pokémon may exist in very few places. But you can trade. If you live in a place with lots of water Pokémon and you come to an event — we have these Ingress events that are getting bigger and bigger. We’ll have our biggest weekend ever on Saturday.
We’ll have events for Pokémon as well. Those are competitive, but they can also be places to trade stuff with other players. Pokémon trading is going to be huge. You can’t get all of them by yourself. If you want all of them you’ll have to trade with other players. Or you have to be someone who takes time off work and travels the world for a year. There may be people who do that."

"GamesBeat: Nintendo also wants to do their own unique device, right?

Hanke: The Pokémon Go Plus, yeah.

GamesBeat: At the same time they’re racing into mobile, they have their own dedicated hardware.

Hanke: It’s a nice way to take a step in the mobile ecosystem for them. That came out of two influences. One was a learning from Ingress. We wanted to give people a way to play the game where you didn’t necessarily have to take your phone out and interact with the UX. Part of the idea of the game is, you’re outside and you can see beautiful things. If you’re always staring at your phone, you’re not seeing the world around you.
We had brainstormed this idea. Why not have a little device that buzzes when you’re near something important? You can interact with it in some subtle way, and then later on you can open up your app or your tablet and you see, “Oh, I got this or did that.” That was one of the influences.
The other was, imagine that a parent is playing with a kid and they want to give the kid a device to interact with rather than handing over the phone. I’m often handing my phone to my kid, because he’s bored or whatever. But the idea is you can give them the Pokémon Go Plus device. It vibrates and flashes when you’re near Pokémon. When they press a button in a certain sequence they capture it. Then, later on, you can look at it together on your phone or tablet.

GamesBeat: The functionality is pretty much the same as you’d do with your phone?

Hanke: It’s more limited, but it’s heads-up gameplay. I can show you the design prototype. It’s very slightly bigger, a bit heavier, but this is pretty much the size of it. It comes with a bracelet so you can wear it like a wrist device. It’s Fitbit-ish in terms of size. Battery lasts a long time. You don’t have to worry about charging all the time. This is a multicolor LED and button. You’ll notice that it’s the Google Map pen with the Pokeball shape and color fused together. You can imagine kids going to school with this on their backpack."


Pokemon Superbowl Commercial:



I reviewed the commercial several times, trying to tease out any extra info. However, it appears to be dedicated marketing info, with lots of hidden references to Pokemon, but no obvious easter eggs to give us anymore details about GO.

 The Number of Catchable Pokemon:
*!Warning Unable To Verify Source!*
Sever outlets are reporting that all 721 Pokemon will be available. I have been unable to verify the original source of this data. It is being notated as an anomalous data point until verified.



Niantic Will Demo Pokemon GO at GDC (Game Developer Conference):
According to an announcement on GDC's site John Hanke of Niantic, will be demoing Pokemon GO during a session titled, "Catch 'Em All: Pokemon GO and Real World Gaming". No Date or time details have been released yet, but we know that the session will take place during the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit. The following has been directly pulled from the announcement:

"Over the last three years, Niantic, Inc. has been defining the genre of Real World gaming, using smartphones and tablets to connect the digital world to the physical world. Niantic's newest game, Pokemon GO, ups the challenge of real world gaming design, taking a beloved franchise and setting its hundreds of brightly-colored monsters loose across the globe, adding a new Bluetooth wearable device created by Nintendo to the mix. Join Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke as he discusses how the company has developed a unique vision for delivering a mobile Pokemon experience that gets would-be trainers into the outdoors.

Takeaway
Attendees will get a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokemon GO, the collaborative approach to design and development for the game and the next evolution of augmented reality and real-world mobile gameplay experiences."

If I missed anything, let me know so I can get it added. Part 2 will be releasing later. Please make sure to follow on social media. Especially Twitter as all new posts are pushed there as soon as they are published. Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of my "2016 Make It Or Break It For Nintendo?" series Part 3 scheduled for later this year. Thanks for stopping by again. And as always, I will see you later.

-Chali Baicunn  

2016 Make It Or Break It For Nintendo? Part 2: Intervention

Hello again, and welcome back to BaicunnPress. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. This is a continuance to my ongoing "2016 Make It Or Break It For Nintendo?" series of posts. Part 1 is here. Today we'll be dealing with a difficult subject... The intervention to save the life of Nintendo. I get a little misty in the eyeball regions when I think about this once proud giant dying.


The Intervention Letter
Dear Nintendo,

I hope you remember me... I was once one of your biggest fans. I played your greatest titles throughout my childhood; Mario, Megaman, Metal Gear, Battle Toads, Zelda, etc, etc. You had it all. You were once the brand I looked up to. You fought valiantly through the Great Console Wars of the 1990's. I knew when I grew up, I wanted to be just like you; smart, strong, inventive. But then it all changed... You changed. It's like you forgot who you were. You began to push me out of your life. I was broken at first, but I recovered and made new friends. They paid attention to me. They listened, and were there for me, and in return I supported them. 

We lost touch at one point, but you reached out to me during a hard time in my life. You brought me on the adventure of a lifetime. I traveled Kanto with you, and sought out the path of a Pokemon trainer. We spent so many hours together over the next few years traveling and looking for adventure. Then almost as quick as you came back into my life, you were gone again. Occasionally we'd chill over a few rounds of Golden Eye and Perfect Dark, but then you were gone again after GameCube was released. It's almost as if you fell back in with the crowd of amateurs, rookies, and noobies you had previously distinguished yourself from.

And again I had to find new friends. Microsoft was more than happy to embrace me, and Sony hung out all of the time. I'd see you around every once and a while, but you kept ignoring me. I felt used and abused. You had nothing to offer me. No FPSs except Metroid, no RTSs, no engrossing RPGs... All it seemed you had in you were party games, and god damn it I don't always want to party. The only time you seemed to care at all was when you brought Resident Evil 4 to the Cube, but then there was nothing after that. And you only responded because you were getting crushed by Halo.

Years went by, and by chance we bumped into each other again. Literally by chance, I won a Wii. For a moment, it seemed like you might have gotten your shit together. You're approach was new, and I had access to the classics again. Your new controls were classic in form and novel in design, but it seemed like you still just wanted to party. It was difficult to find any substance and depth in your catalog... It was just a party all of the time, and don't get me wrong; I like to party, but you just kept going harder and harder to the paint until I couldn't take it anymore. I finally left you. It broke me, but I had become hardened toward you. 

I was tempted so many times to come back to you. I wanted to through down on the classics and share it with the world, but everytime I turned around, I kept reading "Nintendo DMCAs channel into the ground", "Nintendo, takes profit from YouTuber", "Nintendo hates streamers!" One headline after another. I missed you, but I'd be god damned to deal with your shit. What's the point of us hanging out and being friends, if we can't hangout with everyone else. And when we do hang out, we just talk about the good ol' days, back before you made it clear that you pretty much hated anyone outside of Nintendo.

So I end this letter with a few simple statements... Nintendo, I love you man. I wants us to be tight again. I want my son to really get to know you. But we can't until you end your addiction. Your attachment to control and your business model are killing you man. It'd be great if we could hangout again, and if I could share my gaming time with the internet without fear that you'd ruin my life, and shut down my social media and ruining my life. Your behavior is that of a sophisticated drunk. You just keep wondering around in circles hoping that you'll stumble back to your home before you pass out in a puddle of your own making. If you don't change soon, you'll die! You're better than this man. You can be relevant... I believe in you.

Love,
  Chali


Thanks for stopping by again guys. What do you think? Let me know. I'm going to give Nintendo a bit to find itself, but be sure to keep check back for more content and part 3 of  this series. I'm thinking a title of  "Part 3: Redemption or Bust" seems fitting. Again, I want to thank you all for your support and your readership. As always, I'll see you later.

-Chali Baicunn

Midweek Breakdown - Pokemon Will Own February, Ubisoft Drops The Ball, And Deadpool

Hello and welcome back my fine nerdy brethren. Thank you for stopping by! It's time for the Midweek Breakdown, where I serve you up with some tidbits of wonderfulness to help you make the final stretch of your work week toward the weekend.

First up on the list is a new Superbowl Commercial, from our friends at the Pokemon Company:



If you didn't know Pokemon has several major events coming up this month. On February 27th Pokemon will turn 20 years old. That's right, if you an OG trainer from back in the day, you're officially old... To celebrate their anniversary a special edition 3DS in the States with Pokemon Red and Blue pre-loaded on the device. In Japan, fans of the franchise will be able to pickup a 2DS bundles with choice of Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow theme, and matching game pre-installed. The American bundle price is listed at $199.99. As a side note, if someone sends me one of these they'll get free adspace on here for a year. (Can't blame me for trying. Haha!.. But no seriously.) The Pokemon TCG will also be receiving the next edition this month with XY-BREAKpoint. Honestly though, all of this doesn't hold a candle in the wind to the expected release of Pokemon GO. Widely believed, to be releasing on February 27th. If you're a Pokemon TSG fan checkout the video below, and if you're interested in some more info about Pokemon GO, please stay tuned for future posts coming out this week.

Also out this week, Bethesda has announced that it will be making a return to E3 this year. With the success of Bethesda's showcase last year, I'm expecting another great showing in 2016. If you're interested in speculations about the showcase, make sure to check out my post from last week; Pure Hyperbole: Bethesda's E3 2016 Showcase Speculation .


Over last weekend, The Division beta released and almost immediately got pwn'd. Specifically the PC version of the beta was compromised, by users that discovered that the game clients were running in a trusted status. Long short, this means that the servers didn't give a fuck about what speed, amount of ammo, or well any other player stats as long as the info was handed to it by the client. This was possible due to the fact that the servers were not checking the data to verify that it had not been tampered with. The beta was open to everyone who pre-ordered and a lucky few who made it onto the beta waiting list. No word from Ubisoft, if anti-cheating systems were left off on purpose or not. I recommend that you go check out the reddit devoted to the game here , as has a lot of great information posted on it.

I'd also like to remind you, that the Deadpool movie releases next week. So make sure you treat you're significant other to a romantic classic about a guy who'd do anything to stay alive for the woman he loves. And significant others, if you love your significant other, you'll recognize that it is a proper Valentine's Day movie. I now leave you with the following PSA:




Thanks again for stopping by. I really appreciate your support. If you feel that I missed anything, let me know. Please make sure you follow the site on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, And as always, I'll see you later.

-Chali Baicunn

2016 Make It Or Break It For Nintendo? Part 1: Trouble

Hey what's going on guys! Thanks for stopping by. Sorry for not posting anything yesterday; I was tied up with other things. Today we'll be discussing Nintendo's place in the console market. This will be a 2 to 3 part op-ed. I hope you enjoy!

Oh what terribly sad days we are living in. The ancestral sage of modern gaming is in a pretty tight spot, and 2016 may be the year they thrive or die. For many years, gamers have been speculating on the demise of the old guard. The questions now: Is Nintendo going to make a come back, and are they working on a console exit strategy as I write this?

I personally believed 12 to 13 years ago that Nintendo had one last console in it, before they went the way of Sega, and began producing only games. I was wrong in that assumption... Wildly wrong, but that's because I couldn't perceive the impact of the Wii's shtick; cheap family friendly "fun". I Couldn't have seen how the Wii's motion controls and low purchase price gimmick could have moved the volume that it did. I had no idea back in 2003 and 2004 that the DS platform would have taken off like it did. Both kept a significant flow of capital rolling into Nintendo's coffers, but it may have also set them up for a terrible fall.

It may seem as a bit of a stretch to argue that Nintendo is in dire straights, and this year will prove a lot. I am in no way saying that they'll stop making the DS platform... Why would they? It is obviously a cash cow for them, selling over 5.88 million 3DSes in the last 3 months of last year. These posts will specifically address the things that have brought Nintendo to this point, and what they may do or maybe doing, to move forward.

Big Trouble In Kyoto:
In it's lifetime, Nintendo has gained a reputation for themselves in the industry, for being difficult to work with. Especially, in regards to game development. From the control they exercise over developers to poorly documented devkits. Which has pushed devs away from them into the arms of Microsoft and Sony.

And in recent years, Nintendo's choices to use older chip sets in their consoles has alienated hardcore games and third party developers. Gamers are moving away due to a lack of graphics, and the inability of Nintendo to land quality titles outside of Nintendo family of developers. All the while third party devs are staying away, due to the time and cost of porting their games and apps to the older architecture. Thus become cost prohibitive for 3rd parties to do so as, Nintendo's console user base is shrinking and resources could be better directed at supporting their core user base.

You'd think that this would leave Nintendo, to lean back on small hobbyists for third party support... Well they've done the opposite. In an interview with Gamasutra (here) in 2011; Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated,

"I would separate out the true independent developer vs. the hobbyist. We are absolutely reaching out to the independent developer. Where we've drawn the line is we are not looking to do business today with the garage developer. In our view, that’s not a business we want to pursue."

Well if not hobbyists devs, then who?... Internet "let's players"? That's a gigantic NOPE! As it turns out that developing for Nintendo is actually easier, than giving them free publicity on the Internet. Nintendo has been waging an incessant campaign against people sharing video of any of their games on the internet. Known for their serial DMCA'ing of YouTube channels, Nintendo has effectively cut themselves off from their audience. With all of the hype and bullshit out there, it's hard to trust publishers enough to buy their games without seeing gameplay. In fact may publishers, including EA give Beta and early access to many popular YouTubers, because they realize the value in free publicity.

Nintendo has continued to tow these ideological lines even through the the shortish disappointing life of WiiU. From a gamer standpoint this has lead Nintendo into a state of entropy. Where they are increasingly desperate, and grasping at air. As if the WiiU was going to continue the gravy train that was the Wii.

I don't believe that this is due to Nintendo's Executives being incompetent or even arrogant. It seems to me that maybe they can't see the forest for all of the trees. Nintendo has always been so cautious in protecting their brand, and I believe they've now done more harm. At this point, you'd think that reality would have slapped Nintendo in face hard.

Is there hope for Nintendo? Maybe... What you think? Make sure to comment on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, or in the comment section below. Part 2 has been released and can be found here. Don't forget to like and share. Thanks again for stopping by. As always, I'll see you later.

-Chali Baicunn

Pure Hyperbole: Bethesda's E3 2016 Showcase Speculation

Hey you fine people of the Internet! Thanks for stopping by... And FUCK MONDAYS! Haha! Bethesda has announced that they will be doing another E3 showcase this year. I did some coverage of last year's showcase (links to the posts here: DOOM & Dishonored 2). In this post I'll be speculating what they may be showing this year. I'll be breaking it down by title. Let's jump in. 

*On 2/4/15, Besthesda announced a release date of May 13th for DOOM. I think it's safe to assume that Doom won't be showcased this year.*  - Posted 2/8/15

DOOM:
GameInformer has managed to snag some pretty nice exclusives with this DOOM. When you look past the hype and read between the lines, there are a few interesting details available from them. What we know so far is that the new DOOM visually feels like the classic we know and love... It's just been turned up to 20.

What We Know:

• Classic single-player DOOM
• There will be at least the following weapons: pistol, chainsaw, chain gun, super shotgun, combat shotgun, plasma rifle, heavy assault rifle, rocket launcher, and of course the BFG9000
• Weapons are upgradable via items drops in the campaign
• Multiplayer is available through the "Arena"
• SnapMap feature allows users to create custom maps quickly and easily.

BaicunnPress Guess:

• DOOM will be the headliner of the showcase (first presentation)
• Bethesda and idSoft will specifically showcase multiplayer and SnapMap
• Weapons will be upgradable in multiplayer via item drops from enemies
• SnapMap will allow for multiplayer and single player maps
• SnapMap may allow for demons to be placed in multiplayer  games
• More weapons will shown
• (Out on a limb guess featured below. Keep reading)

  


Dishonored 2
First shown during Bethesda's E3 2015 showcase. This next chapter of the Dishonored series will return to the Empire of the Isles. Arkane Studios (dev) has promised to continue the sandbox mechanics, and the graphics appear to be highly polished. The game was originally set to be released in Spring of 2016 and now pushed back to December 30, 2016 (after being reported for a 2017 launch in November 2015).

What We Know:

•  Sandboxing mechanics will be present just like the first dishonored.
•  There are two characters to play as now (Corvo Attano & Emily Kaldwin)

BaicunnPress Guess:

•  Dishonored 2 will be the second presentation
•  The world will be more open world (think GTA but probably smaller)
•  The release delay is two fold. One, game was not released on time because online/ multiplayer was added. Two, release date was changed from 2017 to 12/30/16 to allow the game to be available for a 2016 Game of The Year award. 

Fallout 4 DLC: I imagine that we'll be getting some Fallout 4 DLC this year, and if they drop it on the market around E3 the time would line up so that it would be about midway to the 1 year anniversary. I'd also expect a possible announcement of 1 year anniversary DLC.

New Skyrim: This is a total shot in the dark, but it's been since 2011 since Skyrim was released. I think we're do for another.

New Wolfenstein: I'm making this guess only because there has been a Wolfenstein title every year since 2014. It seems to me that both "Old Blood" and "New Order" have done fairly well for themselves. It may just be that Bethesda has decided that Wolfenstein is popular enough and profitable enough to make it a cheap cornerstone title that always keeps then relevant and is a constant source of revenue. Remember that "out on a limb guess" I mentioned before.... Here is goes... I'd speculate that if there is a Wolfenstein announcement, there will be an offer for beta access to the next DOOM title.

What do you think? Am I right? Am I wrong? Let me know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or in the comment section below. Thanks again for stopping by. I really appreciate your support. As a side note, I am working on a few ways to get more content out, and in different media forms. Stay tuned for more details. 

-Chali Baicunn

EA Pulls Booth From E3

Hello! How's it going out there in the wild today! Seems that the seemingly unsinkable ship, that is EA is growing very concerned about their relationship with their community. If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that EA and I are not on the best of terms currently. I'm not going to go into my personal feelings about EA today, but instead want to talk about some HUGE E3 news involving EA. 

Amid the blowback of several failed title launches, and the presumed PR nightmare of a growing contempt amongst many gamers directed at EA over the quality and value of their products. EA has decided to pull their booth from E3 showroom floor. Instead EA has reported that they will be hosting an event at the Club Nokia venue outside of E3. This event will be called EA Play. Unlike E3 the event will be open to public from June 12 to the 14th. On June 12th in London, EA will be hosting a similar event as well.

On EA's official announcement page, they are reporting that live attendees will get hands on time with demos, along with competitions, special guests, and exclusive schwag. On top of public access, they are also reporting that they will be live streaming their press conference, new games, and behind the scenes content. Gamesbeat is currently reporting that an EA spokesman is quoted as saying,

"It’s an all-new event that puts our players first and creates a play experience built around them.  Play LA will be at Club Nokia at LA Live on June 12-14, and Play London will be at The Mermaid on June 12.  Both events will kick off with a live press conference and offer hands-on with our games, and more."


The press conference is currently scheduled to begin at 1PM PT on June 12, 2016. It's presumed that the Press Conference and events will be live streamed on there Twitch channel here. If you're interested in getting more details about the event and how to get tickets, you should go to the official EA announcement page here and sign up for email updates.

So what do you think? Is this just standard PR? Or do you think that EA may have turned a corner? I personally hope they have. Let me know what you think. Please share and follow on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. Thanks for stopping by again, and as always I will see you later.

-Chali Baicunn

EA's Battlefront Update: Legit, PR Bullshit, Damage Control?

Hello and welcome back again! Thanks for stopping by. Brand new Star Wars Battlefront news just released, and oh boy is it good-ish news. I'm trying to be hopefully optimistic, but with the shit stain that EA keeps leaving in my life it's going to be hard to do. I have not hidden my feelings about this game. I have been more than disappointed. As an interesting side note, I did not lock down my PSN account, and over the weekend, myself and my 5 year old became the owners of the Season Pass. Although this was my fault and I do not expect any refunds, I am now $115 deep in this... So I'm going to keep posting on it, and calling out the bullshit when I see it, and give praise when it's deserved. With that said, this post and any future posts about Battlefront and it's Developer/ Publisher will be subjective, but I will present logical & possibly inflammatory arguments to support my opinion. You'll also see several times in my posts that I refer to EA and DICE interchangeably, and that's because EA owns DICE and so as a concept they are the same thing. So let's not delay any further and jump right into the post. 

Battlefront is finally getting an update today, and EA is being a little more transparent. All of the details are outlined on in a post titled "The Road Forward" written by Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir; Senior Producer for Star Wars Battlefront. And with this update comes a bit of renewed cynical optimism for me. I'm honestly not sure that EA/ DICE can save this title, as they are going to be restricted to what the engine can do. Also at this point, any of the changes asked for by the community are completely dependent on EA's ability to listen to it's audience.

First we'll start with the really bad. If you remember in last weeks Midweek Breakdown, I had mentioned that Battlefront Community Leader; Sledgehammer70, had congratulated the community in smashing the Christmas Holiday Community Challenge. He was so pleased to tease us with a special gift for the community, in the following post made on the Battlefront Community Page:

"Just before the holidays, we kicked off the first Star Wars Battlefront community event, where we asked you to play 500,000 hours as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. 

Today, we’re happy to let the community know that you smashed the 500,000 hours played mark, playing over a total of 1.2M hours as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo between START and FINISH. Most impressive.

This achievement is worth a special reward that directly ties to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. What could this reward be? In true Jedi fashion, it will be revealed in the coming update this month. You will want to look to Hoth to show the fruits of your labor once the January update has been released. Stay tuned to our official channels for more details."  

This tease left many in the community to speculate that the gift would be playable tauntauns. Well the wait is over. The update is coming today, and do you know what these def bastards gave us? Mother fucking Luke and Han themed outfits when playing as either on Hoth! Fucking really?! You know and I both know that the tease was masterful execution of PR bullshit.

To be fair though, there are more updates being released today. (Link to the release notes at the bottom of this post.) Along with some pretty significant balancing tweaks, we're also getting some well needed spawn adjustments. We can also now play Blast, Droid Run, Drop Zone, Hero Hunt, and Heroes vs Villains multiplayer modes on Raider Camp. This is the same map used in Tatooine Survival. EA also made the following promises in their announcement:

"In February, we will continue to add more free content for all players, including a new Survival mission on Hoth, and a brand-new Hoth multiplayer map that will support our larger game modes including Walker Assault, Supremacy, Fighter Squadron and Turning Point. Speaking of Turning Point, we are also excited to make this popular mode available on all maps that currently support Walker Assault and Supremacy in the February update.

In March, we will be adding another exciting new multiplayer map on Endor that will support Walker Assault, Supremacy, and Turning Point, and an additional Tatooine Survival map."

So it looks like we'll be getting a bit more free content. I believe these kinds of changes are great steps in the right direction. And I will even thank EA and DICE for do these things. But wait there's still more...

The other major parts of today's update have to do with adding private match functionality, Community Events, and Daily Challenges. I currently do not know how well or even the mechanics of private match making. I have so far been unable to find information on the number of players allowed, or game mode restrictions. I know people have been asking for it, but it does little for me as most of my friends have abbandoned this sinking wreck due to hollowness of the game. It's probably safe to say they won't be coming back just for private matches, a few maps, and some added balance.

Community Events and Daily Challenges are a whole other beast. Honestly this announcement makes me think that DICE/ EA are not really in touch with the realities of gaming. Especially when we look at what the follow section of their public announcement says:

"The introduction of Daily Challenges and Community Events. These are designed to rally the Community around certain goals and objectives, giving players the chance to earn credits and unlocks even faster. We'll have more news regarding Community Events and Daily Challenges in the days ahead."

Just let that sink in for second... If you've played Battlefront for any extended periods of time, you should realize that at some point credits become useless and stop adding any depth to the game. After unlocking ever gun and ever Star Card, the only thing to spend credits on are skins. As I and many other reviewers have pointed out, the skins are lazy and add nothing to the game. Many people have even argue that they may even take away from the game, as most of the alternative skins simple remove the helmet from the stormtroopers, and this is not ok with many a Star Wars fan. 

So we've established that more credits are kind of meaningless in the macro-scope of the game. Then if history repeats, and we assume that community rewards for completing challenges and events will be more character skins. So this equation would then apply:

 More Credits + More Skins = 0 Net Gain

This is speculation at this point. But it feels par for course when it comes EA and its subsidiaries, and is absolutely the dumbest way to reward people play for playing the game. It adds no depth or substance to the core game, and only pisses of those of us who purchased a over hyped product with high expectations. This shallow attempt at appeasement, will only further decrease interest. Thus setting up a scenario where EA cuts its losses and stops truly supporting the title.

The final bit of news released with the update announcement was details about the Season Pass DLC. As expected the DLC will be released quarterly, with expected releases in March, Summer, and Fall of this year, and one more release sometime in early next year. The following list and descriptions are taken directly from the update post:

"Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Outer Rim (March 2016) - Fight among the factories of Sullust and battle within Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Bespin (Summer 2016) - It's hunt or be hunted in this action-packed experience set in the Cloud City of Bespin
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Death Star (Fall 2016) – That’s no moon! One of the most iconic locations in the Star Wars universe makes its debut in Star Wars Battlefront.
Star Wars™ Battlefront™ Expansion Pack 4 – Title TBA (Early 2017) – We will have more details to share about this exciting new expansion pack in the coming months."

Many of these changes seem to indicate that EA and DICE are listened; at least some what listening to the community. But they've had since November to address these issues and have not. So why now? Is it because the swell of Christmas noobs that have beaten down the forums with complaints? Is it because of the hordes or vocal and disappointed reviewers? IDK...

EA ends their announcement with the following:

"At DICE, we're passionate about what we've created with Star Wars Battlefront, and are committed to supporting not only the game but all of our fans over the months ahead. We can’t wait to keep traveling through the galaxy far, far away, with all of you."

The above statement just really rubs me the wrong way. Yeah it's a great sentiment. It makes people feel warm and fuzzies. But, after personally witnessing at least a decade of EA's consumer abuse. In their slowly escalating extortion campaign of releasing what can only be described as underwhelming and incomplete titles with pay for DLC. Each proceeding title worse than the last, in content and in sales. It really just seems like EA and it's subsidiaries are seeing just how far they can push the line before gamers revolt.

So here are some parting thoughts for EA/ DICE: How many people in the Battlefront community have to tell you that they want substance, not skins? How many people have to complain about your lack luster performance before you supply their needs? And honestly you wouldn't be so bad if your marketing hype machine wasn't so good, and your business model so opaque. Again, I'll admit that you took baby steps today, but is it that you cannot provide for the wants your fan base due your inability to deliver? Or does your failure come from some morally abstract authoritarian concept that you alone may be the gatekeeper of the needs and wants of your customers? I'm personally leaning towards the latter. Your names have become synonymous with a concept of everything that is wrong with the gaming industry. If I'm wrong prove it! Own your mistakes, make good on your hype, and earn back the respect of not just your customers but the greater gaming community.

At this point, I'm a bit more hopeful. However, I'm not holding my breath. EA has screwed the pooch so far,  I can't expect much more for the fixes. And with that I'm done for now.


Thank you guys for stopping by. I really appreciate your suppose. So what do you think. Am I over reacting? Should I take it a bit easier? Let me know on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or in the comments sections below. Please share, and as always, I will see you later. And as I said earlier you can expect more Battlefront content in the future. I'm going to beat this dead horse until it becomes a horse zombie, and starts trying to change other horses into zombie too. (Well that an excessively convoluted metaphor, but I think it works.)

-Chali Baicunn

Dishonored 2: Ooooo Shiny! And 344 Days Away ;(

Hello, and how's it going out there! Thanks for stopping by. Today we are bringing another archival post from E3 2015, out of the vault. I've taken the liberty of updating the post some, and included some new info, and videos. Enjoy!

-Chali  

From Bethesda's E3 2015 Showcase, the world was given it's first look at Dishonored 2, from Arkane Studios. In the next chapter of the Dishonored series, you'll be returning to the Empire of the Isles. Playing either as Corvo Attano, from the original title, or as the former princess Emily Kaldwin. The Empire is under attack again, this time by an "otherworldly usurper". Your return to the Empire take 15 years after the events in Dishonored, on the island of Serkonos. It's been revealed that this island is Corvo's birthplace. Arkane has promised that the new title will keep the original mechanics; allowing players the freedom of choice in the sandbox environment that they enjoyed in Dishonored. Arkane even announced that it will be possible to complete the game without kill anyone.The title originally was slated for a Spring 2016 release. However, the release has been postponed until December 30, 2015. Now strap yourself in, and let your optical cortex be assaulted the beautiful game trailer below:


Official E3 Trailer


What did you think? I think it's very pretty! Now what are we going to do for pretty much a full year?... Well shit! I guess while we wait for a year here's some more Dishonored 2 videos.

Who Is Emily Kaldwin


Welcome to Karnaca



Thanks again for stopping by. I'm sure there'll be more details released by the end of E3 2016. Keep checking back for more details. Please comment and share. I really appreciate all of the support the site has received. As always hope to see you in the future.

-Chali Baicunn

Midweek Breakdown - E3 Official Dates, Poe Dameron Gets A Comic Book, And More

Hello out there in the wonderful world wide web! I hope you're not too terribly scarred from yesterday's philosophical post. It's Thursday, and you're probably questioning the reason you got out of bed. Work sucks, and you're now stuck in the weekly purgatory that is Friday-eve. Well fear not for today, I'll be introducing the first installment of a new weekly series; The Midweek Breakdown. Making sure that you're properly informed on all things nerdy going on in the world. This is going live today, but the series will be making a weekly appearance every Wednesday.

ESA officially announced that E3 2016 is scheduled for June 14th through the 16th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Coming in next, USA Today announced that Poe Dameron will be getting his own dedicated series. Marvel's Star Wars creators Charles Soto and Phil Noto will be taking up the reins. The Poe Dameron series will be written by Charles Soule of the "Lando" and "Obiwan & Anakin" series fame, with art supplied by Phil Noto. Noto had previously provided art for the "Chewbacca" series. The series is slated to release April of this year.

ESPN recently added an eSports section on their Sports Portal. ESPN is promising to cover everything esports related. If you're interested cruise over to espn.com to check it out.

In case you somehow missed it, we have the first Suicide Squad trailer released since Comi-Con:



Also just out, Disney has announced, that it ill be delaying the release of Episode 8. Originally scheduled to release in June 2017. Release has now been pushed out until December 2017. It should be noted that Avatar 2 is also scheduled to release at the same time. 

In other Star Wars news, a patch is coming to Battlefront sometime this month. Along with this announcement came another from Star Wars Battlefront Community Manager; Sledgehammer70. Sledgehammer put out the following statement on the Battlefront Community page:

"Just before the holidays, we kicked off the first Star Wars Battlefront community event, where we asked you to play 500,000 hours as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. 

Today, we’re happy to let the community know that you smashed the 500,000 hours played mark, playing over a total of 1.2M hours as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo between START and FINISH. Most impressive.

This achievement is worth a special reward that directly ties to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. What could this reward be? In true Jedi fashion, it will be revealed in the coming update this month. You will want to look to Hoth to show the fruits of your labor once the January update has been released. Stay tuned to our official channels for more details."

Some in the Battlefront community are speculating that this means we'll be seeing tauntauns in game soon. 

And finally, it's been announced that Darkwing Duck will be making a return to TV in 2018, on Disney XD. Disney has promised that the show will have a “gritty look that this generation of kids love.” but retain the “same energy and bumbling crime-fighting spirit”.

Thanks for stopping by again guys! I really appreciate it. If you think we missed anything, let us now. Please share, and comment. I appreciate feedback. And always, I hope to see you in the future.

-Chali Baicunn

PSA: Tamper With A IoT Doorbell -> PWN A Network

Hello out there, and thank you for stopping by again! I'm coming to you today with a fun little factoid, and to point out a larger issue with IoT or Internet of Things devices. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think. 

Recently IoT devices have taken off in popularity. I'm sure you're all familiar with the networked power adapters that provides power control over your home network to devices connected to AC power. (If not see the picture of the Belkin WeMo.) The market since the introduction of these kinds of devices has exploded.

Belkin WeMo

The deluge of cheap ready to use, plug and play IoT devices seems to have saturated every corner of the online retail market. From pages of Amazon to the bid sniping battles of ebay. It seems that every electronics manufacture out there is rushing to have you buy their next great gimmick. From thermostats, to lighting, to even security systems, all connecting directly to your home network. Forget to turn the heat down? Do it with your phone. Didn't turn off the lights? There's an app for that. Want to keep your house safe while you're away? There's a system for that. You're probably thinking your life couldn't be safer or more convenient with IoT, right? Then you're thinking wrong.... Well wrong-ish. And this takes us to the following example.

Ring with mounting plate

The fine researchers over at Pen Test Partners (their site here) recently discovered a novel hack, that let's you steal WiFi encryption keys. Through one of these new IoT devices. Introducing; Ring Doorbell from ERA Home Security. This little device appears pretty innocuous at first glance. In fact it has some nice features. Basically, it acts like an automated doorman of sorts. Ring is meant to mount outside your home, and send alerts to your cellphone whether at home or away. It's equipped with an on-board camera that will broadcast to your mobile device and allow you to interact with the person at your door. Sounds like an extra layer of security right? Well it would be if not for 2 flaws in its design.

Ring mounting screws

The first flaw is in it's construction and installation. Home users want ease of installation. To provide this for their users, Ring provides an easy to install mounting plate. Once the mounting plate is in place the Ring unit drops in and is secured to the mounting plate by 2 torx (see pictures). Ring is offered with a free replacement if stolen, so theft of the unit is really a non-issue. And none of these construction flaws really matters if it weren't for a software flaw that is exploited through the use of the GIGANTIC ORANGE setup button on the back of the Ring. When depressed the Ring goes into an AP (access point) setup mode. Then you can connect to it with ease and pull the SSID (network name) and wireless passcode in plain text from a simple URL in the Ring's interface. All that needs to be done after that is for the doorbell to be put back in place, and for the tamperer to walk away with your creds.

Back of device

So what?! Someone can get free WiFi... What's the big deal? Well here's the point. You bought something to make your home more secure, and in turn you left your home network vulnerable. It may not seem like much, but chances are you're transmitting a lot of secure data on your home network. Stealing your data potentially has way more value and far less risk than anything that could be physically stolen from your home. With anytime access to your home network in the wrong hands, you're screwed!

(In the interest of full disclosure, Ring did fix the software within three weeks of Pen Test Partners reporting it to them, and a simple firmware update will eliminate this particular exploit. Go HERE for the full write up on the exploit mentioned above.)

So now we're to the end, and this is where I make my point. A lot of IoT devices have these kinds of issues. The Ring is no exception, it was merely the latest example. Most of the exploits found in IoT devices have been due to a complete lack of thought being put into security. Many manufactures in their rush to release a visually appealing device into the market, have accepted sloppy/ bad coding. I have followed many IoT exploits, and I make no claim to be a good coder. But the fact is that I'm a shit programmer, and have been able to spot the errors in the code of exploited devices.

If you're going to use IoT, please research the devices you plan to purchase before you do. Make sure it's made by a reputable company. Google search for known exploits for that device. Once you've deployed IoT at home, check for firmware updates regularly. Connect your IoT devices to a separate network in your house than the one you do everything else on. This will require another router to be purchased, but a router is cheaper and easier than trying to clean up your credit later.

Thanks again for stopping by, and reading. Hope you found the post informative and entertaining. Please, share and comment. As always, have a good day, and hope to see you in the future. 

-Chali Baicunn 

Paradox Girl: The Hero We Need

Hey folks! Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great last couple of days, and that Monday isn't sucking all the joy out of the awesomeness that was your weekend. So let's start the week off with something new. Hope you enjoy!

-Chali



It's not everyday that we get a new kind of heroine. A heroine that is unique in both their origin and in their approach to dealing with their situations. Comic books have a long history of female characters that are fully developed, but unfortunately they sometimes feel forced.

Today we have that new heroine story with Paradox Girl (PG). Written by Cayti Bourquin, and illustrated by Yishan Li, with editorial provided by Peter Bensley. PG is not your typical heroine let alone your typical super hero. Although time travel is no mysterious mechanic to comics; PG deals with it in the most unique way I have seen. She's funny, quirky, and unique. PG doesn't have a typical origin, as she has slipped forward and backwards so many times, that this is hard for her to even pin down what that is. Spending a good portion of her time literally living with and interacting with her past and future selves. With a brilliant layout that easily illustrates both non-linear and multi-linear storytelling. The artwork just feels right for this series, and with the standout narrative; You're not going to want to miss out on this series.

I was lucky enough to get a full copy of issue one to review, and do an email interview with Cayti and Peter. Check that out below:

Chali: The first thing that struck me about the Paradox Girl issue I read was the dialogue, art, and timeline. It felt kind of like a mix of Quinton Tarantino story telling with Axe Cop flair. This may all be in my head, so; What is the real inspiration for PG?


Cayti: That's an interesting if unconventional comparison.  It's sort of great how different people approach art and what they see in it.  It's a difficult question to answer I think.  My writing style and creativity is a cumulative mix of the stories and storytellers I've been exposed to and the anxieties and issues of my personal life.  I think that's probably true for all writers.  I didn't sit down and think 'gosh, I want to make something like X with a bit of Y'.  I know that the biggest influence on me has always been the late Satoshi Kon.


Chali: The first issue does a great job of laying out the pretext, and method for how a heroine with Paradox Girl's powers would use them. As well as making it clear, that her origin is lost even to her. But how did she get her powers, or is that just apart of the mystery?

   Cayti: It's not really even a mystery to be explored.  There's a hundred true stories, and at any given minute it could change.  Paradox Girl doesn't really have an origin point anymore, which is ridiculous of course, but such is her nature.  In pop culture time travel stories, we see impossible situations (such as the birth of John Connor) arise and wonder 'what happened the first time through?'  PG is like that, but in a constantly refreshing loop.  She gave herself the powers for all I know. 

Chali: I noticed that she gets knocked around a bit throughout the story. Does PG have any other powers besides time travel?

   Cayti: I think PG's power over time sort of creates a time immutable state where, sure, she can be injured; but it's just another time jump away to stop her from being hurt in the first place.    Even in the first issue we see her save herself from getting crushed, -which results in her being able to save herself from being crushed.  We never get to see what happens if she hadn't done that. Seems silly typing it out, but in the book it really works.  I think cause and effect are sort of broken when it comes to PG so expect lots of side effects from that in the future.

 

I bet she wishes she could shoot laser beams or something though.

    Peter: Regarding PG getting knocked around - I recall that Cayti and I discussed that PG probably has some kind of danger sense arising from not being anchored in time. She never jumps into the past or future and finds herself inside solid rock. The same sense may tell her to jump away when her present is about to become immediately fatal. So she can be injured, but that instinctive awareness may protect her from anything that would obliterate her outright.


Chali: I really appreciated the layout and art styling that was used to communicate the non-linear and multi-linear timeline. In particular the "purple time string" that would travel out of one frame and into another with PG as she jumps through time. What is the real name for that?


    Cayti: Thanks!  One of the joys when writing the first script was being able to play with the format.  Some of this ties back to your question about inspiration, and Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves is absolutely where that idea came from.  The pages of the book themselves are not just the canvas, but part of the story itself.  In the script it's just referred to as 'teleport in' or 'teleport out', which is sort of a boring name isn't it?  Let's call them Paradox Skips.



Chali: A certain amount of attention has been placed on the sexualization and subordination of female characters to male characters in pop culture by some lately. PG obviously needs no man to save her, but have you caught any flack about her fighting monsters and crime in a short skirt and heels? And if so what do you have to say to haters?

    Cayti: Not yet, but it's not unforeseeable.  I guess my response is: she also fights giant monsters with a whisk, so she's not the most practical or sensible person anyway.  Nor does she need to be.  I certainly didn't imagine her to be oversexualized, just a woman who's confident in her appearance and likes business suits.  If someone hates the fact that she has legs or breasts or other anatomy or clothing that they object to, I hope they can enjoy the comic anyway.  It certainly wasn't my intent to upset them.

I think there is progress to be made in racial and gender equality and certainly to reduce as said, 'the subordination of female characters'.  I want to be part of that progress, but that doesn't mean we all agree on how that should be done.  I hope I'm making the right steps, but unfortunately I'm not Paradox Girl and cant' remember the future.

Chali: As of right now, your Kickstarter campaign has 263 backers and you've reached $8,571 of your $10,000 goal with 25 days to go. What are your plans for PG when this campaign is over? Will you continue to sell the issues outright from your site, selling them to the wider market through distributors, or will you be introducing a subscription style service?

   Cayti: It's rather unbelievable to me that so many people would want to read the things I've written.  Yishan has done an absolutely amazing job in breathing life into PG and getting her onto the page.  I want to be able to continue to share stories and bring laughter (and tears) to people.   I'm grateful to Hana Comics and to the Kickstarter community for giving me the opportunity to do so.Thank you!

   Peter: I can field the question about future plans. Assuming this campaign is successful - and it's sure looking that way - we plan another campaign for issues 3-4, and then issues 5-6. At that point we'll be able to look at a TPB, which is much easier to get into stores than individual issues. The point of these campaigns, as well as to raise funds for production, is to connect PG with her potential fanbase. Depending on what that fanbase looks like when this round of campaigns is over, we'll make a decision about where to go from there - whether it's direct sales, selling through comic shops, more Kickstarter, something more web-based - we'll be looking at all the options to find what works best for both our character and her readers. It's all on the table.
 

I recommend that you go check out Paradox Girl. Go here to get a preview. And if you like what you see, please head on over to the Kickstarter campaign here. The campaign backer packages are pretty sweet! You can also checkout the official Paradox Girl website here.


Thank you for stopping by! I cannot thank you guys enough for your support. I was really concerned that since migrating to a new host took so long, that the site traffic numbers would have fallen off completely, but you guys have been coming back and providing feedback on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Your feedback means the world to me, and I'm always surprised that you guys actually like reading what I write. 

I also want to give a shout out to Cayti and Peter, for giving me the opportunity to review and cover their work. Please follow @hanacomics to follow along for more updates!

-Chali Baicunn

Green Leader: MC Chris Tested BaicunnPress Approved

Hello out there. I hope you're all having a fan-fracking-tastic Friday!I wanted to bring you something amazing to waste your employer's clock time with today. So I'm pulling this one out of the vault. Originally discovering this indie-comic through an MC Chris Facebook post. I was unsure of what I'd find on the other side of that link, and so I was astonished find an evocative human story. (If this doesn't make you feel something then you're broken.)


In case you're unfamiliar with who Green Leader is; I recommend that you check out the following video before continuing on:





Please enjoy!

What happens next?...

You'll have to see for yourself. Go check the rest of Green Leader out on Daniel Johnson's website, and while you're there check out Space Mullet . It's a fantastic sci-fi webcomic that's updated twice a week. I promise you will not be disappointed, and you'll have no shortage of material to waste your bosses time with.


Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you enjoy Green Leader and Space Mullet. Let me know what you think, in the comment section below. Please like and share on social media. Be sure to follow and turn on tweet notifications for @BaicunnPress, to get alerts when new content gets posted. As always thank you very much for all of the support, and I hope to see you again in the future.  

-Chali Baicunn

Doom: A Promising Return To It's Roots

This is another archival post from BaicunnPress's E3 2015 coverage. Gameinformer is covering the newest iteration of Doom in their February 2016 issue, and with the title slated to be released sometime in the first half of this year; I thought this would be a great time to bring back this post. I've tied on a link to gameinformer's Doom coverage at the bottom. I typically don't care for their hype generating GameStop marketing style, but they have the exclusive currently, and I want you guys to be well informed. Let me know what you think. Please comment, and share. Your support and shares really help us build our following.

-Chali Baicunn



At Bethesda's first ever E3 Showcase, the first 20+ minutes were dedicated to the pure adrenaline. The Doom showcase, featured 2 game play trailers separated by a little intermission of game feature delight. The video starts by dropping you in as a lone marine on a UAC lab on Mars. From the the first cut slapping on the Helm. To the grip and rip melee. The game play trailer delivered a truly impressive visceral experience. The mechanics and imagery feels like classic Halo turned up to 14. Powered by the idTech 6 engine, the visual delivery felt more action FPS rather than survival horror.

The first weapon shown is the trusty pump action and the first few minutes demonstrated the effectiveness of this can opener of a gun, and the interactivity of the environment. Shortly into the video the hero picks up up the "ol' trusty" the double barrel shot gun, from a lab member who appears to have chosen the business end of his gun rather than the horde of demons beating down the doors. To me feels like it will be the most gratifying in game gun in a long time. Literally bisecting enemies with a single pull of the triggers.

At one point, our hero hits a dead end. Unable to gain security clearance with a palm scan, he swiftly moves to a holographic video playback unit and follows a trails of carnage and blood to a human corps. Unable to move forward and willing to retreat, our hero has but one option... He promptly removes the left arm of his fallen comrade to gain the required clearance.

The melee fighting in this game also appears to be highly gratifying. With a shocking number of grapples and finishers, and enough variety that it appears that you'll never get bored. My favorite is where you pull and an enemy unit down by his leg and then use the foot of said leg as a skull splitter. And chainsaw?... Oh I forgot to mention it... You may be asking yourself why is there a chainsaw in a UAC lab on Mars. Simple answer really.... Because CHAINSAW! But all joking aside the chainsaw appears to be a hoss of a melee weapon. It has the power from the first swing to vivisect even the most suborn of the demon armies. The first video sequence ends with our lone hero being beaten to death with his own separated limbs.



A brief intermission was taken between game play videos (I assume to prevent heart failure from young children and senior citizens.), to discuss one of the coolest in game features that I have seen in very long time; Doom Snap map. Doom Snap map promises to help players create complex, unique, and expansive mission maps, ranging from single player "zombie" like missions to 4 player death match. All custom made and sharable cross platform.



The last game play video released was a trip to hell.... Literally Hell. After dropping off a cliff, our hero proceeds to pit fit with the armies of the damned. Surrounded on all side by the hordes, fighting for every inch, every imaginable weapons is employed from rocket launchers, to assault rifles. With the crescendo coming by way of grenade ripped from the chest of a Mancubus and shoved down its gullet for safe keeping. There's not much more to say. Just watch the video below.




As we would expect from any game worthy of the title Doom, the level of gore and carnage would make an ordinary man pass out. The majority of your supplies are obtained from the corpses of your slaughtered enemy. With the available 8 slot quick weapons swap menu, weapon changes seem to be effortless. idSoftware promises more information later this year, with a release of Spring 2016. We'll keep an eye on this title and update you as updates become available.


Thank you again for stopping by today. Hope you found this archival post imformative and entertaining! If you like the article, please comment and share. As always have a good day and hope to see you in the future. 

-Chali Baicunn

Pinned below, you'll find a links:

Bethesda's Doom Community Page:
http://bethsoft.com/en-us/games/doom

gameinformer "Doom Hub":
https://www.gameinformer.com/p/doom.aspx