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As always you can support us on our patreon, follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo , @solonface, @YourPalNiall, and @John_Michonski.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to podcast@videogamechoochoo.com, or into our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask

You can also join our discord channel at thegamezone.zone !

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 252: Real Strange appeared first on Gamesline.

As always you can support us on our patreon, follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo , @solonface, @YourPalNiall, and @John_Michonski.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to podcast@videogamechoochoo.com, or into our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask

You can also join our discord channel at thegamezone.zone !

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 251: Left Mouse Does Hurties appeared first on Gamesline.

Microsoft has finally shown off some more of the much anticipated Crackdown 3 at this years E3 with a trailer featuring Terry Crews blowing up a lot of stuff. If you’re a fan of Terry Crews blowing things up in various ways, then I bet this game is for you probably! He also says “like a boss” in it so take from that what you will.

The post Finally, Microsoft Has Shown Off Some More Crackdown 3 appeared first on Gamesline.

Follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @JohnMichonski & @finaldasa, and don’t forget to rate & review the show on iTunes, as well as tell a friend! You can also send questions, comments, and concerns to podcast@videogamechoochoo.com or find us on Tumblr! You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

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Ryan: I am sick, sick, sick of Skyrim. I know how profitable it is for Bethesda to churn up this six-year-old corpse for every console in every format, but I do not want to see Todd Howard’s Grey n’ Brown Draugr Simulator appear at every other press conference. In fact, after E3 2017, I never want to see, hear, or read about a new Skyrim release for the rest of my natural lifespan. Next time, port Fallout: New Vegas. Hell, port Oblivion. I don’t care. Among the many games in Bethesda’s vast output, Skyrim is one of the most tepid and least imaginative, especially six years out from release. With other vivid fantasy RPGs such as The Witcher 3 having entered the world since, Skyrim feels bland and formulaic by comparison; a game only bought and bought again by the blind devotees of its rote replay-ability. In addition, the Switch port is just the base, vanilla game, and that feels beyond unacceptable. Toss in a plan for paid mods on console, and you’ve got yourself one of the most unnecessary and unappealing showings of E3.

Trex: E3 had a fair amount of terrible-looking games, and honestly, there wasn’t one that specifically stood out to me. Most of them were bad because they were either Skyrim or just didn’t stick with me. A lot of what was shown seemed like a Call of Duty or Dark Souls knock-off, which is what’s popular, I guess. I’m not interested in games that play the same, look the same, or even have similar stories. The previews and teasers all star to blur together after watching for longer than 20 minutes. I’m just bored of unsaturated graphics, dinosaur-esque monsters, your average white man main character, and shooting things. I’m looking at you, Microsoft.

Scott: The least impressive game for me is obviously Bend Studio’s generic open world zombie shooter Days Gone, which has RUINED my LIFE! This is NOT an exaggeration! While Sony has managed to publish yet another stock standard open world game with a generically gruff white guy protagonist whose wife died or something, they have yet to award me my settlement after my airtight lawsuit. Because of the money I spent on a crack legal team, I no longer can afford the Sabra Classic Hummus that I require to survive. I have withered into a form that can only be described as human jerky, very similar looking to the hundreds of on screen “Freakers” that I could give less of a shit about gunning down in Days Gone. Seriously! The zombies are called Freakers! Whoever came up with that deserves to stare directly at my body, which is now such a mess that Junji Ito would revile in horror if he looked at it. Both somehow overweight and emaciated, I have become something less than human, and it is entirely because of Days Gone. This year’s E3 gameplay reveal tried to show several ways you could complete a mission without needing to pick up a gun by sneaking around and using stuff in the environment, like a bear trap sitting on the ground, or a C4 plastic explosive that of course Deacon The Bounty Hunter carries on his person, but watching more natural gameplay from other sources just showed players shooting everything because it was either more fun or more efficient than the sneakier path. I have so little hope for this game being anything unique or special that I have begun research on digitizing myself so that I may hack into every individual copy of Days Gone, and start yelling an extreme amount of profanity at Deacon’s dumb face that my mother simply won’t let me in this God forsaken analog world. At least then, it might wind up being a more interesting game.

Michael: I am that person who is looking forward to another Crackdown. I have fond memories of the original and, despite a lackluster sequel, I’ve been hoping Xbox would try again. Luckily they announced the third, and have been quietly working on it ever since. This E3 was supposed to be Crackdown 3’s coming out party, or so I thought. Even with the reveal that Terry Crews would be in the game, Xbox didn’t really show off much. They didn’t even give a release date for Crackdown except for a vague 2017. I still hope Crackdown 3 is terrific and that maybe Xbox just had too many games and too little time.

Niall: In much the way that not a lot stood out to me as being completely amazing this year, there also wasn’t an awful lot that stood out as aggressively awful, either. The Last Night has a fantastic look to it, but the game’s shitty politics quickly killed all interest I had in it. Ubisoft’s doubling down on South Park – a franchise that should have been taken around the back of the tool shed years ago – is eye-rolling, and judging by the complete silence that followed the announcement of Phone Destroyer, which had one of the worst reveal trailers I think I’ve ever seen, I’m not the only one who feels that way. The absolute worst of the show, however, has to go to Days Gone, a game that looks like it has the potential to be the least original, least interesting bowl of cold AAA gruel served up in years. Everything about Days Gone has been done to death, nothing that’s been shown of the game so far has offered up anything fresh, and it looks every bit the type of experience you’d get if you stuck twenty 15 year old boys in a room and asked them to write a design doc. A third-person post-apocalyptic zombie survival game with stealth mechanics and by-the-numbers combat doesn’t need to exist in 2017. Zombies stopped being cool in like, 2008. God, remember zombie culture? You know what, don’t get me started on this. Fuck Days Gone.

Rose: E3’s size doesn’t just provide a higher chance for games to look great, it can also provide a platform for games that look…less than great. Though this year was more lukewarm than previous years showings (last year’s Days Gone demo was one of the most dry presentations I’ve ever sat through), there were still a couple of clunkers that really soured the mood. To start off with the most obvious, and most egregious; Ubisoft’s new mobile South Park game is not only laughable in concept (a collectible card rpg), but also egregiously racist when advertised! I was shocked to see the trailer for it literally open with a “calling ‘them’ Native Americans, could you imagine?” joke. More subtly, finding out that gorgeous cyberpunk game The Last Night was actually an alt-right jack-off game was one of the biggest bummers from a conference in recent memory, and learning more and more about its creator only served to fan the flames. Outside of those two big hitters the only other real disappointment I had was realizing the Switch’s lineup is still just as sparse and ambiguous as before. Sure we have an idea of what games will be coming out, but we don’t know when outside of a lot of “2018” end cards and, given Nintendo’s history, I wouldn’t be surprised to see those 8’s turn to 9’s come next E3.

John: I apologize for echoing most everyone else here, but hoo boy, Days Gone. I’m looking forward to this game coming out so I never have to hear about it again. In any form of media, something being obviously designed by committee will always be easy to spot, and Days Gone is that thing at E3. It looks like it plays fine, but nothing else about it strikes me as anything other than another bland zombie story about another bland guy getting upset when his wife dies. I’ve seen it a million times and I don’t need to see it again. If I may also break the rules a bit, I’m still sad we didn’t see any No More Heroes news, but…..maybe Tokyo Game Show? Please Suda, I’m so thirsty. Water me with your news.

The post Least Impressive Games of E3 2017 appeared first on Gamesline.

Featuring Terry Crews as a commander, the new entry in the Crackdown series will be bringing all kinds of explosions, jumping, and (hopefully) orbs with it when it launches as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on November 7th, 2017.

The post Crackdown 3 Yells and Explodes Its Way To Xbox appeared first on Gamesline.

Shenmue 3

I don’t care what hardcore Sega fans preach, Shenmue is terrible. Even with the improvements made in Shenmue 2, a third entry was long seen as a pipe dream. Then Sony sort of, kind of “resurrected” the franchise with a Kickstarter, and now we’re all awaiting the dreaded return of forklift kung fu. However, games don’t spring up overnight, and even with Shenmue 3’s probable smaller size, I don’t think it’ll be done by the end of 2017. No matter how long it takes, all we’re doing is waiting for a bag of trash to be delivered to our door, and I can certainly wait.

Persona 5

If you can count on one game above all others to get delayed, it’s Persona. Sure, it’s already out in Japan, and we’ve already written that release, but I have taught myself to just expect Persona will never actually be in my hands. Even when Persona 5 slipped out of 2016, we all assumed the early February release date would be the real, final, release date. Yet it got delayed…again. It may be the least likely on this list, but don’t doubt the power of Persona to always be delayed.

Crackdown 3

Where is Crackdown 3? Announced way back in 2014, it has since disappeared from Microsoft’s Xbox lineup. Crackdown doesn’t seem like a game that would be too complicated to produce, but developer Reagent Games has touted how Crackdown 3 will use the “power of the cloud” to make the game even more impressive. We know Crackdown 3 is still being worked on, but after this long of a wait, no solid release date, and no indication one way or another everyone is hoping it’ll make it out this year. Now with Xbox Scorpio on the way, Crackdown’s “cloud” just gets darker. I want to see this game, and I want to play this game, but I don’t think 2017 is the year I’ll get to.

Sea of Thieves

Rare has been drifting around the video game industry for decades now, and Rare Replay was a wonderful reminder of what they used to be capable of. Then Sea of Thieves was announced, a game which continues to show up at trade events with long lines and lots of love. However, Rare has been spending a lot of time on Kinect games and avatar clothes, and it’s even harder to make a multiplayer game feel and run right. I trust Rare to make a fun and colorful game, but I doubt we’ll be raiding pirate coves any time this year.

Destiny 2

You can often hear industry veterans ruminate about how one game or another should have a book written about its development. At this point Destiny must be on the top of that list. With delays, massive last minute changes, and publisher strong-arming, Destiny’s destiny writes itself. Destiny 2 was supposed to either be sooner, or much later, depending on who you ask. Now though, Bungie seems ready to move on from their strange first entry. After so much trouble, so many problems, and lots of drama, I doubt Destiny 2 will somehow be smoother. We may get Destiny 2, or we may get some more expensive DLC and another on-disc re-release.

Gran Turismo Sport

If there’s a series you can always count on never coming out, it’s Gran Turismo. Once the PS3 era began, Gran Turismo suddenly took longer and longer to reach consumers. Developer talk about microphones under engines and photos of luxurious car interiors all presented a picture of a complex development cycle. These types of intense additions led to multiple delays, letting Forza take over. Sport is a stopgap between 2017 and whenever the next numbered sequel for Gran Turismo is due, but I never believe a Gran Turismo game will actually come out. While Sport’s release date approaches, I can’t help but imagine the development team is still taking high resolution photos of race tracks, instead of getting the game out on time.

The post Games I Don’t Think Will Come Out in 2017 appeared first on Gamesline.

10. Dead Island 2

When Techland decided to make Dying Light instead of a sequel to the complicated yet beloved Dead Island, Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager Development stepped up to the plate. Yager got far enough to being showing demos of the game way back at Gamescom in 2014 and the game was originally slated to launch in early 2015. Then everything fell apart. The game missed its release date and in July of last year the game’s publisher, Deep Silver, dropped Yager from the project. According to Yager managing director, Timo Ullmann, the publisher and developer couldn’t come to an agreement with how the game should be made.

Fast forward six more months and here we are. The game still has no official developer attached to it and Deep Silver had stayed tight lipped about Dead Island 2. The game still has an official website up, with its original E3 trailer, and a 2016 date slapped on it but don’t hold your breath. If the game was nearing completion and Deep Silver wasn’t happy with Yager’s result the entire project could be in deep restructuring. No telling how much of the game can be reused or recycled but I suspect this is an early 2017 game if at all.

9. Homefront: The Revolution

Much like Dead Island 2, Homefront: The Revolution was a promising sequel to a middling game. Originally THQ was slated to publish this sequel, but then they entered bankruptcy. In the auction of THQ’s assets Crytek bought the game’s IP and was preparing to release it in 2015, but soon they too began to run into financial trouble. With stories of employees missing paychecks and bonuses, workers began to refuse to show up to work and left the company in droves, including those working on Homefront.

Homefront was sold off to Deep Silver, who was originally just the game’s co-publisher at the time. Despite delaying the game from 2015 to 2016, it started to seem like The Revolution would really come to our televisions. Deep Silver began to show gameplay to the press and at Gamescom 2015 announced a multiplayer beta on the Xbox One. Then it never happened, or if it did I can find no stories, forum posts, or really any word about the game beyond a theater demo at PAX Prime last year.

8. Crackdown 3

Remember back when the Xbox One was always online and hated used games? Inside their deep dark plan for world domination was a silver lining. The idea that cloud computing, using computers and servers to increase the power of your Xbox One, would make their games better. Crackdown 3 claims to revive that dream in some impressive ways.

When Crackdown 3 was officially shown off for the first time at Gamescom 2015, developer Reagent Games revealed the power of cloud computing. The city destruction would be rendered in real time and according to them provides “20x the power of a single Xbox One”. As enticing as that sounds it comes with a lot of questions. What about consoles not connected to the internet? Or those with subpar internet connections? What happens if I lose connection mid-game? For a game only shown off last August it will have to really show off at E3 this year for me to be a believer.

7. Destiny 2

Oh Destiny, you so crazy. The Taken King took Destiny by storm and even those who were badmouthing Destiny before have suddenly bought back in. Just as the game was hitting its promised stride Bungie, the game’s developer, announced that they didn’t plan on releasing anymore paid expansions to Destiny. Instead the game would focus on and “event-based model”, not dissimilar to how many MMO’s are set up.

Meanwhile a Kotaku report claims that two expansions to Destiny had been delayed and were now being reworked into a full on sequel to the original game. This may mean 2016 will see the end of Destiny and the rise of Destiny 2. Or if the sequel truly follows the same path its development will be beleaguered and delayed. Destiny fans don’t be shocked if specials events are all you have to live off of for awhile. A long while.

6. Persona 5

Atlus claims Persona 5 will come this summer, possibly sometime around June in Japan. And really, that makes the most sense. Persona may be a beloved franchise but if Atlus really wants it to sell, the parched summer release schedule would be perfect for it. While every other developer is busy wrapping up for fall and winter Atlus could be raking in the money.

That summer release date is for Japan though, just Japan. North America is still stuck in 2016 limbo. Atlus has said they are translating the game as they go along and that would hopefully be enough time for a quick release here in the states. However, Atlus really loves to take their time and get everything right. It was the wonderful translation in Persona 4 that won over so many new fans to the once daunting JRPG series. I’d rather wait until 2017 for Atlus to get it right than see them do Persona 5 dirty.

5. The Last Guardian

Few games can be as infamous as The Last Guardian before ever being released. It’s pre-release drama could fill a novel or two, and yet we’re still waiting. Announced in 2009, disappearing in 2012, and suddenly reappearing at this past E3, it was every game fan’s dream coming true. E3 was a while ago, and Sony has said nothing more specific about the release date other than 2016. Shuhei Yoshida, president of SCE Worldwide, says that not much has been shown off or playable because of how story heavy the game is.

While that’s all well and good, I want to be realistic. I want The Last Guardian to break it’s own curse of delays and speculation and finally come out for all to enjoy. After seven years, however I just don’t expect this game to all fall together just because Sony would like it to. I want to be wrong but I expect to be right that it won’t be out in 2016.

4. Zelda

Nintendo may be in third place in the console race, and the Wii U may be one of their biggest failures to date, but all they ever have to say is “new Zelda game” and fans revert back to their childhoods. The newest in the series is still a mystery to many of those eager fans. It still has no official title and even what little we’ve been shown has been subject to video-doctoring speculations. Earlier this year it was delayed from 2015 to 2016 and since then Nintendo has begun to deal with a somehow more exciting slate of news: A new console.

Only known as the NX, Nintendo has given very little information about this new console, choosing to wait until this year before releasing any new info. Rumors are already flying and right now the whisper in the wind seems to suggest we might see this new console the same year as this new Zelda. With so much still unknown it’s hard to pin down if a new Zelda will truly come out. Or maybe Nintendo will Twilight Princess us all over again.

3. Titanfall 2

It has no official title, no official release date, no wikipedia page, and since way back in March when Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella confirmed there would be a Titanfall sequel, there has very little word about a Titanfall 2. EA, the game’s publisher, is probably in no hurry to get the title out the door since Star Wars: Battlefront sold 12 million copies in only two months. Those sales figure should keep any angsty investor happy for at least a little while, so EA shouldn’t have to rush out another shooter.

Titanfall has even turned into a mobile app for iOS and Android. Place that alongside the rumored ten million copies sold and you’ve got yourself a cushion to take your time. An entire year’s delay seems like too long of a time for what should be a slam dunk for Respawn but if all we saw was a demo at E3 and an open beta announcement I wouldn’t drop dead from shock.

2. Final Fantasy XV

Hajime Tabata, the game’s director, has been adamant that the long awaited Final Fantasy XV won’t slip to 2017. After a lame showing at Gamescom just a few months back, he responded to fans direction in a Q&A denouncing any chance of a 2017 release date. Even in his happy New Year blog post on Square Enix’s site he says “we will finally release FFXV this year, in 2016!”.

It’s hard to be so cynical in the face of such conviction. FFXV has had no short trip in development. It originally began development a decade ago in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. That game was about 25% completed before it would be restructured and refocused, eventually, into the game we’re seeing today. Even with that lengthy development history, we’re seeing the FFXV demo get updates, Tabata claiming he wants fan feedback to the changes, before we hear about release dates. It’s been a long road getting from there to here. Tabata better be right, or there will be hell to pay from fans.

1. Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda has been in development since 2012, when design work began and in 2013 full development was underway. EA and Bioware are aiming for a holiday 2016 release, perfect timing for what should be one of the biggest releases of the year. It’ll be Bioware’s second major release on new consoles and their second release on the Frostbite 3 engine. If there was one game they shouldn’t get wrong, it’s Andromeda.

For some reason there is metadata in Google that suggests the real release date for Andromeda is December 2016. Almost no AAA games come out in December and that’s because November gives you a better chance at selling more copies. You need to be on shelves for Black Friday. Only the original Mass Effect saw a November release date with ME2 coming out in January and ME3 released in March. I suspect as 2016 passes, as E3 happens, and EA takes a self assessment you’ll see Andromeda slip into early 2017. It’ll give it more time to be tweaked, it’ll give it a release window more to itself, and it’ll save EA from having to look their investors in the eye. Also the fiscal calendar doesn’t end until March. Three whole months extra to wait.

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