Square Enix has recently busted a case of insider trading committed by current employees, which included the involvement of Balan Wonderworld developer and former Sonic series producer, Yuji Naka. Initial reports have noted that current employees, Fumiaki Suzuki and Taisuke Sasaki, were apprehended by the Tokyo Police with the suspicions of investing stock in a third party developer ahead of the public announcement of a new Dragon Quest mobile game. Not that long after that information was made, Fuji News Network reported that Yuji Naka was also arrested for his participation in the scandal. Naka has been a hot button subject here at Video Game Choo Choo, and it remains pending if this fall from grace will be a stunning, potential conclusion to that arc. That said, insider trading is considered illegal in Japan, so we can only infer what sort of disciplinary measures the suspects will have to face if their crimes are proven.

Honestly, it is a bit difficult to go further up from there—especially as investigation is ongoing—but other legal battles are also being pursued and conquered…

Blizzard Entertainment will officially not be renewing their partnership with NetEase, a major games company that has licensed several of Blizzard’s titles in China. The two companies have been unable to come to an agreement, and as a result, sales and access to servers for World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch 2, Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III, and Warcraft III: Reforged will be completely suspended in China in the upcoming year. There is currently no publicly released statements if or when these titles will ever be accessible again to the region.

As a result of a long, two-year legal battle, Cooking Mama: Cookstar is to be delisted from sale. The game’s publisher, Planet Entertainment, is no longer authorized to sell or distribute the title and other misleading, Cooking Mama-related works. The initial release of the game back in 2020 was met with bizarre treatment and was even hastily pulled from storefronts then, in which Cooking Mama’s IP holder, Office Create was starting to allege that Planet failed several contractual obligations. Initial theories and rumors that were circulating around that time falsely thought that the game was pulled due to having software that was mining cryptocurrency.

After the Saints Row reboot unfortunately did not meet the expectations it wanted to hit, Volition is being absorbed into Gearbox.

Risk of Rain has also been acquired by Gearbox. Although they have explicitly expressed this means they will no longer work on the series, unlike the aforementioned situation with Volition, the games’ original developers, Hopoo Games, remains independent.

Riot Games and Ubisoft are teaming up to collect in-game chat logs in their respective games’ communities as data to train AI technology for an “anti-toxicity research project”. Both companies have had their own fair share of allegations of toxicity and abuse teeming within their respective workplaces.

In a rather bizarre collaboration, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will be featuring a NieR Replicant bundle among other possible NieR related in-game goods for the game’s upcoming season.

In a rather unprecedented move with prior United States presidential offices, the Biden administration is remaining intent on blocking computer chip exports to China to encourage more domestic production. The move comes accompanied with growing concerns over foreign security and tensions with the Chinese government, but also the administration’s own agenda on wanting to overall encourage more domestic chip production.

While Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are officially released—Dead Island 2 is delayed, again. The game’s previous delay date was set for February 2023, and has been pushed back into April. You can also reference a chronicle of this game’s saga of delay announcements on our end, too!

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Generally, Doom Eternal plays like 2016, but layers have been added, like frosting on top of an already delectable cake. Doom Slayer still moves the same and shoots the same, but his arsenal has been expanded. The chainsaw, previously a quick “I need ammo,” get out of jail free card item in 2016, a game with rare ammo pickups, is now a staple of your repertoire and refills with one tick of use after a moment’s wait. A flamethrower has been stapled onto the Slayer’s back, allowing for quick damage-over-time occasionally as well. Both of these items are far more like utilities than just fun new weapons in your arsenal. Ammo is scarce, not just in the map but in your pockets as well. Doom Slayer only starts with around 16 shotgun shells, and each upgrade to your ammo only bumps the numbers up a few notches. You must use the chainsaw to keep your ammo supply full, lest you find yourself fighting a specific foe that is weak to a weapon you’re lacking ammo for. Similarly, the flamethrower makes enemies dole out shields, and glory kills (the returning mechanic of staggering foes and finishing them in gory, spectacular fashion) refills health. Juggling these mechanics as well as enemy placement and weaknesses is the name of the game in Eternal, and that’s one of the game’s divisive aspects.

Doom 2016 was a power fantasy. As you progressed, Doom Slayer went from a strong, yet not completely overpowered character to “if I look at a demon the right way, they will just pop like a balloon.” That is not the case in Eternal. In Eternal, the Slayer is always seconds away from death. If you’re not constantly switching weapons, using the chainsaw, flamethrower, and glory kills, as well as keeping tabs on what enemies you’re facing to focus on their weak points, you are going to have a rough time.

This is going to divide people, but I personally enjoy both styles. Doom games make you feel powerful but can also make you feel just as vulnerable. 2016 was a bit different but in a good way. Eternal is also different, from both the original Doom games and 2016. If you’re expecting the same thing, you might be disappointed, but Eternal has a unique, character-action-esque challenge that works very well. The early goings are a bit too difficult, however, as a lack of weapon variety ends up limiting your ability to battle without pausing and waiting for a weak enemy to spawn so you can chainsaw them before hopping back into the fray. Once you have a few weapons in tow, the way Id wants you to play clicks, but it’s incredibly frustrating early on.

Enemy variety is king in Doom Eternal. As soon as the player enters a room, demons spawn in and your first thought is usually “alright, what weapon do I need to equip, what weapon needs to be in the quick-swap slot (you can tap a button to switch to your last weapon, and that can be useful in certain situations), and where are the fodder enemies so I can kill them for health/ammo?” The first two questions are answered based on what demons you see, as each one has specific weaknesses the Slayer’s arsenal can exploit. For example, the Mancubus, a rotund demon with guns for arms, can be disposed of easier by focusing fire on their cannons to lower their firepower. Weapons with small, targeted attacks do well against them. Other examples are a bit more obvious, such as how the Cacodemon goes down by lobbing a grenade into its wide gullet. The orb was hungry, and you fed it. The previously mentioned issues with juggling ammo counts can get annoying with these weaknesses in mind since if you’re running low on something and need it for a specific foe, you’ll have to break off from combat to slice through a mook. It’s another bump in the road to get used to, and a potential deal-breaker for some. As long as you’re attentive and remember each demon’s weak point, combat flows evenly and every weapon is important. Or you can just run around spraying the rocket launcher and hope for the best, which only works half of the time. Trust me, I’d know.

Things get easier for the Slayer as you unlock new upgrades, of which there are many. Each weapon has two mods, which give you different abilities such as a zoom sight, sticky grenades, and much more. Each mod can be upgraded to work better, and fully upgrading the mod allows you to activate a challenge to get an even better version of that mod. Doom Slayer’s suit can also be upgraded, which mostly lowers the cooldown on abilities. I recommend focusing on making it easier to dash in the early game (yeah, Doom Slayer can dash now!) so you can dodge enemy fire. There are also runes you can equip, and much like 2016, these let you perform actions faster or otherwise interact with things in an easier way. This layers on to your previous skills, making fights a bit more attuned to your playstyle. It doesn’t let you fully build Doom Slayer into a new character, but if you like having more air control instead of faster glory kills, you can do that.

On a similar topic, Doom Slayer’s arsenal is a delight. There are shotguns, of course, but there’s also the classic plasma rifle, the rocket launcher, a ballista cannon, and of course, the BFG. Growing attached to a single weapon is almost impossible, as each individual combat room asks the player to use new combinations of guns and other weapons to clear out the demonic invasion. Grenades are also a factor, with both frag and ice (!!!) grenades spicing up combat.

Aesthetically, it’s inarguable that Doom Eternal knocks it out of the park. Instead of the two themes of “space facility” and “Hell” 2016 had, Eternal mixes it up nearly every level, with the Doom Slayer traveling to different locations on Earth, other planets, and even to different dimensions. Gore and viscera either stain or make up the walls of each new locale, and there’s always some new set piece to draw your eye and repulse you. Combat rooms are well designed, with each encounter feeling fresh no matter what demons you’re facing at that moment. Sure, you might’ve just fought a Hell Knight in the last room, but with a completely different map, players have to respond to that same enemy in a new way. In between fighting, most of Doom Eternal is actually spent platforming. This is another divisive aspect of the game, and it seems that I’m the only person who likes doing it. Doom Slayer can now grab onto ridged walls, and often this leads to jumping challenges that will have you falling to your death without well-timed clicks or solid air control. To me, the platforming felt fine, especially with how forgiving the dash is.

The only major bummer in the level design department is the collectibles, as well as a few of the general puzzles. Almost every collectible in the game is easy to find, with easily spotted cracked walls highlighting the path to most of them. Doom is well known for its plethora of secrets, and most fans remember ramming up against walls and hearing the marine grunt while they hunted for some extra armor. That kind of design is outdated and was always bad, but the opposite end, where you might as well just be handed the collectible, is a bit of a bummer in itself. I honestly feel like some collectibles should’ve been mashed together, such as being rewarded a toy or piece of music for completing a secret combat room or a Master Level, which is an extremely difficult mission hidden in each level. There’s a middle ground here, and I would like Id to find it.

The last divisive thing is Eternal’s story. There isn’t much until the middle of the game, which is a huge infodump, and I figure most people don’t want to get spoiled. I’ll dance around it and say that a joke is turned very canon, and depending on your outlook, this is either badass, hilarious, or makes you roll your eyes. I’m in a mix of the first two camps since I don’t have as much reverence for Doom as some folks do. It’s a goofy series about a god-man who runs around shooting demons. I cannot take it seriously, and I’m ready to laugh at how the writers have patched together tons of lore that were never meant to mean anything and turn it into something that makes some kind of sense. I do wish most of the juicier bits weren’t relegated to codex entries, but overall I had fun with it. I just wish it wasn’t so bottom-loaded.

A special shoutout is, as always, necessary for Mick Gordon’s ripping soundtrack. Modern Doom would be half the game it is without his sick licks, and Eternal brings it home. Every action you take in-game is enhanced by the music, as any good game OST should do, but metalheads will be blaring these tunes by themselves for a while after playing. There’s a bit of a technical sound mixed into the songs at times, highlighting the mix of demonic and industrial atmospheres that make up Eternal’s environments. Mr. Gordon, you keep killing it out there.

It feels weird writing a review with so many mixed statements, but Doom Eternal is absolutely a game that deserves it. I loved Eternal, despite a few problems, but so many of the game’s mechanics are obviously deal breakers for the audience that fell in love with Doom 2016’s wish fulfillment. This is a vastly different experience, but an equally well designed and exciting one. If you’re aware of what you’re getting into, Doom Eternal is a rewarding experience full of ripping and tearing.

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To prove their point, they streamed Doom onstage in 60 fps on a mobile phone.

Doom being played on mobile, streamed, showing no latency pic.twitter.com/SD30k5sbDk

— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 10, 2019

Registration for the beta of Orion (Or maybe just streaming Doom with Orion?) is available at Slayersclub.com, though the site went down basically immediately after their announcement , so good luck.

The post Id’s New “Orion” Offers Faster Streaming To Mobile Devices. Much Faster. appeared first on Gamesline.

While Bethesda didn’t show off any in-game footage, they did tease us with the news that we’ll get our first real look at gameplay in August at Quakecon. DOOM 2016 was one of the year’s best surprises, so Eternal has a high bar to clear.

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Emphasis was placed on how the game will be accessible to players of all skill levels, as well as on its performance- Quake Champions runs at 120hz and with an unlocked framerate. Bethesda also mentioned that they will be expanding their esports programs, and that more info about Champions will be at QuakeCon.

Check out the trailer below:

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The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes. We’ve seen countless games that play to our sense of nostalgia come out in recent years, and honestly, Doom is easily one of the best.

It doesn’t take very long for Doom to kick things into high gear. Within seconds of loading the game up, you’re treated to frantic blast beats as a cacophony of noise accompanies rivers of blood, guts, and gore. Doom grabs you by the proverbial balls immediately, and rarely lets go over the course of its roughly nine hour long campaign. I typically find the FPS genre to be a samey trudge through repetitive set-pieces, but in Doom’s case, I found myself hardly able to put the controller down for the vast majority.

The key to Doom’s success is its gameplay- which is almost perfect. It’s fast, frantic, and frenetic, with a core gameplay loop that emphasizes speed and chaos above all else. In essence, it’s the antithesis of games like Battlefield or Call of Duty, and that’s what makes it so damn appealing. You deal damage to hordes of enemies, manage to stagger one, rush in and perform a “Glory Kill,” a context sensitive execution that results in the downed enemy dropping health. Glory Kills are integral to the survival of the Doom Marine; enemies come at you so hard and heavy that your health can go from a hundred to zero in a matter of seconds, so constantly topping it up is vital.

Likewise, if you manage to execute an enemy using your chainsaw- for which you’re rewarded with some real gruesome visuals- you’ll get back a decent supply of ammo. This isn’t as important, of course, because ammo is literally scattered everywhere, but boy is it satisfying to run out of shotgun shells, slice a cacodemon in two, and be fully restocked to take down some revenants.

When it’s at its best, Doom is pure anarchy, visceral in a way most games wouldn’t dare to even attempt to be in 2016, and for that, it should be celebrated. Doom keeps new weapons flowing throughout, all of which feel unique and possess different strengths and weaknesses- but most importantly, all feel incredibly good to use. id should also be praised for the optimization work that’s been put into Doom– despite the sheer scale of the pandemonium on screen, the game looks beautiful, and never once dropped below 60fps for me.

Doom also has a tremendous sense of humor, and a degree of self-awareness that other nostalgia grabs, like Bombshell for example, really could have benefitted from. The story is totally bonkers- even implying that the Doom Marine is, in fact, the same one from the original Doom– and there’s tons of little nods and easter eggs lurking around the levels. Some of the exposition is genuinely funny too, like when you need a way into a room with a retinal scanner, find the upper torso of a deceased scientist, and shove it into the scanner. Or when you’re advised to “carefully” remove some power cells to shut a portal to Hell… only to decide, screw it, I’m gonna put my foot through it instead. Doom is referential in a way that feels sincere and genuinely funny – it’s not simply pointing at something you recognize and saying something along the lines of, I dunno, “power armour is for pussies.”

While Doom is a genuine blast, I do have a couple issues with it. Sure, retro shooters had somewhat of a fascination with platforming sections, but boy oh boy, could this revamp have done without ‘em. There’s sections of the game that rely incredibly heavily on platforming, and it feels really, really half-hearted, even forced, as if someone at id said “this is the way these games used to be, so we have to include it!”. That’s not to say that these sections are downright terrible or completely ruinous of the experience, but they do tend to drag on way too long, and the platforming is more Duke Nukem Forever than it is Mirror’s Edge. The only time first-person games have ever done platforming well is when it’s been built in as a core mechanic, and including it otherwise is honestly kind of a drag.

Things also get a little monotonous toward the end, too. The story drags on for far too long- each of the last three or four missions easily feels like it could be the last from a writing standpoint, as you flit between Mars and Hell repeatedly. Level design takes somewhat of a beating late on too; the game takes away most of your opportunities to explore in favor of shepherding you between single, multi-leveled battle arenas that feel more like multiplayer maps populated by a couple hundred bots than actual single-player levels. It’s a shame, too, because if it weren’t for the fairly uninspired and protracted final quarter of the game, Doom could have been a genuine classic.

Of course, Doom is hardly a bad game. In fact, it’s pretty damn good. It’s funny, anarchic, nostalgic, and for the most part, just some damn good wholesome demon-killin’ fun. It’s the most death metal of love letters, not just to a bygone era of gaming, but also to its own franchise, as well as being somewhat of an apology for the lackluster Doom 3 or the, quite frankly, depressing early Doom 4 concept art that leaked a couple years ago. Doom isn’t perfect, but it’s still the most fun I’ve had with a shooter in quite a long time, and for that, it deserves praise.

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