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10 Big Things that Happened at PAX East

10 Big Things that Happened at PAX East

If you have never been to a PAX show, then you are seriously missing out. Unlike the vast and often overwhelming E3, the PAX shows tend to be a little less chaotic and there seems to be so much more to be found. Indie devs roll out their wares and try and entice you to stop by a take a look. Big name companies are there as well and they do their level best to sway you from the indies (unless of course they are watching them, too) and get you to buy into whatever they’re selling in the coming days and months. It’s also a place of announcements, both big and small. Even if you have never been to one, not only should you try to make it out to one of the PAX shows that happen all over the U.S., you should keep reading because some really cool s#!t happened over the weekend at PAX East.

Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms

Gearbox Software revealed that they want to revive the long-dormant series Brothers In Arms . One of Gearbox’s head creative minds, Mikey Neumann, said that he’d love to see it happen.

“A lot of people love Brothers in Arms and they love [series protagonist Sgt. Matt Baker]. Obviously we never really got to finish that story. We’ve always said, ‘Man, we want to go back to this.’”

Though this game was hinted at way back in 2011 at E3, we never really saw or heard anything else about it until Randy Pitchford said that Gearbox would get to it at some point or another at E3 in 2013. Only time will tell if it will actually come to fruition, but Gearbox’s team seemed awfully optimistic about it.

Valve VR

Valve VR

A joint venture between HTC and Valve, the Vive headset is poised to bring virtual reality gaming to the next level. It would seem that Oculus VR is no longer the only kid on the playground. With heavy hitters like HTC and Valve heading the project, there has been no shortage of buzz surrounding this peripheral.

But don’t take my word for it – Cliff Blezinski of Gears of War fame was a hefty investor in the Oculus program, but even he was impressed with the Vive. He was quoted as saying of the device, “I felt like the first time I went to Disneyland. It was absolutely magical.” And that, coming from the guy who invested in the competition, is almost worth its weight in gold for people who are on the fence about yet another VR headset hitting the market. It’s been done before, but from all appearances, the Vive may be a game-changer.

Heroes of the Dorm

Heroes of the Dorm

If you are a struggling college student, you should probably pay attention. Rub the crusties out of your eyes and put down the beer funnel; Blizzard is about to change your world. At their announcement event for Heroes of the Storm , their new MOBA (coming soon), they also announced that there would be a televised inter-collegiate e-gaming tournament called Heroes of the Dorm that would win one lucky team their college tuition. All of it. That’s right. They said that.

In fact, there is $450,000 up for grabs in this contest and it will be televised on ESPN. Blizzard wants you to play their new game on TV against teams from other colleges to win you team’s entire college tuition. Please tell me you were paying attention. ‘Cause if you were, you may not be paying for college much longer. Check it out, we’re not lying.

Just Cause 3

Just Cause 3

Now, don’t get too excited. No plans for launch have been solidified or announced just yet. But the good news is that developer Avalanche is putting the finishing touches on the title and wants to make sure that everything is done the right way. The team wants to ensure that the Just Cause 3 release is not only something that they can be proud of, but something that will showcase what the new gen systems can really do.

The game’s director, Roland Lesterlin, said, “We’re all gamers, too. We’ve spent many years working on this, pouring our heart and soul, and the first time you see it, we want you to say, ‘Wow, that’s awesome, we can’t wait for that.” With Square Enix backing them up, this could be a truly awesome experience – especially for those of us who have been waiting for another sequel since Just Cause 2.

Project Bluestreak

Project Bluestreak

Cliff Blezinski wasn’t just quoted while gushing about the Vive 3D headset from Valve and HTC. He was also heavily quoted for his presentation on his new free-to-play franchise called Project Bluestreak . Since FTP games have started to get a bad rap, Cliff assured the people listening to him that Bluestreak was not going to be another Game of War or Candy Crush travesty. He also went on to say that he didn’t want this game to be a “pay-to-win” kind of game and that everything you could buy in the online store would also be earnable through gameplay. No release date has been announced as of yet, but Cliff and the folks at Nexon assure us that it’s going to be worth the wait. Oh, and of course, the game will run on the new Unreal engine… big surprise there.

Blood on the Ice

Blood on the Ice

CD Projekt Red answered a lot of questions and talked very candidly about the upcoming Witcher 3 game. They even talked about how a new fighting mechanic involving ice skating, yes ice skating, was involved at one point in development.

Game designer Damien Monnier said that, “At some point we had the idea of ice skating.” He later corrected himself, saying, “It was more than an idea–it was actually a prototype. You were going to ice skate and fight.”

You apparently would have been able to take control of Geralt and fight enemies while whizzing around on ice skates. Apparently you could also use the skates as weapons to slice and dice your attackers and splash their blood all over the ice. Monnier went on to say that it was ultimately cut from the final version of the game but, “You could slice heads and the blood goes on the ice and it’s beautiful, and you’re so fast as well. I really liked it.”

What’s In a Name?

What’s In a Name?

I honestly wasn’t going to include this but it was actually kind of fascinating and I couldn’t leave it out, no matter how hard I tried. Apparently in the formative stages of Life Is Strange , publisher Square Enix and developer Dontnod went through over a hundred names before landing on the title Life Is Strange . The clear winner before it was What If , but the release of the romantic comedy featuring Harry Potter – er, Daniel Radcliffe, ruined that for them. The name Chrysalis was also considered, but ultimately Life Is Strange won the name game . I realize this isn’t big news, but I thought it worthy of mentioning.

Dust off Your Dancin’ Shoes

Dust off Your Dancin’ Shoes

“Look at me! I’m dancin’! I’m dancing!”

These are words that any Borderlands fan knows all too well. But if you haven’t downloaded the newest update to Dance Central Spotlight on your Xbox One, you may not have known that Claptrap and Nisha are now playable characters in the game and that more Borderlands peeps are on the way. You can unlock the two current characters by entering cheat codes. Imagine that, they are using CHEAT CODEs to unlock Borderlands characters. Those codes are simply five X’s or 5 Y’s when prompted.

While Harmonix said that getting Claptrap to work in the game was extremely difficult to his not having legs, Gearbox says that it plans to unleash more Borderlands -y goodness and most likely 98% more wub-wub on Dance Central Spotlight in the very near future.

Why You Should Care About FFXV

Why You Should Care About FFXV

Yippee, another Final Fantasy game. La-dee-freakin’-dah, I hear you say. But there are a few reasons that you should actually care about this title and what it brings not only to the franchise, but what it brings to the new gen consoles. First off, let’s face it. Final Fantasy is synonymous with incredible cutscenes and intricate and convoluted stories that are still somehow endearing to fans. But this game is a little different.

Not only is it completely open-world, it has reinvented itself in that its combat system is vastly improved and streamlined over past offerings. That means battles break out in real time. But fear not, the controls are not clunky and cumbersome like they were in FF XIII . In FF XV , you control only Noctis throughout the entire game. You will have only certain controls over the party itself during combat, but Noctis is your guy until the end. But the most important thing about FF XV that you need to know is that Tetsuya Nomura isn’t working on this game anymore. He left to work on Kingdom Hearts 3 . And THAT is big news… bigger than being able to drive a car in a Final Fantasy title, which apparently you can also do in FF XV .

Halo 5

Halo 5

Good news, folks. For those of you who were worried that Halo 5 was just going to be a Halo -themed Call of Duty knockoff, you can relax. It is not. Even though an “aim-down-the-sights” method of firing has been added, the folks at 343 showed off a solid product that felt just a comfortable as it did fresh. There are just enough new things to make Halo 5 feel like a vibrant title but with solid grounding in past iterations.

This game isn’t slated to come out until the fall this year but the buzz surrounding it couldn’t be any more intense. There are so many rumors flying around it that it will make your head spin. However, all reports are that initial gameplay demos are solid and do a very good job of showcasing exactly what Halo 5: Guardians is going to be all about. So even though I didn’t hate Halo 4 , I am truly excited to see what Halo 5 brings to the Xbox One.

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