So yesterday I made a post that is a bit out of the ordinary for my blog. Largely it was a thought experiment about whether or not we would actually get consoles this season. In a normal year I would take that both companies had announced a Holiday launch to be a done deal. However 2020 is the year when everything has been cancelled, sometimes rescheduled and often times cancelled again. We are not playing under normal circumstances and there are likely unforeseen supply chain issues that are being impacted by Covid-19. However regardless of that a Sony show happened yesterday and as they suggested there was no major PlayStation 5 news, but instead some discussion about things that had already been announced.
If you are curious about the entire show, then you can check out this link that should forward you right to the beginning of the broadcast. Of the things shown, I think Crash Bandicoot 4 was probably the most interesting to me. We have been in this time of reboots and re-imaginings, so I find it extremely interesting to get an official sequel to Crash Bandicoot: Warped from 1998. The gameplay looks to have evolved as well and I am pretty excited to get to play it. Additionally it appears that the game will be coming out for PlayStation 4 and won’t actually be a PS5 launch title. Availability to more players is always going to be a good thing, especially considering I think the PS5 will be in extremely short availability this year.
We also got to see more information about Godfall and while it still sorta looks like if Skyforge and Destiny had a kid, it appears there are also elements of Warframe factored in with your ability to find and unlock new “suits” with their own unique abilities. The designer giving the demo went out of his way to state that there would be no micro-transactions and that the game has all of its content on day one. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. I am hoping that means the game is something more akin to Diablo 3 in the way it grows and progresses, but even D3 released a Reaper of Souls expansion and a Necromancer DLC pack. The combat looks fun, so I will likely be checking this out on PC, because it doesn’t seem like the type of game I want to play on a console.
Other than watching the Sony show, I spent the majority of the night piddling around on the Shaman in World of Warcraft. I managed to ding 60 and say goodbye to the old world and move my way into Borean Tundra. I contemplated starting over in Howling Fjord because I like that zone significantly better, but the last character I ran over there seemed to level significantly more slowly. The quests are spread out and the hubs are less conducive to batching things up. I am still really enjoying the Elemental Shaman and up until this point I don’t feel squishy, which really helps the enjoyment of a caster.
All of that said… forward momentum on the Shaman is probably going to grind to a halt given that Horizon Zero Dawn complete edition releases on PC at some point this morning. I was able to log in and pre-load last night and I can see this more or less eating the rest of my free time. I played through the original game on PlayStation 4, but never really touched the DLC. My hope is that by replaying the experience of transitioning into the DLC will feel more seamless. I also think playing with a mouse and keyboard is going to make the bow combat feel significantly better. I’ve heard some weird issues with performance, so I am hoping that gets patched quickly. I’ve been running Death Stranding which uses the same engine so my hope is that I can at least get it to look as good as a PS4 Pro.
So… what does your weekend look like? Will you be dipping your toes into Horizon Zero Dawn? Drop me a line below with what you have planned.
Today we have a press conference scheduled for the Sony Playstation 5, where in theory we are supposed to be getting the price it will be launching at as well as pre-orders opening. I say supposedly, because this is not the first time we have heard rumors through 4Chan sources stating that a price announce and pre-order are coming. Right now it feels like both Microsoft and Sony are playing an intricate bluff, with neither wanting to show their cards before the other. I feel like this is largely pointless given that to me Microsoft and Sony are pursuing two different strategies for this general.
It feels like Sony is very much setting up for the traditional console experience of wanting to push total units sold and with that total volume of software sold. Microsoft on the other hand seems to be rolling out a significantly more service based approach with its multiple tiers of product offerings in the form of the Xbox Series X, the rumored Lockhart, XCloud for those without devices and on all platforms the extremely strong offering that is Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft appears to care more about getting that monthly subscription from you and providing varied entry points to their ecosystem than they really do about “pushing iron”. It makes sense given that Microsoft has been shifting to service based solutions on the business side for years.
While we have played this game of cat and mouse on console reveals and the dates associated with them… I have to admit there have been a few seeds of doubt planted in my head. We know both consoles exist and are preparing to launch, but I do wonder if maybe the delaying tactics are not due to price competition but instead due to the fact that they are about to announce delays in shipping the hardware due to the ever present complications of Covid-19. No one wants to deliver that news to a public that has likely built up some seriously toxic expectations surrounding the ability to have a shiny new console sitting under their tree come Christmas morning.
With that I decided to do a bit of a thought experiment to determine how late we are on this announcement. I decided to mine available data through some careful google searching and figure out the key dates associated with the last two generations of consoles.
Xbox 360
Date Pre-Orders Opened Officially – 8/18/2005
Date Console Launched – 11/22/2005
PlayStation 3
Date Pre-Orders Opened Officially – 10/10/2006
Date Console Launched – 11/17/2006
PlayStation 4
Date Pre-Orders Opened Officially – 6/11/2013
Date Console Launched – 11/15/2013
Xbox One
Date Pre-Orders Opened Officially – 6/10/2013
Date Console Launched – 11/22/2013
So what can we take away from this. Firstly I think it is pretty clear when the launch window is going to be for new consoles. I would predict the viable dates for launch would be either 11/10/2020 or 11/17/2020 with myself personally leaning on that second date. Essentially an early November launch is critical because that first shipment of consoles is going to sell through in its entirety and retailers will be clamoring for a second shipment before Christmas. Given the reality of logistics that means early November is key so they can send shipment number two early in December.
With a target launch window, we go back to the problem that we currently have that pre-orders have yet to begin. We are very much not following the pattern experienced with the most recent generation. In that case both announced price of console and began pre-orders at E3 2013. We are looking to be setting up for something more akin to that of the 2005/2006 360 and PS3 launch. In both cases it was a Christmas plagued by console shortages that were not remedied until the second quarter of the following year.
If there are no delays and we don’t get an announcement pushing back the launch to first quarter of 2021, we are going to experience severe shortages of consoles for this holiday season. I feel like that is still a significant “if” because it seems like the clock is ticking on what would be a viable launch strategy. That said we are living in a different world than we were in 2013, with more and more things being handled digitally. Game Stop is not the juggernaut that it once was and Best Buy is seemingly struggling as well, so I have a feeling this is going to be the generation where the vast majority of console units are purchased online and drop shipped to the waiting hands of gamers.
That said this is also shaping up to be a console generation plagued by bots and scalpers. Right now we are dealing with constant shortages of the Nintendo Switch, a console that three years ago because each new shipment gets gobbled up by resellers. I expect that to largely be the norm going into this console generation, in that you will be fighting against an army of cleverly scripted bots that are trying to snag your console and sell back to you at a 50% mark up. So even if the consoles do in fact launch this year, it is highly unlikely that most of you reading this post are going to be playing with it for a few quarters.
Right now we roughly thirteen weeks away from a possible launch window for these consoles, and the clock is ticking. I personally have been prepped to put in my PlayStation 5 pre-order as soon as they open, because I figure I will have a day at most window of being able to secure one. I have a bunch of Discover cash back bonus sitting there waiting to hopefully blunt whatever the launch price ends up being. I hope the announcement today does in fact signal the opening of pre-orders, but there has been some significant messaging floating around from Sony trying to blunt the expectations, which leads me to personally believe that we are not going to get a price or an official launch window. Which leads me back to the original title of this post, are we in fact actually getting consoles this year?
Birthdays are always a weird time for me, because they seem like they should be these important occasions in your life… but in reality it is just another Thursday. Traditionally I take today off, and as a result you don’t get a post because I go into “vacation mode”. However with the whole Covid 19 situation and the fact that I am still working remotely, combined with some stuff going on at work that I don’t feel like I can miss.. you are getting me in the flesh today. I had a subtle realization this morning and I thought I would share it with you, my friends and readers.
I have been writing to you through this blog for a quarter of my life. Back in April Tales of the Aggronaut turned 11, and as of this morning I myself turn 44. It is weird when numbers line up like that, but in truth I am not sure if I could have found a better group of companions to listen to me as I ramble on about nonsense. Thanks for being there on this journey, even if it has been in passive lurker mode. I do appreciate however each time someone comments about something going on in my life because I feel significantly less alone in the world.
Once upon a time I was one of those kids who made zines, and I was especially prolific during the fighting game heyday. I would print them up at home and then go pass them out at the various arcades I visited, because they also sorta served as a general guide for new players when something like Mortal Kombat II was booming. Admittedly there was a lot of rumor filtered in with the truth, but for the most part they were a guide to how to do all of those things like Friendships and Babalities, allowing new players to stop getting dunked on with a simple guide to all of the abilities. Writing my blog post each morning is sorta like trying to hand you a zine, and even the folks who didn’t want to take it… I appreciated them not throwing it away while I was still watching.
There are still several events happening in the winding down of what would have normally been E3 week. Today at 6 pm my time I should be able to tune in and watch the EA Play Live show, at which point I am hoping EA continues its path towards being a less horrible company. I mean to be truthful we have some pretty solid evidence that something has changed there recently. For starters instead of nuking it into oblivion, they are rebuilding Anthem and going to give it a second chance. A few weeks ago they put all of their games back on Steam, and even though they still require the presence of Origin… that is a start. Lastly we have the evidence of Jedi Fallen Order being a phenomenal game that exists without any micro transactions in spite of EA’s once stance of cramming them into every game. I am willing to give the company an olive branch, and also I am wondering if it is only Americans that personify companies like this.
Last night I played some Destiny, and I admit I am feeling a little rudderless. I am not exactly sure what I want to be doing or how I should be doing it. In theory I should be focusing the various avenues to get powerful or pinnacle gear, but this season doesn’t really seem to have a clear path forward. At the very least I am not exactly sure what I should be doing to level up the magical engram box for the Drifter. The acquisition of that level up currency seems significantly slower than any of the other similar seasonal mechanics. I feel like we are missing something like the Vex event to pour our energy into, because the planetary events are just painful to try and get started. I think right now everyone is focused on the next easiest way to get engrams… grinding Nightmare Hunts.
I’m also still playing a significant amount of Phantasy Star Online 2, but I gotta admit things have slowed to a crawl there as well. I’m level 68 and about halfway through it, and in truth what I really need to find is a group to grind advance quests with. The challenge there is that my natural play group that is associated with AggroChat podcast is time shifted from me. Kodra, Tam and Thalen are all getting on about the same time that I am logging out for the night. Ash is an option but I think he is back engaged with Guild Wars 2, and Grace never really attached to PSO2. In theory I should be running with Pizzamaid and friends but I am not exactly sure if those times line up either. Essentially it leaves me in a state of limbo where I spend most of my time soloing.
I realize this post turned weird all the sudden. I guess birthdays become a time for introspection. I hope the day goes smoothly, because there are significant landmines in front of me to cross. The day could go south really fast if a few things go the wrong way. Regardless thanks for hanging out with me all of these years and listening while I talk some nonsense. I write like I am talking to myself, but as I have said many times before I do greatly appreciate knowing there are real people out there reading what I write.
This time of year is normally a magical time for gamers. It is during June that we traditionally get a bunch of announcements surrounding E3 that ultimately set the expectations for what we should be anxiously watching for the remainder of the current year and most of the next. However there have been a few forces at work that have changed this dynamic significantly since the heady days of the early 2010s. Firstly a number of companies have broken out from the show and started doing their own thing on a more regular basis. Secondly we have a global event like Covid 19 that is causing pretty much everything to be cancelled.
As a result there is a void to be filled and it seems as though we have a wealth of options to fill it. Instead of getting a few big shows from various publishers or console manufacturers, we get an entire summer filled with smaller shows that really started reaching a fever pitch this week. Traditionally I have done coverage of each of the big shows, but quite honestly there is too much to cover at this point and not enough desire to do so. One of the interesting things I have noticed this year is how the various show options have more or less democratized access to smaller studios. As a result we are seeing a lot of A and AA studios punching well above their weight limit and going toe to toe with AAA announcements.
However before I get into specific games I feel like it is important to lay out the landscape. Here is a list of the shows that I am aware of, each of which filling the same sort of niche that the traditional E3 shows have. I have links to videos/vods if available currently and links to what information I do have for everything else.
There are a handful of events that IGN talks about on this schedule, but they don’t seem to be “named” like the Expo days so I have slipped those in separate from the IGN Expo block. The short of this is that we have a massive block of shows available if we so wish to partake. For those of us who never actually attended E3, but were instead limited to the pre-game that happens with the publisher shows… this is effectively like getting three different E3 periods. It is making me wonder if we are going to see a similar burst of shows around the time that GamesCom and PAX West would have normally been happening.
On With the Games
As I said before there were way too many games being announced to really talk about them all, so instead I am going to talk about a handful of games that stood out for one reason or another. I’ve not managed to make my way through ALL of the content to this point, and now have mostly just been focused on watching individual trailers since some of the shows have way more “couch chat” element than I care to partake of.
Godsfall PC Trailer
First up in the list of things that I want to talk about is Godsfall, which up until the PC Gaming Show I had only actually seen information surrounding it related to the PlayStation 5 release. The PC demo reel showed off significantly more of the world which is good, because I was getting to the point where I was a bit afraid that it might be an arena game. From the look and sound of it, this game is essentially Destiny but with melee combat. I am significantly more interested in it knowing that it is coming out on the PC, given that I tend to prefer this sort of game on that platform. Still very much looks like a higher resolution SkyForge.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
This game only means something if you were either a Sega Master System kid, or were friends with a Sega Master System kid. There once was a department store chain called Montgomery Ward, and in it they sold Sega an TurboGrafx systems… and I spend so much time while my mom shopped hanging out and playing Alex Kidd. Years later I eventually owned a Sega Master System and the Master Gear Adapter for my Game Gear and these games are criminally underappreciated. Looking forward to playing this in a prettier form and hoping it holds up as well as my memories of it.
Werewolf: the Apocalypse – Earthblood
I feel like I know next to nothing about this game. I’ve done a bit of digging and it seems that this is going to be a third person single player action roleplaying game, but all of the trailers I have seen to date mostly just focus on cinematics of the World of Darkness setting. I am very interested because Werewolf: The Apocalypse was without a doubt my favorite of the World of Darkness settings, so with Bloodlines 2 coming out soon I am super down to see this setting get its due. I guess we will have to wait until July 7th when Nacon is set to show off some footage.
Mafia Trilogy Definitive Edition
I’ve never played one of the Mafia games, but I have to admit this trailer for the reworked first game really interested me. I always assumed incorrectly that the Mafia series was more Grand Theft Auto than story driven tale, and because of that I had more or less ignored it. With the first game getting a remaster treatment, and the second game having already gotten this… I feel like it might be a good time for me to sit down and play through the entire thing.
Torchlight III – Early Access Release
I’ve been in the alpha process for Torchlight III, previously Torchlight Frontiers for quite some time. The thing is however it was NDA bound and as a result I have not been able to talk about it much. During the PC Gaming Show, they shadow dropped the early access release and… what can I say… it is VERY early access. If you are interested in this game I would suggest maybe giving it a few weeks to stabilize before diving in. I spent most of Saturday getting disconnected or not being able to log in generally, and I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon getting disconnected after every quest. Its a good game, but very raw still and I question if they are maybe rushing it out the door a bit since there appears to still be the same infrastructure issues I experiences when a new version released and everyone flocked to test again.
Haven
This is a quirky game that appears to be everywhere right now and has appeared on multiple shows. I vaguely remember Ash talking about this briefly when we did the Pax South 2020 coverage show as it was apparently one of the Indie Megabooth titles. The idea is that you have a couple versus a hostile planet, and the game appears to move back and forth between ARPG type segments and more traditional menu driven JRPG style combat. There are also sequences that were shown that reminds me of a more Bioware style dialog choice story driven gameplay, so honestly right now I am a bit confused as to how the entire thing performs. That said it has made me interested enough to start watching what comes out about it. I dig the art style, and I did the concept of a romantic couple setting out on their own against a harsh environment.
New World
While in the case of Godsfall new information made me significantly more interested, I have to say the New World trailer has made me significantly less interested. I did not see a lot of game-play that actually looked interesting to me. What I did see instead was a bunch of siege game-play that reminded me of the big battles from Shadowbane, a game I was decidedly not into. I am hoping that this is not a PVP siege game that they just added PVE players in place of player characters, because the sizzle reel definitely looks like that. Public testing however will begin in just a few weeks, so I guess I will be able to see better footage of how the moment to moment feels at that point. For now I am super cautious about this maybe not being a game I am going to care about.
A Whole Lot of Games
Those were a few of the games that interested me. However as I said before there is a giant insurmountable wall of new games to talk about and as a result I only covered a small handful. Did you get to watch any of the shows over the weekend? If so what were some of the games that you were interested in that I didn’t cover? Drop me a line below with some of your favorites.
