Shenmue 3 Kickstarter revealed at Sony's E3 conference

Shenmue Is Alive!

Sony's E3 conference continues to drop bombshells, as Shenmue III was officially revealed...sort of.

Series Director Yu Suzuki appearing on stage to show the long-awaited sequel has launched a Kickstarter campaign for fans to help support the making of the game. They're looking to raise $2 million as the initial goal. It's looking like the campaign will work, as the Kickstarter has raised more than $750,000 within the hour it was first announced.

The Shenmue series hasn't been seen since 2001 on the Sega Dreamcast.

If funded, Shenmue will release on PC and PS4.

Obviously, plenty of fans are losing their minds about this.

Cel-Shaded Transformers: Devastation Game Leaked

Transformers Gets Shady

Add this to the list of leaks ahead of E3 next week. A new Transformers game is reportedly in the works by Activision according to a leak sent to Pure Xbox. The game is called Transformers: Devastation. The unannounced game is said to be a brawler which will release on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

A few images of the still unannounced game also made it online. The animation looks like it's been ripped right out of the beloved 80's cartoon series, conjuring up all kinds of beautiful memories for anyone who grew up on the series (raising my hand).

The art-style is nostalgic

No word on who's involved on the development side, but Platinum Games is said to be a possibility. The last major Transformers game, Rise of the Dark Spark, was met with mixed reviews, which is a shame considering High Moon's previous two Transformers outings, War For Cybertron and Fall Of Cybertron, were considered critical hits.

As for a release date, Pure Xbox speculates Transformers: Devastation will release sometime this year. We'll certainly find out when Microsoft delivers its E3 press conference Monday, June 15th, at 12:30 EST.

Meantime, re-live some awesome Transformers moments below with this clip from one of the better games in the series, War For Cybertron.

Bethesda Drops The Bomb ... Fallout 4 Is Official

Grab Your Nuka Colas and Bottle Caps, We're Heading Back To The Wasteland

It's happening!

With just a week and a half to go until E3, Bethesda finally drops the official announcement this morning for Fallout 4 with an in-game trailer. Check it out below...

From what I can gather, Fallout 4 re-captures the vibe of walking out of the Vault for the first time and seeing the decrepit and nuke-ravaged world. We're also going to be treated with some familiar voices/faces as Ron Perlman's narrator can be heard via radio announcements, and Dogmeat makes a prominent appearance before reuniting with a Vault 111 inhabitant to continue roaming the wasteland.

V.A.T.S., rads, and all, I'm definitely excited to see what Bethesda can do following the success of Fallout 3 and Skyrim. And this time around, Fallout 4 trades the Washington, D.C. locale with Boston, Massachusetts. Maybe a Boston Tea Party inspired dump of Nuka Colas mission, anyone?

Bethesda is expected to drop a slew of details on gameplay mechanics and hopefully a potential release window when it hosts its own press conference at E3 Sunday, June 14th at 7pm Pacific Time, and their website is now live with everything Fallout 4.

The newest entry is expected to ship on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Until then, get your Pip-Boy's ready, everyone. It's going to be a lovely day.

Conan O'Brien Gets Witchy

Team Coco Goes Cuckoo For Geralt



Here's another great addition to Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer segment where he gets some "hands-on" time with the highly anticipated Witcher III: Wild Hunt. As always, it's a hoot.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt releases May 19th on PS4, XBOX One, and PC.

Enjoy!

Konami? Are You There? Konami?!?! KOOOOONNNNAAMMMMIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!

Konami Gives Its Fans The Ultimate Silent Treatment

The last several months have proven to be catastrophic for fans of the Metal Gear series. There has been a complete cluster-you-know-what inside of Konami studios. First, there were rumors of restructuring with superstar developer Hideo Kojima and his team being fired. Then, the company said Kojima was staying on board until Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releases.

OK, maybe Kojima needs some fresh air and wants to form up his own studio.

But then, Konami pulled out of the New York Stock Exchange, and that is when things really started to sink in that other plans were in the works. The final dagger came in the announcement that Silent Hills was officially canceled.

Silent Hills … What could have been

Konami was a beloved gaming studio. These are the same guys who put out classic franchises like Metal Gear, Castlevania, Contra, and much, much more. Now, they're turning their backs on the very gamers who helped them become who they are today. I'm not sure what's really happening at Konami, but many sites speculate it wants to focus on its more profitable Japanese market, which includes a hefty margin in pachinko machines. It's a business move, I get it. But the biggest problem I have is how they have been handling the demise of Silent Hills, specifically, P.T.

P.T. is a fantastic game that served as a playable teaser for a new Silent Hill game. This is a franchise that has been shuffling its feet in trying to find an identity since the PS2 days. After word got out that Hideo Kojima AND Guillermo Del Toro were at the helm, and that players would control a character played by 'The Walking Dead's' Norman Reedus, how could you not be hyped for this game?

Hi ... Bye

P.T. will stand the time as one of the best video gaming experiences for anyone who took the time to download this free masterpiece. It all took place in one creepy stretch of hallway that would throw new and terrifying horrors every time you would pass through the last door, only to reappear at the first door again. It was as delightfully thrill-inducing as it was unique, and I was once again excited to head back to the foggy, desolate town of horrors that is Silent Hill.

It was not meant to be.

After Konami officially canceled the game, they later announced P.T. would no longer be available on digital platforms. Players scrambled to download the game before it went away forever. Worse yet, after the April 30th cutoff time, it was revealed that even players who downloaded the game, but didn't have it saved on their hard drive, could no longer access the game. The feeling of rejection was as palpable as that little fetus' chest beating inside the bathroom sink. It felt like Konami wanted to erase any existence of this beautiful "teaser."

As we continue to watch this Konami/Silent Hills nonsense unfold, this is the best analogy I could come up with: It feels like being at a free rock festival where some of your favorite artists were expected to play, but then their managers, for whatever reason, announce to the crowd the bands would not be playing, and then the manager unplugs all the equipment and takes off with the gear.

Big Boss didn't lose his eye, and hand, for nothing

I just find it hard to accept how a company that had major success in console gaming can suddenly leave us all in the dust. I really hope everything that has been happening doesn't affect the final product of Phantom Pain. It would be a shame for Snake's likely swan song to be under these circumstances.

If this is indeed the fate of Konami's gaming era, I'd love to see a THQ-type firesale of Konami IP's. Franchises like Metal Gear and Castlevania are due for an update and reimagining, and they'd probably be better off in someone else's hands, rather than the miserable pile of secrets that is Konami.

Please let there be hope for this franchise

Batman Almost Pulls A Joker On Us … Almost

Arkham Knight Season Pass Details Announced

Several days ago, I had the wind taken out of my bat-sails when WB Games announced the season pass for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight game would be $40, and NO specifics were given. All anyone could guess was the pass included new story missions, challenge maps, and maybe a few character skins. Of course, the internet cries were loud and clear: How the heck could WB Games expect people to pay an extra $40 on top of the $60 initial purchase price on essentially a blind leap of faith?

It was destined to be the lone smear in the magnificent history of the Arkham games, but fortunately, publisher WB Games has performed a mea culpa, sort of: It's announced the first details of the content inside the $40 season pass, and I kind of like it.

As part of the new pass, players will be able to play in an original prequel storyline as Batgirl. It's not known how long the campaign will be, but it's a great addition to the Batman universe considering Barbara Gordon now serves as Bruce's wheelchair-bound in-ear support, Oracle. Might we see events leading up to her partial paralysis at the hands of the Joker? We can only hope.

First artwork for Batgirl prequel storyline

Other content that will make up the $40 season pass include: new Batman story missions, with the promise of "legendary super villains invading Gotham City," and players being able to drive different versions of the Batmobile throughout the Caped Crusader's 75-year history on custom race tracks. The "super villains" line has me a bit concerned. I'm not the biggest fan of DLC, and I'd hate to see key baddies get held out of the main storyline.

As for the new Batmobile tracks, I can't really say if I'm excited or not since I haven't had any hands-on time with the new Batmobile mechanics in Arkham Knight. All of the previews look fantastic, but nothing beats having some one-on-one time with the game. All I know is I better see the 1989 Tim Burton Batmobile and the Batman Begins-era Tumbler. Those are my two favorite iterations of the Bat's ride.

Finally, the last piece of content in the pass will include the expected set of challenge maps and character skins. I've never been one to applaud the challenge maps or skins in Arkham, but I know people dig 'em, so I shouldn't complain. In any case, WB is promising more details soon, but it's good to at least have a peek under the DLC hood ahead of the game's release next month. I'm not sure if I'm ready to say the $40 purchase price is justified, but it's definitely got my attention.

Batman Arkham Knight releases June 24th on PS4, XBOX One, and PC.

Patience Is Worth $500 In My Book

Stand By For Titanfall...Seriously, Stand By

You've seen the ads, heard the hype, and made the MechWarrior comparisons. Titanfall looks like a gaming achievement for Microsoft, and rightfully so. The folks at Respawn should be applauded for crafting a beautiful game that plays like a dream. But underneath the gun-toting mechxterminating game, something smells rotten...er rusty, if we're using metallic lingo. 

The FPS multiplayer mech game first graced gamers on the XBOX One. After generally favorable reviews, Titanfall withstood the comparisons to Call of Duty and became a fun multiplayer game to bash your friends on XBOX Live. Titanfall is being toted as the killer app for the new Microsoft console, but on April 8th, the Xbox 360 version was released. The game was shrouded in mystery, as Microsoft intentionally kept early images and videos from being released to the media. For people like myself who were on the fence about committing $400-$500 on a new console, this was a big problem.

And I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger, because the reviews and previews of the alleged inferior XBOX 360 version were pretty solid. Sure there are a few graphical differences, but overall, the two versions play identical. My personal reasons for holding off on purchasing an Xbox One for Titanfall are that in the past, developers/publishers have pulled the rug from underneath gamers by selling inferior versions of their games to push newer consoles (See: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter). But finally, a developer finally stuck with its guns in keeping both versions as identical as they could. If you are a frugal gamer like me who didn't have as much time for his/her favorite hobby, I'm here to tell you that you saved yourself $500. Here's why...

Graphics comparison between 360/One versions

The way Microsoft handled the marketing of Titanfall, to me, has finally outed the tech giant as a purely business-minded company that isn't thinking of its user base: the gamers. Sure it's a great business model, but as a company with a sketchy history on keeping a healthy dose of trust from gamers, why not release both versions of Titanfall at the same time? Each game was shipped about a month apart, so I find it unlikely Respawn needed the extra time to "polish" the 360 version. As a gamer, and a consumer, I trust a company that has full transparency. However, when you pull a move that makes you look like you're doing whatever you can to dupe gamers into buying your new console, I have a problem with that. . 

I get it, it's a business, and the Xbox One is the next cash cow. But I don't appreciate the secrecy surrounding Titanfall, a game that's been on a lot of gamer's radar leading up to its release. I've been an Xbox owner since 2003, and became a 360 owner in 2007. But as a devoted gaming consumer, I really take a company's marketing strategy into account with my purchases. When I see Microsoft called out trying to get gamers to blindly purchase a $500 piece of equipment, I have a problem with that. To me, it feels like Miscrosoft was holding Titanfall ransom from 360 owners to get them to cough up the dough. I understand there are plenty other reasons to own an Xbox One, but for gamers like me, I can wait for the inevitable price drop.

Take it how you may, but I don't respond to those types of bullying tactics.

I'll admit, I bought a PS4 on day one of its release. I didn't plan on doing that, but following Microsoft's blundering reveal of the Xbox One, including the whole online-only bonanza and the used games restriction nonsense, I took issue with that. Yes, they wisely reversed their stance, but it showed me what direction they think gaming is heading. I respected Sony for putting the gamer first and even making their console at a more affordable price without handcuffing you to the camera. 

But I digress.

The point is, publishers need to start putting the gamer on the forefront. I'm tired of companies trying to nickel and dime me out of everything I possibly have. Check out my blog post on my issues with DLC for a better take. As a gamer who is growing up, I'm making smarter decisions rather than impulse decisions. I feel we are becoming a generation of gamers who are losing sight of what it means to enjoy gaming. It's not about getting new DLC skins, paying for that cool weapon, or paying for the additional storyline that should've been included in the original game packaging. It's time for gamers to take a stand and understand their purchasing power can shape how we play games in the future.

Of course I could be entirely alone in this opinion. But I cherish the days of buying a game and getting the full package on Day #1. Look at it this way: would you buy an album from your favorite artist, only to be told there are a few singles they didn't include which you can buy for $2 a song? I know I wouldn't. 

Worse yet, what if that same band released their Vinyls & CDs a month apart? So, my only question is: Why wait to release two versions of the same thing, Microsoft?