Sony will be unveiling not one but two new PlayStation 4 consoles at the upcoming PlayStation event on September 7th. While it has been long expected that Sony would unveil an upgraded PlayStation 4, codenamed Neo and colloquially referred to as the 4K, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony will be launching a previously unannounced smaller version of the PS4 at the same event.
Video Games
Battlefield Hardline Review: SWAT and Robbers
Battlefield Hardline came out only 15 months ago and yet I was able to buy a copy from EA’s own Origin store for only $5 just a few weeks ago. It’s amazing that a spin-off of one of EA’s flagship franchise could be discounted to basically free in just over a year from its release. It’s as if EA admitted that they missed the mark with their take on cops & robbers. The question is if the deserves its apparent lack commercial support is because gamers are burnt out in Battlefield or if Battlefield just doesn’t make for a good law enforcement game.
Alto’s Adventure Review: Coolboarders
While my day job might be in accounting, the other university courses I liked were communications and marketing. One of the concepts that they emphasized is being able to pitch a product in one line. If I was to give a short line to describe Alto’s Adventure, it would be “Journey as an endless runner.” While a free-to-play mobile game won’t quite live up to one of the best games ever released on the PS3, Alto’s Adventure sure does more than hold its own in its genre.
Clash Royale, Pay-to-Win Mechanics and Your Wallet
I’m not sure a day goes by that I don’t see justified complaints about Clash Royale over on Reddit. The game doesn’t attempt to match make on skill but is often determined by who has the better cards. Emotes should be mutable. The tournament system has died without Supercell propping it up.
There’s a perfectly good reason why Supercell isn’t addressing any of this: Money. Addressing these issues would likely take money out of Supercell’s pocket not just through the costs of making the changes but the loss of revenue from making them.
Best of LAGTV’s When Cheese Fails
I think I’ve mentioned a few times on the blog that I’m a big StarCraft fan. Even if I’m absolutely terrible at the game, I love watching competitive StarCraft and consider the WCS Championship and Homestory Cup appointment viewing. For more regular content, there is the folks over at Life’s A Glitch TV. They have regular content on YouTube and tournaments on Twitch which are almost always entertaining, even if the games they are sent aren’t perfect.
LAGTV has a couple of regular series and today we take a look at some of their best When Cheese Fails matches.
Reports Say Nintendo NX is a Portable Console that Connects to Your TV
People have been speculating and reporting about the upcoming Nintendo NX for months now but a new report by Eurogamer seems to bring the NX into focus before its targeted launch of March 2017. Their report says that the NX will be a powerful portable console that can also serve as a home console by connecting it to your TV and detaching the controllers from the mobile unit.
Ducati – 90th Anniversary Review: Mid-Pack
What Ferrari is to cars, Ducati is to motorcycles. The legendary Italian motorcycle manufacturer celebrates its 90th anniversary of its founding this year. To celebrate, the Italian marque joined forces with Italian racing game developer Milestone to produce a motorcycle racing game that explores the history of Ducati through some of it famous models through the years.
Trials of the Blood Dragon Review: Crossed-Up Crossover
Not everything from E3 that was given to the public to play was a demo. During their press conference, Ubisoft not only announced but launched the surprise Trials of the Blood Dragon game. The game promised to be a crossover of the crazy action of the Trials series with the setting and motif of Far Cry: Blood Dragon. As much as critics and gamers love each of those games individually, when you combine the two franchises, the result is the exact of what you would expect from either franchise.
Console Prices Through the Years (Infographic)
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re quite big fans of video games here at The Lowdown. While we can argue all day as to what was the best era of gaming, we can objectively examine if gaming is more expensive now than it was when many of us started. After all, the Xbox One was effectively killed on arrival with a $500 price tag but is that price unprecedented in gaming? We have a handy infographic to answer that question.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Review: The Last Crusade
Naughty Dog has a reputation for making a trilogy of games (and sometimes a racing game) for a franchise on a console generation and moving onto a new IP. They did it with Crash Bandicoot on the PS1 and Jak & Daxter on the PS2. Their PlayStation 3 trilogy was the blockbuster Uncharted franchise (along with the amazing The Last of Us). However, in their first effort on the PlayStation 4, Naughty Dog went back to Uncharted for one more adventure with Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
The Lowdown 