SotW (6/8-6/17) Black Ops 4 Season Pass, Total different Loot Box talk, and my thoughts on E3 presse

So I tested out my SotW last week a bit early to see how I liked it, and if it was something I could commit to with my busy schedule. Plus, I wanted to do it early last week before all of the E3 hype came rolling in. Now that the dust has settled, let's go over what we learned from this years HUGE E3 conference.

The first big thing I wanted to talk about was the official reveal of the "Black Ops 4: Season Pass". For those so lucky to have missed the news, or simply don't care, Black Ops 4 has a Season Pass! $40 for 12 maps, 4 Blackout Characters, and 4 Zombie Maps. a slight departure from the usual $50 model that had 4 "Packs", more than likely to have multiple "seasons". Now a couple of devs from Treyarch have come out to say that they have free content planned, in their attempt to keep it a "Live" service, but as expected, everyone that is a fan is pissed. Compared to Battlefield V, or even current games like Fortnite or PUBG, Maps/updates are completely free. Fortnite being completely free, only selling some cosmetics, but could be obtained by just buying and grinding the PvE portion of the game. This model seems, out of date. I don't know what Activision/Treyarch were thinking when they decided this, but it's not going over well at all. So for any fans of CoD out there, how do you feel about this news? Let me know in any of the comment sections.

I'd also like to point out, and I can't believe I did so, that FOR NOW, the only way to get the season pass is to buy any of the "deluxe" editions of CoD. So if you want the season pass, for whatever reason, you have to buy the $100 version of the game. Once again, when you have a game, that is giving you so much more, for nearly half the price, and a much bigger scale of war in Battlefield V, why bother?

Speaking of bullshit, the biggest thing I noticed this year, was the 180 in "Loot box" talk. Nearly every dev/publisher repeated over and over again that they did "Not have Loot boxes anywhere in our game". The backlash of 2017 seems to be having a ripple effect that is good for us, the consumer. While I've railed on about lootboxes on here several times, and will continue to do so til the end of time, I feel for all of these devs. Most of them don't really want lootboxes in their games, but are ordered to do so by most big publishers as it's apart of their "business models" but now, these devs have to go out, and defend their games coming out of practices usually implemented by someone higher up then them. It's sad, but like I said, it makes me very happy to see all these great games on the horizon, with no BS shoved in.

Random thoughts on E3

For sure, I think most of us can agree that Bethesda nailed it this year. Announcing games like DOOM: Eternal, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and even Starfield. 2018/2019 is shaping up to be huge for the studio/company and I can't wait. So here is my list of nailed it, to slipped on a peel and needs some work. 1. Bethesda

2. Devolver Digital

3. Sony (The issues were a thing, but the things talked about were what got me here.)

4. Ubisoft

5. Xbox

6. Nintendo

7. EA

8. Square Enix

I forgot it, and I feel terrible for doing so, but I have to put Devolver on this list, and I have to put it up this high up because of both the fun of their games, as well as the fun of their presentation! Somehow, they nailed it in back to back years, and it's probably why I didn't feel the need to make a comment on it. Metal Wolf Chaos XD anyone?

So, for me, Sony had a lot of technical issues the night of their presser, but for me, it doesn't take away from what was shown. Ghosts of Tsushima loots AMAZING, and I can't wait to get this game. I've been showing everyone I can this game. From the legit swordplay and setting, to the lighting and graphics, this game is jaw dropping. Than of course there is the great TLoU2 and Spiderman. Sony's GAMES killed it, even if they killed their own press conference. Ubisoft had a charming show, and I'm actually kind of excited for the new Assassins Creed, as it might start implementing more RPG elements and choice based gaming. All are exciting things coming to a game that seems to finally embrace change, and I love it. However, I have to ask one thing, and one thing only, are you fucking high Ubisoft? 7 different "special" editions? Like, are they even special if their are more of them than new games out of your studio in a given year? We also saw some trailers to some other things, but I've been fooled before, so I'll stay pessimistic of The Division 2, but optimistic enough that I placed them 4th on the list. So let's let that speak for itself. Xbox had a lot of fun, but really just showed more content for existing games, which is great, but really didn't have any new games to show other than Forza 5000. While it does look great, I can't blame people who aren't huge racing fans, being disappointed that the only games that seem to nail it, evolve, work at launch, and take use of the power of the console, are either a driving simulator, or GoW, I can't blame them for being slightly miffed. But they did announce that they did pick up 5 new studios, so that makes me a bit hopeful in the future, of things to come. Nintendo and EA were both pretty forgettable conferences, so much so, that EA showed nothing new, and I don't even remember what Nintendo showed off. Than there is Square, who, for some reason, hyped up their conference to just come out and let out a wet fart on stage, and I'm not sure what they were thinking. So what do you guys think? Who nailed it this year? What are you looking forward to coming out?

Also, how about that Cyberpunk 2077 trailer? So far, everyone that I follow or talk to has said the demo was face melting, and potentially genre bending. I. Can't. Wait.

Last but not least, let's talk about the Sony/Fortnite problem. So something many learned over the last couple of days is that if you have an Epic Account, and it's on Sony, you can't use it anywhere else. So FYI, if you wanted to play on the Switch, and you usually play on Sony, that you might be fucked, for a while. Both parties are pointing the finger at the other, and it's hard to tell who is really at wrong here, but it might be one more push to get Sony to stop being so tight about cross play, but only time will tell. So this was a crazy week, with even more things left to talk about, but I'll leave it at this for now. What did you guys think? Was there anything that I missed that pissed you off? Maybe made you excited? Let me know! Until than, I'm TRYING to finish up Vampyr, but the game is a bit longer than I anticipated, so be patient with me. I've already pumped in 25+ hours, and I think I still have a decent amount to do, but as far as I can tell, if you're interested, check it out! But if you want more details, just bare with me a bit longer. Til than, I'll talk to you guys soon! Steven out.