Hopefully you had a chance to peer into the night sky early this morning, to take in the yearly Perseid meteor shower in all of its glory. According to all the people who know about the skies, this year presented the best conditions since 2007 to witness the majestic light show. Don’t worry if you missed it, there are plenty of photo’s you can peep online. Alas, it’s time to get back to the business at hand. In today’s Gaming Daily: Fallout Shelter introduces Mr. Handy and finally releases on Android, Supremacy Mode revealed for Star Wars: Battlefront, Scalebound, Crackdown 3, and Quantum Break might eventually release on PC, Lost Streets of Rage 4 concept art is revealed, and EA explains why Battlefront doesn’t have a single-player campaign.
Fallout Shelter introduces Mr. Handy, and finally makes its way onto Android devices.
It’s a big day for fans of Fallout Shelter. After dominating the IOS App store for so long, it’s now available on Android devices. I can only assume it will probably do pretty darn well on there too, as I’ve already proceeded to download the app myself. It somewhat quenches my Fallout thirst. There’s also a substantial update to the game that you might want to check out. First, the utility robotic companion, Mr. Handy, has now been added to the game as a premium reward. He can be used to collect resources inside your Vault, can collect Caps from the wasteland, and can even protect your Vault from attacks. New Deathclaw invasions and Molerat infestations have also been introduced.
Here are the rest of the notes from Bethesda’s blog, highlighting some of the new features implemented:
- Overseers should be on the lookout for new threats to their Vault Dwellers. Some Vaults have reported attacks by burrowing Mole Rats and enraged Deathclaws – likely attracted by the sound of new construction.
- Vault-Tec has partnered with General Atomics International in order to offer Overseers their very own robot butler – the Mister Handy! Now you lazier Overseers have a friendly, entertaining alternative to tapping and collecting resources. (Crumpets not included.)
- Our engineers clearly underestimated the, *ahem*, usefulness of living quarters to stimulate Vault growth, resulting is gross overpopulation and decreased Vault efficiency. Rest assured, the simulation has been adjusted, and Vaults of all shapes and sizes should now run more smoothly.
- Not content with stealing your Vault’s resources, some rather enterprising Raiders have now resorted to stealing Caps as well. (If you haven’t armed your Vault Dwellers yet, now’s the time!)
- As Vault-Tec does not approve of the use of unsanctioned levitation technology, all Vault Dwellers that were found floating through the air have been grounded. Permanently.
- Some of the more difficult daily objective requirements have been adjusted to more obtainable levels. You’re welcome.
- Continued general maintenance to the Vault simulation. Because an efficient machine is a happy machine!
Fallout is kind of a big deal, and soon we will all be able to engross ourselves in the latest installment of the franchise, Fallout 4. Until then, this portable experience is really well done, and should be quite the time killer for Android users.
HT: Bethesda Blog
Supremacy mode revealed for Star Wars: Battlefront.
Prepare your blasters for all-out madness in the new Star Wars: Battlefront multiplayer mode, Supremacy. The objective will be to capture as many of the 5 possible zones located on the map. Each team will begin with two zones already claimed, with the final one up for grabs. The team with the most zones under their control will be declared the winner. This is considered an all-out clash, so the mode will include huge maps with ground troops, vehicles, heroes, and villains. Supremacy closely resembles Conquest mode, which you may know from recent Battlefield games. According to DICE, players will also spawn closer to the action, in an attempt to decrease the amounts of marshmallow-toasting campers.
Scalebound, Quantum Break, Crackdown 3 could eventually hit PC.
Each day, the Microsoft team further blurs the lines between PC and the Xbox platform. In an attempt to unify their products, the mega company has made some aggressive moves to interconnect the two platforms– like eventually upgrading the operating system on the Xbox One to Windows 10. It’s a bold move to create synergy between the two communities. So it should come as no surprise that exclusive titles coming to the home console can show up on PCs. We’ve already seen Ryse: Son of Rome, and Dead Rising 3 take this route. When talking to PC Gamer about the possibility of titles such as Scalebound, Quantum Break, and Crackdown 3 making the transition, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, Phil Spencer, had some interesting words.
“In the case of things like Scalebound or Crackdown or Quantum Break, you know, just to be completely honest with you, we started those games before we really looked at expanding into Windows in the way that I wanted to bring as part of becoming head of Xbox,†said Phil. He continued, “It’s not to say those games could never come to Windows, but right now we’re on the path to finish the great games that they’ve started, and I want that to be the case.â€
If these three games are ever to hit PC, it’ll probably be a long way from their initial launches. But don’t be surprised if it does happen. It just makes sense with their recent strategies.
What I find funny is the use of the word, exclusive. By definition, when the word is used to describe a game, it would mean said title wouldn’t be headed to any other platform. But that’s not the case anymore. This makes trying to understand what platform a game will eventually appear on more complicated than it should be. Furthermore, even though Microsoft does make money from Windows games, you have to wonder if having their exclusives hit PC devalues the importance of said games on the Xbox One. Theoretically, if I were a consumer, I could purchase a gaming PC and a PS4, and get the best of both worlds, circumventing the Xbox One completely. For that reason alone, I doubt you’ll see brand new Halo and Gears of War iterations making their way onto PC–at least not until a substantial amount of time has passed succeeding the original release dates.
Yuzo Koshiro reveals lost Streets of Rage 4 concept art.
Famous video game music composer, Yuzo Koshiro, has released concept art of a lost Streets of Rage 4 game for the world to see. After much speculation about another installment hitting the Sega Dreamcast, nothing ever came to fruition. Though the art looks fantastic for what could have been, the long ago leaked tech-demo of the title was not pretty. Peep the demo here, be warned, it’s rough. No wonder the project didn’t go anywhere. Again, the art is actually pretty sleek, but the Dreamcast’s limitations may have made it difficult to bring it to life properly.
HT: Nerdist
EA explains why Star Wars: Battlefront doesn’t include a solo-campaign.
According to EA, people are not interested in a single player campaign when it comes to Star Wars: Battlefront. Speaking with Gamespot, COO Peter Moore stated that, traditionally, games with single player campaigns might sell better, but their data shows that, “very few people actually play the single-player on these kinds of games.”
Don’t blast the messenger, I am just relaying EA’s thought process. It also means that their data is based on titles like Battlefield, and also doesn’t take into account that maybe people don’t play their campaigns because they aren’t the best they can be. At least it means that DICE was able to completely focus on making the multiplayer good, and make it work properly. You will be able to play the full release alone if you wish, but will just have to play with bots on your team. Hopefully the game will include enough meat on its bones to keep players interested for longer than a couple of weeks.
HT: Gamespot
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That’s another Thursday in the books. Plenty to digest here, just don’t let the lack of a single player campaign in Battlefront bring you down. Every chance we’ve had to play the game has yielded a fun experience. Make sure to let us know how your Fallout Shelter vaults are doing in the comments below.
