The newest Assassin's Creed wants to modernize the decade-old series.
Whenever I play a new Assassin’s Creed game, I feel like someone trying to rekindle my love for an experience long past. The roller coaster of emotions the series has taken me on, veering between enraptured enjoyment and seething dislike depending on the entry, has been incredibly tiring to the point of just wanting to swear off the series were I any more willing to do so. After some time with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Origins, I am more optimistic about the series’ willingness to reinvent itself than I have been previously.
Breaking Conventions
“It is a question we ask ourselves,” starts Origins director Ashraf Ismail. “Is Assassin’s Creed just about a hidden blade and a hood?” Ismail describes the conventions of the series, from leaps of faith to tombs, as things the team has to consider. After eight mainline games, trying to make an Assassin’s Creed game that captures every game’s essence is nearly impossible, and the conventions of the series have to be challenged to create a unique, modern game. Origins accomplishes this by revamping the fighting system, introducing loot for weapons and armor, and tying homages to the series to new mechanisms.
The World Fights Back
For the first time, battles are not about just presenting mild inconveniences on your way to the next objective. If Bayek is forced into a position of needing to engage in battle, he is equipped with a weapon, a shield, and a bow to fight his way out. When I came across a fort to take out, I headshot a few enemies and engaged the rest in close combat. I got well and truly beaten by other shielded enemies before I finally stopped trying to play the game like every other Assassin’s Creed title and actually get aggressive with enemy bandits. It is not expressly more difficult than other games in the series, but my mindset with the game had to change before I could tackle it effectively.
This Is Not Just Bayek’s Quest
The previous Assassin’s Creed title released in 2015, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, had two protagonists telling equal parts of the story as a contrast to every other game following a single character. Assassin’s Creed: Origins walks that idea backwards, but not completely. Introduced at Gamescom, Bayek’s wife Aya will be playable for certain missions in the game. It also sounds like there will be more playable characters than just Aya and Bayek.
“It is primarily Bayek’s story and journey, and this is the decision we had made because it was what we came to in terms of when we were building this experience, the narrative, the gameplay, this is the experience we wanted to create,” Ismail said. “So, it was a choice that we made [not to split the campaign]. Having said that, we have other playable characters, we’re just not yet announcing who they are.”
Making Side Quests Matter
As the last member of a group of warriors, Bayek ends up getting lots of requests from the people that inhabit the world. Some citizens tasked me with chasing down a child stealing coin purses in town. After chasing him down, I ended up defending him against some bandits. The thief explained that his family had been sold to bandits to use as thieves, so I was sent to check out the place they were apparently being kept. I discovered a ship fire and, in the process of investigating what went wrong, I had to convince a merchant to tell me what he saw by breaking his wares. Eventually, I freed the child thief’s sister from her captors and she asked me to meet her somewhere else to help exact her revenge. Side quests are nothing new for the series, but it is certainly one of the most extensive ones I’ve played in the Assassin’s Creed games and helped the world-building immensely. It also was not about tailing anyone, which is a plus.
The Challenges Of Accuracy
Assassin’s Creed has always had some problems being culturally sensitive. Middle-eastern Altair was played by Nolan North, an entire game set in France only had British accents, the series has made some decisions for presumably marketing reasons that ended up backfiring. With Origins, Bayek is made as authentic as possible, from voice to skin tone to dialogue, but not every character is quite as accurate.
“In terms of the more British accents, it was actually, that was the balance we did when we have a Greek character. So, for example, Cleopatra [having a British accent],” explained Ismail. “Having said that, we tried to stay true to all, representing all the different cultures that exist there. Egyptian, Greeks, Romans – we tried to make sure they sounded as accurate as we could.”
I left Assassin’s Creed: Origins not entirely convinced this would be the game to redeem the series for anyone who has lapsed. There have been a number of bad games in the series, but perhaps the bigger concern is the how few and far between the great ones have been to even it out. Origins could end up being that game, but we’ll find out on October 27 for sure.
Check out our gameplay of Assassin's Creed: Origins below.
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Nintendo revealed a plethora of new updates coming to Splatoon 2 with a Gamescom trailer. The biggest bit of news is that a new stage will be added to the game's Salmon Run mode called The Lost Outpost and that map will go live today.
A new map called Manta Maria will also be added to the game on August 26 while a new weapon set featuring The Bubble Blower will be available on September 1.
You can watch the trailer for all the new upcoming content here:
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For more on Splatoon 2, be sure to check out our review.
News editor Imran Khan recently got the chance to play with the SNES Classic Edition, explore its menus, listen to its music, and try out some of its games.
In first video below, you get a good look at the menus and get to see how quickly games can be loaded and shut down. You also get to hear Imran Skype in and give his impressions of the system as he tries out Super Mario World, Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Yoshi’s Island, and Mega Man X.
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And in the video below you can hear the brand new, original Super Nintendo-stye music that has been composed for the game's menu. We weren't sure what footage to use for the music, so we used a three-second loop of kittens looking at a banana.
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Along with all this coverage, Imran also played nine minutes of the unreleased Star Fox 2. You can see that gameplay footage here.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is available to play right now! We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this occasion than spoiling 30 minutes of the adventure for you. We actually do our best to avoid the spoilers, but kick off the video by showing a solution to a tricky puzzle. We spend most of our time exploring the open world, taking in the sights and sounds, and a few bullets along the way. This brief look at the game should give you a good idea of what to expect from this new standalone adventure.
If you like what you saw, but still need to know more, check out our review, in which we gave the game a 9 out of 10, and say Chloe and Nadine make a hell of a team, and should return for another game.
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In Splatoon 2, if you have a finger, you have a megaphone.
In the central hub area of the game, players are sprinkled in from all regions to show off their fresh styles and equipment. Players can also choose to add a small little picture, aided by the Switch touchscreen, about whatever is on their mind, as long as it's not lewd or harassing. Most people use this space for memes, funny jokes, cute pictures of dogs, whatever. It is, theoretically, what the internet would be like if everyone were nice.
Recently, Splatoon's Inkopolis has become about the topic of trans men and women. It started off small, with a few messages of trans positivity, celebrating that people are people and a game like Splatoon can reinforce that. Predictably, this also lead to people stating the opposite, often in harassing and aggressive ways complaining that mentioning trans pride is inappropriate, sometimes with slurs slipping through. While a lot of the counter-messages were quickly deleted, many still filtered in, leading to an actual turf war within the streets of Inkopolis.
"I think I'm done with this community," said one Splatoon 2 player. "I enjoyed Splatoon 2, but there are too many people who think I'm not a person that my enthusiasm has kind of fallen out."
It is decidedly difficult to change the culture of a game, but despite the hate, Splatoon 2 players have been trying to drown it out with positivity.
I CAN'T DRAW
Trans squids
are squids too
STOP SPREADING HATE
People aren't politics!
Nor are LBGT people "inappropriate!"
Let squids be proud!
Help make Splatoon a safe
space for LBGTQ players!
Report all anti-LBGTQ posts
as Harmful/Bullying!
Thanks!
PUBLIC SQUID ANNOUNCEMENT
YOU CAN JUST BE A GIRL
OR BOY
OR NEITHER
OR ANYTHING
After checking Inkopolis off and on for a few hours, it seems like the positive messages are far more prevalent than any other kind. Splatoon is no stranger to trends, as the game is designed to get people talking about events, preferences, and make dumb jokes about sequels to PlayStation 4 launch games before moving on to new jokes, like any kind of social media. This may be the first time Splatoon's community is using that ability to reinforce a message of positivity to steer messaging away from hate.
Our Take
It won't last forever, but in this one moment, Splatoon's community is using the game's tools to have their own pride parade and state that they won't be driven off by an increasingly irrelevant voice.
We’re just one short week away from what is one of most hyped sporting events of all time: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor. It’s the biggest name in boxing versus the biggest name in MMA, and even if you’re not into sports, you’ve likely heard at least a hot take or two.
Fans often turn to video games to predict major sporting events like the Super Bowl, and for us, Mayweather v. McGregor is no exception. We wanted to find out who would win the boxing bout, so we simulated the highly anticipated fight inside the most recent boxing video game we could find. But given the short supply of prizefighting video games (and the overall one-sidedness of the contest), we didn’t stop there. We pit Mayweather against McGregor inside an MMA ring, a professional wrestling ring, the Soulcalibur universe, and finally, an MLB ballpark to see who is the greatest of all time.
Note: Some statistics like reach and weight are not accurate given each game’s restrictions on weight class and custom character creations.
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Round 1: Boxing
Given that Mayweather vs. McGregor is a boxing match, you’d think this would be the most important round of our contest. But the latest professional boxing title, Fight Night Champion from 2011, is a less-than-adequate simulation.
We found a pretty solid stand-in for Mayweather with the community-created boxers, and we made… someone vaguely reminiscent of McGregor. The one advantage McGregor has in this bout is that when creating a character in Fight Night Champion, there’s not an adjustable slider for technique or experience, meaning that McGregor’s biggest weakness isn’t going to be represented in-game. So, is it enough of an edge to take down one of the greatest boxing talents of all time?
Ultimately, our Conor stand-in proved too inexperienced. He wildly threw punches that rarely connected, and Floyd (appropriately) counter-punched the green McGregor to victory. Floyd scored a knock-out early in the fourth round, winning the opening leg of our Mayweather v. McGregor match-up.
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Round 2: MMA
Few people are giving Conor a shot to win the bout on August 26, primarily because boxing and mixed martial arts are two different sports. On the flip side, many wonder how long Floyd would last inside an octagon with McGregor. The answer (according to our simulation): longer than you’d think.
In the much more current UFC 2 game, we created a Floyd Mayweather from scratch. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we gave him maximum punching power and technique, but made his foot and grapple game practically nonexistent. We also gave him a fair amount of stamina because he’s still a professional fighter, albeit in a different sport.
So, did a debilitated Floyd keep up against one of the game’s cover athletes?
To Floyd’s credit, he gives McGregor a run for his money. An early knockdown by Mayweather signaled that the boxing champion wasn’t going down without a fight. He even staggered McGregor at a few points in the match, but never capitalized. This came back to bite him, as McGregor knocked him out in the third round with a few hard head kicks. Unsurprisingly, Conor won our contest inside the MMA ring.
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Round 3: Professional Wrestling
Now, with both fighters out of their element, this is where things begin to shake up. Utilizing the hyper-realistic WWE 2K17, we downloaded two community creations and adjusted their stats to better reflect what Mayweather v. McGregor would look like inside a pro wrestling ring.
It's a hardcore, anything-goes grudge match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor at WWE SummerSlam 2017. Floyd enters the ring with a cocky confidence, followed by some furrowed-brow guy who kind of looks like Conor from a distance. Following their lengthy entrances, the two square off in front of tens of thousands.
In what was a true bloodbath, the two gave their all in a back-and-forth match that left all in attendance speechless. After establishing himself as the villain, Floyd gained heavy momentum by delivering some cheap, classless blows to a defenseless Conor midway through the match. He fed on the crowd’s boos and jeers, but made the mistake of leaving McGregor time to recover. Conor came back, utilizing weapons and his raw MMA talents to take down the boxer.
Round three went to McGregor.
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Round 4: Soulcalibur V
We've seen these two fight within the realm of reality, but what about the world of fantasy? For this round, we reimagined the two athletes inside of Soulcalibur V, providing them with anime-esque personas.
We gave "God Emperor of Las Vegas" Floyd Mayweather regal armor and a ridiculously over-the-top greatsword to tap into his identity as an insanely wealthy, lavish businessman/boxer. We also gave him a crocodile-skin cape that you'll never be able make out on the Xbox 360.
Conor "Demon Wolf of the Four Realms" McGregor has a much simpler design, with only two shoulder guards to protect himself. As a mischief-making assassin, he likes to retain his mobility, which gives him more options to attack. He can also summon a green spirit wolf who, since he's green, obviously has something to do with Ireland.
After three seasons of build-up and 30+ episodes of filler, the armies of Mayweather and McGregor meet on a moonlit battlefield. McGregor leads his battalion of rebels to overthrow Emperor Mayweather, whose soldiers have decimated his homeland for generations. Both armies are slain violently and epically until just the two leaders remain.
Even with the power of his demon wolf, Conor was kept at bay by Floyd's far-reaching cleaves. It didn’t take much to destroy McGregor’s weak armor, and Mayweather effortlessly overwhelmed the young rebel leader. In the sixth round, McGregor barely landed a blow before Mayweather summoned the ancient power of his ice blast, freezing Conor alive and sending his spirit to the Shadow Realm for the rest of eternity.
Floyd wins Round four in true anime fashion.
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Round 5: Home Run Derby
Tied up two rounds to two, it all comes down to this. Bases loaded. Bottom of the ninth. World Series on the line. How many home runs can each competitor hit in 5 minutes?
It's the Red Sox centerfielder Conor McGregor versus the New York Yankees first baseman Floyd Mayweather in MLB The Show 16.
First up to bat, Floyd had a slow start, not hitting a homer until a minute in. But around the 3:30 mark, he began to find his stride, and earned bonus time for nailing three home runs of 440 feet or greater.
With 2 minutes left, Floyd had 5 homers, and doubled that by the end of his regular time. He finished with 14 home-runs on the scorecard. For some reason, perhaps confident in the lead he’d established, he let the final pitch of his at-bat go, a decision he would come to regret.
Next up was Conor. Unlike Mayweather, McGregor came out swinging. He was less picky with what he swung at, and while he still maintained a similar level of production, it ultimately made the difference in the contest. At the two-minute point, Conor was neck-and-neck with Floyd, both having five home runs plus a minute-and-a-half of bonus time.
Conor ended regulation with 12 home runs, and Floyd began to sweat. Conor needed just three home runs in a minute and a half to win our contest. After 60 seconds of bonus time, Conor tied it up by crushing one 491 feet (our longest of the competition). Then with 20 seconds left on the clock, Conor sealed the deal.
A 490-foot rocket into right field made Conor the winner of our competition. In the end, Conor's strike-first, fearless attitude overcame Floyd's calculated patience. So, given McGregor's victory in our five-round exhibition, is this an accurate predictor of who's going to come out the victor the night of August 26? We'd like to think so.
Custom characters were adapted from community creations made by the following users: iantheguitar (Xbox Live), I-28GRAMZ-I (PlayStation Network) and UGoinGetDisWork (PlayStation Network).
Far Cry 5 changes things up for the series by bringing the setting to the United States in the fictional Hope County, Montana. Rather than battling a ruthless dictator, you take on an extreme and hostile group of cultists who have been causing trouble for the area. Today, Ubisoft released an extended gameplay demo with a walkthrough from the development team.
The video starts innocently enough with the protagonist hopping into a tractor with his loyal dog Boomer running alongside. However, things get violent quick as the tractor rams a group of cultists, sending blood flying and starting a gunfight. The rest of the video has fishing, stealth, bobbleheads, and much more.
You can see the full walkthrough video below.
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Far Cry 5 hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 27.
The promising action shooter Ruiner finally has a release date. Those who have been monitoring the cyberpunk title will finally get their hands on the game on September 26.
In addition to the release date, Reikon Games has released a new trailer for the brutally difficult game.
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Ruiner is set to test the reflexes of PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players on September 26. For more on the title, check out our Test Chamber devoted to it.
One of the biggest surprises of E3 2015 was Shenmue III. The game was announced on PlayStation's press conference stage and launched a massively successful Kickstarter campaign. In the time since the campaign ended, developer Ys Net has remained fairly quiet on the project. However, with recent news that Deep Silver is the game's publishing partner, things have picked up a little. Today, the developer released the first teaser trailer for the long-awaited sequel.
According to the video description, this trailer is taken from "a small slice of an in-development build of the game." While this tells us little about the story, it does offer a glimpse of the characters and settings of this third entry in the series that first came to North America in 2000 on Dreamcast.
You can see the teaser below.
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The previous game in the series was released in North America in 2002 on the original Xbox. Shenmue III is expected to release during the second half of 2018 on PlayStation 4 and PC.
For more on Shenmue III, read our interview with series creator Yu Suzuki from when the game was first announced.
[Source: PlayStation on YouTube]
Today on the Overwatch forums on Battle.net, Blizzard principal designer Geoff Goodman discussed some of the changes that Blizzard has been tinkering with for its popular tank character, D.Va. Goodman appeared in a thread titled "D.Va Rework ideas thread" where several community members were discussing how they'd propose Blizzard shuffle things up with the mech-based character.
Goodman began by saying that the team has been working on changes internally for a while now, before outlining what some of the proposed alterations are. You can see the changes in his words below:
Defense Matrix: Energy drain increased by 2x. This means her effective uptime for this ability has been reduced by 50%. Boosters: D.Va can now use her Fusion Cannons while flying. New ability – Micro Missiles: D.Va launches a long salvo of small missiles that explode on impact, dealing damage in a small radius around them. This ability can be used while using her other abilities or firing her Fusion Cannons.Goodman continued, saying that D.Va's damage-dealing capability comes at the cost of her Defense Matrix, which blocks all incoming projectiles and bullets. However, Goodman indicates that the Defense Matrix ability is still incredibly powerful, but that players need to be more judicious with its use, as the up-time of the ability is so significantly decreased. He also explains that the Micro Missiles combined with her ability to fire while boosting gives her more options against more heroes. Goodman specifically names Pharah as a hero that this new ability suite is effective against.
These are just proposed changes, and that when these changes make it to players, they could be different. No ETA was given on when any such changes could be implemented, but Goodman says he hopes that Blizzard can get a new PTR up soon for PC players to check out these changes for themselves.
[Source: Geoff Goodman on Battle.net]
Our Take
As a big D.Va player, I think I'm on-board with these changes. On the one hand, the nerfing of her Defense Matrix means it's less spam-able, which I think is a good thing, while the ability to fire when boosting, and new missiles could make her an even more aggressive character to play. Regardless of my thoughts on the proposed changes, I'm still blown away by how open Blizzard is about any changes made to the game. It shows how in-tune with the community the developer is.
Age of Empires, the historical real-time strategy series, has announced a fourth entry in the long-running series. Relic Entertainment, the developer behind several Warhammer 40,000 games, as well as Company of Heroes, is the developer at the helm for the upcoming title.
While no further details were announced, Microsoft did debut a trailer. You can watch that video below.
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Microsoft also announced that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is releasing on October 19, and that Age of Empires II and III will also receive the Definitive Edition treatment in the future.
[Source: Age of Empires]
One of the two teenage girls charged with the 2014 stabbing of a classmate in Wisconsin has pleaded guilty. The girls charged with the attempted murder say they were told to go through with the stabbing of classmate Payton Leutner by Slenderman, a fictional horror character that has been depicted in everything from internet art to video games. The attempted murder was the subject of a 2017 documentary on HBO titled Beware the Slenderman.
Anissa Weier, 15, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide as a party to a crime, with use of a deadly weapon. This is a lesser charge when compared to the initial charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. However, the case doesn't end with this plea. Next month, when the trial begins, the discussion will be centered on whether or not Weier is legally responsible for her actions, or if she is mentally unfit. If she is found guilty, she could serve up to 10 years in prison. If she is found not guilty due to mental illness, she could instead be sentenced to three years in a mental hospital.
In her statement, Weier said that she felt that if she didn't go through with the killing of Leutner, that Slenderman would kill her and her family. Weier and co-defendant Morgan Geyser were 12 years old when the attack took place. Geyser has previously pleaded not guilty due to mental disease – a plea Weier also initially entered prior to this new plea.
Weier's trial is set to begin on September 11.
[Source: Associated Press]
Like most years, the new Madden title has gameplay additions and tweaks from previous years that mean that even long-time players may face an adjustment period. Its focus on competitive play has also resulted in some gameplay and mode changes take some getting used to. Here are some of the nuances and my recommendations for dealing with them.
For more on the game, be sure to check out my review, a guide to the Longshot story mode, and a primer for Madden 18's new Target Passing.
The running game feels really good in Madden in 18 – and that's before you even juke, spin, or stiff arm. In fact, I suggest not using the precision modifier (left trigger) to change direction at the line, which can only slow you down and even initiate a strange pullback animation where your running back skips his feet.
A smooth run using the left-analog
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The downfield blocking and lane creation by the offensive line can be pretty good, creating visible paths to run through, so be on the lookout for backside cutbacks and branches once you get past the line of scrimmage.
Blocking lanes
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Unfortunately, you still get a few of these from time to time....
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Once out in the open, I strongly suggest you perform some sort of stiff arm, juke, or right-stick move to shake would-be attackers. I can't say if these moves are overpowered per se, but I feel like they're more central to the running game than ever. Once you're on defense, don't forget to counter those fancy moves by laying down the right-analog hit stick wood.
ID the Mike is a new pre-snap feature that helps with the offensive line and running back(s) pick up blitzes. Before the snap, Press L1 (on PS4, LB on the Xbox One) and hold down X (A on the Xbox One). You'll see an icon over one of the linebackers as you scroll through them with the left stick (keep holding L1/X). Move it to center your blocking scheme in preparation for a blitz from that direction and release X. This assigns the appropriate line protection, double team, and assignments to pick up the blitz. If you guess wrong, then someone's coming free at your QB. Guess correctly, however, and you're in business. I highly suggest you play around with this in practice, as it can save your life.
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In past Maddens, it felt like your defensive ends had a hard time generating pressure by themselves. In Madden 18, ends get sacks, but this seems to occur mainly when you don't control them yourself. In games when I was controlling a linebacker or corner, my ends got good pressure anyways. Add on the fact that you can sack quarterbacks even when you don't have a clear shot at them, and defensive ends seem to have an advantage. There's another advantage to not controlling the defensive end. In my time with my game I repeatedly saw my defensive end pause and perform an unnecessary hand animation when coming off the line – despite timing my jump of the snap correctly. It appears to happen when the end is one-on-one with a tackle as he starts his backpedal.
DE Stutter Animation
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A note to QBs regarding defensive ends: Watch your dropbacks. This year more than ever, don't drift backward or to the side, as a defensive end can disengage or even press the shoulder buttons while engaged to stick a hand out and grab you.
Reach sacks
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Speaking of quarterbacking, there are more errant throws for all QBs, and not just the low-rated ones. I like this addition, but there's are times when they seem unrealistic. One of the situations it seems to happen is if your pocket is collapsing. Even if you have your feet set correctly, when you see the "under pressure" red text at the bottom of your screen, you could have an errant throw coming, even if it's an easy throw to a wide-open receiver. So, be sure to step up into the pocket to avoid sending the ball into the stands or into the ground.
Under Pressure throw
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It may take getting used to not playing as a defensive end (see above), but fortunately, this year's game makes it fun to play as a defensive back. The right-stick defensive back jam moves against wide receivers is a cool chess match against wide receivers, who are using their right analog to fake you out and get a clean release off the line. While the camera for this doesn't always allow you to see all of the field in single-player (the feature is primarily designed for use in MUT Squads co-op), it's still viable when controlling the slot corner. Unless I'm in a man-to-man matchup against an inferior receiver, I like to backpedal a little after the snap (press L2 to strafe) get a read on what the receiver is going to do, then either jam them hard by going down on the right stick, or steer them left or right. I may have even gotten away with this kind of contact after five yards...
More than just a jam at the line
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Although, watch out, as this can happen....
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They sound good on paper, but the Coaching Adjustments options at the front of the playcalling menu are limited. You can match up your best overall corner on their receiver, or match them by speed ratings, but it only does it for the top defensive back and receiver, even if you match personnel like a nickel defensive formation against a three receiver set. I'm not sure why it would go down the line and match up the second- and third-bests with each other as well.
If I see more stuff that might help you with the game, I'll try and post it in future editions of The Sports Desk. In the meantime, if you have your own tips you'd like to share – let me know (info below)!
Missed some of the previous Sports Desk entries? Take a look at the past installments via our Hub page by clicking on the banner below.
Have a suggestion or comment? Put it in the comments section below, send me an email, or reach me on twitter at @mattkato.
RELEASE LIST
Madden NFL 18 (PS4, Xbox One) - August 25
F1 2017 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) - August 25
Everybody's Golf (PS4) - August 29
Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, 360) - September 12
NASCAR Heat 2 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) - September 12
NHL 18 (PS4, Xbox One) - September 15
NBA 2K18 (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, PS3, 360) - September 19
Project Cars 2 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) - September 22
FIFA 18 (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, PS3, 360) - September 29
Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One, PC) - October 3
GT Sport (PS4) - October 17
THE TICKER
A quick rundown of some of the sports news from the week
New FIFA 18 Trailer Hits Gamescom
EA Sports Starts Madden NFL Club Championship Esports Event With all 32 NFL Teams
Thrustmaster Introduces New High-End PC/Xbox One Wheel
Pro Evolution Soccer Adds David Beckham to MyClub Licenses
Visual Concepts Outlines NBA 2K18 MyTeam Changes
Also check out a trailer for the game.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm will give us some insight into the events leading up to Dontnod's 2015 episodic adventure series. The new trailer not only gives us a better idea of the story that will unfold during developer Deck Nine's prequel series, but also some of the characters Chloe meets and the environments she explores.
You can watch the Life is Strange: Before the Storm Gamescom trailer below.
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The first three episodes of Life is Strange: Before the Storm launch on August 31 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Just over a month ago, Oculus announced a temporary $200 price cut for its Rift VR headset and an accompanying bundle of accessories. Today, HTC responded by slashing the price on its Vive headset by $200.
The price for the Vive is now set at $599, which includes the VR headset, the two motion-controlled wands, the motion trackers, and a trial subscription to Viveport, a service that curates VR titles and allows you to select and download five VR titles per month.
This news comes as major titles like Fallout 4 VR, Skyrim VR, and Doom VR gear up to release on the platform. For more on HTC Vive, check out our review.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
Our Take
One of the biggest barriers of entry for virtual reality since this current wave of technology launched has been the price. The cost of entry, when you combine the hardware with a machine powerful enough to support the headsets and associated software, is still steep, but a couple hundred dollars knocked off certainly helps ease that pain.
Destiny 2 is two weeks from launch, and Bungie has released a launch trailer to the anticipated follow up.
The trailer not only gives us more insight into the big bad of this entry, Dominus Ghaul, but also a look at humanity's response to the problem. You can watch the trailer below.
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Destiny 2 hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, and PC on October 24 via Battle.net.
Former Xbox One timed exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider was revealed yesterday to be one of the games that will get an enhancement patch for the Xbox One X. Now, Square-Enix and Microsoft have dropped a trailer detailing those enhancements.
The game will now run in 4K, include HDR for better colors, higher texture resolution, and more.
Check out the trailer below to see what's changing in Lara's 2015 free roaming adventure.
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Netflix's The Defenders team up series may have just debuted this past Friday, but that isn't stopping the streaming service from hyping its next Marvel season. After making his first appearance in Daredevil season 2, The Punisher is branching off to his own series later this year.
The "Demolition" trailer that Netflix released doesn't give us a ton of hints about where this first season might be heading, but it shows Frank Castle doing what he does best: fighting, shooting, and brooding. You can check out the teaser trailer below.
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The Punisher's first season is set to launch on Netflix sometime before the end of 2017.
Electronic Arts spent a good deal of time talking about the success and future of Battlefield 1. Along with a live playthrough of the new Lupkow Pass map from the forthcoming In the Name of the Tsar expansion pack, EA revealed the game's first competitive mode called Incursion.
Battlefield 1 is known for its epic 64-player matches, but Incursion scales down to just 5v5. Vehicles are still a part of the mix, as are classes, but the battles are shorter and more intimate. Electronic Arts said it has been testing this mode for a while, and players will be able to get their hands on it in a closed alpha in September.
Players in the alpha can choose from eight different kits: Trench Surgeon, Control Leader, AT Assault, Battle Mechanic, Shock Assault, Proximity Recon, Raid Leader, and Motor Support. Ranking up brings rewards like improved weapons and abilities. The alpha will take place on a modified version of the Giant Shadow map.
Fe, originally shown at E3 2015, re-emerged on EA's stage at Gamescom with a new trailer and a new platform: Nintendo Switch.
The new trailer offers some more information about the game's plot and gameplay and licenses a familiar Of Monster and Men song. The game's protagonist can communicate with other creatures in its world to work with them and rid darkness from its home.
The game is coming to to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC early 2018.
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