Why You shouldn't Worry About The Exclusivity Of The New Tomb Raider

It was recently announced at Gamescom earlier this week that Rise of the Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics' sequel to the 2013 reboot, will be released exclusively on the Xbox One. The announcement was certainly unexpected. Playstation 4 fans of the series are crying foul and have already started a petition or condemned Microsoft and the series altogether. However, one key fact you may have overlooked would go to show there's no reason to get your panties in twist.

Fortunately for PC and PS4 players, the deal Microsoft and publisher Square Enix agreed to was to release Rise of the Tomb Raider as a timed exclusive for the Xbox One. Phil Spencer broke the news during an interview with Eurogamer where he confessed, "obviously, the deal has a duration. I didn't but the IP perpetuity." This means that the game will only remain exclusive for a certain period of time. Whether the period of exclusivity will last for six months, an entire year, or even longer has not yet been revealed. So while PS4 and PC players will have to wait, they will likely see Lara raid her way onto their platforms after the exclusivity period has expired. That part is up to publisher Square Enix.

Gamers are an irksome bunch however and many are asking why the sequel to a game that was released on multiple platforms would suddenly become an exclusive. Well there could be a few reasons for that. Perhaps Microsoft and Square Enix saw an opportunity to help one another out. Microsoft's Xbox One has been trailing behind Sony's PS4 in system sales for the seventh month in a row. Nabbing exclusive rights (albeit timed) to a big franchise and a sequel to one of the highest rated titles of 2013 could certainly help tilt the scales in the Xbox One's favor. Tomb Raider also stands as a staunch contender for the Uncharted sequel which is arguably Sony's most popular exclusive. And it seems more than coincidence the very comparable adventure titles are both being released in the 2016 holiday season.

Coming in the 2016 holiday season, who will prevail?

After a rocky year in 2013 with both Hitman: Absolution and the Tomb Raider reboot not meeting expected sales, Square Enix could have also spied this deal as an opportunity to make up for some of the money they may have lost. Crystal Dynamics' Darrell Gallagher also explained via Tumblr that he believes Microsoft will be able to market the game to players more effectively and provide the support the game needs to contend with other well-known franchises.

So, in a nutshell, it all boils down to money. Microsoft wants to increase system sales and Square-Enix wants to make up the money they lost in 2013 and see Tomb Raider become a contender for big action titles like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. And really, no one should be surprised by that; no one is getting ripped off and in the end, Square Enix and Microsoft are businesses and businesses need to make money. What's important is that it seems very likely, everyone will get to play the game on the platform of their choice, eventually.

Source: Eurogamer

Revived by Reboot: Devil May Cry

The Devil May Cry series from Capcom  has had players slaying demons and stringing combos together since 2001. The games follow Dante, a human with demonic powers who makes a living fighting and occasionally saving the world from demons. The games were all well received and the series had quite a following being one of the most popular stylistic action games on shelves. After four entries in the series though, Capcom decided to switch things up, reboot the game and start from scratch. Nobody really saw it coming and fans complained it didn't need a reboot.

As promotional material and trailers became available, fans really began to voice their concern, some threatening to never buy Capcom games ever again. I completely disagree though. The games never seemed to have a solid story nor did they ever continue from game to game. That isn't a bad thing but they just weren't being executed right and they were beginning to feel stale. The gameplay was fun, but that isn't always enough. This reboot really served to revive the Devil May Cry series.

One of the first major changes of the series was to the main character, Dante himself. Dante's long white hair was traded for a modern brunette cut and he was given a more "western" look. Promotions were released early on depicting the younger-looking Dante as a delinquent, punky guy. He definitely has the, I'm too cool for everything look, which I think put a lot of people off initially. Fans of the series were frustrated with the re-imagination of Dante but I honestly can't fathom why. The original Dante looked like some kind of gigolo stripper. Of course, I loved the series when I was younger and I thought Dante was awesome, but compared to the new Dante, the shirtless, leather pants wearing Dante of the original series just seemed silly in retrospect.

New Dante                                Vs.                                         Old Dante        

The redesign of Dante wasn't the only improvement however; it was only one of many. Perhaps my favorite improvement was to the actual story of the game. Instead of featuring some dude who runs a shop called Devil May Cry and contracts himself out as a demon killer, the reboot decided to take a less corny route. The reboot focused on telling the origin story (many reboots do these days) of Dante and begins with him before he even began fighting against the demonic forces. I won't spoil the story here but it does a great job of explaining where Dante's demonic powers emanate from and his motivation for fighting against the demons. It reveals a lot about Dante as a character and his grim past and the war between demons and angels and how mankind fits into the picture. The game also does a great job of creating an engaging story without sacrificing the self-reflexive humor and occasional one-liners of the original series; the only main difference is the voice actors in the reboot and their ability to not make the game sound like a B rated film on the SyFy channel.

The third and arguably greatest improvement the reboot featured was the enhanced combat. Don't get me wrong, the combat in the original games was amazing and the fact that the reboot was able to improve upon that, is phenomenal. Capcom spiced up the combat with new weapons players earn through the course of the game which can be switched on the fly without ever pausing or using a menu. Dante is still armed with his trademark sword Rebellion and trusty pistols, Ebony and Ivory but he can also equip an arsenal worth of other useful weapons.

These new weapons include a scythe that makes juggling multiple enemies at a time a cinch, an ax for obliterating armored foes, a pair of bladed boomerangs for crowd control and some heavy iron fists for pummeling enemies into a pulp. Dante also gains grappling weapons he can use to pull himself toward enemies or pull the enemies toward him for some deadly punishment. These new weapons allow players to create some seriously insane combos and makes the gameplay fun for newcomers as well. They also help create plenty of variety to increase your stylish rank score which earn you more points to spend on new abilities and upgrades. The combos and weapon switching isn't hard at all. You can be very effective without button mashing and without concentrating on any complicated button presses. The combat is very fluid, smooth and you feel like a total badass the entire time.

I know there have been some bad reboots out there but in some cases, I think a reboot can definitely turn things around for a series and reinvigorate the experience of the game. Devil May Cry is only one example and while many fans of the original series condemned the reboot, the game received mostly positive reviews. I'm eager for news concerning the sequel and I hope to see Capcom follow up with more demon slaying action. What do you think? Did this reboot save the series, or should Capcom have stayed with their original formula?

Details Surface on Next Hitman Game

I wonder if you can choose when and where to go...

Developer IO Interactive sent out an open letter to fans today addressing the status of the next Hitman game. The studio indicated the game is being built for PC and next gen consoles (Xbox One, PS4) and the Glacier 2 engine which had been employed for Absolution will serve again as the engine for this sequel.

IO Interactive says players, "will experience a globetrotting Agent 47 at the prime of his career," and you will again be working with Diana and the ICA. The studio is also diving into previous Hitman games such as Blood Money and Contracts for inspiration to create the ultimate Hitman experience. IO interactive is also taking a new approach to level design which will be checkpoint free and non-linear. The studio promises levels to be bigger and better than ever as they strive to, "create living, breathing and believable levels," that feature various ways to achieve your objective.

Contracts mode will make a return as well allowing players to once again design their own "hits" and challenge players from across the world to beat their scores.

IO Interactive is also doing away with Agent 47's "magic pockets." No longer will players be able to carry around a small army's worth of weaponry. This likely means that rifles will no longer disappear when they are not equipped. However, with Absolution's gameplay allowing 47 to use improvised weapons, I don't see much use for anything more than my Silverballers and fiber wire.

Axes make great improvised weapons

This comes as some rather relieving news after reports about a week ago had indicated the next Hitman game was being canceled. The reports were however quickly addressed and Square Enix gave a statement saying the game was in fact not canceled.

It's very good to see the game is still in production and coming along well. Hitman Absolution was great and a tremendous improvement over the previous games in the series. I'm glad to see IO Interactive is taking steps to make the game more believable and yet keep that distinct Hitman style in the series. IO is promising more news in the future, so here's to hoping we see more before E3 in June!