The History of the Harry Potter Video Game Franchise!

The Harry Potter franchise is easily one of the defining pieces of media to come out of the last 2 decades. Bringing in an estimated $25,000,000,000 since the release of the first book in 1997 via a multiitude of avenues including films, books, video games and even theme parks! It’s safe to say that nobody will be forgetting the boy who lived in a hurry. However when it comes to video games the series has never really made much of a mark. There have been 16 official game releases bearing the Harry Potter name (at least 16 that i’m going to count as official) and none of them really have been AAA releases or even releases of notable quality. So let’s take a look back at the history of Harry Potter Video games.

4 Years after the release of the Phillophers stone or Sorcerers stone for my American viewers, the first Harry Potter game hit shelves. 1 word can easily be used to sum up this title, and that’s average. The game was clearly rushed to release on the same day as the films release, and it was not ready. The game while serviceable, lacked much of the polish, the magic and the thrill that it’s movie counterpart had had. Similarly a year later the Chamber of Secrets released alongside the film and similarly the year development cycle was not enough as a servicable middle of the road game was released.

 

The year after saw something new from Harry Potter. Something different and exciting. A good game at last! Harry Potter Quidditch world cup is a game that I remember fondly and actually did buy again recently and can confirm, for a 16 year old game… it holds up! The first spin off title didn’t really actually feature Harry Potter all that much and I feel that in a way that was a strength. It didn’t tie itself to the expected tropes of the films and could exist independently as a game that focused on mechanics.

 

We then came back for 5 years of mediocrity. As The Prisoner of Azkiban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix and the half blood prince all released alongside their movie counterparts and non of which scored above a 50% or a 5/10 on major reviewers. I think i’ve covered why these games weren’t good. They were rushed, relatively low effort imitations of the films and offered very little to build upon the magic of the books or films.

 

In 2010 fans were thrown a bone as another good game was released. Sandwhiching the final film inspired game, was Harry Potter Lego. A tried and tested series from other IPs that translated brilliantly to the world of Harry Potter for children and adults alike. The games were playful and fun, they captured the childlike wonder and playfullness of the first books and while they failed to build into the more adult action series that later books and films did, this didn’t stop them being brilliant.

 

Two Deathly hallows games released around this time. Neither was very good. This left a hole to be filled however, as the books were long finished and now the films had also come to their conclusion. The natural progression was for the fandom of Harry Potter to live on in video games (as well as spin off films and stage shows) However this was not to be as instead in the 5 years following the end of the film series, 3 relatively poor motion controller games released in Harry Potter for Kinnect, Book o Spells and Book of Potions. While they were a neat idea, they weren’t really anything to write home about. And that was it for non mobile titles. We’ve yet to see another.

 

2016’s Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World was something a bit different being a mobile title that sat outside the Harry Potter story ark. The game saw the player portray a ministry member inspecting magical creatures for the Ministry of Magic. The game was okay, as far as mobile games go at least. It offered something a bit different but there was little substance to be had and players soon got tired.

 

2 years later and yet another mobile game graced our screens. However this time the community was 7 years out for a good piece of Harry Potter Media and were starving for something to sink their teeth into. Hype was abundant for Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. People were sorely disappointed. The game was nothing more than a waiting simulator designed to rip money from your wallet with malicious microtransactions. One example was a scene early in the game in which the player is choked by a devils snare which depletes all of their in game energy. They are then forced to either wait 30 minutes for the energy to rebuild to continue or pay real money to carry on right away. The game itself wasn’t terrible, there was a plot there to be followed, it featured many characters we are familiar with and allowed for the players actions to change the world around them… however most of this was essentially behind paywall unless you were willing to play the game at a snail’s pace, waiting for energy to build up, which many were not. Overall the game did not go down well. It was not what the fans wanted and it really felt like a final nail in the coffin for Harry Potter Video Games. It was to date the most recent official game release.

 

So where do we stand now? Well, i’ll talk to you about 3 games. One that’s coming soon, one that is likely coming in the near future and one the fans have wanted for a long time and I hope that we get one day.

 

First up is Niantic of Pokemon Go fames new title, Harry Potter Wizard Unite. Drawing heavily from Pokemon GO, it’s another Augmented reality game that incorporates real world locations and movement into the gameplay. While there’s no real story available, the game does allow some choice and customization as players select their hogwarts house and adult profession before they set off around the world taking down criminals and capturing mythical creatures that have escaped. While the game isn’t exactly what many die-hard fans are looking for in terms of imersion and world building… it does serve a purpose. It’s a very casual game that will allow players to connect with the world on their morning commute or while walking the dog. The game will release sometime in 2019 and i’d be lieing if I said I wasn’t a bit excited.

 

In 2018 a leaked trailer released for a harry potter game that brought the internet to a frenzy. The game thought to be titled Harry Potter Magic Awakened is everything Harry Potter video game fans have wanted since 2001. An incredibly detailed, free to explore hogwarts, hogsmeade and diagon alley all make appearances in the trailer. So do large mythical creatues, a full character creation screen, magic classes, magical combat and so much more. Magic Awakened is the game we want, it’s the game we deserve after sitting through so many poor movie tie ins. The game is rumoured to be set in the victorian age, so will sit completely outside the lore of the Harry Potter films as well as the Fantastic Beast spin offs. Which will allow the game its own identity. Supposedly it will allow for the player to create a character that attends the school, chose their house and explore using their own free will. I’m hoping for something similar to a magical Bully. In Fablesque gameplay, you can make good or evil choices that will lead you down a path of light or dark and affect story and gameplay as a result. The two studios rumoured to be developing the title are either British developer Rocksteady of Batman Arkham series fame or Avalanche Software, an American studio owned by Warner Bro’s and used to make Disney tie ins in the past. However the game is yet to be officially announced… and I just hope that this isn’t a cancelled project that never sees the light of day.

 

Finally i’ll briefly talk about a game that me and my friends talked about on the school yard back in the early 2000’s and I still have never given up hope for. That’s a Harry Potter themed MMORPG. The world lends itself so well to the genre. A game in which players join hogwarts houses or potentially Durmstrang, Ilvermony or any of the other magical schools. They spend a few hours playing through hogwarts, competing in inter-house events and learning the game before they graduate and go out into the world to complete quests, working for the ministry or some other magical agency. While at this point I have pretty much given up on this ever being a thing, as we currently sit 8 years since the release of the final film, but I can always hope.

 

So what do you think? Do you have fond memories of any of the games i’ve talked about? What are your hopes for Harry Potter in terms of video games? Please Subscribe and comment down below, i’d love to know!  If you’d like to support me on Patreon then please visit Bit.ly/TMYTPatreon – My first 3 supporters will unlock a special perk by being able to select a theme for an upcoming Cities, Prison Architecht or Planet Coaster or perhaps a history video for a game or series that you want to see. Thanks for watching and i’ll be back soon with another video!

The Rise & Fall of Sim City

The 90’s and early 2000’s were a paradise of simulation games. Games that enabled the players creativity while also allowing them to balance a large number of spreadsheets and spinning plates were all the rage. Within the last few years this genre has begun a renaissance, games like Planet Coaster, Prison Architect and Cities Skylines have taken the games of old and thrust them into the modern day. One of the titles that has fallen by the way side after many years as a best seller and fan favourite is Sim City. So what happened to it? In this video we will take a look at the rise and fall of Sim City.

In 1989, American video game designer Will Wright released SimCity. He was inspired after creating his first game, Raid on Bungeling Bay, a top down war shooter. The game was designed to fit into the existing market. Wright used conventional mechanics and themes to build a game like others on the market. The game was built using a technical trick. Upon moving from the Apple 2 to the commodore 64, Wright learnt a method for scrolling smoothly over what appeared to be a single massive background image and enabled the system to look like it could load a great deal more than it really could.

The game was sold to Broderbund software, who published the title in 1984, selling a reasonable 30,000 copies. It’d have been a decent number had the story ended there, but it did not. Hudson Soft, a Japanese publisher bought the rights to Raid on Bungeling Bay from Broderbund so they could release it on the NES. Supposedly the game sold an incredible 750,000 copies on the NES. This amazing success gave Will Wright a steady income so that he was able to invest more time into his next project. It enabled him to take some risks and not rely on making a game that was guaranteed to sell. A game that would break the mold and offer players a brand new experience.

Wright found that he enjoyed designing and creating the locations within the game, more than the combat mechanics that the title offered. He theorised that players would also love the ability to create their own cities and thus the extremely basic looking SimCity, initially called Micropolis was released on the Commodore Amiga and Macintosh. Sim City was the first of its kind. Wright had taken the leap to create a game that he loved and he hoped would find an audience. He initially struggled to find a publisher for the game as most publishers including Broderbund, doubted that a game with no win or loss conditions would go down well with the fans. So instead he decided alongside an acquaintance he’d met at a pizza party, Jeff Braun, that they’d found their own publisher to release Sim City under, and thus Maxis was born. However these little company could not go it alone. They needed help, they need a distrubitor. So Will Wright went back to Broderbund and asked for help. Broderbund convinced Maxis to add a set of optional scenarious to the game. A number of time-limited challenges that the player could meet or fail and thus giving the game definitive win and loss conditions. With this implementation, Broderbund happily agreed to become Maxis’s distributor and look after them in the cut throat games industry.

The game was a smash hit and took the world by storm. Wright looked as his game not as a conventional gaming experience, but more akin to a doll house or a train set. An open-ended interactive experience that put the power in the players hands and left the fun up to them to create. The term the community would later adopt for this being the term ‘sandbox’.

Will wrights passion project had become a sensation. It’d launched a new genre of video games and taken over the world. In 1991 SimCity celebrated it’s second anniversary on the market while still topping the charts as the pest selling computer game on the market. Five years after it’s initial release, the follow up Sim City 2000 released and expanded upon the winning formula, introducing a range of new features and a new look isometric view to replace the top down view of the original. The follow up was a more series and more complicated simulation game, with less focus on the win conditions that he’d been forced to implement with the original. The release of sequels did not however slow the sales for the initial title. Maxis renamed Simcity to SimCity Classic and continued to sell and support the title. In total the original SimCity sold half a million copies on the PC with the Super Nintendo version selling a further half a million copies. When you add in the Commodore 64 figures it was clear that SimCity was one of the biggest titles to hit gaming in a long time… and it was here to stay.

However, all good things falter at some point and SimCity was no exception. Maxis pumped out more and more SimCity titles as the years went on. SimCity in 1989 was followed by SimCity 2000 in 1993, then SimCity 3,000 in 1999, Sim City 64 in 2000 then a further 2 Sim City’s in 2003. Games became more and more frequent and less and less inspired and ambitious. The community began to lose trust in Maxis as each new version of the game offered very little in terms of developments and improvements. I’d argue that part of SimCity’s problem is that it was so influential, it inspired many of it’s contemporaries… not just in the sim builder genre but in vastly different genre’s as well. The inclusion of a focus on creativity and player led gaming can be felt around the industry. When asked in 2008 to name the three most important innovations in the history of electronic gaming, Sid Meier listed one of them as Sim City saying ‘ You can see traces of SimCity in many if not most of the games we play today, from casual social games to hardcore CRPG and strategy titles’.

Maxis first went public in 1995 and for a time, between its public offering and the sales of SimCity 2000, the company prospered. However after a number of failures and poor business decisions, the company found itself in dire straits and needed saving.

The company pinned its hopes on SimCity 3000 to save them. The game would unfortunately release disastrously as SimCity’s first foray into the realm of 3D led to computers being unable to generate the power to run the title. After a disastrous E3 in 1997 and on the brink of financial ruin, Maxis began to search for a buyer. Electronic Arts came to their aid and spend $125 million in a stock swap to save them. Following this purchase, EA began removing upper management in the months following the purchase as they found a company with low morale sitting on a gold mine, so they took to trying to right the sinking ship as they worked towards their next release, SimCity 4.

SimCity held the title at the top of the urban simulation video game genre for over 2 decades. Sim City, Sim City 2000 and Sim City 3000 were huge global successes and Sim City 4 released in 2003 gave players even more creativity, enabling them to develop mods and custom designs into the game, essentially giving the title an almost endless life span. And that’s how the series sat for 14 years. The community kept SimCity 4 alive, with modders and designers on websites such as Simtropolis and SimCity devotion numbering in the hundreds of thousands and the custom creations in their millions. The community was happy with what they had and kept with the game from 2003 while the rest of the industry moved on. 9 years later in 2012, Maxis and EA announced SimCity, a rebrand of the series using the Glassbox engine and bringing SimCity into the modern day. Buzz was everywhere and everyone was excited for the new king of sandbox games. However excitement turned to bitter disappointment as more and more changes were announced by the studio. Modding support was severely discouraged and unsupported, the ability to create custom buildings was removed, the game would be online online and maps would be locked at the size of 4 square kilometers, which was around the size of the smallest maps in SimCity 4.

With so much controversy around the game in the lead up to the release. It was imperative for EA and Maxis to be prepared for launch day and have a smooth launch to ease fans frustrations. Especially considering the title was coming out just after Diablo 3 which had suffered from the same controversy and had had a disastrous launch. Unfortunately 2013’s Sim City suffered the same fate. Servers did not work on the games release day. For many players it took up to a week to be able to even play the game they had paid $60 for, and EA had to further neuter the game and remove features just to get it to work.

Fans were not happy. The official forums were full of angry critics writing long and well crafted complaints analysing the new features within SimCity and specifying why they were a mistake. Unfortunately the developer refused to buckle to community pressure and make any changes whatsoever. Maxis and EA made a great number of mistakes on 2013’s Sim City. Mistakes on what fans wanted, overestimating their game engine and a lack of polish left fans angry and disheartened. However I feel the biggest mistake they made was not supporting their modding community. Maxis’s Sim City 4 had been kept alive by the dedicated modders continually pumping out new free content to fans, and I think Maxis underestimated the impact this had on the game success. They had one of the most talented modding communities in gaming and they essentially threw them to the curb. Maxis would pay the price for these mistakes. A mere months after the games release, the studio in Emeryville that developed the title closed its doors.

Things went from bad to worse for Maxis when a competitor saw the angry community of loyal fans and decided to capitalise on Maxi’s mistakes and provide fans what they wanted. The small developer from Finland named Colossal Order announced Cities Skylines a year after the release of Sim City. The developer announced that Cities Skylines would be able to be played offline and that it would offer support for the modding community on launch day. Colossal Order and the games publisher Paradox are far smaller than Maxis and EA, but it didn’t matter. Cities Skylines became a success overnight and sold half a million copies in the first week and more than 6 million copies since. Collosal Order keep things new and exciting, with a new DLC every roughly 6 months for the past 5 years and most importantly a dedicated modding community that has kept the game fun to play since launch day with hundreds of thousands of items to download and use for free. Cities Skylines saw an opportunity and they took it, and now they are the undisputed kings of the Urban simulation video game genre. Sim City is all but dead and whether we will get a follow up title remains to be seen… but looks unlikely.

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Too lazy to click the link? Here is the video for you to enjoy in all it’s glory!

What we know about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake?

Final Fantasy 7 is consistently in the conversation for the best game of all time alongside Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid. All 3 games are more than 2 decades old now and look quite dated in comparison to the games of today. Both Link and Solid Snakes adventures have been followed up in subsequent titles but as the Final Fantasy series features a new cast of characters in each game, Cloud and friends tale seems to be forever relegated to the block graphics of the late 90’s. That is until the FF7 remake hits shelves. Something most Final Fantasy fans are eagerly awaiting.

 

So what do we know about the FF7 remake? Well… not all that much really. Square Enix has kept its cards close to it’s chest when it comes to this project. The game was revealed to fans back in 2015 at E3 and everything revealed since then has come in drips and drabs. A reveal trailer was dropped in 2015 alongside the initial reveal, a further trailer featuring gameplay came ast PSX 2015 and since then all we’ve had is a number of screenshots.

 

4 of the original key staff members from Final Fantasy 7 have returned to work on the remake. Original character designer Tetsuya Nomura returned as both director and main character designer, original director Yoshinori Kitase acted as producer, Kazushige Nojima returned to write the script, and composer Nobuo Uematsu is also involved.

 

The new Final Fantasy 7 is a remake and not just a remaster. So what does that mean exactly? Well the game will likely not be a carbon copy with new graphics but instead it’ll be a retelling of the classic 1997 story but with some changes to accomodate the appetites of a modern audience. Additional content is to be expected as well as some adjustments to the original character designs. The biggest change is likely to come from changes to the combat. For those of us that adore the old school turn based combat of the original then it’s likely to be bad news. The combat is very likely to be more action focused and in a similar vein to Final Fantasy 15, whose engine the remake is also using. The story is likely to recieve a bit of an update as well due to the expansion of the FF7 lore in subsequent spin off titles and animated films.

 

The game will be episodic. Square Enix decided to release the game in three seperate parts so as to not cut any content from the original game. While the specifics have not been announced there are 2 different methods that Square Enix could use for this. Telltales episodic style has shown huge success with titles such as the walking dead or with dontnod entertainments life is strange. These games were included under 1 price tag and would unlock for the player every couple of months. Square Enix previously attempted this style of game with the Hitman reboot, but they abandoned this model for the sequel which could be telling in their decision for the FF7 remake. The other potential style could be the one they went with for Final Fantasy 13, which saw 3 seperate games released in different years and required a full price purchase for each one.

The final and most disappointing thing is that we have no idea when this game will release. After an announcement in 2015, it was expected that the game will be dropped by 2018, however initial leaked conversations between producer Yoshinori Kitase and development lead Naoki Hamaguchi have suggested that it could be as late as 2023 before we finally get our hands on the FF7 remake. The conversation stated that the aim was to have the game released before the 35th anniversary of the company.  Another reason for the delay is that it’s been confirmed that the game will be a PS4 exclusive… at least first. Given that the current gen is reaching the end of its life cycle, it might be that the FF7 remake will hold out until next gen.

 

But could we be getting it earlier…? Maybe. Square Enix recently released their latest financial projections, which revealed that they are expecting a big increase in revenue for the 3rd and 4th quarters of the 2019 financial year. This would be between October and December 2019. With nothing currently announced to release between this period… could it be FF7? Only time will tell.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Apex legends

Apex Legends is without a doubt one of the biggest suprises in the gaming industry during recent times. Hitting the industry like a rocket in the last couple of weeks,  the game has topped the Twitch viewership charts, hit 8 figure account creations and has recieved universal positive acclaim. We are going to take a quick look at 10 things you may not know about Apex Legends. Don’t forget to Subscribe and ring that bell to be notified of my upcoming content.

 

10 – Apex Legends is the first game in the history of the industry to release as it was announced. This extremely risky marketing move has been carried out in the tech industry but has never been carried out by a games developer. The stars aligned for Apex and I worry that this success may lead others to try and replicate the games release hype but may not yield similar results.

 

9 – In addition to the previous point, it’s almost impossible to keep a game secret during development. EA and Respawn somehow managed this, not even alluding to a secret project or an unnamed game.

 

8 – The game has seemingly blended two of the most popular genres of FPS into one to create something new and unique. The addition of the battle royale genre alongside the hero class shooter genre has meshed well together for a new experience for many players.

 

7 – Apex Legends is created by Respawn, the developers of TitanFall 2. While it’s not extremely obvious due to the lack of giant robots, wall running and smart pistols. Apex Legends is set in the same world as Titanfall and can be viewed as a spiritual successor to Titanfall 2.

 

6 – Squad based gametypes have generally always been between 4 – 6 in competitive game modes. Very few games have gone below this number as it can be difficult to develop enough team synergy and cohesion with only three players. Shootmania was one of the only games to use the 3 man squad party size… and we all know how that game panned out.

 

5 – TitanFall 3 may still be coming. Respawn CEO Vince Zampella has tweeted out that more Titanfall is coming later in the year. While many are hoping this is another stellar single player Titanfall experience, akin to that delivered in TItanfall 2. This remains to be seen as Respawn are releasing Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order later in 2019 and 3 full fledged games for the studio may be a little ambitious. Let’s just hope it’s not a crappy mobile game.

 

4 – The world is deceptively detailed and content rich. Each character has a backstory and a place within the world around Apex Legends. The Apex Games themselves have a reason for existing and although not revealed yet, i’m sure will feed into Titanfall game lore. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see a number of animated shorts to further flesh out the characters and world like Blizzard have done with Overwatch.

 

3 – More maps are coming! It was a great sign when I booted up Apex Legends for the first time and saw that the map had a name. Unlike fortnight it would appear that more maps are coming eventually, which will help to keep the game fresh and interesting as time goes on.

 

2 – Cross Platform support is likely coming to the game. Like fortnight, it is likely that Respawn will follow that route and allow for PS4, Xbox 1 & PC players to compete together for those wins.

 

1 – New Legends are coming! According to the 2019 Apex legends Roadmap, we will see new guns, new loot and most importantly new legends join the game as time goes on. We can expect new legends to appear in Season 2 which starts in June. Perhaps they’ll even introduce one in March’s Season.

I realised there was a few key cities i’d not yet included on my lists so i’m back with episode 6. I’ll be taking a look at 10 of the best creations within Cities Skylines. Keep in mind that these are my thoughts and if you disagree or think something else should have made the list then please do say in the comments down below. Also to note that the list is unranked as the quality on offer is too close to call, so the list is in a random order. 

The Rise and fall of Rollercoaster Tycoon

When I think back to my childhood and the games that had the biggest impact, the titles are Final Fantasy 7 and the original Roller Coaster Tycoon. In this video i’ll take you through the origins of Roller Coaster Tycoon all the way upto it’s unfortunate demise as we take a look at The Rise and fall of Rollercoaster Tycoon.

 

RCT1 was one of, if not the first game I requested and recieved as a christmas gift. I’d been playing it on a neighbours PC and completely fell in love from the first time I dropped into Forrest Frontiers. Everything felt so buttery smooth. The rollercoaster design was flawless for the time and still holds up to this day, even better than some titles released decades after it. The creative options seemed endless, with an array of rides and coasters to chose from and design and plan. On top of that sat a strong management sim which required you to keep the needs of hundreds and sometimes thousands of independent guests who all ran independently in your park with individual needs and thoughts. And just to mention, the game ran with no lag due to the fact that it was coded in assembly by genius creator Chris Sawyer. What’s more impressive is that RCT1 was created by a team of 3. A programmer, an artist and a musician. Simply incredible for a game produced in 1999.

 

RCT2 followed up in 2002. Visually an almost exact clone, RCT2 built upon the strong foundations of it’s predecessor and gave fans what they wanted above all else… more content. RCT2 felt in some ways like it was little more than a large DLC pack. With some small UI changes being the only real gameplay difference to the previous title. The big difference was the huge number of new rides, new coasters, new buildings, designs, parks and just an abundance of new stuff to keep you occupied. RCT2 was a perfect follow up. It took a fantastic game and just expanded without changing. What’s to complain about?

 

The third installment of the game was the biggest change and most radical overhaul that the series had ever and i’m willing to bet will ever have. RCT3 was the first title without head honcho Chris Sawyer at the helm. Instead he acted as a consultant for British developer Frontier Developments. Frontier came into the series with high hopes and astronomical ambitions. They hoped to take the tried and tested formula of the previous titles and bring it into the 3D space. Frontier had helped work on ports and expansions for the first 2 Tycoon titles, but this was their first foray into a 3D tycoon game. Now this wasn’t the first 3D roller coaster title to be released as fellow British developer Bulldog productions had released Theme Park World in 1999. So Frontier weren’t treading new ground… but what they managed to produce was more than anyone really expected. RCT3 was as close to the previous two titles as was possible at the time. While admittedly a little janky in the controls and animations, the game ran smoothly, expanded on the wealth of content available and even introduced completely new features like animals and water parks. The Roller Coaster Tycoon series was at an all time high in 2004 and looked like nothing would stop this juggernaut. However that was all about to change. In the decade that followed a number of monumental failures would lead to the name of this once beloved franchise to be dragged through the mud and besmirched forever more.

 

After the huge success of RCT3 the natural progression should surely have been more success with RCT4. This was not to the case. Original creator Chris Sawyer had moved on from the series and Frontier games had taken their skills elsewhere after making Thrillville for Lucasarts. This was to be their last Rollercoaster title for a decade. So what happened to Frontier to make them seek greener pastures elsewhere?

 

The issues can be traced to RollerCoaster Tycoons publisher Atari. A legendary developer and founder of the video game after their creation of Pong in 1971. Frontier Developments worked alongside the owner of the RCT IP Christ Sawyer in 2007 to create an enhanced version of RCT3. Frontier intended to to license out the game to a 3rd party purchaser. However Atari claimed that by Sawyer was in breach of the pre-existing contract he had with Atari by assisting Frontier in this endeavour. They took Chris Sawyer to court and the case was settled in an out of course settlement. The game was never released and the relationship between Atari and Frontier was severely damaged. By 2005 Atari had fallen on hard times with revenue losses in the tens of millions. This would carry on until they announced their bankruptcy in 2013. In 2016 Frontier Developments would sue Atari as it claims that they had put off carrying out an audit which meant that they paid out only $1.17m in royalties instead of the estimated $3.17m that Frontier were owed.

 

It was 7 years between titles as Atari didn’t roll out Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D until October 2012. The game was clearly a cash grab by the struggling publisher who were trying to milk a previously profitable IP by hiring n-space a studio specialising in portable nintendo ports and having them port over RCT3 for the 3DS. The game was pretty bad. It was received poorly and sold very poorly. The game was viewed as a bad recreation of the previous title due to its unappealing graphics, lack of mechanics in comparison to the series predecessors, a poorly designed interface, and a generally dull experience for players.

 

Thinking that they were onto a winning formula but had simply gotten the device wrong, in 2014 Atari teamed up with on5 and UAB to release a mobile version of Roller Coaster Tycoon. The game while originally being a paid app quickly devolved into a freemium model much to the chagrin of most fans. It was clear that fans didn’t want a cheap mobile knock off of the game they loved and RCT Mobile went down even worse with the fans than the previous title.

 

Atari would hope the saying third times the charm would be the case when they released RCT3 Mobile in 2015 but this time they employed Frontier Developments in what would be their final after joint project together. The game was essentially a clone of the 2004 title with mobile controls, something fans actually wanted and better yet it was devoid of in app purchases. It did well financially and renewed Atari’s interest in the IP. Not that they knew what they were doing at this point as a series of blunders was to follow this one tiny glimmer of hope in a sea of failures that the last decade brought the series.

 

In 2016 the genre saw a revival as 2 full fledged PC releases hit the market within a day of each other. The first game and by far the worst was Atari’s first offering in the form of RCT World. This title was Atari’s attempt at bring RCT3 into the next gen and offering an updated and detailed fluid coaster builder. The game was a colossal failure. Ith andles horrendously, the visuals were heavily lacking and it just felt like an insult to the loyal fans that had hoped the title would be a true sequel to RCT3. The buggy mess rapidly fell by the wayside and had lost a majority of its player base by the month after release.

 

On the 17th November 2016 Frontier Developments would have their revenge on Atari. Frontier had been working for years on their own Coaster builder under a new IP under the name of Planet Coaster. Planet Coaster was a smash hit, in a similar vein to Collosal Orders Cities Skylines, the game had taken the basics of a beloved IP that had fallen by the wayside and built upon it into something magical, something special and something that would completely crush is opposition and solidify them as the market leader in an instant. Frontier had taken a huge risk by self publishing Planet Coaster and it paid off in spades as they sold 400,000 copies in the first month and cleared 2,000,000 sales by the end of 2018. The two games had polar opposite effects for the two companies as Atari backed off from Coaster builders outside of a suprisingly good re-release of Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 towards the end of 2017 called RCT Classic, while Frontier have continued to release DLC and additional content for the still popular Planet Coaster as well as acquiring the Jurrasic Park license to make a Jurrasic Park builder known as Jurrasic World Evolution.

 

So where are we now? In 2019 there are a number of independently produced coaster builders in the works but two reign supreme. Planet Coaster for those that wish to create incredibly detailed works for art and detailed 3D parks and Parkitekt a beautiful 2D builder in a similar wheelhouse to the original 2 Rollercoaster Tycoons. Both games are incredible titles and seem more than capable of keeping interest in the genre going forward

5 Video Games that Changed the World

In this entry I will list 5 video games that changed the gaming landscape, whether that be for better or for worse. To be included on this list the game must have had a profound effect on the population and entered pop culture. So without further ado.

 

1  – Pong – 1972

 

Prior to 1972, the term video gaming was simply non-existent. Pong was created by one man, Alan Alcorn after being tasked with creating the game by Atari founded Nolan Bushell. The game was an arcade regular from 1972 and was a favourite by many children accross America. However it wasn’t until the home console version released in 1975 through an exclusive promotion via Sears. The game sold 150,000 copies alone in the Christmas of 1975. The seeds were sown and an industry would crop up around that simple game.

 

2 – ET – 1983

 

Following the success of games like Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids and Galaxian. The Gaming industry was printing money as fast as developers could code. With the simplicity of games back in the 70’s and 80’s, studios could release a game a month, some with even more frequency. This began to affect consumers who were overloaded with an abundance of games of varying quality. The industry had started to become simply a cash grab for many companies and a large number of games released at the dawn of the 1980’s were horrifically buggy, unplayable messes. This lack of trust in developers reached a fever pitch with the release of movie tie in ET in 1983. The game was so poor, so unplayable and caused so much outrage, that it caused a major crash of the industry dropping revenues by as much as 97 percent, seeing an industry valued at $3.2bn reduced to a total value of $100m. It was rumoured that Atari had burried the thousands of unsold ET cartridges in the desert which became an urban myth within the industry. A myth that was recently proven true as the cartidges were unearthed. The industry would remain in shambles until a certain Japanese company would come to the rescue with a certain Italian plumber on the newly released NES in 1985.

 

3 – Wolfenstein 3D – 1992

 

By the early 90’s the video game industry was booming. TItles like Mario, Mortal Kombat, Sonic and Street fighter had taken over the world. However one genre that sits on top of the games industry today as the jewel in the crown had still not been conceived. ID Software in 1992 were a relatively successful young company having created the commander keen titles. ID released Wolfenstein 3D on May 5th 1992. The game was a smash success. Unlike anything the world had ever seen. Wolfenstein featured first person action, allowing for greater emersion and an increased skill ceiling in comparison to many arcade shooters of the time. The genre was instantly popular, but it’d be a few years before it really began to take over.

 

4 – Quake – 1996

 

ID Software pioneered and dominated the early stages of the first person shooter genre. Three of the legendary games in the genre stemmed from ID. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and then Quake. Both Doom and Quake sparked a surge of other developers to create FPS titles and for a long while these were simply known as doom clones or quake clones. However, Quake provided the world with something more lasting than Doom, something that changed the path the industry followed forever. Quake provided us with competitive gaming and esports. The first quake title allowed for local co-op action like many games before it had, however it also allowed for players to use their modems to connect to other players around the world. For the first time in history, players were connected and competing from the comfort of their homes. This quickly led to the rise of talented players and before long a tournament known as Red Ahnilation was set up at E3 1997. The prize for the tournament was ID Software founder John Carmacks 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS. The prize was won by Dennis ‘Thresh’ Fong who went on to have a long a storied history in the gaming landscape. It was not long before new titles joined the ranks of the new found esports trend. Games like Counter-Strike, Starcraft and Unreal tournament would carry on the legacy left behind by Quake that can be still be felt today.

 

5 – Final Fantasy 7 – 1997

 

The ironically titled Final Fantasy series has been a long standing and legendary series over the past 2 decades. However 1 title stands out among the rest. One title is consistently touted as one of the best games of all time, even with it’s basic graphics and lack of dialogue. That game is Final Fantasy 7. FF7 changed the game. The game brought a level of immersion and storytelling that simply hadn’t really been seen before 1997. Telling the tell of a mercenary for hire that gets caught up in an eco rebellion against a blood sucking corporation before being roped into a zealots crusade for power. The epic tale of a gang of likeable and fleshed out characters grueling quest through a surprisingly detailed and memorable world took the world by storm. Not surprisingly being the most expensive title ever produced upto that point with a budget of a staggering $145m. They would hold onto this accolade for another 14 years!

Top 12 Facts about Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 was many peoples game of the year for 2019… and the awards seemed to agree. Rockstars first game since GTA V all the way back in 2013, they smashed it out of the park like they usually do. We’ll look at some of the most impressive and interesting things that you may not know about Red Dead Redemption 2.

1 – RDR2 sold 17,000,000 copies and is currently the 44th best selling game of all time. This may not sound like much but when you consider all of the games in the top 43 have been out longer and seem even as long as 30 years. It is an impressive feat. Also you have to consider that Rockstars previous title GTA V is 3rd after selling 100,000,000 copies and has yet to leave the top 20 best selling weekly games list since 2013… it’s very possible that RDR2 repeats this feat.

2 – Arthur Morgan who the player plays as during Red Dead Redemption 2 has a beard that grows in real time. Just like Geralt of Rivia’s beard in Witcher 3, you can watch your beard grow in real time. Who said innovation for the sake of innovation wasn’t worthwhile!

3 – Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel. Rockstar initially toyed with following up on the adventures of Jack Marston, however they decided that it’d be more interesting to take a look back at John Marston, his early career and how he got to the point he was at in Red Dead Redemption 1.

4 – Your horses Balls will shrink in cold weather and grow again when the weather warms. Now isn’t that an obscure specific detail we all needed in our lives.

5 – There are upwards of 200 different wildlife creatures for you to find, observe and slaughter should you wish. You’ll be rewarded more for creatures higher up the food chain. On top of that the behaviour of all the wildlife will change based on the seasons and the surroundings. More evidence of the insane level of detail Rockstar put in the game.

6 – The NPC’s have memory. If you impact an NPC’s live, perhaps by killing a loved one then they will remember it forever. Should you come into contact with the NPC again in the future on a stroll through town then don’t expect to walk away without a fight.

7 – Red Dead Remeption 2 had the largest opening weekend of any game in the history of the industry making $725,000,000 in it’s first 3 days. However this figure does come with a caveat as GTA5, Rockstars previous game holds the title for the largest opening in video gaming after it made $1,000,000,000 in it’s first 3 days. GTAV just happened to drop on a Tuesday.

8 – The Companion App is a first of its kind. An app you can download to your phone that will allow you to look around in your ingame map, set waypoints and mark interesting areas to investigate. You can also view your characters stats and important data from your phone. This means you can remove the HUD from your game and play in first person for a true immersive experience.

9 – Nearly all of the buildings can be entered. Something all of us have wanted since the days of GTA3 gave us a world to explore. Each building has its own stories, it’s own inhabitants that can all be interacted with and some buildings even contain a few easter eggs to be discovered.

10 – The world is alive and goes through changes whether you interfere or not. The map will change, scenery will change, settlements will grow or fail and you are free to sit by and watch the amazing world change before your very eyes. If you break or wall or damage something then as the weeks progress you’ll see it being repaired and eventually fixed completely.

11 – Rockstar will reward loyal fans of their games. If you have GTA V installed on your console then you can some special content as a thank you from the developer. Similarly if you have both installed and boot up GTA V then you can claim two unique guns. Check your in-game phone when you log in for more information on how to claim the guns.

12 – Red Dead Redemption 2 broke the mold for open world games. In every other open world game there are main story missions, side missions and activities for you to do. You progress the story by following the main story missions while everything else is optional. However in Red Dead Redemption 2 the developers decided not to tackle the genre this way. Instead you have an abundance of things to do or not to do. You can decide to do whatever you want as you encounter random encounters or interesting things to take part in as you traverse the world. The story will progress as you adventure through the world. Rockstar states that it should take the average player around 60 hours to explore the world and make it through the story, but it’ll likely take the average player a lot longer as you stop to admire the beauty and depth that the world Rockstar has created has to offer.

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Why you should check out Splitgate: Arena Warfare

Splitgate Arena Warfare is a game that has been on my radar since the days when it still went by the name Wormhole Wars. It instantly piqued my interest. While as many will say it has halo vibes and it’s hard to deny that it’s clearly inspired by halo and portal. Splitgate feels like its own thing. It feels different enough to the developers influences to stand on its own two feet.

The combat is smooth and relatively easy to grasp. However it’s difficult enough that there’s a noticeable skillgap between players. This gives me hope for the competitive future of Splitgate. The rifling is crisp and feels satisfying when you manage to mow down multiple enemies in a gunfight or build up a killstreak. The Jetpacks and wormholes speed up the gameplay significantly. Using momentum to speed through the map while picking off enemies almost give the game an arena FPS feeling. It makes me wish there was a railgun to be speeding around with.

Speaking of the wormholes, these are without a doubt the games most intriguing feature. They make Splitgate extremely dynamic as the use of wormholes gives the player a plethora of tricks up their sleeves. You can use a wormhole to sneak behind an enemy and shoot them in the back. You can use a wormhole to escape a pursuing enemy who you can’t quite kill. You can jump from a great height into a wormhole to enable you to use momentum to bridge a large gap, perhaps even snipe someone while gliding through the air… you get my point, it gives the player options.

While I feel that many die hard competitive FPS players will look down on the game for it’s odd gameplay mechanics and for its potential outdated combat style. I hope that people give Splitgate Arena Warfare a chance. It’s a fun game with an endless ceiling. A pro team using pre-planned portals to counter-act an enemy teams portal placement would be absolutely phenomenal to watch… and I hope we reach that point.

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Why Rainbow Six Siege is a Game to Watch!

The biggest surprise of the esports landscape of 2017 or 2018 is not PUBG, it’s not even Fortnite. The biggest surprise is without a doubt Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Having bought the game in early 2016 and enjoyed playing through the campaign and tried my hand at multiplayer, I put the game to rest and thought nothing more about it. This game didn’t have the merit to make it as an esport as no Rainbow Six had done before in a big way. Boy was I wrong.

Ubisoft attempted to get the esports scene in motion almost imedeately with the first pro league in partnership with ESL taking place 4 months after release. Running on Xbox and PC concurrently each finals saw the top two EU and NA teams fly to cologne to compete for $50,000. This continued for 3 seasons throughout 2016. Viewership was low, the future looked bleak. Ubisoft didn’t give up however. As 2017 rolled around, the game had continued to reviece updates to keep the playerbase active and engaged. The game was becoming more and more balanced, offering many unique strategies and loadouts to become viable in competitive play. Most importantly in the FPS market in which you were either a Battle Royale or CSGO. Rainbow Six was offering something different.

The 2017 season brought with it some big changes. Firstly a more than tripled prize pool at $167,000 per season. The introduction of Latin America, which any esports fan will know is a huge potential playerbase of active gamers, thirdly an increase in the numbers of teams at the finals from 4 to 8 and finally a focus on the PC side instead of the Xbox side. These changes made the scene more competitive, more interesting and more and more viewers continued to flock to the scene. As 2017 was coming to a close global brands like Evil Geniuses began to join the Rainbow Six scene by picking up one of the strongest North American teams.

Concurrently the pro league, Ubisoft ran the Invitational, a yearly super tournament in the spirit of Dota’s International. The 2017 tournament saw $100,000 given to the PC teams and $100,000 to the Xbox teams, a final hoorah for the Xbox gamers. The 2018 season would change the game entirely. Acting as a final stop on pro world tour style tournament, The 2018 invitational saw half a million dollars given in a PC only event that saw teams like Evil Geniuses, Faze Clan, Team Liquid, Rogue and CLG take part.

The 2019 season has continued to ramp things up as the teams begin to qualify for the February event. The inclusion of a Japanese team and additional Asian teams highlights just how global the game has become. Viewership continues to soar, more and more global brands are starting to get involved and Rainbow Six Siege shows now signs of slowing down in the near future. The game is solid to play, thrilling to watch and with a well structured esports landscape, it’s built to last.

12 Esports games I expect to succeed in the future!

12. Artifact

Artifact is the upcoming competitive card game from Valve. Hearthstone has proved that you can take the formula that magic the gathering created, digitise it, make it free to play and unleash it on the masses. Artifact seems to be going for something between Hearthstone and Magic the gathering. More complex than Hearthstone with less depth than Magic. Valve currently own 2 of the top 5 esports titles in CS:GO and Dota2. Valve have a solid track record and will now doubt make all the right steps to secure Artifacts future.

11. Battalion 1944

Battalion 1944 is Square Enix’s first foray into esports by funding British indie studio Bulkhead. B44 is a return to old school FPS titles, drawing heavy influence from Call of Duty 2. The game is a fast paced 5v5 competitive shooter with gameplay similar to CSGO. Having been out for a few months issues have already begun to surface for B44. Dwindling player bases have put a time limit on the games competitive scene and things will have to be turned around if they hope to make B44’s competitive scene work.

10. Battletech

Battletech is a strategy mech title that requires players to outhink their opponent in large scale battles. While a game like this has never had a big Esports following, I do feel there is place for it in the industry.

9. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Battle Royale

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Battle Royale. While Call of Duty has had an esports scene for the past decade, things have stagnated and the developers know it. This COD is looking to mix things up and make changes. The Introduction of a Battle Royale mode (something I expect everyone to start doing) could be a game changer for COD and see numbers reinvigorated.

8 – Diabotical

Diabotical was a game I backed on Kickstarter almost 2 years ago. It’s been in development for a long time and was at one point dubbed the saviour of the Arena FPS scene. However since its announcement we have seen Unreal Tournament release and fail, we’ve seen Quake Legends release and fail and Diabotical is still in development. I am keeping the game in this list as I feel it does have potential and would really like it to succeed. However there are so many question marks that it’s impossible to call how this game will do.

7. Dragon Ball Fighterz

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Dragon Ball Fighterz is the first Dragon Ball game that I felt could really work as a competitive fighter. Previous iterations while fun have been too over the top and ridiculous. Dragon Ball Fighterz balances the Dragon Ball aesthetic with competitive fighting elements in a strong manner. The game hasn’t yet grown competitively but I feel post Evo the game could really come into its own.

Paladins Realm Royale

Paladins Realm Royale is the latest attempt at finding an audience for Paladins. I feel sorry for this game in some ways as the base Paladins game is a strong one, sadly it just released alongside the almost identical Overwatch. Paladins has struggled to find an audience but I feel the new Battle Royale game mode will bring new players through the door and introduce them to the base competitive game as well.

5. Gwent

Gwent is developer CD Project Red’s first foray into competitive gaming. They’ve gone the safe route and opted for a competitive card game, building on their Witcher series minigame. The game seems to be somewhere between Artifact and Magic the Gathering, with a great deal of complexity and a steep learning curve. Is there room for 4 digital competitive card games? I’m not sure and if any of them are to fall by the wayside, I think Gwent will be the first to go.

4. PUBG

PUBG is a gaming phenomenon unlike anything we’ve seen in quite some time. PUBG hit the ground running on release and sold upward of 25 million copies. The esports scene got off to a solid start in 2017 and with a $2,000,000 tournament just round the corner, I am expecting big things from the future of PUBG, even though the games popularity is starting to taper off.

3. Icons

Icons is an indie title looking to step on the toes of Super Smash Bro’s. SSB is a franchise that has been a mainstay in the fighting game community for many years and I feel there’s room for a competitor if the game uses a similar set of skills and would allow for players to play both SSB & Icons, considering many fighting games players master a number of different titles. We’ve not seen a successful indie fighting game in a while, so i’ll be excited to see if Icons can stand the test of time.

2. NBA 2K18

NBA 2K18 is probably the least likely game I’d have thought to add to this list. Sports games (outside of Fifa) have never done well in esports. However the NBA seems to be putting it’s money behind the official NBA 2K18 league and trying to get NBA esports off the ground. With investment from NBA teams, the league has enough capital to make a big splash, however whether it can find an audience is another question entirely.

1. Fortnite

Fortnite has a 2018-2019 prize pool of $100,000,000. Enough said. Fortnite will do very well as an esport, even if the game doesn’t spectate all too well right now. It has the players, it has the money and it has the mainstream interest. I’m expecting HUGE things from Fortnite in the near future.