Hey there, OASG readers! I’m Angela, the founder and owner of Damage Control Blog. Geoff already introduced me in last month’s inaugural column. It’s my turn to write and this month certainly has been a doozy for gaming news! The title and this month’s theme are not references to our blog, but actual damage control for the month of August. It may have not been a fun month for game developers, but it’s been highly entertaining for everyone else.
Gamescom Announcements
It wouldn’t be August without news from Gamescom. There were a few new titles revealed, such as Mafia III and Halo Wars 2, and expansion announcements, but mostly new gameplay footage and trailers were shown for upcoming titles. Notable announcements included new expansions for Destiny and World of Warcraft, new gameplay looks at Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dark Souls III, Fallout 4, and Halo 5. You can get the full list from IGN.
Final Fantasy XV- Yawn and that’s it?!
I was excited when a new trailer for Final Fantasy XV was released. Then I made the mistake of actually watching the trailer. The trailer featured almost three minutes of King Regis holding his son, a younger version of Noctis, our protagonist. It was boring, slightly awkward, and I couldn’t help but wonder when the real trailer would start. My actual reaction after finishing the trailer was “So, when does Persona 5 come out?!” I’m not sure what Square Enix was thinking, but kudos to them for making the fan base even less excited about the newest mainline Final Fantasy.
The promised gameplay at Gamescom? It mostly featured the developers and director, Hajime Tabata, talking about the changes they made to the game. In that hour long report, less than two minutes of actual gameplay footage were shown. Even more depressing is the fact that very little progress has been made on the FFXV since the release of the demo. It’s doubtful the game will release in 2016, or if it does, it’ll be at the VERY end of 2016. Needless to say, people were looking forward to learning more about Final Fantasy XV because it was a no-show at E3. The Gamescon showing was a major disappointment to almost every fan. At this point, if the game shows up at Tokyo Game Show next month, it would be wise to keep your expectations low.
Red Ash’s Troubled Kickstarter
Red Ash: The Indelible Legend was announced at the start of July. It was a more or less Comcept’s attempt to create a new Mega Man Legends game. The game would be funded through Kickstarter and the campaign was plagued with problems from the start, including an odd separate anime kickstarter called Red Ash: The Animation –Magicicada-. Getting funds for a game can be difficult enough, but tossing in a 5-minute animated short via another campaign? That’s just plain baffling. Not to mention in the actual game kickstarter it was unclear what fans would be getting for their money. Unsurprisingly, the campaign failed to make its funding goals. Normally, this is where the game would be written off as yet another lesson in how not to run a kickstarter project, but Red Ash’s development took an interesting twist. A few days before the kickstarter was to end, Comcept announced they would be working with Fuze, a Chinese publisher. Fuze would provide enough funds to publish the game on PC and every current gen console, except for Wii U. At this point, we’re in a wait-and-see mode when it comes to Red Ash’s development, but given the botched kickstarter, I’m sure some fans are pretty leery of Comcept.
On the surprising side note, the Red Ash anime kickstarter actually faired much better. It not only met its funding goal, but also managed to reach a stretch goal of 12 minutes of animation. Because Studio 4°C is handling the project I’m not too worried.
Mighty No.9 Delayed
Since we’re on the subject of Comcept, how about that Mighty No. 9? Oh yes, it’s been delayed into 2016. During the Red Ash kickstarter, Comcept was actually silent about its development and progress. Shortly after the Mega Man Legends clone kickstarter failed, the developer announced the delay. Mighty No. 9 was actually supposed to ship in May, but was pushed back to September, and will now miss that deadline. Fans noticed something was amiss when several retailers pushed back the game’s release date to December 31, 2016. Inquires from the press about the delay were ignored by Comcept and publisher, Deep Silver. Kickstarter backers had no idea what was going on and were understandably upset. The worst part about the fiasco is how silent and opaque the developer was regarding the delays. I’m sure fans will enjoy Mighty No. 9 whenever it releases, but I couldn’t blame anyone for being extremely weary of Comcept because of their recent actions.
Woolfe Won’t Howl Again
Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries was a slick-looking 2.5D fantasy platformer that promised to be a unique take on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. It was developed by the German indie studio, GRIN and even had a successful kickstarter campaign, followed by being greenlit on Steam and a release of the first volume. The game received mixed reviews from gamers and the press, but people were expecting the next volume. Despite all of that, GRIN announced on August 10 that Woolfe was cancelled. Not only was the game scrapped, but so was GRIN as the studio announced it didn’t have the money to pay developers, keep the lights on, or fulfill their promises to kickstarter backers. Even after a successful kickstarter, the studio’s ambitions were way too big. Backers will most likely never see their rewards and everyone who enjoyed the game will never see its completion. Woolfe’s failure does demonstrate the potential risk of funding a game on Kickstarter. Everything may seem to be progressing smoothly, only to fall apart at a later date. There’s almost nothing backers can do, as the risk of a project never being completed is a very real possibility. Rest in peace, Woofle, we barely got to know you.
Odds and Ends
Persona 4: Dancing All Night is set to release next month. We’ve seen a flurry of announcements from Atlus in the last week. The most notable announcement has been the inclusion of Hatsune Miku in the game via DLC. What’s a dancing game without the inclusion of a famous vocaloid? After all, she had her own game (Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd in 2014) and she’s going to be included in Just Dance 2016. That last bit actually intrigues me more than her unsurprising inclusion in Dancing All Night. I’ll be honest, I’m a little cool on this latest Persona 4 game, as I’m somewhat burned out by all of the Persona 4 spin-offs/sequels/cash grabs. That doesn’t mean I’m not getting the game though, as I seem to be a glutton for punishment.
I’m going to close things out with recent game release, Fallout Shelter. The game has been available on iOS since June, but is finally available for Android. This free-to-play game is all about building up your vault, accepting new members and sending them out into the wasteland. Think of it as Fallout’s take on The Sims. It’s a neat way to hold fans over until the release of Fallout 4. I just downloaded the game this morning to my tablet, so I don’t have any impressions. That said, I’m just happy to have a chance to play.
