I always say to my friends “Pokemon is the greatest game ever made”, when I say this, there isn’t a particular Pokemon game I’m referring to (Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red etc…), I’m referring to the general game of Pokemon created by Gamefreak that we all know and love (90’s kids will know, I know it sound snobby and being born in 96 barely makes me a 90s kid). Furthermore I’m not even referring to a specific aspect of the game, not graphics, not mechanics, not the narrative. Sure, there are a lot of games out there nowadays that are better in all those aspects. But to me Pokemon will always be one of the greatest games ever made because it was the first game I fell in love with – catching my first legendary (Groudon), failing to catch a legendary because I didn’t save the game before trying (rookie mistake, I know). So you can imagine my reaction when they finally released a Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch, I was through the roof!

Mid to late 2018 Gamefreak and Nintendo released the games Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s go Eveee. These games are not exactly conventional Pokemon games, now I know a lot of hardcore 90s gamers will freak out if the game isn’t an exact 1 for 1 copy of the old ones, but bare with me. The game now has way better graphics, meaning the characters will finally have dynamic emotions on their faces. One of my favorite features they introduce in this new game is that they offer more immersive Pokemon battles now. The Pokemon is now shown actually attacking each other, instead of the old Dungeons & Dragons like mechanics.

In my opinion, if you’ve been a big fan of the Pokemon franchise you really should search up some gameplay online (Because I know not everyone has a Nintendo Switch). It offers a more contemporary game style to an all time classic!!

As Inaugural season of the Overwatch League (OWL) came to an end, each of the teams from the Atlantic and Pacific Division has had their fair share of victories and losses (some with 0-40 loss ahem… Shanghai Dragons… ahem). It looks like the OWL has plans of expansion to its original 12 teams, which include:

From the Atlantic Division:

1. Boston Uprising
2. Florida Mayhem
3. Houston Outlaws
4. London Spitfire
5. New York Excelsior
6. Philadelphia Fusion

From the Pacific Division:

1. Dallas Fuel
2. Los Angeles Gladiators
3. Lost Angeles Valiant
4. San Francisco Shock
5. Seoul Dynasty
6. Shanghai Dragons

6 new teams will be added to the original 12. Including 2 teams from China, Chengdu and Hangzhou. 2 teams from Canada, Vancouver and Toronto. One team from Paris, France. And one team from Washington, DC.

Most of these have been announced; Chengdu Hunters, Hangzhou Spark, Paris Eternals, Toronto Defiant. The remaining teams (Vancouver and Washington DC) has not been announced yet.

However, there’s recently been a “leak” according to some sources on Reddit. A picture of the team name Vancouver Titans, with the skins has surfaced (see image below). Whether this source is credible is uncertain. But either ways this is a very exciting tease!

Links:

VANCOUVER BRAND LEAK: Titans from Competitiveoverwatch

https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/report-vancouver-franchise-coming-overwatch-league/

http://fortune.com/2018/09/08/overwatch-league-2019-new-teams/

Whaaat!! Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) is finally out for PS4 and XBox One players!! I could not possibly call this blog a “gaming blog” if I didn’t do a review on this game!

Introduction 

The Red Dead Redemption series is a developed by Rockstar games, which also brought us the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Thus these two games have very similar gameplay but contrasting plots. RDR2 is an open-world action adventure game, that’s set in the 1800s in America. This setting is crucial for the theme of the game, which is a Western styled outlaw game.

Plot

The player follows the story of Arthur Morgan, outlaw gunslinger from the Van Der Linde gang. The gang consists of Dutch van der Linde (the leader), Arthur Morgan, John Marston, Bill Williamson, Micah Bell and many others. The story starts with a fleeing and vulnerable Van Der Linde gang, after a heist gone wrong and police or “lawman” – as the character says it – are tracking them down. As the story progresses, the gang runs into trouble left and right under Dutch’s reckless leadership. Resulting in the gang having to orchestrate multiple heists and other illegal operations to sustain.

Gameplay

RDR2 take a lot of game mechanics from its predecessor RDR1, such as the gun mechanics (Dead Eye), and honor system. What I like most about this game is how much agency the player has in the game. There are countless numbers of character customization options, such as beard length, hair length, using pelts you receive from hunting to craft special clothing items and many more. The player is also able to interact with NPCs (Non Playable Characters) in a way I’ve never experienced before. Being able to instigate fights (but not always because NPCs have different personalities), defuse heated situations, killing witnesses, and robbery.

In conclusion, I feel that anyone that claims to be a gamer needs to check this game out, as it’s redefined open world map games in my opinion. If you don’t have console (xbox, ps4) get one! It’s worth it.