J4MES OX4D

I've read some really encouraging reviews about Titanfall 2 so I may pick it up in due course plus the campaign is supposed to be surprisingly good albeit a bit short. I'll probably wait a few months to see if the game still thrives against the stiff competition and then try and grab it for £20 or under. Feel a bit bad for Respawn that they've been thrown in the deep end in quite a competitive window but hopefully this game will be a better success in the long term and retain a decent population.

Seems Sean Murray has finally come out of hiding for the first time since August but only after Hello Games Twitter was hacked

Looks like Titanfall 2's estimated sales figures will be very low indeed. Definitely wasn't the smartest move to release in such a packed window http://www.pcgamer.com/ea-share-price-dips-in-response-to-analyst-predicting-substantially-disappointing-titanfall-2-sales

I don't think I'll ever revisit the game but it seems they are working fairly hard on things they should have put more thought into in the first place. Probably testing the waters in preparation for a sequel and trying to find a concept and platform that appeals where the population can remain engaged and maintained. I was pretty fed up of the game after 4 weeks and 40-odd hours which is not the return Ubisoft or I would have wanted especially after 4 years development and I think I played the game longer than many others as I really strung it out doing every possible mission. The whole dark zone and endgame was a complete cock-up and I don't think they'll ever truly find a sweet spot unless they rethink the whole thing. Certainly one of the most immersive and detailed games of all time and even with the downgrade it still looked astonishing but it's just a shame that there was such a massive gap between the quality of the aesthetics and the gameplay. Thank god I didn't buy the season pass though else I would've been majorly pissed!

Probably the most sensible decision for the game. The original struggled to maintain interest for many and the DLC split the dwindling community further. The competition is extremely fierce in the genre right now and moving forward so the brand needs all the help it can get to keep people engaged now and in the future. Titanfall did get some numbers back on the game in the end after some improvements and after the season pass content was made available to all but it got pretty desperate in the end even against some fairly weak games and at a dire time of the generation. Still not sure if this game will thrive in the long run but it's decisions like these that give it some hope.

^ Good video from Boogie. I'd perfectly respect Bethesda's statement and wishes completely if it wasn't hypocritical and full of double standards. What they are basically saying is that we wont hand out review codes to mainstream media outlets before release but we'll happily hand out gold copies of the complete game for free to YouTuber's days/weeks before, who are on our approved list and wouldn't dare say anything bad about us or the game. It's just a petty and needless move that arouses more suspicion and media bias. If a game goes gold and is obtained by the media; they should be able to review it in terms of public interest and not be bound to an embargo either as we see many other publishers enforcing this over the years. Skyrim Remastered was given to hundreds of YouTuber's a few days ago just before the statement was released and it does seem a bit of a farcical situation that the media cannot obtain the game direct or even review it despite the Bethesda-approved mafia spouting opinions left right and centre freely. I'm not a huge fan of the gaming media but it's a bit of a kick in the balls to them especially as they promote them heavily and drive interest more than ever and are very respectful in doing so for most AAA games. I seriously don't know why they just don't send out copies a week early with the YouTuber's freebies and just put an embargo on the media mainstream sites like other publishers? Bethesda's games aren't short and a 24 hour window before even a 'review in progress' page can be stamped is just poor form. If anything; they may find their games reviews rushed so the media can pick up their clicks before the ad rev pop sinks. That would be a far worse representation of their products.

Anyone think these are OP? I haven't used them yet but I come up against teams in defence who spam these religiously and they can cause huge carnage with minimal effort. I also understand that you have two of these equipped unlike one lethal frag which seems a bit generous too and if you come up with numerous players chucking gas nades; you either have to soak up the growing waft of gas covering a large area with no ADS or retreat back a significant distance until they disperse but then more get thrown in soon after so you're pinned back with ease. I'd certainly consider limiting them one for starters and possibly to one or two classes. The smoke also goes through solid walls and floors which is another thing that needs looking at and the dispersal time for just a single nade is quite long too which I feel makes them far too effective especially in droves. Didn't see too many of these at the start but people are really cottoning on to how useful and favourable these are.

Amiens and Ballroom Blitz are two truly fantastic maps I've really enjoyed so far. St Quentins Scar and Empires Edge are two other superb dynamic maps that work extremely well in the modes. I think Monte Grappa is a problematic one though that favours defenders far too generously especially in Operations and it's almost impossible to offence as defenders can blend into the mountainous glitchy grassland plus hold down interior areas with ease which conflict with above objectives. On the whole though; some truly impressive maps even if a few have some aesthetic, balance or layout issues. Grappa probably needs a higher ticket count or a change/reduction of objectives but the rest are pretty well rounded and fair.

I miss the days of demos I remember when publishers/developers used to battle to get media attention but now they actually seem to hold all the cards in terms of influence and control. Good video from Jim Sterling on this too

Slags http://metro.co.uk/2016/10/26/bethesda-refuse-to-send-out-early-review-copies-of-new-games-6216179/ Honestly didn't expect this from them. Also a bit weird that they wont send out review copies to the press but they're still happy throwing out gold copies to their cocksucking YouTuber's who dare not spout any bad shit about their games even if they are bug-ridden and broken off the bat. I'm feeling a bit uneasier about Dishonored 2 now..

Current Gen Call of Duty Community - Everyone who's first game was Advanced Warfare - 0/10 Werest game eva maid. U cannot wallrun n qwikscoping is hard bro. shupply drahps r called battlepaks n u dnt get cool guns in dem either. i not even play da game cos my parents only buy me 1 game a yaer at christmars but i no dis game is bad n cod will be better n i dnt care wot ppl say cos its true. bf1 also looks real bad n so boring and activonson are best n i cant wait to play infinute warefare cos it has lots of guns n cool stuff like taunts n riggs. my kd on black Oops 3 was also amazin n we have zambies too. bf1 baseically sucks n Ea suck so Cod wins agina.

This was my initial gripe but thankfully loadout customisation will eventually be integrated into the core menu https://www.vg247.com/2016/10/19/battlefield-1-this-is-why-you-cant-customise-weapon-loadouts-from-the-menu/ I've been using the companion app but on a couple of occasions my classes have reset completely or some selections have reverted back to default which has been a pain so I'm not even holding out too much hope for that to be working effectively on release but as long as it's there and I don't have to mess about mid-game or through the app; I'll be happier for sure!

Campaign can be completed in 3 hours apparently - anyone finished it yet and can concrete confirm this? If true; I may save it for when the servers are down due to DDOS or server maintenance..

..if even the likes of Driftor openly slate it and he knows and communicates with the developers regularly plus his entire livelihood depends on the franchise succeeding through the yearly cycle. Other popular YouTuber's who aren't Supply Drop opening whores for easy ad revenue; have also expressed dire concern for the upcoming game. Just hope that people who have zero interest in IW don't end up buckling and parting with their money just for the sake of playing Modern Warfare Remastered. If people have to buy a game they don't want to play something they do; it'll be another success for Activision but this time in even more undeserving circumstances. Oh well, Battlefield 1 is epic so who cares

I'm really enjoying this new mode and it fuses old-school Conquest and Rush very well indeed. It can be very chaotic at times but as the objectives are clear cut; most players are on the ball and it can make way for some frantic action that's great fun. I'm still not sure if it's perfectly balanced especially when the next Battalion gets rewarded with things like the train after an initial ticket wipeout however the fact that reinforments don't replenish between maps even if your tickets to; seems to possibly counter the reward of the map specific boost i.e airship/train/dreadnought. It's also a great opportunity to boost your Scout class as the way the objectives and maps are laid out; you have a good line of sight on either defence or attack to get some sniper kills. Just one thing I'm slightly unsure on;- does one map equate to one match i.e if one operation has 3 maps; is that three matches you've just played or is it best of 3 for the win?

Good stuff! Those are exactly the players that are usually on my team; blind, clueless, no sense of awareness, camping in groups, not knowing what to do and then getting humiliated!

Cheers! Seems EA removed the loadout creation from the core menus to stabalise the feature so it will be implemented in due course. Bit of a pain customising on the fly or through the app but it's nice to know that the function is incoming and that it's not some daft oversight.

Seems a decent game with some great maps but fuck me it's a bit of a lagfest at times and the UI is total trash. Can't even customise a loadout in the menu and you have to fuck around unlocking guns and creating a loadout when you're in the bloody match for christ sake! That's the equivalent of opening a supply drop in Call of Duty when you're on a killstreak midgame Conquest ain't the same now it's not purely ticket based. Operations fuses that and Rush together and it works pretty well until the team that's losing gets handicapped to steal victory out of nothing. The game also seems full of CoD players who don't have a clue. Despite all that; it's not too bad and good fun at times.

It's quite sad that the Infinity Ward has demised so badly but most people know that the old IW team are long gone and are nothing compared to the personnel that are in place now. I think half the team that made Ghosts plus in influx of full time Neversoft staff (Tony Hawk developers making COD = logical!) and other external recruits make up the studio nowadays minus the likes of ex producer Mark Rubin who was offloaded after Ghosts plus a few other names that got the chop. Doesn't look like they've learned from past issues though as the same old problems exist from this studio plus the usual complaints from the franchise as a whole. Most people are comparing this as a cross between Ghosts and Black Ops 3 which represents some of the worst of the series to date IMO. Could be expensive if they disbanded the studio plus they'd have to hire even more newbies to fill the gaping void even though most of the studio now are newcomers so if they are to do anything; they'll probably just rename the studio but the way IW have been received since Ghosts; I can't see that name remaining attached to Call of Duty for very long. I'm not convinced by Sledgehammer and even the highly rated Treyarch let themselves down after the excellence they had with Black Ops 1 and 2. As long as the game rakes in the cash whether that be from unit sales or supply drops and even if the success is bolstered by the remaster; the end quality of the game wont matter fuck all to them though. I'm sure Acitivision know that Infinite Warfare and Infinity Ward were in for a tough ride which is why the remaster was commissioned but as long as it makes billions; that's all that matters.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I've seen it all now! This game is an absolute embarrassment

LOL! If they are going to go all Hollywood and invest in these big celebrities; maybe they should at least target real actors! This franchise is in an horrific state it's embarrassing and quite sad really. I'm expecting to see Jamie Vardy and Kanye West having roles also based on this new design logic!

2016 has been a bit disappointing and we did see some long periods of nothingness but there's been a few highlights including Dark Souls III, Doom, Overwatch, Uncharted 4, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Forza Horizon 3, FIFA 17, Gears of War 4 and finishing strongly with Battlefield 1, Civilization VI, Planet Coaster, Dishonored 2 and Skyrim Remastered. Jury is out on Watch Dogs 2, Titanfall 2 and Infinite Warfare/Modern Warfare Remastered but there should be something there for everyone to finish the year. The Division, Quantum Break and No Man's Sky will all go down as huge disappointments that failed to live up to expectation and will act as a reality check to people getting too hyped up or carried away on the so callled hype train. 2017 has some promise especially early on and hopefully that will stretch to the rest of the year. Also looking forward to seeing more of games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Wasteland 3.