https://stayclose.social/RonnieGirard/ Latest updates from Ronnie Girard https://stayclose.social/blog/64243/10-most-anticipated-games-of-e3-2017/ Crackdown 3 is promising a level of destructibility that we haven't really seen in gaming before, and it will be exciting to see if it can pull it off while also delivering a compelling open world experie


Battlefield 1 ’s success didn’t start when the game launched in October. Rather, it started when EA released the game’s announcement trailer back in May . From the gritty, brutal action, to the powerful rendition of The White Stripe’s Seven Nation’s Army, this is one trailer that incites incredible emotion within any gamer that watches it. Even now, seven months after the trailer's release, it still has the ability to spawn goosebumps for view


With Nintendo forgoing a traditional press conference yet again, the extent of the Big N's presence at E3 is a bit of an unknown factor. However, we do know that Nintendo plans on hosting a Nintendo Direct presentation like it did last year, and this time it will be headlined by Super Mario Odyssey , the biggest Nintendo Switch exclusive game on the horizon. What we've seen of Super Mario Odyssey so far has been plenty impressive, but along with more gameplay footage, here's hoping that Nintendo also gives the highly anticipated game a release date come E3 next w


Particularly troublesome are "crossover" attacks, in which the player needs to target an enemy on the left side of the screen with his or her right hand, or vice versa. The Journey actually warns players against crossing their arms over themselves, but it is often inescapably necessary. While it's true that The Journey's combat controls work much more reliably than its driving controls, that's cold comfort when it's all but impossible to accurately target a given enemy, and the player ends up dying as a result. Fortunately, The Journey isn't particularly difficult, and ample checkpoints ensure that there is never too much of the game to rep


We've got you covered as far as the major publishers and triple-A franchises are concerned, but even with more than a few of the planned/confirmed E3 2011 announcements already highly anticipated by gamers everywhere, this is also the time when rumors heard over the past year have a chance of being proven t


As with the dog from Fable II , The Journey's designers clearly want players to emotionally invest in Seren. Gabriel can brush her, feed her apples, and occasionally has to tend to her injuries - players mime the motion for pulling arrows from her flesh, then use the magic of the gauntlets to heal the gaping wound left behind. For that matter, Seren is rendered beautifully: shiny coat with distinct hair, attentive, believably alive eyes - but it's all for nothing. She has no agency, no obvious personality or bearing on events. Seren's defining characteristic is that she's a pain in the ass to control, and dramatic story points that hinge on her fall flat as a result. Gabriel may care deeply about Seren, but the player never d


As far as major presenters go, no one has been as open about what it's bringing to E3 as Ubisoft. Ubisoft has confirmed seven games it will be showcasing at the event this year, with major reveals planned for games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Tom Clancy's The Division 2 . Rumors point to a new Splinter Cell game being announced during Ubisoft's presentation as well, with the stealth action franchise having been dormant for about five ye


One of the most unique yet bizarre trailers of the year was Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding Reveal Trailer at E3 2016. The unsettling trailer opens with a quote from poet and author William Blake about holding infinity in the palm your hands. From there, viewers are treated to a cryptic sequence involving Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus and an infant ch

Whether you like him or not, Peter Molyneux is a man that’s in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with the status quo of the industry, and that’s really what makes his career so incredibly fascinating.


The game itself roughly breaks down into two primary modes of play: driving sequences and combat sequences. Gabriel and Theresa travel the lands of Albion in a horse-drawn buggy, with frequent stops during which Gabriel must use his newly acquired magical gauntlets to dispatch wave after wave of threatening foes. Rest stops, where Gabriel can tend to Seren, help break up the experie
Peter Molyneux’s role in the gaming industry has been one of the longest in the industry’s history, with his first game, The Entrepreneur , being released in 1984. The Entrepreneur , despite Molyneux’s enthusiasm toward it, was a mass commercial failure, said to have sold only two copies (one of which rumored to be from his own mother). After the game’s brutal release, Molyneux left the industry for the next three years, until he teamed up with Les Edgar to begin the game development company Bullfrog Productions. Though the company released a scrolling shooter named Fusion a year before, 1989 marked the release of Populous , Molyneux’s claim to fame and what is arguably the very first "god game." Populous was a commercial success, becoming the best-selling game from the company and becoming the progenitor for future strategy Adventure games patch notes of its kind. Further Bullfrog games like Dungeon Keeper followed in Populous’ wake until Molyneux created Lionhead Studios to produce other god games like Black and White . Molyneux steadily continued experimenting with new ways to play with Fable on Xbox and use of Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral (with the tech demo Milo ). Currently with 22 Cans Studios, Molyneux is developing a "spiritual successor" to his game Populous called Godus , which met funding goals on Kickstarter in 2012.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/64243/10-most-anticipated-games-of-e3-2017/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:51:10 +0000 Ronnie Girard https://stayclose.social/blog/64228/the-molyneux-paradigm-hate-the-past-hype-the-future/ Whether you like him or not, Peter Molyneux is a man that’s in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with the status quo of the industry, and that’s really what makes his career so incredibly fascinating.

As is common with Kinect, enjoyment of the title will largely be based on how accurate your set-up is. I played the game with a 42" TV in moderate lighting conditions and adequate space around me. Some will experience the game in better conditions, but I prefer to review Kinect releases with what I feel is a realistic representation of most gamer’s arrangements. To calibrate, there’s a special tool that has you cast spells at stationary enemies. It seems easy enough, but after using the new settings, attacks were going all over the place. It took about four calibrations to get it as accurate as possible. Once calibration is correct, there is a learning curve to get spells accurately cast. To really nail it, your arm must be fully retracted before extending, with the palm facing up at all times. It sounds simple, but remembering to keep correct form during the heat of battle can be tricky.

Despite not living up to some of the promises made by Peter Molyneux during its production, Fable is a great RPG and one of the standout Xbox titles. The freedom to play as a virtuous hero or a vile hellion is reason enough to play through this title twice and as short as the main quest is, that isn't nearly as demanding of a request as it would be with some other RPGs. A year later Fable: The Lost Chapters was released which featured an additional chapter with a new area and enemies at the end of the game along with some additional side quests and minor features. For the tenth anniversary an updated version of Fable: The Lost Chapters was released as Fable Anniversary for Xbox 360, which was a bug riddled mess on its initial release. It has been improved somewhat through patches but playing Fable: The Lost Chapters on the original Xbox is the recommended way to go if at all possible, though any RPG fan should experience this title in some capacity, even if Fable Anniversary is the most realistic option. Fable II was a well done follow up and the less said about Fable III the better.


5. Crackdown 2
Crackdown was something of a surprise hit when it arrived on the Xbox 360. It had a hand in starting the "superhero sandbox" subgenre, which games like InFamous and Prototype expanded on, and garnered its fair share of fans. The success ensured that a sequel was on the way, eventually announced at E3 2009. The main focus of the promotion was that it would feature multiplayer, which was naturally appealing to those wanting to take down multi-million dollar crime syndicates with their buddies. About a year later, the game was relea

What better way to reinvent a gaming franchise than taking away the controller? It’s a risky proposition to turn one of the most successful Xbox franchises into a Kinect-only title, but that’s exactly what’s been done with Fable. Instead of producing a family-friendly mini-game based game, however, Lionhead Studios have created a full-blown Adventure games DLC that manages to rival the main canon in scope. Not only is Fable: The Journey an evolution of the series, but a crucial experiment to see if Kinect can manage to produce a story-driven experience with nothing but the player’s body.


Besides the games listed here, there are sure to be many others shown at E3 2018 this year. After all, one of the main reasons to tune in to E3 each year is for the surprise game announcements, and it will be exciting to see everything E3 2018 has in st


Technically, Nintendo has only confirmed two games it will be showing at E3 this year, those being the already-released Splatoon 2 and the in-development Super Smash Bros. However, it would be surprising if Nintendo didn't use E3 as a time to shine a spotlight on Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee as well, though it's important to note that those games aren't confirmed for E3 at the time of this writ

If there ever was a game designer that should not talk about his games prior to their release date, it's Peter Molyneux. When discussing his projects, Molyneux has a childlike sense of excitement where he will enthusiastically share details on his grand ambitions for the title. This is actually quite refreshing in itself, because who doesn't enjoy hearing someone passionately discuss their creative projects? The problem with this occurs when the game in question is actually released. The game itself could be good, even great if it were simply judged for what it is, but disappointment is going to happen when a title fails to deliver on lofty promises no matter how good it may otherwise. The most memorable example of Molyneux creating hype that the game couldn't live up to was 2004's Xbox exclusive action RPG Fable.


This isn't always the fault of the gamers setting high expectations, though. Sometimes the companies behind these games promise great things and just cannot/do not deliver. Other times, something goes wrong and the game isn't as good as it could've been, or deadlines get out of control and a game is rushed out unfinished. For one reason or another, sometimes games just fall victim to h
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/64228/the-molyneux-paradigm-hate-the-past-hype-the-future/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:40:21 +0000 Ronnie Girard https://stayclose.social/RonnieGirard/ https://stayclose.social/RonnieGirard/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:40:07 +0000 Ronnie Girard