Welcome to our video game news for week 27. Another week has zipped by and as always the video gaming world has moved just as quickly. Settle in with a favorite beverage and snack while we recap what caught our attention in the onslaught of gaming news from the latest hero announcement in Overwatch to a Castlevania takeover in gaming and television.
Video Game News Recap
General News Updates
GeekDad Z. was extremely excited this past week to discover that ThinkGeek has added several Splatoon 2 merchandise items to their site.
Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 launches 07/11. Season 2 builds on Season 1 but was designed such that someone could start playing with the current season and still find the game enjoyable. If you want to continue your adventures with Jesse and his/her (yes, you get to choose if Jesse is a boy or a girl) merry crew of misfits then your summer is about to get a lot more pixelated. Catch all the detailed notes on the Minecraft site article that includes a chat with the lead writer, Eric Stirpe.
Black The Fall releases 07/11 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. An atmospheric puzzle game, you play as an aged machinist who befriends a robot and embarks on an adventure to escape and potentially overthrow a Communist State. The designers based the game on an art project they created in 2014 highlighting the corrupt regime in Romania. Learn more about the game and how it came to fruition on the game’s webpage.
Blizzard’s Latest Video Game News
The big news from Blizzard this week is the official announcement of the new Overwatch hero Doomfist. Watch his origin story video below, then read on for a list of his abilities. If you want the expanded info on his abilities I follow the list with the developer’s video where I found my details that you can watch, as well.
Doomfist is the 25th hero to join Overwatch. He hails from Nigeria and is part of the Talon leadership council, alongside Reaper. Doomfist believes we must make humankind stronger and more powerful and that we do so by facing continued conflicts. This belief is at odds with the Overwatch mission of peace for the human race and will cause conflicts. Winston was the hero responsible for putting Doomfist in prison many years before.
Doomfist is an offensive hero, albeit a very tough one. His abilities:
- Primary attack is a 4-shot gun built into the gauntlet on his left hand. It fires one shot per knuckle either very quickly or you can span them out. Each knuckle gun has several rounds to expend before needing to reload. This attack is meant to fill in the gap (much like a punch does for the other heroes) when you are between other abilities or just need to cause a small amount of damage quickly to a wounded enemy.
- Rocket Punch is mapped to Doomfist’s alternate fire button. This powerful punch can go through barriers including Reinhardt’s shield and does increased damage if the punch knocks an enemy hero into a wall.
- Rising Uppercut has Doomfist leaping into the air as he uppercuts his opponent taking them with him and dropping them back down.
- Seismic Slam works from the air or when he has a height advantage over an enemy. Doomfist will drop down and backhand the enemy target with his large gauntlet.
- Meteor Strike is Doomfists’ Ultimate Ability. With this attack, he flies into the air, places a target where he can hit as many enemies (or one or two key ones) as possible and then he crashes to the ground where targeted. This knocks back and stuns any enemies in the radius giving him a chance to inflict uncontested damage for a short period of time. The attack also causes some damage when it happens.
- The Best Defense is a passive skill whereby Doomfist builds up a shield to partially absorb damage each time he punches.
Xbox’s Latest Video Game News
Announcements from Xbox
Destiny 2 Open Beta Early Access opens on Xbox One 07/19. Pre-ordering the game is a requirement to participate in the beta.
Current Games with Gold are Watch Dogs (06/16 – 07/15), Grow Up (07/01 – 07/31), and Kane & Lynch 2 (07/01 – 07/15).
You can check out the games on sale right now on the Deals With Gold page.
Nintendo’s Latest Video Game News
Nintendo Direct features Splatoon 2 information and gameplay. The game is available now for pre-order with a release date of 07/21.
Craving some classic Castlevania action? If the answer is yes, then you have several options to choose from. You can watch the new Netflix animated Castlevania series that debuted on 07/07. Then you can log onto Nintendo’s Virtual Console service to play the following classic versions:
- Castlevania
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
- Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
Enjoy a sneak peak at the Netflix series with this trailer:
As always, you can view current and upcoming releases on the Nintendo Games Store page.
Playstation’s Latest Video Game News
This week’s The Drop highlights 20 new releases in the upcoming week. Check out the blog entry for the full list but here are a couple that caught my eye:
Mr. Pumpkin Adventure is a point and click puzzle game releasing next week. It’s been out on other platforms for a while but will now be available for Playstation Vita by digital download.
The Bellows: A VR Horror Experience (content warning on the video below) looks truly terrifying. If you play this one and stream it please tag me on Twitter, I adore watching people play scary VR games.
Playstation Plus includes free games. Currently available are Until Dawn, Tokyo Jungle, Darkstalkers Resurrection, Don’t Die, Mr. Robot!, Element4, and a whole lot of Game of Thrones games.
STEAM’s Latest Video Game News
The annual sale may be over, but there are still plenty of deals to be had and new games to be played.
Niffelheim is currently available for early access. It is a 2D exploration game set in a Nordic fantasy realm. You’ll fight monsters, build castles and explore a lot of territories while enjoying the distinctive artwork in this one.
Current pricing specials can be found on the Specials page. This page is updated frequently so check back often.
GeekMom and GeekDad Recent Video Game Articles
GeekMoms and GeekDads often write about video games. Here is a list of all the video gaming related articles from the blogs from this past week:
- Kelly Knox gave us “5 Reasons Why the Breath of the Wild DLC Is Worth Picking Up.”
- Karen Walsh brought us the “LEGO Dimensions Wonder Woman Giveaway: Win a Princess Warrior Goddess.”
- Jonathan H. Liu showed us to “Puzzle Your Way Through The House of Da Vinci.”
- James Floyd Kelly brought us “GeekDad’s SFGE 2017 Recap.”
- Kelly Knox told us “The Art of Splatoon Is For Diehard Fans, But It’s Ink-credible.”
- Michael Kaufman showed us how “VR World in NYC Brings Virtual Reality to All.”
Below are the video games some of the Geek Parents have been playing lately.
Jonathan Liu:
- Shelter (STEAM)
- The House of Da Vinci (iOS)
- Tumbleseed (STEAM)
- Hidden Folks (STEAM)
Mike LeSauvage:
- Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
Dr. Gerry Tolbert:
- Heroes of the Storm (PC)
- Diablo III (PC)
- Overwatch (PC)
- Race for the Galaxy (iOS)
- Onirim (iOS)
- Stone Age (iOS)
Michael Harrison:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
Samantha Fisher:
- Overwatch (PC)
- Diablo III (PC)
- Ticket to Ride (Android)
- Onirim (iOS)
- Potion Explosion (iOS)
Will James:
- Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes (iOS)
- Star Wars Force Arena (iOS)
- Transformers Earth Wars (iOS)
For more gaming news, or to share your love of video games with me, please follow @samanthafisher on Twitter.
