The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC gets a release date!

            Naughty Dog has just confirmed the release date of the ‘Left Behind’ story DLC for its hit game, Last of Us, will be available February 14th through their twitter. Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is indeed Valentine’s Day. This will be perfect to cuddle up with someone and enjoy a few hours playing a great game, or if Valentine’s Day leaves you wanting to smash in people’s heads then this game is for you too.
            We first heard about this DLC in November of last year, and have since learned the story of this DLC is set to center around Ellie, and her friend Riley, in her times before the story of the Last of Us. The Last of Us was truly remarkable for it’s intense, intimate action, and it’s riveting, yet gritty story-telling, so you can be sure to see plenty more of that in this DLC. If you were a fan of the game (who wasn’t?) you’re definitely going to want to pick this up, and with a price tag of $14.99 you won’t break the bank. Check out the teaser trailer for the DLC below, and hit me up on twitter @mikejamesmm and let me know what you think!

Upcoming games that will blur the line between multiplayer and singleplayer.

            From the nostalgia filled memories of sharing a couch with friends and playing Nintendo games together, to the gloriously crazy 64-player online battles in Battlefield 4, we’ve always enjoyed playing games with our friends (or even complete strangers for that matter). While there certainly is a place for riveting, story driven, single-player games, just as there is a place for the exciting battles of multiplayer, the idea of integrating the two into a single seamless experience is an exciting trend that continues to grow.

Will this turn out to be nothing more than a short lived trend, or is this going to become an expected golden standard for all games to come? Only time will tell, but for now we can look at some of the upcoming games that are pushing the boundaries of what we commonly see as being multiplayer, and may be shaping the future of how we play our games with others.

 

 Watch Dogs

 

            Still one of the most anticipated games of 2014 since its big debut at E3 in 2013, Watch Dogs is boasting to have entirely seamless multiplayer that will be streamlined alongside it's single player campaign. But what exactly does that mean for you as a player in the open world Ubisoft has created for us to play in?

            Essentially, as you roam throughout the game, as long as you are connected to the internet, you can be presented with the opportunity (or contract as it’s called in the game) to hack another player. From here you will be able to enter the other player’s world, appearing to them as an A.I. controlled character that blends in with the many other NPC's that populate the city, and interact with them in different ways. While Ubisoft hasn’t revealed exactly how many ways players can interact with each other, we can probably expect some cool hacking related tricks, intense chases, and gunfights, all without going through a single menu.

            This works both ways, as the more people you successfully hack raises your notoriety among the online community, and you become a bigger target to being hacked yourself. This seems to allude towards a leaderboard type system where you can work to be the top dog hacker.

It doesn’t stop here though. At any time in the game, you the player can send out a help request to your friends. Upon accepting, the friend can use their tablet or mobile device to hack the environment and enemies in real time, helping you as you progress through your mission. This also comes in a competitive form, according to the developers, in which your friend can control and dispatch police forces in an attempt to stop you from completing your objectives.

Of course you can at any time turn off the multiplayer features and play the game solo (they'll automatically be off during story missions), the rush and paranoia of knowing another person could be stalking and trying to hack you at any time sounds like too much fun to pass up. Expect more details and info to come in the time leading up to Watch Dog’s release in Spring of 2014. Check out some gameplay from last years E3 below.

 

 

 

Tom Clancy’s The Division

 

            Another game that had a big showing at the 2013 E3 show, The Division follows you, a member of an elite team, trained with the purpose of saving what remains in a post-apocalyptic New York after a deadly virus is released, devastating a large amount of the population. While mostly focused on the online aspects, the game is playable offline for a solo experience. But that’s not why you’re reading this article; you want some juicy details on how crazy ways the multiplayer and single-player are going to work together. Luckily for you I’m going to get right into that.

           The first thing you want to know is yet again how seamless the multiplayer is going to be in this game. As you play, you and your friends can jump in and out of games without disrupting the actual flow of your play. Finding allies and getting your friends to help you tackle missions is going to be a major part of your experience as you progress through the expansive and detailed New York area. Similar to Watch Dogs, it is possible to join the game via a tablet to control drones, assisting players on the ground by marking and attacking enemy targets. You're not going to find your typical game lobbies here when your friend try to join you. Connecting with other players and your friends will be fast and unnobtrusive if the trailer we've seen is a good representation of what we're going to get in the final product.

            As you play with friends, or boldly explore the vast city of New York on your own, you can at times stumble upon areas where you find, or are ambushed by other groups of players, initiating a player vs. player battle. From what's been seen of this, there isn't going to be any warning or stop in the game when this happens. To be progressing through the story of the game as normal, and then to unexpectedly come under fire from other players is an awesome moment to witness. Don't just take my word for it though, you can check out for yourself some of the intense multiplayer action you'll experience this game is going to have in the video below.

 

Get Even

 

            Not a lot has been revealed about this game since its recent announcement at the French Game Connection conference in December. From what we have been told by developer Farm 51, this game is looking to challenge a number of conventional ideas we have about how multiplayer works, and interacts, with the singleplayer experience. The story follows two characters at odds, both of which the player will be able to control, allowing them to witness and be a part of events from both perspectives, with a focus on the memories of each hero, which will also affect the story.

That about all that’s known of the story right now, other than that it’s a first person shooter, so it’s safe to assume you’re going to be blasting some bad guys with guns. Here’s where it gets interesting though. As you are making your way through the story, other online players will be able to enter your game at any time, taking on the form of enemies without you ever knowing, making them indistinguishable from A.I. controlled enemies.

How exactly this works and if it can directly affect the story isn't known at this time, but the idea does seem very promising. I'm already imagining myself joining my friends game without any notice and trying to take them out before they even realize I'm there. It seems like this could present a frustrating problem, however, if someone is playing on a lower difficulty level only to be out of nowhere taken out by an actual player whose skill level will far exceed the other A.I. enemies. How the developer will work around this we'll have to wait and see as the games projected release date is 2015, but expect more announcements to come leading up this. Check out the teaser trailer yourself below.

 

 

 

As the gap between what we know as singleplayer and multiplayer becomes smaller, we're going to become more and more connected with eachother through the games we play, and have a greater influence on eachothers experiences. We're already seeing a bigger push in the social media aspects of this generations consoles, and the games we play certainly seem to be following the example of connectedness. Is this something you guys enjoy seeing, or do you prefer keeping your gaming experiences solo? Tweet me @mikejamesmm and let me know!