Marvel Future Fight: Teases (X-traordinary) X-Men Announcement for SDCC 2018

     Ever since the 3 year anniversary of Marvel Future Fight, the game and developers have really turned things around from a few great flubs in the last year- such as the loot box Ultimates characters which resulted in amassive player boycott.
     Today after the official Marvel Games twitter account posted an image about what is in store for this years San Diego Comic Con without Future Fight, players questioned the lack of the game, and the official Future Fight account was quick to respond with an amazing teaser.

Calling all Agents! Your presence is urgently requested for a briefing  that is of the utmost importance! We have something... X-traordinary to  discuss! #MarvelSDCC #SDCC2018 https://t.co/DNUiL6WC0j

— Marvel: Future Fight (@Marvel_FFightUS) June 28, 2018

     This seems like an easy teaser for the Extraordinary X-Men comic series.  Granted we can only speculate at this point, but we already have a lot of the team in the game and there's an opportunity to give them new uniforms and even expand the roster with fan favorite characters like Deadpool.
     Considering that last years SDCC announcement was the Age of Apocalypse, I can only imagine this years will need to top the hype and subsequent letdown last year- Apocalypse himself didn't even arrive in game until a couple weeks after the initial update hit.

     The hype has already begun, and I for one, am very X-Cited to see what Netmarble has in store for Marvel Future Fight as SDCC 2018 at the Marvel Games Panel on Thursday, July 19th from 1-2pm.

     For related [ Posts ]

Star Wars: Rivals- Another Mundane Mobile Game on the Way & Thoughts

     In accordance to modern mobile gaming trends, another cheap-looking Star Wars game is on the way called Star Wars: Rivals.  It's being touted as "the first real-time Star Wars competitive action shooter for mobile."
     Players may currently pre-register for Star Wars: Rivals, and in doing so gain access to some bonuses.  For the pre-registrations, we'll receive for a limited time, exclusive access to special support units.  For those who do so through Goggle Play, they'll receive access to the Imperial Death Troopers to fight alongside players in PvP skirmishes with advanced weapons and cover fire.  For iOS users, they'll get access to the Rebel Special Forces, giving them health restoration out on the battlefield.

     Instead of a new and interesting 3rd person shooter or action/RPG that many fans have been clamoring for, we are getting a yet another bland, half-assed, cover-based shooter with a Star Wars skin- complete with grind heavy, loot-box-laden bore-fest.

     In a post I wrote months ago, "Of Midichlorians and Microtransactions: The Force Asphyxiated," I explained a large part of the Star Wars games' problem:

     This doesn't bode well for the Star Wars game as it sounded like the game was "shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game," under Visceral's good hands, but now it may be becoming something much closer in alignment with EA's push towards a "games as service model."  Meaning it might wind up like Battlefront, being all hype and no substance, and completely riddled with preposterous microtransactions for every little thing, of which we can only expect more of this same old shit from with the release of Battlefront 2 soon.  It's the same thing for Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Star Wars: Force Collection, and Star Wars: Force Arena, they are cheap games designed to siphon money off of players instead of creating a unique and memorable story in a beloved franchise.  All the really good Star Wars games have been cancelled or shut down- Star Wars: 1313,  the mobile game Star Wars: Uprising, the Untitled Darth Maul Project, and the amazing potential of Disney Infinity. 

     So when EA says, "We want to take the time to get each game right, to make it unique, to make it amazing," I don't believe it.  When the game arrives we'll see if they really want a good story and experience, or if it follows the path of the Dead Space games, getting worse with each new installment, getting worse with each step away from a great single player experience, and closer to the large multiplayer messes.  We even know that Dead Space 3's original plan was great, and EA flubbed that up in the name of the almighty dollar, proving that they've become the money-hungry monsters worshiping a Marker with a big green S spray-painted on its front.

     Will Disney and EA realize that maybe we might want something more akin to the very underappreciated and truly fun Dead Space Mobile game?  It's a small, but highly replayable, 3rd person game with a good controls and a great story that expands the lore and universe of the main games, while telling us a riveting stand-alone tale from a completely new perspective.  Sure, they could add a competitive shooter arena on top of it, but there's been a plethora of complaints about Disney/EA not wanting to make single player games recently, which is completely idiotic- have they not seen how well The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has done?  Or how about Hellblade, Nier: Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Cuphead, Nioh, and Uncharted 4?
     Maybe some of the backlash is due to not producing anything for the neglected single-player market.  Just take a look at the mass

     We want new mobile games like Dark Forces, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, or the Jedi Academy games.  Or how about a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic version of Marvel Future Fight?  With the ever-expanding roster of Star Wars characters, they could have YEARS of material and more than enough income from players.  We want them to make something worth playing, worth investing our time and money into, not another pile-of-crap, shovelware game.

     Pre-Registration Links [ Google Play ] [ App Store ]

     Source [ Star Wars Official ]

     Reference and Discussion [ Reddit ]

DC Unchained: Superman's Skills Revealed

     Shortly after being announced at Comic Con Seoul, the highly anticipated upcoming mobile action-RPG game DC Unchained was delayed into early 2018 and disappointing many eager fans.  Since that time we've gotten news of a Closed Beta Test, a new trailer, and some other small teases for the game- including a Batman and Superman character "family" tree, and a look at Metropolis.
     Now, we get a teaser trailer for Superman's skills and a good look at his whole skill tree.

   Looks a bit clunky for flow, and his character model isn't nearly as square-jawed and bulky as most modern incarnations of Superman have been portrayed, but still looking good.  A more fully formed description of the skills, including a plethora of unseen passive skills, is listed below.

     We're finally getting a steady stream of new game info at a decent rate now, so I'm really hoping the game will be released soon, and shortly after to the rest of us in the western markets- unless they do a global launch right off the bat.

     It looks like DC fans will finally have a mobile game good enough to compete with Marvel's truly amazing Future Fight.  I truly hope that publisher 4:33 Creative Labs and developer Thumb Ageis can make this the mobile DC Comics game we've been clamoring for years to get.

     Related Posts [ DC Unchained ] [ Marvel Future Fight ] [ Justice League Superheroes ]

     DC Unchained Official [ CBT Site ] [ :Plug Community ] [ Facebook ]

DC Unchained: NEW Trailer & Limited Closed Beta Test

     Since Korean publisher FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Lab), along with DC and Warner Bros., announced the upcoming mobile game DC Unchained I've been quite excited to see what looks to be the equivalent of Netmarble's absolutely amazing Marvel Future Fight.  Unfortunately, early last month the company broke the news that they would be undergoing some drastic changes and the game would be delayed into 2018.  Then just a couple days ago 4:33 gave us the first official trailer for the closed beta test.

     DC Unchained is shaping up to be a tremendous 3rd person action-RPG letting players take the roles of an initial 30 heroes and villains across multiple modes including story, PvP, and real-time co-op.
     The closed beta test will run for one week in January (Wed. the 10th through Wed. the 17th), and sadly it is limited not only to Android devices, but also to players located in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.  Testers have the chance to obtain Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, along with numerous other goodies such as gold, gems, and skins to aid them in their quests once the game has its grand launch at a later date.  So if you are lucky enough to live in one of those areas head over to the pre-registration site to get signed up!

     DC Unchained Official [ CBT Site ] [ :Plug Community ] [ Facebook ]

     Related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ] [ Justice League Superheroes ]

Justice League Superheroes: A Chinese Mobile RPG Video Game Similar to DC Unchained

     While many of us have been eagerly awaiting DC Comics' mobile game version of Marvel's Future Fight, DC Unchained, we received the news that its western release would be pushed back into 2018 from the game's Korean developer FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Labs).  Coincidentally, DC Comics has also licensed and soft-launched an extremely similar game to the Chinese market through Longtu games called Justice League: Superheroes in earlier this year in April.

     The game features a current total of 20 heroes obtained through either a "gacha" system or slowly collecting pieces to unlock a hero.  Each individual hero falls into a paper-rock-scissors type set of classification- Assassin, Support, Warrior, or Mage- breaking down into the traditional roles of tank, rogue, healer, and so on.
     As of now, there's roughly 10 different game modes to keep players occupied and grinding away including a traditional story mode, world boss mode, bounty quests, and PvP modes.

     While Justice League Superheroes does not have the promise of a western release, there's always a small possibility that it could happen, though the chances might be slimmer due to DC Unchained coming here and creating the problem of the two games competing between each other.

     Justice League Superheroes [ Google Play ] [ Longtu's Official Game Site ]

     Source [ MMO Culture ]

Marvel Strike Force: A NEW Mobile Marvel RPG Coming in 2018

     After the sad news of the epic MMO Marvel Heroes Omega being shut down on December 31st, Marvel Entertainment has announced a new mobile game arriving in 2018.  The new game is a free-to-play (with IAPs of course) mobile role-playing game featuring squad-based action being developed by FoxNext Games's Aftershock Studio (this will be their first game).

     The story follows Earth's mightiest heroes assembling against a long-forgotten Kree Eternal named Ultimus, who has become a general in the Kree Empire.  Being an Eternal he shares the same power source as Thanos, and as a Kree he follows warriors such as the religious Kree zealot Ronan The Accuser, and he has realized that Earth is a threat to the the existence of the Kree empire and he has come up with a plane to deal with it.  With his sights set on Earth, Ultimus' goal is to conquer not just Earth, but by every Earth in every dimension by using his technology to controls the minds of all the heroes.

    Aaron Loeb, FoxNext Games President of Studios, has said they are trying to liken the game to fantasy sports teams, where players can draft from a large cast of famous Marvel characters, ranging from Captain America and Doctor Strange to Guardians of the Galaxy like Drax or Rocket Raccoon, or even some of the Defenders like Daredevil and Luke Cage.

    The Creative Director for FoxNext Games, Jason Bender, has described the game's tactical range and gameplay as:

"There is immense depth of strategy across characters and squads, which typically have 5 characters on the field at a time. Players will build a force of around 70 characters, with even more to be revealed! 

Every character has to collect a variety of gear in order to grow stronger, and they have 3 to 4 unique abilities each. As abilities improve, new mechanics will unlock and reveal new tactical options. For example, Daredevil might start out attacking a single target at a time, but will quickly grow to chain his martial arts maneuvers to multiple enemies in a single attack." 

     The game will also launch with at least one player-to-player mode- being a highly competitive, but friendly arena allowing players to test their mettle against each other and earn rewards as they climb the ladder to the top- as well as the promise of a wide variety of more PvP modes planned.  In addition there will be alliances to aid in strengthening teams and collecting new gear and upgrades.

     It should be noted that Marvel Strike Force clearly resembles Marvel Avengers Alliance 1 & 2, both of which were shut down in September 2016, and definitely appears similar to another current Disney owned property's product- Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, and by the sounds of it, ` will also rely on the gacha system of gathering characters and building them up, which is something I truly loathe.  I've got to admit, it looks like a better game than Contest of Champions, (Strike Force's art style is actually extremely similar to C.o.C.'s) but nowhere near as fun as the full 3rd person action of Future Fight.

     Marvel Strike Force [ Pre-Register Now ] and it will debut in 2018.

     Related Posts [ Future Fight ]

     Sources [ Marvel News ] [ Variety ]

Marvel Heroes Omega: My Thoughts on Disney Officially Shutting it Down

THE OFFICIAL NEWS

     After 4 and a half years of having some serious ups and downs, Marvel Heroes is finally being closed.  Over the last month many of us long time players have been speculating about this possibility on the forums, the first news broke from Kotaku letting them know Disney/Marvel is parting ways with Gazillion.

     As a Marvel representative stated in an email to them:

“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”

     Later AgentPilot posted an official statement from Gazillion on their forums:

"We’re sad to inform our players and our entire Marvel Heroes family that Marvel Heroes Omega will be shutting down. The Marvel Heroes servers will stay on until Dec 31, 2017, and we’ll be removing real money purchases as soon as possible. Players will be able to play the game entirely for free once this sunset period commences. We will share the exact date things go completely free as soon as we can. 

We’ve had the privilege of entertaining and collaborating with our players for over four years. We’re extremely humbled by that privilege and wanted to get this message out: Thank you. Thank you to our players, our tireless employees, and everyone involved in the life of Marvel Heroes, Marvel Heroes 2015, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Marvel Heroes Omega."

THE PROBLEMS

     Gazillion has been in a very turbulent times ever since David Brevik (of Diablo 2 fame) departed the company in January 2016 (check out these threads, the tone of the forums drastically shifted), and having other Gaz employees like Doomsaw and Ryolnir go was another huge hit- resulting in a quick downhill slide of the game.  Former long-time Gaz Community Agent Fenixion posted his own decision to leave on the forums on Halloween definitely gave us more worries, as well as Agent Vapor's departure.
     Really, the only good to come out of this was the surprise return of former Gaz employee Doomsaw to the forums.  He swung through and found he still had moderator privileges, but they were quickly stripped even with no other Gaz members posting anything.  Since no Gaz employees were doing or saying anything, he voluntarily went and tried to raise hope and bring levity to the forums.
     Much more recently is the highly inappropriate sexual misconduct issues concerning Gazillion's CEO Dave Dohrmann, and the fallout it's having on the rest of the staff and company. [ More references: 1, 2, 3, 4 (at about the 1.5hr mark) ]  And then Gazillion going completely silent shortly after this. [ Great video by DisKingdom about companies (Gaz particularly) going silent. ]  The long awaited and promised Omega patch, along with numerous other things like the costume closet, the Halloween event, and Thor Ragnarok tie-in pack, never arrived for the scheduled Oct. 27th date.

MY THOUGHTS
   
     It's extremely disappointing to hear, but honestly the PC player base had been dwindling from being essentially neglected for the console ports after the "Biggest Update Ever" shit all over the game (the BUE essentially prepped and simplified the game to be ported)- while it made a lot of good starts, it completely ruined the way a great many of the characters could be played, eliminating the vast variety of character play styles and shoe-horned them into essentially only one viable build for each character.
     Gaz pretty much ditched the extremely loyal PC player base for the potential for new console players and it was an absolutely terrible choice.

     I'd previously written that, "It's the only game I've made an effort to play at least a half hour a day for the last year.  It's just amazing and it keeps getting better.  Thank you Gazillion.  Marvel Heroes 2016 is a must play for fans of any Marvel properties."  In all reality, I probably put in a thousand plus hours.  The original launch was a mess, but the game progressively made it amazing by the 2016 iteration, and until the Biggest Update Ever, was easily, without-a-doubt the best Marvel game ever made.  Sadly, after the BUE (and the changes in leadership and direction) the game never got back to what it was and what it could've been.

     It'll be very sad to see this game go, but honestly they could still make a few bucks by compressing what they can and makingthe game able to play on disc or download with private servers.  Sell the game as old games were, a whole item, playable without an internet connection.  Hell, just the Danger Room section itself could be sold (obviously we'd need to be able to keep all the crap we've already unlocked/bought) as a game in itself.  It'd also need to have the Hydra damage bugs toned WAY down, which should've been fixed a year ago.
     Though it makes me wonder if Disney and Marvel will still hold all the programming and assets and whatnot, and if they might bring in a new team to possibly relaunch the game somewhere down the line.
     As for me, I'll probably get a good couple weekends of play in on this, and go back to hyping the only other Marvel game I play every day- Marvel Future Fight.

     My own Marvel Heroes account link [ MrJRB ]

     Related-ish posts [ Future Fight ]

     Sources [ Massively OP & 2, 3 ] [ Kotaku ] [ HiMyNameIsLeo ] [ MMORPG ]

DC Unchained: Delayed to 2018

     After it was revealed at Comic Con Seoul, the upcoming mobile action-RPG game DC Unchained has been oddly missing from the news.  In late October however, the developers released some potential bad news for the title.

     Due to some financial woes, DC Unchained developer FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Labs), a one time top South Korean developer, has reported massive net losses since 2014 with  great competition from mobile game giants like Nexon and NetMarble (who make the Marvel comics equivalent game called Marvel Future Fight).  Since the announcement 4:33 has had to make huge alterations to their business model after having no break out titles in years.  They had an emergency board meeting to discuss and plan a new business strategy, which includes a move away from creating 3rd party and move towards more self-developed IPs and titles, as well as reductions in manpower in marketing and publishing roles.  While 4:33 have said there's been no restructuring, they have offered employees the opportunity to retire from the company.

     The company has stated that any games that already have 3rd party deals will remain unaffected.  With that, they've got Blade 2, Boxing Star, and DC Unchained on the way to hopefully alleviated the financial troubles.  Part of the announcement mentioned the fact that DC Unchained will not hit the expected release of late 2017 in time for the release of the Justice League film, but rather the game will be released in 2018- and it has been confirmed to be coming to western markets for certain.

     Sources [ MMO Culture ] [ NewsNews ]

DC Unchained: DC Comics' Mobile Counterpoint to Marvel Future Fight

     It looks like Korean publisher 4:33 Creative Labs announced at a recent Comic Con that their development studio Thumb Ageis has been officially working on a DC Universe based mobile game, called DC Unchained, and it looks like worthy competition for Netmarble's massively popular Marvel Future Fight.

     Much like the Marvel Future Fight, players will choose a team of 3 characters- such as Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman- out of an initial 30 heroes and villains, for a variety of modes including story, PvP, and even real-time co-op.  There's been hints that there are still a couple modes yet to be revealed, and there's always the potential for the DC roster to expand greatly after the initial launch.

     Not much else is known at this point.  It looks a little choppy at points, but overall it could easily become the best DC Universe game available once it launches as titles like DC Legends or the mobile versions of Injustice, the 3rd person RPG fun just hasn't been matched nearly as well as Future Fight nailed Marvel's characters.

     I'm seriously looking forward to this and will be updating here as more information and news comes in.

     DC Unchained is expected to hit Western shores in 4Q 2017.

     For related posts [ Future Fight ]

     SOURCE [ EDaily ] via [ 2P ]

Marvel Future FIght: Update 2.9 Teaser Images

     After the last update, I was a bit underwhelmed.  I wasn't too impressed with the characters, less impressed with the new uniforms, and so on.  Especially because it followed such an awesome Asgard update.  The small teaser we are getting is two images showing a "New Areas"

     Right off the bat, I'm a bit off put by the fact that it appears to be the same area, from two different vantage points.  It's a small irritation, but it's also true.  Anyways, Netmarble won't say what these will be for- perhaps new dimensional rifts, an Epic Quest analog, new levels, etc- but they will be definitely available with the update.
     The pictures look very reminiscent of the inside of Ronan the Accuser's ship, The Dark Aster, from Guardians of the Galaxy.  It wouldn't surprise me at all with all the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hype going around.  Granted the film won't be out until May 5th, there's still something possibly there.

In addition there will also now be an Alliance Store with Alliance Tokens.  No word yet on what the store will feature or how the Tokens will work.  Plus they're finally adding a customizable Alliance Emblem.  It isn't much, but it is a nice small treat.

     I'll continually update this blog with whatever info I find, as well as a longer post on costumes and ideas for the game and so on.

     For related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]

     Marvel Future Fight Official [ Mobirum ]

Marvel Future Fight: NEW Now Update Teaser Hint 3 & Thoughts

     With the new Marvel Future Fight update nearing, the official website Mobirum has been giving us nice clues to try and puzzle out as to what we'll be getting.  Yesterday, I posted the clues and what they meant, and today we get a new one.

     The new message:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Yet another code has come in, and we are unsure as to why Future_ME@mobirum.com is sending emails with images, and honestly, I was kind of concerned about opening them (after all, that seems like a fake email, and even if it was legit, we could've had some strange paradoxes and what not). After opening the file however, I was relieved that it was just an image of a random group of characters. 

I would Frame it if there was any quality involved in the image, but for now, I'll just leave it here so everyone can see it! 

     I like that they are going with a varied set of hints.  First the ASCII, then the simple cypher, and now an image.  The first two messages translated to, "3 New Characters,." and "ALL NEW THREE CHARACTERS ARE FEMALE."  This picture shows characters with the first letters of their names coming down to, NOW MARVEL.

     A clear indication that the 3 new female characters will be from the newer Marvel Now material.  Marvel does like to push things that tie in to their current content. I had previously guessed quite a few from that list with Spider-Woman, Kate Bishop, Medusa, Crystal, America Chavez, Monica Rambeau, Moon Girl (with a summon-able Devil Dinosaur).  Although I had forgotten about Hellcat, and she'd be pretty cool, or Riri Williams.  I also hadn't considered Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows series.  But, honestly, that's a horrible costume design and do we really need yet another Spider-character?

     As much as I think we could do without another Captain America or Iron Man clone, chances are pretty high we'll be getting Miss America and Riri's Iron Man, but the 3rd go go any direction.  I wouldn't mind a Kate Bishop and I really, REALLY would like to see Moon Girl (& Devil Dinosaur) - especially because Netmarble has been pushing the summons like crazy lately.  Plus if they made it so she became Devil Dinosaur, it'd be the first time a non-human was playable.  Which could eventually lead to a playable Lockjaw to go with Black Bolt.

     In addition, I'm really hoping we get a plethora of new costumes as well.  Some characters haven't had a singe new costume yet, and others have a ton.  Some of the choices of costumes seem a bit strange as well, like the Attilan Rising Ghost Rider instead of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Robbie Reyes one seems like a huge miss.

     For related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]

     Source [ Mobirum ]

Marvel Future Fight: Mysterious Messages Hint Towards Next Update & Thoughts

     The official Marvel Future Fight website has posted two new hints at the near future of the game. Netmarble always gives their player base a series of clues to the next wave of incoming characters and levels, bits at a time and allows us to try and figure out what we're getting. For this one we get some codes to decrypt.

     The first one reads:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Our journey's into the future have seemingly stopped. It seems that we have altered realities one too many times, which has blocked our abilities to see into the future. This is not good as just last month our seers helped us in preventing catastrophic damage to Asgard! 

We have however managed to intercept messages sent through the fabric of time by our future selves, in order to reveal at least something in the upcoming update. We have no idea what it means, and we tried the lottery, and it doesn't seem to be that. Can you help us decipher the numbers and bring meaning to what is coming? 

051 032 078 069 087 032 067 072 065 082 065 067 084 069 082 083

     The second one reads:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

More jumbled code has been discovered. We have our codebreakers working on deciphering the code, but we're starting to suspect that they have absolutely no clue what they're doing. We're forwarding this code to you, agent, so that you may decipher the code and bring light to the information that we can't decipher. 

 XII KBT QEOBB ZEXOXZQBOP XOB CBJXIB+3

     For those of you that do not wish to be spoiled finish reading the post here.  For those that want to skip to the good stuff, click the "read more" below to see the decoded messages and my thoughts.

For related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]

Marvel Future Fight: Thoughts on Netmarble, Kabam, and the Possibility of Mutants

      A couple days ago news broke of Korean game giant Netmarble is purchasing a majority of Canadian Kabam's assets- with it's extremely lucrative licensed ties to Marvel, Universal, and Warner Bros.  Though, the thing I'm particularly interested in here is how the Marvel games will be effected.

     It's estimated that 95% of Kabam's income (over 450 million since Dec. 2014) came from the IAP heavy Contest of Champions, a game I found to be decent but HIGHLY repetitive, so this might be a huge hit in their production budgets.  On the opposite end of this Netmarble's far superior game Marvel Future Fight might not make as much money (couldn't find comparative figures for this) it's a much better game in so many ways.  It's a much more action RPG type game with loads of multiplayer additions and things to do. Contest is a basic 2D fighter. 
     My intrigue with this business deal comes from the fact that Contest of Champions has a one singular thing I see as better than Future Fight- the mutant populace.

     It is doubtful that well be getting mutants any time soon in Future Fight, but this does offer a slight ray of hope for our x-gene friends of the X-Men universe.  It's also a bit concerning that Marvel is pushing the comics from the mutants more towards Inhuman, meaning we have even less of a chance at seeing the popular mutants arrive any time soon.  I mean look at the crap Marvel did with Squirrel Girl, a long-time mutant, was altered to be now a non-mutant, meaning Fox can't cash in on the very profitable film rights while Marvel now can make tons of money off her popularity.  Marvel tends not to like to share.  But I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that we may still someday see characters like Colossus, Storm, or Wolverine in Future Fight.

     Source [ Wall Street Journal ] via [ Venture Beat ]

Marvel Future Fight: Official Trailer for Asgard Update 2.7.0 (Update Arrives Wed. December 7th!)

[ UPDATE: IS ALREADY LIVE!!! ]

     The new Marvel Future Fight update is arriving much swifter than I had anticipated, hitting this Wednesday with the pre-update server maintenance occurring on 12/6 16:00 ~ 12/7 01:00 (UTC+0) and 12/6 08:00 AM ~ 12/6 05:00 PM (PST).

     Firstly, we'll be getting 7 new characters, Odin, the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), Hela, Ulik, and lastly the Enchantress will finally be arriving in game after a leak from early 2015.  Sadly, Odin looks to be only obtainable after completing the new chapter 12 stage 8, and can only be leveled up with Black Anti-matter, other character biometrics for experience and Chaotic Norn Stones for mastery.  Enchantress is locked behind the 20 Biometrics Daily selector package, which really isn't terrible, and the rest will be through standard level biometrics in the new chapters.  I also noticed that Malekith bios will also be in the chapters, which is a nice change.
     Speaking of daily biometrics, each level will now offer 10, boosted from the previous 5, which of course used to only be a meager 3 each day per stage.

     In addition, Thor, Sif, and Silk are getting great new costumes.  As always, they'll be on sale for their initial arrival.  The new upgrade material is Uru (awesome), a new World Boss Invasion has been added, and the top S.H.I.E.L.D. player level is being raised to 70.  There's a ton of other little changes, but I'm just pumped for the major characters and costumes right now.  Seriously, check out the link below for all the details.  There is a huge amount of stuff in this update, which explains why it took longer than many of the previous ones.

     Netmarble has made another amazing update to the best Marvel mobile game around.

     For the full update info [ Marvel Future Fight ]

     Related Future Fight [ POSTS ]

Marvel Future Fight: 2.7.0 Update: Interim Report 2 & Thoughts

     It really isn't any surprise that the character Netmarble teased for the 2.7.0 "Asgard" Update is the Unworthy Thor.  Most of us assumed it would be with a few oddballs thinking it might be Taskmaster- which doesn't make sense either for the Asgard part or for the cape color.

     There's two new locales, Asgard and Muspelheim, being probably chapters 11 and 12 due to the Black Bolt image displaying a chapter 12 mission in the upper left corner.  We are also getting a new material, and the typical new characters and costumes.
     Maybe we'll finally see the Enchantress who was datamined way back in July 2015.  I suppose we might see other new characters like the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), perhaps Beta Ray Bill, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Thunderstrike (lol), or maybe even Surtur (because of Muspelheim).  Though I doubt that we'll see him, but only because they left the dreaded Dormammu out of the Doctor Strange update, which seems completely ridiculous.  On the other hand we are almost certainly getting Odin, who the new teaser pic below could be.
     There's a decent chance we'll see new costumes for Angela, Destroyer, Jane Foster, Malekith, and Sif.  Jane and Sif really need some new looks as they each only have one.  Plus, I'm crossing my fingers we'll receive new costumes for some non-Asgard related characters, as we got a few extras with the Strange update.

     To read the full interim report [ Mobirum ]

     For Marvel Future Fight related [ POSTS ]

Marvel's Inhumans: Thoughts on the Move from Film to TV (and in Video Games)

FILM/TELEVISION

     Just over a year ago, I expressed my extreme distaste for the rumor that Vin Diesel might play the role of Black Bolt in a film of Marvel's Inhumans.  Thankfully, in April of this year the film had been pushed back from its original July 12, 2019 release, and then completely cut from Marvel's film schedule.  Which is the good news.

" . . . "  - Black Bolt.

     The bad news, however, is that instead of getting a movie quality film featuring the royal Inhuman family, we'll be getting another ABC series.  The first 2 episodes will be shot on IMAX film and aired in IMAX theaters in early September 2017, prior to airing on ABC.
     I've made it well known that I think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is crap, it's quite terrible.  Even with all the headway the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider has been making, the show is still not nearly as great as it should be.  It gets 2 steps ahead and makes 5 steps back.  They need better writers and better directors.  Seriously, the showrunners have lost the magic of what made Agent Coulson so appealing in the movies.  The same can be said about Agent Carter.  They need to go back and study what made these characters special in the movies and focus on replicating it on television.
     Skye/Daisy/Quake gained some powers and went from hacking-as-a-semi-superpower to master combatant.  It's absolutely preposterous.  Fitz and Simmons are in the same boat- everybody is now an action star, leaving no differentiation between characters.  That's very poor story telling.
     And that's exactly why I'm very worried about the Inhumans being handled by a team that relegates their characters to daytime soap opera status.  We want things at least to have the quality the Netflix shows have.  The interpersonal relationship drama and angst is far too abused in S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe they need to focus on small tasks and awesome Mission Impossible type subterfuge as opposed to all the damn overused world threatening crap.  For Inhumans, they should simply adapt the 12 issue Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee run.  Keep it simple and meaningful.   A tightly knit story with a huge payoff.

     As for Diesel in the main role- thank goodness at least Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn doesn't believe he'll do it.  Which is great.  He has all the emotive facial acting talent of a slab of beef.  They would be much better off hiring someone like Jason Isaacs, or Christopher Meloni.  Or both and have one of them play Blackagar Boltagon's brother Maximus.  Get talent that can give extremely expressive performances without needing words.

GAMES

     I've been playing Marvel Heroes for a couple years and we'll finally be getting Black Bolt in game soon.  It's super exciting and I hope they've got him done correctly.  I mean, he's super fun in Marvel Future Fight, so I can only imagine the larger game will have him slightly better.  Obviously a mobile game poses a lot more limitations than PC games, so they'll have more opportunity.
     I'm also hoping we'll eventually get his Earth X costume pictured below for both games.

     Source [ Marvel ]

Marvel Future Fight: Doctor Strange Update & Thoughts

     Yesterday the Marvel Future Fight 2.6 patch hit and added a ton of stuff.  The obligatory 8 new characters, 4 movie tie-in costumes, a film related mode, as well as one huge negative.

     Despite the amazing new character additions, the only one I wanted was Doctor Strange himself.  But in leveling him up (which can ONLY be done through the 46 "Epic Quest" missions) I found he's got one monstrously large problem- and it's one that definitely feels like a paywall.  In order to rank up and master the good Doctor fully, you HAVE to get Baron Mordo, Wong, Ancient One, and Kaecilius to 4 stars, and then get Clea, Satana, and Hellstorm to 5 stars.

     What makes this so awful is the extremely limited way to obtain the biometrics to unlock and rank up the new characters.  Wong, Baron Mordo, Ancient One, and Kaecilius are available through the Epic Quest's "Memory Missions" which only allow for 10 runs for each character a day- meaning a maximum of roughly 10 bios a day (occasionally it'll give you 2 on a run)- and you need 150 total to get to 4 stars.  Whereas Satana and Hellstorm are available in the Epic Quest's "Dark Dimension," and Clea can be found as a Shifter in the same area.  Because each of them need to make it to 5 stars we'd need 310 of each character's biometrics.  Making things even worse is that the only way to get Clea or Satana outside of the extremely limited biometric chances a day is only via the store's Monthly Selector because they will not be available with the regular selectors.  I also don't know if rank up tickets will work for them yet, so that may be a small relief.
     Considering the total number of biometrics rewarded through the Epic Quest is a meager 250, that means either an absurdly long farming task, or a bunch of purchases- making it seem like the trip to Strange is a multidimensional journey through the metaphysical paywalls of gaming.

     Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the need to purchase stuff- as I do for extra costumes (including Strange's film one) and characters, and as I did for both Gwenpool and Carnage.  It's just here, they've made Doctor Strange ridiculously difficult to get to his full potential because you need to get all the other new characters boosted.  I mean why couldn't I just buy his character and feed him surplus biometrics as is necessary for the Boss characters like Thanos?  Why force us to obtain and rank characters we may not want just to get the one we actually do want?

     Strange is coming out in a movie and will likely draw in a crowd of potential new players, and what they've essentially done is create a funneled paywall to the in-game store in order to play him.  It definitely appears to be a frustrating limitation for not just us long time players, but will very likely be a reason many new players may give up or quit.

     On a side note, where the hell is Dormammu?  One would think that great Doctor Strange staple villain and fiery-headed mystical arts user would be a wonderful addition to the game instead of the slightly more obscure Satana and Hellstorm.   And now that I think of it, what happened to Enchantress, Sandman, and the Netflix Daredevil costumes for the Punisher and Elektra?

     Related  posts [ Future Fight ]

     Source [ Marvel Future Fight Official ]

Marvel Future Fight: Doctor Strange FINALLY Announced

     Almost a year and a half after originally hearing about Doctor Strange's appearance (via rumors spied through the Eye of Amagotto) in Marvel Future Fight, he's finally leaving the Astral Plane and coming to the game.  It does make sense to save it to tie-in to the film release, but it's been so damn long!

     In addition to the Sorcerer Supreme in the 2.6.0 update, we'll be getting a slew of other related characters.  By the looks of it we'll be receiving multiple costumes for Strange himself, Baron Mordo, what appears to be multiple versions of The Ancient One, Wong, Clea, and Kaecilius.

     Once again, Netmarble is adding a ton of great characters on top of an ever-expanding playable roster.  This game just keeps getting better and better, and is without a doubt the best mobile Marvel game available.

     Click for [ Related Posts ]

     Source [ Marvel Future Fight ]

Marvel Future Fight: Misty Knight & Shang Chi Update: Thoughts

     I was actually surprised when I logged in last night to get my daily play time in on the always amazing mobile game Marvel Future Fight only to find that there's already a new update so soon after the Gwenpool and The New Avengers one a month ago.

     This new update gives us two new characters, Misty Knight and Shang Chi, as well as 4 more costumes- one of which I was almost hopeful for- Ghost Rider.  Unfortunately, it's his Inhumans: Attilan Rising suit with a flair for the Prohibition era, although it has a car as his summon which is kind of cool.  That, however, makes me wonder why they wouldn't just go with either the much cooler looking comic version of Robbie Reyes (to go with his appearance on the new season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) or go with the really badass looking Trail of Tears costume with the fiery horse.  I've been waiting on the Trail of Tears one for Marvel Heroes 2016 for years to go with my cosmic prestiged Ghostie.  Or a Ghost Rider 2099 costume with some kind of cool digitized flame effects.  When will we get that in either game?!?

     In addition there's new Black Cat, Moon Knight, and Daredevil costumes.  Sadly, I'm not too impressed with them.  They're all pretty decent, I just don't care for them.
     We also get some more tier two abilities, some new 6* skills, and the new Shadowland mode.

     I have to say that after playing Misty Knight, she's absolutely fun as hell and has already taken a place in my main team.  I like the fact she's got a great look and freeze powers (sort of) complete with the nice bonus of boosting Lady Loki's ice powers with her mastery ability.
     While I don't have Shang Chi yet, his powers look wonderful on the screen in the testing area.  He appears to be a good alternative to the other fast combat characters.
   
     Overall, I'm always pleased with new updates and the surprises new characters bring, and we're still waiting for Doctor Strange from over a year ago.  Not even kidding, check the date on that link.  Anyways, just getting Misty Knight has made me downright giddy.  Once again I have to say Marvel Future Fight is without a doubt the best mobile Marvel comics game, and they keep proving time and again that they will remain that way for a long time to come.

     For the full update notes [ Marvel Future Fight ]

Marvel Future Fight: Gwenpool & The New Avengers Have Arrived!

     Marvel Future Fight recently got another huge update (full details here) and, one again it is amazing.  I've said it over and over again, this game is consistently getting better than it was, and it's already a better game than 90% of games out there for mobile devices.  That isn't to say it is not without problems, because there are definitely a few- such as the huge Timeline Battle imbalances- but really, it's a small problem considering how exactly much content the game provides overall.

     This new update brings us a total of 6 new characters and 2 new costumes.  First there's the undeniably fun Gwenpool, then we get The New Avengers- comprised of White Tiger, Wiccan, Hulkling, Songbird, and Squirrel Girl!  The new costumes are one for Wasp, and a classic for Nebula.  I really like the new selection of characters, they are well designed and fun to play.  Particularly Gwenpool because of her silly skipping walk animation.

     On top of this we get 5 new Special Missions.  The previous Special Missions for Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy have been moved to Dimension Rifts, which are now searchable instead of relying on finding them randomly- making getting ones you want infinitely easier to get into.  I got sick of finding the same one over and over.

     This update on the whole is amazing.  It adds a great cast of extra characters, new levels and enemies, and a bunch of other little niceties.  I've been having a blast with most the new characters, and the added levels have given us a very welcome change for scenery and story elements.  Future Fight, well, developer Netmarble, has again outdone themselves.

     I did notice one oddity, and I don't know if it's a bug or not, but I've only had a single person show up continuously as an ally shifter (which is happening far more frequently since the update) and it's Gwenpool.  I don't mind the issue, because I did buy the 20 biometrics for 30 days pack to get her, and this just makes leveling her up a little quicker.  Seriously, I've had her show up at least 12 times back to back.  Finally, problem working in the player's favor!

     Plus, I know many of us are still awaiting the arrival of the leaked-a-year-ago Doctor Strange (and he's already teased by Netmarble in a previous video).  It makes sense that they'd be saving him for closer to the film's release though, so we should be seeing him around late October or early November.

     Related posts [ Marvel Future Fight ]