TSM’s Leffen Tears Through Bracket, 3-0’s Armada for Super Smash Bros. Melee EVO 2018 Championship

On January 26th of 2016, Team Solo Mid’s Leffen boldly claimed on Twitter, “I will win Evo.” On August 5th of 2018, he made good on his claim. TSM’s Leffen defeated Alliance’s Armada in a convincing 3-0 victory in Grand Finals of EVO 2018. Leffen played in outstanding fashion from start to finish. After making his way through a tough Saturday beating names like DIGNITAS Lucky and Tempo’s S2J, he went into Sunday with a lot of momentum and confidence. On that Sunday, Leffen was in for one of the toughest EVO brackets in Melee history, having to fight arguably the three best players this year. Leffen was to first play Liquid’s Hungrybox, the #1 ranked player two years in a row, in Winner’s Semi-Finals. Leffen and Hungrybox have had previous issues within and outside of Melee, which added to some extra tension to the match. Leffen looked a little shaky in the first game, as Hbox only lost one of his four stocks the entire game. However, that was the only time Leffen would struggle. He proceeded to win a close second game by getting multiple kills with Fox’s patented Up Throw into Up Air combo, an extremely strong kill confirm on Hbox’s Jigglypuff. Game three was nothing but domination from Leffen as he returned the favor from Game One, winning by three stocks. Leffen then went against Panda Global’s Plup, who’s had his best year in Melee after winning Genesis 5 earlier this year. From start to finish, Leffen’s Fox had the better of Plup’s Sheik in Winner’s Finals. In this case, it wasn’t due to Plup playing poorly, rather it was Leffen who was playing on an entirely different level above everyone that day. Plup made a few of the games close, but none of the games ever truly felt like he had the momentum. Leffen’s final bout would be with Armada, a true legend and possibly the best player in Melee history, in Grand Finals. Armada’s loser’s bracket run was even tougher than Leffen’s, as he went up against S2J and fellow Melee legend C9’s Mango in addition to the players Leffen had beaten earlier. These two also know each other well as friends and competitors who reside in Sweden. As Melee commentator Toph aptly put “They go back and forth in sets, but within the context of a single set, for whatever reason one usually destroys the other.” This match was no different as Leffen was moving extremely fast in the game and reacting to everything Armada threw at him. These games felt like the Plup matches as Armada always seemed to be a step behind, despite the games being close. Leffen absolutely dominated everyone in Melee on his way to 1st place. Watch the tournament winning kill below. Leffen also placed 33rd at EVO in Dragonball FighterZ, losing to CYCLOPS Athlete Gaming’s Fenritti.

Rectify Gaming welcomes NXGamer

Today, Rectify Gaming is proud to announce a partnership with NXGamer. You can now look forward to highly polished and professional game analysis videos, tech reviews and written articles, all here on the Rectify Gaming website. Not only will we have a dedicated NXGamer section, but there will also be a link to NXGamer’s own YouTube page for all his latest videos covering PC, Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo. With well over 5 million views on YouTube, NXGamer not only brings his wealth of knowledge and experience, but he also brings a dedicated following. From Black Ops 4 beta performance to The Crew 2 Engine analysis, we now have all your Tech needs covered. Occasionally we will have exclusive videos and articles on the site, but NXGamer will also answer any technical questions our fans may have. We look forward to a long and productive partnership. As an example of the quality content you can expect, check out NXGamer’s first article on the site, which details how the Xbox Scarlet streaming box will work, the problems Microsoft will face and some solutions to make it a success. You can view his channel below: [yourchannel user=”NX Gamer”] So sit back and enjoy cause it time to ” Switch On and Plug In”    

Gone Home Celebrates Its 5th Year Anniversary With Switch Reveal

Since its initial 2013 PC release, Fullbright has managed to get their ‘Walking Simulator’ Gone Home on to virtually every platform on the market. Now we can add the Nintendo Switch to that list, as the developers have teamed up with Blitworks to port the highly regarded indie title. The aptly named Gone Home has you returning from a yearlong trip away to reunite with your family back home. You arrive to find out everyone is gone, but there’s something else present. A mystery that hides within your childhood home. You must figure out what has happened in the time you were gone and uncover the secrets that are hidden. Fullbright’s Gone Home will be available for $14.99 on August 23, 2018, for the Nintendo Switch.

Timesplitters And Second Sight Acquired By THQ Nordic

A recent announcement by THQ Nordic revealed that the publisher has acquired Free Radical Design’s Timesplitters and Second Sight. This acquisition gives THQ Nordic the opportunity to not only re-release/remaster the classic series but create new ones as well. Stated in a press release by the publisher on the recent acquisitions: Timesplitters was largely considered as one of the most influential console games of the early 2000’s. The three game series earned a large and passionate fan base thanks to its unique humour, art style and pop culture references while encouraging customization and modification to give each person their own individual experience. Since the first installment of the Timesplitters series, the game has bounced around between publishers and, ultimately, was put on the proverbial back-burner. With such a large fanbase behind the series, many have demanded a series revival. Originally, Free Radical, made up of former Golden Eye 007 and Perfect Dark developers from Rare, managed to create three titles for the series. The studio was later purchased by Crytek, newly labeled as Crytek UK. Following the financial problems Crytek faced when developing Homefront 2, the studio was acquired by Deep Silver, which led to Crytek UK’s name change to Deep Silver Dambuster. What can be expected from the newly acquired properties is unknown, but hopefully we will see the beloved series returning in either a re-release or sequel. Source: THQ Nordic

The Walking Dead: The Final Season Episode One Review

Developer – Telltale Games Release date – August 14, 2018 Platforms – Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch Since Telltale’s first season of The Walking Dead going back to 2012, fans of both the comic series and the studio were eager to see what was in-store for them once they got a controller in their hands. Each season following Clementine either in her shoes or from another perspective, from when Lee first found her to Clementine looking out for herself all by herself, Clementine was always present. And now coming up to the last season of the videogame adaptation, we will see how this post-apocalyptic world has morphed her instincts as now she is in Lee’s shoes with Alvin Jr. Episode One, Done Running, has Clementine with an older A.J. by her side. Since the end of Season 3, Clementine was left with the responsibility to take care of the boy on her own and to do what’s best for someone who’s been born into this madness. Using all she learned from the events prior to better the choices A.J. makes so he doesn’t repeat the same mistakes that Clementine and others have done. Introducing a new cast of characters along with the fully maximized Telltale Tool Engine, the developer is going out with a bang for this Final Season of their biggest series. Pushing the boundaries of previous seasons as the player discovers how the story ends for Clementine and starts for A.J.. Influenced by the players choices is notorious for Telltale’s games, with this being the last of the series choices won’t be easy to make, but they never really were in the first place. Years after the events of The New Frontier, both Clementine and A.J. have constantly been on the move as they continue running away from walkers and raiders that live in the zombie infested wasteland. Unable to find somewhere to call home, they take it to the road to survive with a working car as they continue their search for somewhere stable to live. Eventually running into hunger as they’ve been travelling for days, the two find an abandoned train station to search for any rations. Finding a stockpile of food hidden under the floors, but soon after a rigged grenade rolled in front of the two. Escaping the explosion, the two had to return back to the car as a horde of walkers start closing in on the station. With a line of close calls and a few dead zombies, they reached the car and attempted to drive away as the car gets overrun by the walkers. Unable to fight them off and start the vehicle simultaneously, Clementine put the car in neutral to buy her some time to escape. But in the process the car slammed into a nearby tree. With the rush of adrenaline from the impact, Clementine managed to get the car in motion by reversing back to the road. Then just as they returned back to the road as they put the car into drive, a walker crashes through the driver side window just as the car accelerates away. As Clementine attempts to fight off the emerged walker, the car flips and rolls down the side of the road as the screen goes to black. Clementine wakes up from the crash to see as someone takes out the remaining walkers from inside the wreck. As well as witnessing a figure take A.J. outside of the totaled car. Blacking out once again, Clementine later comes to her senses inside an unknown room. Sitting up and instantly searches for a way out, she soon picks the lock of the door to wonder the new building. Where she runs into some new characters. Tennessee who was taking care of you and Marlon, the leader of the group who rescued you. To soon find out that this new pack of kids is surviving without any adults at an abandoned school. Secondary characters like Louis, Violet, Brody, and other children of the school meet Clementine to soon after. Her and A.J. put a hand out to help repay for their rescue with chores and duties that the kids have. Along with that, they also form impressions and later relationships with the kids. And unlike the previous installments of the series, Clementine seems to be more comfortable with this band of children. As she before had to adapt quickly to act more like an adult, being surrounded by people her age shows a different Clementine that we hardly have seen at all throughout her time in the series. A.J. on the other hand is almost a wild card in this new season. Never experiencing the world before the walkers, had to adapt practically since birth to this new world. Unable to be act as child since his time running with Clementine, interacting with the new cast of kids was something more foreign than the walkers to him. Where his manners and social skills were hardly present for most of the episode. until he began to adapt to people his own age, just like Clementine, is where we begin to learn more of who A.J. really is. Other ways Telltale was successful in having this last season stand out is the latest version of the Telltale Tool Engine. With true shadow effects, more realistic lighting and reactive objects in the game show the true potential of the 2006 mad engine. Unfortunately this is the last time we will be seeing this engine with all burners on as Telltale has announced months previous that they will be creating all other projects after The final Season using Unity. As many titles that I’ve played prior to this like The Wolf Among Us and Batman The Telltale Series, The Final Season was one of the smoothest experiences with a Telltale game. Audio was fully in sync, character responded correctly and no long load times or freezes. An issue I’ve expected when it comes to projects from the studio, but was ultimately surprised when I noticed by

Opinion: Being A Completionist Is A Curse

For many of those who play games casually, they’re able to enjoy what the games they play offer. Whether it be side missions, upgrades or just exploration, players will get what seems to them as the most they can before moving on to the next title. But for some, it’s not over after just finishing the main objectives. Completionists, including myself, will return to the game’s world more than once, scouring every corner for collectibles and getting all of the content provided from the team who developed the game. For a certain amount of people who use games as a time killer, or have it as their primary hobby, they possess an internal threshold which, when crossed, allows them to start another game. Generally, people will reach the end of the game’s story, put time into a couple of the side missions that they run into along the way and collect whatever is right in front of them. For completionists, they are gaming minorities who take games to the next level and devote more time to getting the most out of each game in their library. A nice consequence is that they also tend to get way more of their money’s worth than those who are satisfied with just seeing the final credits roll. Most completionists will base their fulfillment of a game either on the in-game progression or the achievements/trophies available for it. Whether it’s finding each collectible, completing the game on higher difficulties, doing certain quests or completing secret activities, there are always side portions that many players gloss over when playing through the main game. Even though it is satisfying reaching the bottom of the pot for the games we 100 percent, it’s a real curse sometimes with what’s necessary in going that extra mile. Reaching max progression on games is something to take pride in, but a big problem comes when you jump into a new franchise halfway through. If it grabs hold of you, then the need to destroy every previous game can really set you back hundreds of hours. As games evolve from what they were in previous generations, looking back at older titles as you reach the most recent installment will help you appreciate the changes, either good or bad, to what makes the certain series stand out even more. But starting an entire series is a tedious and time-consuming process. Along with attempting to attain everything available in a game, older titles usually seem to be more difficult to master. Although you might enjoy your playthrough, the irksome tasks you’ll run into might be what keeps you from fully reaching the game’s completion. Stumbling blocks usually include difficulties such as completing entire playthroughs with an extreme requirement, online achievements/trophies or missed collectibles. All of these could hinder you from another attempt to pursue the 100% completed mark. Especially with older games, online challenges could be almost impossible if attempted today. As they age, servers might close or the game’s lobbies might be more vacant than during its initial launch. This is a hugely problematic issue, as it might be the last piece in the puzzle of grasping the hundred percentile. In the long run, completionists have more to show on their overall game progress compared to others on their friends list or general leaderboards. Though it is rewarding to finally make it to the end, it is a struggle that few attempt to do. So much goes into the effort that the thrill might die out sooner than expected, to the point that it might even make your experience of a game turn sour.

It’s Time for Mass Effect to End

With E3 barely two months in the rear-view mirror, and with Anthem’s release date just six months away, BioWare has ramped up the press machine, getting the gaming world ready for its “Our World, My Story” sci-fi action-adventure thriller. While Anthem is highly anticipated, by some with excitement, by others with trepidation, longtime fans of the game developer have certainly not forgotten their favorite and currently dormant franchises Mass Effect and Dragon Age. In their mid-summer update earlier this month, Casey Hudson writes: “we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like – we’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while…” The original Mass Effect trilogy is among the most beloved gaming franchises of all time, and in the time since the franchise was put “on ice” in November of last year, fans have worried if we have seen the end of Mass Effect. This month’s announcement may have assuaged these fan’s fears, but ultimately the problems that led to the disaster of Mass Effect: Andromeda have not disappeared. The difficult truth, owed in part to both the greatness and magnitude of the narrative arc of the original trilogy, is that Mass Effect as a franchise is a complete, finished product. It’s time to seal it up and put it away for good. While the Dragon Age franchise has been left in a good place following Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect has yet to shake the narrative issues that have plagued the series since the conclusion of the original trilogy six years ago. The problems start when considering where the series could possibly go following the events of the narrative arc. The conclusion of Mass Effect 3, hated as it was at first and still only lukewarmly received following the Extended Cut DLC, created a definite cutoff point for the Mass Effect Universe. Yes, even those who classify the endings as nothing more than “the red, green, or blue one” will admit that a continuation of the narrative after that point would have to choose one of those three as the official canonized ending, an eventuality that would never suffice for any Mass Effect fan. This scenario has put BioWare in a creative bind. Clearly fans of the series want more, and the universe is well developed with an abundance of locations, races, characters, and stories that could support games, novels, comics, TV shows, or even the elusive, successful movie adaptation. The problem is that anything created will suffer from the Doppler Effect. “There is another physical law that teases me, too: the Doppler Effect. The sound of anything coming at you- a train, say, or the future- has a higher pitch than the sound of the same thing going away…Who wants to compute the speed of history? Like all falling bodies, it constantly accelerates. But I would like to hear your life as you heard it, coming at you, instead of hearing it as I do, a somber sound of expectations reduced, desires blunted, hopes deferred or abandoned, chances lost, defeats accepted, griefs borne.” ― Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose Anything created inside the original Mass Effect trilogy universe will suffer from a narrative Doppler Effect. As much as I would enjoy playing through the First Contact War, or the Rachni War, or the Krogan Rebellions, or even smaller chapters that follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula, like playing Garrus as Archangel in Omega, or Grunt as he starts his command of Aralakh Company, or even Javick during the fall of the Protheans, all of them will suffer from the Doppler Effect’s change in pitch of knowing the end from the beginning. How much drama and tension can be created when the outcome of any story is a codex entry away? Narratively stuck, seven months following the release of Mass Effect 3, and in between major story DLCs Leviathan and Omega, BioWare did the unthinkable: it reached out to fans of the series for ideas regarding its future via a tweet by series lead Casey Hudson. While interactions between developers and fans are common, the idea of inviting fans to come up with plans to steer the direction of a major franchise as massively successful as Mass Effect is nothing short of astonishing. It was clearly indicative of a difficult situation for the creative team – how to keep a popular, financially successful series going beyond a natural and definite ending. What BioWare came up with was 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda. While more than a bit of a leap from established cannon, Mass Effect: Andromeda seemed to be a workable direction for the franchise. A little retconning was necessary to get the idea off the ground, but once the arks set sail for Andromeda, the potential for taking established races, politics, and histories into a brand-new galaxy with room to expand and explore seemed limitlessly unbound to the narrative structure of the original trilogy. However, Andromeda was nothing short of a catastrophe for BioWare. Notwithstanding a massive campaign to fix the problems that plagued the title at launch, or reviews that praised many aspects of the title, nothing was enough to make people forget their first impressions, which spread across the internet like a Reaper invasion. Any hope of Andromeda carrying the future of Mass Effect died with the closure of BioWare Montreal in November 2017 when the series was put on hiatus. Nine months later, Hudson’s comments, along with other studio announcements, have made it clear that they are not done with Mass Effect yet. And who knows? Maybe the talented teams at BioWare have struck on some new angle that will breathe new life into the once-iced franchise. But ultimately, the Mass Effect trilogy is better off left the way it is now. Fans have been clamoring for a remastered version for some time, and a

Diablo III Announced For Switch This Fall

There has been a long list of rumors and leaks regarding the possibility of Blizzard’s Diablo III making its way to Nintendo’s platform, but now it just may be nearing reality. On Wednesday, a leak surfaced that an announcement for the Switch version of the game will arrive soon. The expectation is that a release date will be announced for later this year. On Thursday, Blizzard revealed that the Diablo III Eternal Collection will make its way to Nintendo Switch this Fall. Included with this edition comes the base game and all content already available for the game. This means both the Reaper of Souls and Rise of the Necromancer expansions will be bundled with the Eternal Collection. Multiplayer for the game will be supported both locally and online. Diablo III will necessitate the use of Nintendo’s paid online service, as it releases prior to the game, and will have support for cloud saves. Players will be able to team up with two on one Switch or up to four via wireless LAN using two or more Nintendo Switches. Voice chat will also be available for the game when it launches through the app on the platform, rather than through the game itself. Along with this edition coming to the Nintendo Switch, there will also be Switch-exclusive content. According to Gameinformer, The Legend of Zelda-inspired cosmetics will be included for those who purchase the game. Content featured includes Ganondorf armor from Twilight Princess, a cosmetic wings design based off Majora’s Mask, and a Triforce frame to help decorate your character’s portrait. This marks the first time Blizzard is working with Nintendo since 2000, and going forward it will be interesting to see what else will be in stock for the platform. Diablo III Eternal Collection is coming later this Fall with no specific release date as of yet.