How’s it going, Circle Readers! Donovan here, bringing you this week’s Circle Roundup for the very first time!
Right now if you’ve been playing a lot of Injustice 2, I greatly envy you. Currently, I can only play games on my PC, as my PS4 is shot. Smh. But, I have been playing a lot of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS lately, so I’m not too bored right now. It’s a little bit addictive. Still trying to get my first win though (I came so close on my third or fourth game) so wish me luck!
The Circle held a well-attended community event this week at Barcade New York in Chelsea. A few developers showed up, and so did a CEO. Out next event, the bigger summer one, will take place at the Abrons Art Center on July 28 with free drinks, food, games, and art. Then we’ll move to a secret location to be revealed soon.
And with that, the Roundup!
Ebenezer Samuel reviewed the newest hit fighting game to come out of NetherRealm Studios, Injustice 2. Its predecessor, Injustice: Gods Among Us, took great leaps and bounds to give us not only fun, well-polished gameplay but also an enticing story. It generally follows DC’s Injustice comic book event that saw a rogue Superman divide the heroes of the DC universe when he installs himself as the supreme authority of the world. Injustice 2 gives us another amazing story set after the events of the first game along with the similar superior gameplay and a new roster of playable heroes and villains. Take a look at Eb’s review here.
Sherri L Smith recently rated the best VR headsets of 2017. While all the VR hype from last year is starting to slow down a bit, it isn’t going away. With headsets made for all platforms from PC to smartphones, and more well on the way, VR appears to have a bright future ahead. Sherri is a self-proclaimed huge VR enthusiast, so it’s safe to say she has some knowledge about the subject. See what her top picks are here.
Samit Sarkar gives us an in-depth analysis of the recently released Far Cry 5 artwork, which confirms the antagonists of the next game. The Far Cry series so far seems like it just can’t lose. With its hits, Far Cry 2 and 3, becoming classics and even the divergent Far Cry: Primal knocking it out of the park, Ubisoft seemingly has what it takes to release another gem for its loyal fans. This time over, we seem to be going up against a militaristic religious cult in the great state of Montana. Can our new main bad guy live up to the captivating maniac Vaas Montenegro from Far Cry 3? I guess we’ll find out when we play! Read Samit’s analysis here.
Gita Jackson reviews the newest game based on the 1992 classic, Reservoir Dogs, called Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days. The top down shooter was met with generally mixed reviews. There isn’t much to the story and gameplay besides bringing together the iconic members of Tarantino’s lovably evil group and pulling off heists. Gita’s impression can be summed up with this: “…every time I felt myself enjoying it, a little voice would whisper to me, ‘You could just watch Reservoir Dogs.'” Check out her full review here.
Chelsea Stark covers Jinx’s new Overwatch themed clothing line. The clothing brand released a sweet new series of hoodies, t-shirts, sweatpants, and more to celebrate Overwatch’s one-year anniversary. I think I just might pick up a hoodie or two myself. Read Chelsea’s post here.
Harold Goldberg wrote about his trip to Iceland for Eve Fanfest and Eve Online. The epic piece sees interviews with top CCP developers and execs. Harold finds some darkness in Reykjavik, too, in this travelogue. Also, he dives into the Blue Lagoon. Read Harold’s story here.
Now for some news from beyond the Circle…
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Rockstar Games has recently announced that the release date for its highly anticipated sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, has been pushed back from Fall of this year to Spring 2018. However, the delay was not a result of any specific problem. It was to give the dev team more time to develop the game since it’s being developed from the ground up. I think we can all agree that they can take all the time they need to bring us the best possible, fully-finished game that they can give us. Kudos to you, Rockstar! Check out the full story here.
Overwatch fans are in for a treat. Blizzard is celebrating the game’s one-year anniversary with a number of new additions to the game. They start off the celebration with a new GOTY Edition of Overwatch for PS4, PC, and Xbox One. For those that still haven’t picked it up, Blizzard is holding a free weekend from May 26th through the 29th. They’ve also released 3 new arena maps as well as 11 new skins and 24 new emotes all obtainable through Anniversary loot boxes. Take a look here.
The Witcher series is killing it. It started as a best-selling book that became its own award-winning game franchise, and now Netflix is developing a show based off the franchise. Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the original books, is the creative consultant for the series. Also, Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko, who were involved with CGI intros for video games are involved as well so the show is in good hands creatively. Fingers crossed that it will be greenlit soon! Read more here.
The LoL College Championship have begun! Eight League of Legends teams will compete this weekend. The teams competing are Texas A&M, Maryland, Carnegie Mellon, Maryville, Robert Morris (IL), University of Toronto, Simon Fraser, and University of British Columbia. Read more here.
That’s it for this week! Tune in next week for another Roundup!
