However, the issue I have with it is the same across all platforms.

The ending is really weird and unfulfilling. I commend the game for not requiring you to battle your way through it. In fact, it seems to encourage you to go through it using social skills, stealth, and subterfuge rather than combat. Except for the final boss, which can be beaten in a non-lethal manner, but it still requires you to engage. But before that you’re given a choice between going to the battle, or to warn people. Both choices have negative outcomes in some manner, but if you’re fast enough you can do both.

So I started with the battle, and then rushed to warn people. And that ended really abruptly. There was a tiny cut-scene, without any real urgency, and then the game was over after some dialogue with another character.

Before the credits you get to watch a news broadcast that basically goes through the consequences of your actions throughout the game.

And that’s it. There are a lot of threads left to unravel, there’s no real conclusion to the story, and you’re left with a sense of the ending being rushed together to meet a deadline. But looking at what developers have said, journalists have investigated, the practices of the publisher, and the marketing campaign for the actual game, you can see that there’s most likely something else going on.

This game is not unfinished, it is cut up. And the unfinished parts are to be sold to you at a later date, either as DLC or a sequel.

It’s not the first time we’re faced with a game where the overarching story is left unfinished after a game concludes. Mass Effect for instance is cut into three parts, but each game has a definitive, climactic ending.

I had a great time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and I’m most likely going to purchase the next game as well (although I won’t pre-order. Never pre-order, kids). But a great adventure need a great ending to feel like a complete, satisfactory experience. And in that aspect, it has failed.

This trailer has gotten a lot of people up in arms over how bad it is. Especially how it ridicules an aspect that is prevalent in their target demographic with the reference to the stereotype that nerds are lonely losers without a social life.

Cry like an anime fan on prom night

It’s a great example on how the people that do the marketing for games have no clue about how their customers work, what they like, or what will make them buy products. What gamers seem to forget is what their role, and the role of this particular trailer, is.

Ignore the actual game and whether or not it’s any good for a while and let’s talk about marketing. The whole point of marketing is creating awareness; hopefully to sell a product, but mainly to create awareness and implant the knowledge that the product exists in the first place.

What gamers did was spread the word over how bad this commercial was. And as it spread, more and more people became aware that the game exists. No matter how bad the trailer is, the information got out there. And there might have been some people that thought “That is really dumb… but the game looks like it actually could be fun”.

Gamers seem to forget is that that trailer wasn’t for them

The second part that gamers seem to forget is that that trailer wasn’t for them. Gamers that are in the loop and try to keep current already knew that Mighty No.9 existed. They knew the pedigree of the product. And the decision of whether or not they were going to play it had already been made. And that makes them useless to the marketing department in this instance.

And there already were other trailers that showed the people in the loop what they wanted. But those trailers didn’t go viral, because they weren’t controversial. They didn’t ridicule an aspect of geek culture, and so there wasn’t any particular attention drawn to it. The theme was the same, but the target wasn’t the same. It wasn’t meant for the “dudebros” and the rest of the world that didn’t know about Mighty No.9 already.

There was an even earlier trailer for the purists.

But gamers will be watching a game, waiting for news and trailers about it, thinking that they’re owed something by the developer and publisher. They forget that it is a business and that in the end they’re being sold a product, just like any toothpaste trying to be THE toothpaste that you use. And then they will pre-order and buy season passes, hoping for the industry to change.

Of course there are exceptions and good marketing for video games out there. But even those are just using a different approach to reach you as a consumer.

DOOM is all about mechanics

While many FPS, first person shooters, these days go for some sort of realism by using cover and having to deal with magazine-sizes, DOOM is all about mechanics and flow. Instead of tactics that involve sneaking from cover to cover and going for a precise headshoot to  minimize the usage of ammo, DOOM has both corridors and open areas that work both horizontally and vertically, and lets you charge straight in, dodge incoming fireballs and rockets, and with the weapon of you choice, shoot until you run out of ammo. And the mechanics are build around the old school feel of DOOM and Quake from yesteryear, as by executing you low-health enemy with a gory glory kill you’re awarded with health pickups. And when you run out of ammo for your guns, if you have enough fuel, you can cut your enemy down with your trusty chainsaw to be awarded with ammo instead.

And they take good care of the heritage, in a nod to all people that are nostalgic about the old id Software games. The game is full of throwbacks in the form of key cards to unlock doors, and secret areas. Some of which actually are segments and graphics of the old DOOM games. But the cutest are still the Doomguy dolls that are hidden across the levels that play the original soundtrack when picked up.

DOOM is a great change of pace from the majority of modern shooters that are out there today. The feel of the controls and mechanics are fantastic for those of us that grew up on the old games and franchises that id Software gave us. Just make sure you’re playing with a mouse and keyboard; while the game might work with a controller, it’s not meant for it.

I basically played The Division as a single-player game, going through the story mission alone and didn’t really play anything else until I had gathered all the collectibles and completed all the entries in the quest log. After that there was basically only player-versus-player content left to do, aside from redoing missions on a higher difficulty (which is basically impossible when playing solo). But the PvP aspect of the game didn’t give me any fun, so I just left the game and awaited the next update.

When it arrived it brought new missions and a rework of how the equipment system works. All weapons and gear now carries with it a level. And to be eligible to play the new missions you have to meet the required level and gear level, even though I had already reached the highest character-level possible at the time. So to be able to access the new content one had to grind for loot so as to raise ones gear score. As a solo player this is extremely tedious, and would mean visits to areas where either enemies or other hostile players are more than likely to destroy you without much of a challenge. And so they lost me as a player for The Division, because their new content was too tedious to access for someone that just wants to play the game a little casually. I’m sure they’ll manage without me.

Leading up to the release of Whispers of the Old Gods for Hearthstone it was announced that some previous content, the Naxxramas adventure and Goblins & Gnomes expansion, would have their availability for purchase removed. The cards would still be available for crafting, but you would no longer be able to buy the adventure or booster packs. Having already bought all the adventures and using all my gold to purchase booster packs of card, I started playing more diligently in an effort to gather as much gold as possible to exchange for packs of the disappearing cards.

Getting close to the release I realized that I had no intention of purchasing packs of the new expansion, which made any future endeavor frivolous. There was no point in continuing as I would have to spend too much time just to get a few initial cards of the new expansion, which would leave me too far behind to have any chance in the new meta of the game. So I stopped playing that as well.

Hearthstone card: C’Thun

Then there was a new announcement. Upon logging in to the game after the release you would automatically receive three packs of cards from the new expansion, along with two subsequent quest that awarded five packs each. Meaning that you could easily collect thirteen packs of the new cards with a little effort. And you were also given a few key cards to the new system, such as the main character of the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion: C’Thun.

This little gesture was enough to change my mind about quitting the game. Making the barrier to entry into the new content lower just by handing out a few samples to get players going is enough motivation to engage me and retain me as a customer. Compared to making me work for the possibility to even access the new content. The outcome is that I’m back into playing Hearthstone with enthusiasm, while I’ve put The Division aside and don’t see myself going back to it.

The original board game of Blood Bowl

It’s based on an old board game from Games Workshop, the company behind the Warhammer games, which I used to play many years ago. Playing the game actually made me quite nostalgic about the miniatures an dices from back in the day and I felt it would be fun to find the physical edition, paint some figures and play some games.

But then I remembered why I played the single-player campaign in Blood Bowl 2. If I can’t find friends to play a league of the video game where a game take about an hour to play, or even friends that would get the game at all, how am I supposed to find friends to play the board game where the ease of a digital rule and scorekeeper isn’t available and a game take somewhere between two and four hours?

While I could see myself enjoying the collecting and painting by itself, we’re back to the fact that there’s no end-goal with the endeavour and so I find the whole exercise pointless.

Perhaps nostalgia is supposed to be just that, nostalgia, and I should be happy with just having the digital simulation of a time long gone  just a click away.