Trailer Flood Emerges from Game Awards

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
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Trailer Flood Emerges from Game Awards

The Game Awards are seen by many as the last major shot of gaming news of any given year, and this year's version was no exception. In fact, this year's version came out with several major trailer releases, and though there will be plenty of sequels and updates, there will also be some noteworthy original fodder to check out.

Updates, sequels and translations were big at this event. Rocket League was set to get an update called Starbase ARC, that included a new car and training feature, among other features. Bulletstorm came back with Bulletstorm: Full Clip, which gives the cult classic a chance to hit a new audience, and this time, inexplicably featuring Duke Nukem. Telltale Games is set to bring out a Guardians of the Galaxy adoption, and Shovel Knight is coming back for more with Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment. Halo Wars is poised to get a sequel in Halo Wars 2, and Telltale's Walking Dead series is carrying on with The Walking Dead: A New Frontier.

There were also trailers for familiar properties, including Prey, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and LawBreakers. If this sounds a bit underwhelming, join the crowd, but two new titles really stood out, titles I'd not even heard of.

First, there's the coalition effort that is Dauntless. Developed by veterans from--and brace yourself for the name dropping--Riot Games, Capcom, BioWar and Blizzard--several studios, it's an action RPG that sends a set of hunters known as "Slayers" to go fight Behemoths, vicious monsters plaguing the countryside. Featuring flying ships, floating islands, and a noteworthy combination of warhammers and rocket-boots gameplay, Dauntless is expected out in 2017. Finally, in a move that will surely heap burning coals on Konami's head, Hideo Kojima had a trailer for Death Stranding, featuring more dead seafood in its first 30 seconds than some entire Vegas buffets offer in, well, 30 seconds. It wasn't just about the dead crab and inexplicable plastic baby dolls, of course, as tanks, planes, and men in suits fleeing for their lives with smuggled babies in tow joined in. It's not immediately clear just what all this is all about, but it certainly looks like a great new slice of horror / sci-fi to come. And yes, Norman Reedus will be back for this one, so the trailer notes, along with Danish villain extraordinaire Mads Mikkelsen.

So while the trailer stock this time was a mite light in terms of new content, there was more than enough in updates about stuff we already knew about to keep people at least reasonably happy. A new year is about to begin, and with it, news from all over will arrive. With the first major gaming event of the year--likely PAX East in March, though admittedly the term is debatable--just a few months away, fresh news about new titles will start to emerge further.

The last major event of 2016 was a bit light in new fare, but there was certainly more than enough to consider that should make 2017 an exciting year for gaming.


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