Summer 2016 Video Game Guide

There’s rarely a dull moment in the video game industry, and now is certainly no exception.

Nintendo has announced that they are launching their next console, the Nintendo NX, in March of 2017. Techies eagerly await Sony’s groundbreaking virtual reality system, the PlayStation VR, heading to stores this October.

And rumors abound regarding possible upgrades to the  and the  (you may have heard mention of the “PlayStation 4.5”), consoles that are only about two-and-a-half years old.

Meanwhile, gamers are having a blast with such recently released blockbusters as Doom - PlayStation 4(PS4, Xbox One), Star Fox Zero(Wii U) and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End(PS4), the latter of which many are already calling one of the greatest video games of all time.

Here are nine more tantalizing titles you might enjoy. Two you can pop in and play right now; the rest you can enjoy over the next couple of months to escape the summer heat.

As always, release dates are subject to change.

Battleborn

PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Publisher: 2K Games. Developer: Gearbox Software.

ESRB Rating: Teen

$59.99

Available Now

Many gamers are currently knee-deep in Battleborn, a frenetic first-person hero shooter with elements of a MOBA, which, for you noobs, stands for multiplayer online battle arena. If you have yet to take the plunge, know this: the game features a robust lineup of 25 playable, upgradeable characters, each of which has a storyline and distinctive abilities, weapons and techniques. Five of the characters are immediately available. To unlock the others, you must finish story missions, achieve new player ranks or complete an assortment of tasks.

Developed by Frisco-based Gearbox Software, creators of the hugely popular “Borderlands” series, Battleborn released to mixed reviews, but I like its visual panache and plethora of playable characters.

Disney Art Academy

Nintendo 3DS

Publisher: Nintendo. Developer: Headstrong Games.

ESRB Rating: Everyone

$29.99

Available Now

Disney Art Academylets budding Botticellis and those of us who can barely draw figures put stylus to screen and illustrate more than 80 Disney and Pixar characters, from Mickey Mouse to Donald Duck to Snow White to Elsa from Frozen. Step-by-step lessons with tutorials make illustrating easy, and you can select from nine different art tools, including pens, markers and spray cans. New to the “Art Academy” series is a magic brush that lets you add such flourishes as clouds, stars and glitter.

Once you’ve created your 2D masterpiece (there is no 3D option), you can post it directly to the Miiverse or on social media via the 3DS Image Share tool.

Dangerous Golf

PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Publisher: Three Fields Entertainment. Developer: Three Fields Entertainment.

ESRB Rating: TBA

$ TBA (digital download only)

Release date: June 3

Golf is the most genteel of sports. Players wear slacks and collared shirts while viewers speak in hushed tones, clapping politely when their favorite golfer sinks a long putt. Scratch all of that with Dangerous Golf, a game of destruction the programmers refer to as a cross between Burnout, Black and NBA Jam.

Up to eight players take turns “golfing” in such indoor locations as a kitchen, a bathroom, a castle and a palace. Instead of just hitting the ball into a flagged hole, gamers also splat food on walls, spill paint on works of art, set fire to gas pumps and smash everything from dishes to microwave ovens to grand pianos and grandfather clocks. Sounds like my kind of golf.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Nintendo 3DS

Publisher: Nintendo. Developer: HAL Laboratory.

ESRB Rating: Everyone

$39.99

Release date: June 10

Everyone’s favorite pink puffball returns for another side-scrolling platform adventure in Kirby: Planet Robobot. Invaders have mechanized Dreamland. To battle the baddies, Kirby, who can maneuver in the foreground and background, uses more than 25 copy abilities, including three new ones: Doctor, Poison, and ESP. Better yet, Kirby can now walk, slide, shoot, fly, smash through obstacles and lift heavy objects while wearing Robobot armor, which makes him more powerful than ever.

The game also includes a mode called Team Kirby Clash, which lets up to four players level up their characters (in RPG-like fashion) and cooperate to battle bosses.

Grand Kingdom

PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita

Publisher: NIS America. Developer: Monochrome.

ESRB Rating: Teen

$49.99

Release date: June 21

Fans of JRPGs (Japanese role-playing games) should be excited for the U.S. release of Grand Kingdom, a tactical, squad-based game that launched to largely positive reviews in the Land of the Rising Sun last November. Players lead a team of mercenaries through the fantasy world of Resonail, using bows, swords and magical attacks in turn-based battles against such enemies as dragons, harpies and giant wolves.

The single-player campaign has you trying to unravel the mystery of the collapse of the Uldein Empire while online play lets you participate in continental warfare between the Four Great Nations.

No Man’s Sky

PlayStation 4

Publisher: Hello Games. Developer: Hello Games.

ESRB Rating: Teen

$59.99

Release date: June 21

An immersive adventure set in a vast universe, No Man's Sky looks to be one of the most open-ended electronic experiences we’ve ever seen. Exploration and survival take center stage as you traverse uncharted solar systems, travel to distant planets and suns, catalogue new life forms, search for ancient artifacts, dogfight in outer space, engage in first-person combat and collect resources to trade for ships, space suits and other equipment.

You can play solo or hop online and share your discoveries with other players, “naming them and adding them to the Galactic Map, forever associated with your PSN ID.” This game could literally keep you busy for years.

Umbrella Corps

PlayStation 4

Publisher: Capcom. Developer: Capcom.

ESRB Rating: Mature 17+

$29.99 (digital download only)

Release date: June 21

An offshoot of the popular “Resident Evil” series, which began on the original PlayStation 20 years ago, Umbrella Corps takes place in 2015, two years after the storyline from Resident Evil 6. The game side-steps the survivor horror genre the series popularized in favor of third-person shooter action, not unlike the non-canonical Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

As a mercenary with a mission, you, cooperating with fellow mercenaries, compete online to eliminate zombies while battling rival teams. Defeating enemies grants points for use in customizing your mask, helmet, armor and Zombie Jammer, the latter of which helps keep the baddies at bay. You can also unlock and customize weaponry, such as the new, super powerful Doberman Pincer shotgun.

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U

Publisher: Warner Bros. Developer: Traveller's Tales.

ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+

$29.99 (3DS, Vita), $49.99 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U), $59.99 (PS4, Xbox One)

Release date: June 28

If you’re a diehard “Star Wars” fan, but you’ve dismissed the “LEGO” series as mere kiddie fare, you might want to think twice about skipping this game, which includes playable (not to mention canonical) story content bridging the gap between Return of the Jedi and .

Gameplay is similar to previous “LEGO” titles, with one or two players walking, jumping, solving puzzles, piecing together items and engaging in comical, lighthearted battles. New to the series are Multi-Builds, which let you use LEGO bricks to open up new paths and then break them apart to open more paths, and Blaster Battles, which let you use your surroundings as cover while facing the First Order.

Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness

PlayStation 4

Publisher: Square Enix. Developer: tri-Ace.

ESRB Rating: Teen

$59.99

Release date: June 28

Set between Star Ocean: The Second Story and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, this is one of those epic, cinematic, all-consuming role-playing games that just may absorb your life, making you forget to shower, shave or interact with actual human beings. It’s action-oriented at its core, however, with players, as swordsman Fidel Camuze, engaging in real-time battles with beasts, bandits and other enemies on the planet of Faykreed, which is 6,000 miles from Earth.

The basic fighting system consists of simple three-button combat (light attack, heavy attack, and guard), but gamers can create weapons and other items and switch between seven controllable characters on the fly, each of whom has a different fighting style. Japanese through-and-through, the anime-style characters were designed by “Street Fighter” veteran Akira Yasuda.

Carmageddon: Max Damage

PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Publisher: Stainless Games. Developer: Stainless Games.

ESRB Rating: TBA

$39.99

Release date: July 8

Remember the 1975 Roger Corman-produced cult classic, Death Race 2000? It’s the one where “Machine Gun” Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone) and other racers run over pedestrians for points. With Carmageddon: Max Damage, the latest title in a series that began in 1997, you can cause similar mayhem while driving down grannies, nuns and cheerleaders, along with pedestrians on bicycles, wheelchairs and mobility scooters. You can even hit such targets as aliens, bears and penguins.

There are more than 30 drivable vehicles to select from in this politically incorrect game, and you can grab more than different 90 power-ups for increased carnage. The action takes place in small battle arenas and across such large open environments as city streets, arid deserts, country trails and icy wastelands, “all packed with juicy meatbags for your killing pleasure.”

A Reality of Today's Economy - Free Online Content & the Donate Button

I never really thought I would do this, but I've added a donation button to my website (you'll find it up and to the right).

The reason is because I spend more time than I used to posting free online content, articles, videos and the like, which takes up time I could be spending on paying work. Also, it's simply a reality of today's dotcom economy--respected writers, authors, musicians, artists and other content creators get paid for their time and creativity in part by generous fans who like what they watch, hear, and read.

Feel free to continue reading my blog and watching my videos free of charge, guilt free (the key word here is apparently free), but if you've got some extra cash in your PayPal account or some wiggle room on your credit card, and you enjoy my articles and videos, it wouldn't hurt my feelings any if you could donate a few bucks.

Whether you kick in some cash or not, thanks for watching and reading!

HoldSquare Nation Videogame Podcast #8 - Space Invaders - National Video Game Museum VIP Dinner

Join outlawcurtis and myself for this week's HoldSquare Nation Podcast as we discuss Space Invaders, Assassin's Creed, Friday the 13th, videogame movies, the National Videogame Museum VIP dinner, and more.

Click HERE to watch our videos in full screen. Thanks for watching, subscribing and liking our videos!

National Videogame Museum VIP Dinner

Fellow gaming author and friend Leonard Herman invited me as his guest for the VIP dinner at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas. Lenny flew in from New Jersey while I live 45 minutes from the facility. I've covered the museum for various magazines and newspapers, I've interviewed museum co-founder Joe Santulli, and I've known (and supported the work of) Santulli and his business partners John Hardie and Sean Kelly for years, so they were cool with me tagging along.

Joe looks at me suspiciously while I take a pic of him and his partners in crime. Joe, John, and Sean each gave impassioned speeches, thanking their friends, family members and others who helped make the museum possible.

Me and Lenny Herman talking to Atari alumnus Steve Wright, who programmed Soccer for the Atari 2600.

 Sony's Jerry Jessop, who used to work for Atari, on the left. That's Jay Smith, who designed the Vectrex, in the middle.

Pitfall! creator David Crane faces off against Intellivision alumnus Keith Robinson in a round of the world's largest Pong game.

 Excellent food and drink, fun decorations, '80s music videos, legendary game designers, arcade gaming, great conversation--it was a fun night at the museum.

 Dan Kitchen (Garry's brother) in the tan jacket, David Crane on the right.

Video Game Movies Worth Watching

If you took your vid kids to see Ratchet & Clank, and you’re already tweeting about The Angry Birds Movie, which hits theaters Friday, you may be wondering what other video game films are worth your time and money.

Sadly, most are terrible. If you suffered the indignity of watching such train wrecks as Super Mario Bros.(1993), Double Dragon(1994) and/or Alone in the Dark(2005), I truly feel sorry for you.

To save you the pain and anguish of taking in more such turkeys, I’ve spotlighted some video game movies that are actually quite good, or at least a lot of fun. Most of the titles listed are based around video games (or have some connection to them) and not directly on one of them, but I'm shooting for entertaining value here, not fidelity to a particular franchise. Also, there are many quality video game documentaries, such as Chasing Ghosts and The King of Kong, but I'll save those for another day.

So without further ado, grab your favorite gaming snack, kick back on the couch and check out one or more of these fantabulous flicks.

Tron (1982)

Rated PG

Tron wasn’t the first film to employ CGI, but it was the first to use extensive computer animation, and it still looks dazzling today. Jeff Bridges stars as arcade operator Flynn, who hacks into a mainframe computer to prove that his game designs were stolen. He gets beamed inside the digital world of the Master Control Program, where he engages in gladiator-style battles featuring throwable discs and speedy light cycles.

The Citizen Kane of video game movies, Tron is beloved by most hardcore gamers, especially those of us who grew up during the golden age of the arcades. In fact, it spawned a great arcade game of the same name, released later that year.

WarGames (1983)

Rated PG

A film the late, great Roger Ebert called “scary and intelligent,” WarGames has more to do with computer games than video games (though we do see our hero playing Galaga), but it’s just so darn good I had to include it. The always-charming Mathew Broderick plays genius David Lightman, who hacks into a military super computer that confuses a nuclear war game for reality, potentially starting World War III.

A product of its time, WarGames tapped into our collective Cold War angst and fear of advanced technology, but it did so in easily digestible, hugely entertaining fashion.

Cloak & Dagger (1984)

 Rated PG

Filmed in San Antonio, Cloak & Dagger is an espionage thriller starring E.T.’s Henry Thomas as Davey Osborne, a kid with an imaginary friend: super spy Jack Flack. Dabney Coleman plays the dual role of Flack and Osborne’s recently widowed father, who has a hard time relating to his son.

One day, Davey witness the murder of an F.B.I. agent who, before he dies, gives him an Atari cartridge containing important military secrets, leading to action, intrigue, shootouts and some cool scenes on the River Walk and inside a vintage video game store. Sincere performances by Thomas and Coleman hold the film together.

The Last Starfighter (1984)

Rated PG

Clearly influenced by Star Wars, and clearly a major influence on Ernest Cline’s best-selling Armada, The Last Starfighter stars Lance Guest as Alex Rogan, who longs for adventure far from home. The teen gets his wish when he’s recruited by aliens to engage in battle against the dreaded Ko-Dan Armada.

Rogan is singled out because of his mad skills at a coin-op game called Starfighter, which, unbeknownst to him, is actually a testing tool for potential starship fighter pilots. Solid acting, likable characters, a fun premise and nifty CGI make for an intergalactic good time.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

Rated PG-13

Incorporating elements of Midway Games’ Mortal Kombat (1992) and Mortal Kombat II (1993), this movie isn’t a masterpiece, but thanks to snazzy special effects, a cool techno-pop soundtrack and exotic far eastern environments, it will entertain most fans of the famous fighting franchise, which sparked controversy during the Clinton era with its gore and violence.

Given its PG-13 rating, the movie is tamer than its coin-op cousins, but it stays relatively faithful to the source material of over-the-top mixed martial arts battles featuring Johnny Cage, Lui Kang, Sonya Blade and the gang.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Rated PG-13

In 2065, alien spirits infest the Earth, and humankind faces extinction. To save the day, scientist Aki Ross must “collect eight spirits in hope of creating a force powerful enough to destroy the alien presence and pure enough to protect the planet.”

The first film populated by realistic looking computer generated human characters, Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within had mixed reviews upon release, and it continues to divide fans of the popular RPG video game series. However, I unabashedly enjoy its then-cutting edge visuals and its retro sci-fi storyline, which would seem right at home in a Robert Heinlein or Arthur C. Clarke novel.

Wreck-It-Ralph (2012)

Rated PG

Easily the greatest animated video game movie ever made, Wreck-It Ralphis delightful from beginning to end, paying homage to games of the past and present in fun, playful fashion. Ralph, a hulking, pixelated brute, lives in shame in a classic-style arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr., where he pounds holes in a high-rise apartment building, only to be thwarted by Felix, a beloved handyman.

Tired of being a shunned villain, Ralph escapes the confines of the repressive coin-op machine, resulting in a fun, frolicking adventure yarn that junior joystick jockeys and AARP-qualifying arcaders alike can enjoy.

Seven more solid choices:

The Wizard(1989)

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)

Summer Wars (2009)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Tron: Legacy (2010)

Ace Attorney (2012)