As games like League of Legends succeed, developers and distributors look towards their success and analyze how it can be applied to their products. H1Z1 attracted a lot of recent attention for going back on their initial statement that in-game payments could not be applied to ammo or guns by implementing airdrops, a system that would allow players to pay a fee and have a plane drop off supplies that may contain weapons and ammo. The developers say that the possible consequences of these drops—attracting zombie attention, possible raiding by other players,and the rare drop rate of weapons—even out the potential for unbalancing the game. But players weren’t satisfied, and many asked for refunds when the airdrops were announ
Meanwhile, The CW’s Arrowverse crossover this year had perhaps the most consistency of any of the network’s crossover events. In previous years it’s been abundantly clear which larger series each section of the crossovers have belonged to, for better or worse – though usually for worse. This year, however, Crisis on Earth-X had the most consistency in tone and story across the board of all four of The CW’s DC series. Certainly, there was still some differentiation in tone between Supergirl and Arrow on night one, and it was clear which episode was Legend of Tomorrow’s since the remainder of the team suddenly appea
Seeing the cast of Arrow break out of their angsty brooding is always welcome (if, quite frankly, out of character considering the plot they’re pulled directly out of). But as entertaining as the laughs or novel moments may be, they’re fleeting. Fans are outright told to expect fireworks with a crossover, and while “Legends of Today” serves a larger purpose than the previous crossovers, we doubt fans were hoping the biggest payoff of seeing their heroes unite would be comedic rel
Because The CW typically airs its crossovers at the end of November, Crisis on Earth-X debuted only 10 days after Warner Bros. and DC Films’ premiered their own massive team-up event with Justice League . While the reviews for Justice League were undoubtedly an improvement upon previous DC Films entries Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad – and the film topped the domestic box office in its opening weekend and performed well overseas – the dominant narrative has been that it didn’t quite meet expectations. Certainly, the movie has its fans, and redeeming qualities, but Justice League wasn’t as big of a success – critically, financially, or with fans – as many were hop
KM: We may look for opportunities to do that. I don’t have any of the specifics on what we would do there yet. Historically, we weren’t really trying to tell a cohesive story for the rest of this year. We really think of it as a season this initial year starting out with this Rise of the Raven comic later this month. We really try to delve into the realms, the realm lords and what the Nexus
In comparison, some have accused Justice League of copying Marvel’s The Avengers a bit too closely. Of course, both movies follow a similar basic structure with certain heroes trying to recruit others to a team in order to fight an invading alien who wants to conquer the Earth, only for them to realize the importance of teamwork and unite to ultimately defeat the threat. While the highly anticipated uniting of DC’s biggest heroes in live-action for the first time is momentous, the story of Justice League left a great deal to be desired. In the five years since The Avengers debuted, it’s not unreasonable to think superhero movies have evolved and fans expect more than what amounts to a movie essentially resting on the excitement for, simply, superheroes teaming
Even if microtransactions might be backed by good intentions, that doesn’t change the way they feel to gamers. EA’s own Mass Effect 3 ‘s day-one DLC had many fans up in arms —if the DLC was ready at launch, why wasn’t it included in MOBA game DLC, especially since it contained a character many long-time fans of the series were dying to see? It’s easy to be cynical; EA knew players wanted to know more about the mysterious Protheans and knew they’d be willing to pay money for it, so it’s possible they changed their business model for more profit. That, coupled with the introduction of war resources that required multiplayer grinding for the best ending, microtransactions to get better weapons and characters in multiplayer, and the controversial ending, left fans of the series feeling exploited and skeptical for the fut
Perhaps the biggest point of contention, and the biggest criticism, plaguing Justice League is that it feels like the product of two directors – which, of course, it is. Though Justice League was meant to be the capper in Zack Snyder’s DC Films trilogy that began with Man of Steel and continued through Batman V Superman , the director stepped away from the project due to a personal tragedy. After reports that an early cut of Justice League was “unwatchable,” Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to helm reshoots , though he’d already done some work on the scr