Top video game news of the week: Sept. 6

Play Pokémon in real life, ‘”Destiny” composer serenades the jury to victory and the best game of 2015 gets an expansion on this week’s top game news.

Lawsuit for ‘Destiny’ reveals drama during development

The long-discussed rumors of internal conflict at Halo and Destiny developer Bungie have come to light in a document published by VentureBeat.

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The documents surfaced after award-winning music composer Marty O’Donnell — responsible for the Halo and Destiny soundtracks — won a lawsuit against the developer, earning him company stock and money he was owed after being fired “without cause” in April 2014.

Adding more fuel to the fire, the records also revealed the storyline was to be substantially revised a month before the game was originally supposed to release. Lead writer Joseph Staten left the company soon after, leading gamers to speculate something internal was going wrong.

“Destiny” was received with mixed results, surprising fans how the creators of Halo could create a game that did not live up to their name.

I always assumed there was conflict between the developers at Bungie when the lead writer and composer left the company within a year of the game release. The release of these court documents clears up the drastic changes made and how the quality of the game suffered because of it.

Despite this, the game is still popular and I’m looking forward to the upcoming expansion, “The Taken King” releasing this Tuesday.

New Pokémon augmented reality game announced

The Pokémon Company announced Thursday a free mobile game called “Pokémon GO” for Android and iOS devices in 2016, being developed by Niantic.

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“Pokemon GO” lets players explore the real word and uses their phone to catch Pokémon. When nearing a Pokémon, the player is alerted by a required bluetooth device called Pokémon GO Plus.

While I’m not a big Pokémon fan, I can see the potential. The franchise is still incredibly popular and fans have wanted more ways to engage with the series for years.

The mobile game market is huge and tapping into it with a popular franchise is sure to be a big money maker, especially if implemented in a cool way like ‘Pokémon GO.’ For Pokémon fans, this is the closest thing they can get to living the fantasy.

‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ get first expansion pack, release date and details

CD Projekt Red has finally given fans details on their open world role-playing game’s first expansion pack called “The Witcher 3: Heart of Stone.”

“Heart of Stone” has players take control of Geralt of Rivia on a job to take down a bandit with immortality. Containing more than 10 hours of additional gameplay, players get new storylines, monsters, a new romance and a new rune sword system.

The game can be purchased digitally or as a limited-edition box set, which comes with a digital code of the game and two physical decks of the card game featured in The Witcher 3, Gwent. This box set will cost $19.99.

Anyone who has already purchased the expansion pass can purchase the cards separately on a special website.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is a masterpiece of video game artistry. I put in 180 hours for my review of “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” and I am still excited for this additional content. I cannot get enough.

If there is anything CD Projekt Red has proven with this game, it is that they are masters of storytelling and creating worthwhile experiences.

Apple bites into gaming

At a press event Sept. 9, Apple Inc. announced a new Apple TV model which allows games to be played on it.

Games such as “Transistor,” “Guitar Hero Live,” and “Disney Infinity 3.0” will be playable on the device. Games also feature cross-play between Apple TV and other iOS devices, meaning someone can start the game on their TV, then stop and continue on their iPad.

The new model ships in October with two versions; a 32GB for $149 and 64GB for $199.

It is hard to say if this device will affect the gaming industry at all. It has the potential because of how much money is in the mobile gaming market. I can see this being successful but, do not think Apple fans will buy it for gaming; They just want an enhanced Apple product.

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