Giving up isn't something athletes do; you never know when a team is going to comeback and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And yet there are some things in the sports video game universe that I'm safe in saying won't happen. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here you go...

NCAA Football Comes Back 

July is usually a time for summer frivolity, but now it instead serves as a bitter reminder that we are bereft of an NCAA Football title. Due to ongoing licensing and paid-compensation issues surrounding an unholy legal morass involving the NCAA, Electronic Arts, universities, conferences, and the players themselves, we are without college football now, and I predict, for a long time.

With our October cover story on Middle-earth: Shadow of War, we're showing off the breadth of content available in Monolith's new adventure. While visiting the studio, we sat down with VP of creative Michael de Plater to talk about what this series means for the modern game industry. After the warm reception to the bold nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor, the team is doubling down on emphasizing player stories and expanding on everything available in the first game.

Watch the video below to see new gameplay from Middle-earth: Shadow of War and learn how the team is stepping up the scale for the sequel.

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It would be an understatement to say that I did not like Destiny upon its release in 2014. Years later I still maintain that it's a bad game. Not even a mediocre one. Straight up bad, with its environments composed of endless, barren plains with enemies surging toward you horde-style, its constant grind with diminishing returns, and let's not forget the awful, non-existent attempt at storytelling culminating with a character saying "I don't have time to explain what I don't have time to explain." Admittedly, expansion packs like The Taken King and Rise Of Iron helped fixed a lot of those problems by inserting mini-campaigns into the game and filling out what was essentially a clunky proof of concept with the kind of content that should have been there in the first place, but it still felt like a bandaid on a broken bone, as none of Destiny's locations or activities were as interesting or satisfying as its gunplay.

Altered Beast was a massive hit in arcades when it released in 1988, prompting ports to Commodore 64, Sega Master System, even Xbox Live Arcade and more. It's almost confounding that in this age where everything from everyone's childhood has been rebooted twice, we never saw an attempt to revitalize Altered Beast. But as it turns out, Europe and Japan got to see one in 2005: Project Altered Beast for PlayStation 2.

Though it sits at a less-than-ideal 53 on MetaCritic, Andrew Reiner, Dan Tack, Jeff Cork and I couldn't put it down. Interesting combat, a campy B-movie plot, and a huge roster of beasts left us wanting more. Then, after we force ourselves to move on, we try out an old game that was forgotten for perfectly good reasons. Meanwhile, Kyle tries to assemble a roster of heroes to compete in the upcoming Replay: Civil War.

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Square-Enix's upcoming game Project Octopath Traveler is a striking blend of old-school RPG with updated visuals. Sort of. The game was featured at Nintendo's recent Direct stream, where viewers got to see how the game's developers are creating a world where 16-bit-era sprites interact with 3D environments. The reveal was accompanied with the surprise that Switch owners could download a demo of the game and explore a bit of Octopath Traveler's world with two of the game's eight characters. Today, Andrew Reiner and I checked out Primrose's path. Don't let the game's innocent-looking presentation fool you – it gets really gross.

As you can see in our video, Primrose's tale is one of revenge. The character witnesses the murder of her father, and she devotes her life to tracking down the three men she holds responsible. When we meet up with her in the game's beginning, she is working as a dancer in a tavern, hoping to get leads on one of the murderers. Unfortunately, as you'll see, these aren't the only bad guys in her life. In short, her boss is an A1 supercreep.

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After years of listening to gamers gripe about how the original Destiny ruined their lives in every conceivable way (even as they logged in hundreds of hours), Destiny 2 is finally here. Does the shiny new sequel provide Bungie with the redemption it doesn't really need and has never asked for? Seeing as how all the early criticism has focused on the way shaders are used to paint your guardian pretty colors, it seems like the answer is yes. But we all know that the real verdict won't be rendered until the professional critics weigh in – and we all know that the only professional critic that really matters is ME. Well, fear not, dear readers: Like my hideous Smurfette of a guardian, I am up to the task and ready to save the day!

Full disclosure: I never actually managed to finish the original Destiny. I played for about a week or so when the game first came out, but lost interest when that weird emo prince showed up in the incomprehensible-yet-paradoxically-simple story. My experience with Destiny since then has been downloading every new expansion and then feeling progressively more guilty for not actually playing them.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor allowed players to explore Sauron's forbidding home in ways never before showcased in a video game. However, with only two regions available to play in, players only got a taste of the geographic diversity available in Middle-earth's most notorious area.

With Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Monolith is expanding from two regions to five new locales, making for much more variance to the backdrop of Talion's sophomore quest. Not only that, but according to vice president of creative Mike de Plater, fans should expect much more from each of the five regions.

"Every region is significantly bigger than either of the regions we had in the first game, and also much more diverse," he says. "We have a lot more verticality and a lot more detail in the environment and topography. We have caves and mountains and pits and those sorts of things. We have the fortresses. Each of the regions is controlled by these large fortresses. Then we have that each of the regions can vary based on the tribe that's in control of it."

Xur is once again selling high-powered gear for a limited time. This weekend, the Agent of the Nine has set up shop on Nessus at Watcher's Grave, near the Chamber of Water. His location is a little peculiar, as you find him standing atop of a beautiful autumn tree, which you'll need to ascend by following the roots up. Xur is selling four items this week, a weapon for everyone, and a piece of armor for the Hunter, Titan, and Warlock class.

As of this writing, Xur is selling this gear for another three days and 18 hours. He will likely reappear in a new location next Friday with a different selection of loot. Here are the items you can buy this weekend (Note: I am a Titan class, which allowed me to preview the items up close):

Destiny 2 got plenty of love within these hallowed blogging walls this week. Take a break from the alien blasting and loot drops, and get reading!

Community Blogs For September 7 – September 13:

Some Thoughts On Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice I didn't even realize this game had released until seeing Genera Mills44's blog. This is what he writes: "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is one of the best games to come out of this medium in years." It is not only a good game, but one that helps the writer relate to his own health issues. Between this blog and the fact that the game contains Norse gods, I am pretty sold.

The first Divinity: Original Sin was a throwback to the best RPGs of a bygone era. Absurdly detailed customization, dialogue paths, and co-op play made for one of the most exciting entries in the genre to date.

Editors Dan Tack, Andrew Reiner, and myself are all fans of the original and were eager to jump in and see what kind of bizarre, unique characters we could create and play with in the sequel. Watch the video below to see how the robust character creator, choice system, and strategic combat have evolved since the first entry.

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