Control is perhaps the biggest game of the week, if not the month. For longtime Remedy fans, though, it should be even bigger.

In the ever-shifting Oldest House, which hosts so many strange secrets and dangerous rabbit holes, there exist many references to Remedy's previous and oft-beloved franchises, especially Alan Wake.

We turned over every stone and backtracked down every hallway to seek out the many references to Remedy's 2010 thriller, and what we found was pretty astounding. The studio doesn't just drop a few Easter eggs into Control, they outright connect the two worlds like films in the MCU — and even continue the plot of Alan Wake where we left off.

Not only that, but they even go so far as to connect all four of their major franchises, including Quantum Break and Max Payne. Excitingly, it seems like Remedy is slowly creating one conjoined story universe, which makes for a promising future following this week's critical hit.

Of course, major spoilers follow. If you haven't yet finished Control, bookmark this article and come back after you've done so. 

Remedy's games have always been self-referential. Alan Wake was an author famous for his gritty Alex Casey crime novels, and that titular character was meant as a blatant reference to Max Payne, the anti-hero from their previous series of the same name. 

Quantum Break came along in 2016. It had all sorts of Easter eggs for Alan Wake, too, such as a long trailer called "Return" which Jack Joyce could watch on the campus of Riverport University. If such a reference seemed like merely a fun nod, things turned out to be deeper and more complex than that.

Moments later, a whiteboard decked out in wacky theories appears. Its scrawling tries to puzzle out what happened to Wake after he dove into Cauldron Lake, making it clear Wake is someone who is being investigated by someone in Quantum Break's world. He's not just mentioned by the game's writers for fans outside that world.

Control takes the self-referential content to new heights. It links together all four worlds, especially those of Alan Wake and Control. It does so in ways that I can't recall any game ever doing. Remedy is building their own MCU — or what I've called elsewhere, the Grand Remedy Universe. 

To trace this universe to its own Big Bang, we have to go back to 2012. That was when a blog titled This House of Dreams appeared online. The author, Samantha, chronicled her life while moving into her new home in a town called Ordinary. It wasn't long until her daily posts about repairs around the house turned to something more mysterious — and maybe even dangerous.

Samantha found a shoebox. A very strange shoebox.

This House of Dreams was soon revealed to be part of an alternate reality game (ARG) from Remedy. If you follow the blog in chronological order from February 2012 when it began until July 29 of the same year — the last day a blog entry was made — the allusions become clearer and clearer. Samantha writes of a Dark Presence and a diver in a "strange, heavy diving suit, almost like a spacesuit" who speaks to her in her dreams and tells of his lover whom he lost to this darkness. 

Why is any of this important? Well, here's why. 

If you can't make out the words in the screen above, look for this whiteboard on the mid-level of the Central Research Center in Control.

To summarize, it's a collection of notes on Sam's shoebox. It mentions the blog, it mentions her town of Ordinary — the same town where Jesse is from, mind you — and it even mentions the "Bright Falls AWE," where AWE stands for Altered World Event, and, of course, Bright Falls is the setting in Alan Wake. 

These are events in Control defined by when the story's alternate whitespace universe, the Astral Plane, leaks into our world and disrupts it in major ways. 

If Jesse's coworkers studying Alan Wake's disappearance isn't enough of a clue, there's more. Take, for example, how the Federal Bureau of Control rebooted Night Springs (the show from Alan's world) to introduce some of its wildest works to the public under the guise of a sci-fi anthology show.

There's also the moment when the game humorously reveals a purpose for all those Oh, Deer Diner coffee thermoses you find in Alan Wake. Apparently, they are a suspected Altered Item (an item touched and forever changed by the Astral Plane). Now they serve piping hot coffee with every pour, no matter how long ago they were filled.

The game even reveals that a character from Alan Wake, Sheriff Breaker's father, is a retired FBC agent. He's the agent who alerts the bureau about the Cauldron Lake AWE.

Other little things crop up all over the game, too, like letters to psychology councils that sound like someone is dreaming of Alan, or how Jesse herself recites the poetry of Thomas Zane, Alan's literal guiding light.

Most excitingly, Control confirms through found documents that the FBC interviewed Alan's wife, Alice, in the aftermath of the "recurring AWE" at Bright Falls' Cauldron Lake.

Tie all this to the fact that the dreams Sam blogged about in This House of Dreams ended with a man in an AWE jacket confiscating her shoebox before it went missing in the real world, too, and you've got one big happily convoluted mess. But it's one we can see all ties together neatly with a closer look.

These and many more links bring the worlds of Control and Alan Wake closer together as one omniverse. However, there's one segment in the third act that brings it all together and connects Remedy's four biggest series.

When Jesse speaks to her enigmatic brother, Dylan, through protective glass, Dylan goes on a tangent about a conversation he had with an entity he calls Mr. Door. Dylan continues:

He said that there are many worlds, side by side, on top of each other, some inside of others. In one world, there’s a writer who wrote a story about a cop. In another world, the cop was real. Door said he himself was in all of them at the same time, endlessly shifting between them.

Here's where the Easter eggs shift to full-on Grand Remedy Universe. "In one world there's a writer who wrote a story about a cop." That's Alan, of course. "In another world, the cop was real." That's Max Payne, who, if you recall, is the studio's inspiration for Alan's protagonist in his crime novels. "Door said he himself was in all of them at the same time, endlessly shifting between them." This part is the trickiest, but I strongly feel I have it right: This is the entity which exists outside of time in Quantum Break. 

At the very end of the game, it's hinted that Martin Hatch (played by Lance Reddick) is this fabled foe we hardly see in the game, but given how time travel stories have a way of messing with multiverse theory, like Quantum Break very much already does, and given that we know Control does too, it seems this line was not there just to confound.

Here is some more hard evidence from Control. 

Like The Cloverfield Paradox does for its anthology franchise, but hopefully more elegantly, Control reveals the future roadmap for Remedy games, at least potentially. Control gives the studio the license to explore new worlds with starkly different aesthetics and a range of characters all while bringing it back together with the multiverse which captures all of these stories as one shared universe. 

That means the best elements of this shared world may be yet to come. Remedy intends to spend less time between games moving forward, so can we expect a new connected story within the next two or three years, excluding Crossfire X, which is already en route and not their IP to mess with? I think so, and that's a promise that should excite their fans.

A multiverse means little if they don't brush up against each other, but we're seeing already that the worlds of Alan and Jesse have collided head-on several times. We just didn't know it until now. Max Payne and Jack Joyce are meant to pay their roles, too, though as Remedy doesn't own those properties, we may just have to fill in the gaps with our best headcanon.

Might we get Alan Wake 2 someday? It's possible, especially after Remedy bought the IP from Microsoft. They don't likely just want to sit on it. But we're seeing in Control that they're already delivering sequel-like plot details in the dark corners of The Oldest House, which itself is just one more corridor in the Grand Remedy Universe. 

Despite receiving overall favourable reviews, Quantum Break greatly suffered from one thing -- its PC version was terrible due to performance and stability issues, restrictions that prevented players from using third-party workarounds, and worst of all, you needed Windows 10 to play it.

Now, four months after said release, the third-person shooter will be arriving on Steam on September 14th -- and developer Remedy has promised that it has fixed all the problems the PC version had. For starters, it'll run on Windows 7 or up.

Not only that, but a physical retail version of the game will also be released for PC. Titled Quantum Break: Timeless Collector’s Edition, it will contain five game discs, a 'Making Of' Blu-Ray and book, a soundtrack CD, two posters and a quick-start guide. All wrapped up in a sleek-looking box (we gamers sure love our boxes for some reason).

If you want more info, you can see a list of all the latest patch notes here, which Remedy has been working on since the game's initial release.

Quantum Break is also available for the Xbox One. Players take control of Jack Joyce, who gains the power to manipulate time after a failed time-travel experiment and must stop his former friend from bringing about the End of Time. It originally released earlier this year, on April 5. 

Thomas Puha, Head of Communications for Remedy Entertainment, just came out with an update on what's next for the studio. Remedy released Quantum Break two months ago and became the "biggest-selling new Microsoft Studios published IP this generation". This raised the bar for Remedy and Thomas Puha is looking forward.

They are planning on creating more games and getting them out more often. They have already split into two teams for game development. They have been "developing a brand new Remedy game with a new partner." Which will help spread brand awareness of Remedy Entertainment through another platform.

However, we may not be seeing or hearing any more specific news than this because he explicitly said "don’t expect us take the stage at E3 or gamescom this year". His reasoning for this is that it's too early to reveal anything just yet. 

All we know right now is that Alan Wake will not be in the two projects they are currently working on.

What platform do you think Remedy is working with? Any announcements you expect them to make in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Ever find yourself rocking out to Quantum Break's awesome soundtrack? Well, now you can take it wherever you go and feel like your favorite characters at any time. The Quantum Break game makers released a series of free ringtones with their signature sounds so everyone can take the game with them!

Uploaded onto Remedy are nine different options that can be downloaded directly to your Windows or Android phone. 

The songs and tones included are: 

• Alan Wake
• Monarch Solutions Theme
• Monarch Stutter Tech Theme
• Monarch Tech Gestures 1 and 2 (separately)
• Quantum Break Theme songs 1, 2, 3 (separately)

Along with these ringtones, there's the option to download "Bridges of Hope" -- a featured, original soundtrack that appears in the recent Quantum Break Tribute. This tribute also features the newest trailer for the game. I would highly recommend checking it out, along with listening to "Bridges of Hope."

How to Download the Ringtones

Follow this link to the web page where these ringtones are featured. The options to download are listed directly next to the sound title. After downloading  you can then select it as a ringtone from your audio settings.

For iPhone users, it works a bit differently. In order to use these downloads on an iPhone you must first download the files onto your computer as M4R files onto iTunes, transfer it from here to your phone and then select the ringtone from your audio/music settings. 

Happy downloading!

The Xbox One saw several exclusives at the time of its release in 2014. All manner of games were released, not just third person shooters, including Project Spark, Fantasia: Music Evolved, Ryse: Son of Rome, and several others. 

It has been revealed that there will reportedly be fewer exclusive deals for third party content in the future according to Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division. Spencer's strategy will be centered more around first party titles. The amount of exclusives the Xbox One has this year seem to corroborate Spencer's statements. 

Four months into 2016, the Xbox One has only two exclusives. One has been released at the time of this writing, another is set to be released by October. Two exclusives is a far cry from the amount the system got at the beginning of its lifespan. I'll be taking a look at both of them in this article. 

1. Quantum Break

Genre: Action/Adventure Third-person Shooter

Released: April 5, 2016

Quantum Break was developed by Remedy Entertainment, a Finnish company famous for developing the Max Payne series, which among other things, was famous for making use of "bullet time," a slow motion effect made popular by the 1999 film The Matrix.

Set in a fictional town in Massachusetts, Quantum Break follows two men, the protagonist Jack Joyce, and Paul Serene, the antagonist. After a time travel experiment goes awry, the structure of time is thrown into chaos.

Playing as Joyce, players have a variety of time-based moves available to them, such as stopping and speeding up time, using time to reverse the direction of bullets. However, in a world where time is not constantly flowing in any one direction, nothing is absolute and everything can go wrong at any moment's notice.

Quantum Break released to positive reviews. On Metacritic, the game was given a metascore of 77. Visit the game's website for more information.

2. Gears of War 4

 Genre: Third-person Shooter

Release: October 11, 2016

Gears of War 4 takes place 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure weapon wiped out Locust, Lambients and Imulsion alike. It's revealed that the weapon has also wiped out fossil fuels, forcing humanity to find ways to survive via other means.

To prevent the human population from declining, the reformed Coalition of Governments built walled communities to protect humanity from the dangers of the outside world and declared martial law to prevent anyone from traveling beyond the walls. Some survivors rejected the views of the CoG and formed a group called the Outsiders, who operate outside the jurisdiction of the CoG. Gears 4 follows JD Fenix, a member of the Outsiders and son of Marcus Fenix, as he and the others deal with a potential threat to humanity.

Fans of the Gears of War franchise were thrilled by what they have seen so far. Taking a look at the comments section on the gameplay trailer, one fan justified the purchase of an Xbox One for this game alone.

Steve Tilley of the Postmedia Network stated that the game is very much a return to form for the Gears franchise:

"In short, it feels very Gears of War. The Gnasher – the shotgun of the Gears universe – is still the go-to weapon, and the game remains a tense juggling of close-quarters combat and mid-range warfare using the classic Lancer and Hammerburst rifles."

Gears 4 marks Canadian developer The Coalition's first time making a continuation of the series after acquiring the franchise from Epic Games and releasing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. The previous three games in the series were released to critical acclaim with its visuals, multiplayer, and combat sequences being especially praiseworthy. The Coalition is no doubt aware of the series' legacy. With Rod Fergusson, the former Director of Production at Epic Games, playing a key role at The Coalition in moving the franchise forward into the future, it certainly looks like they aim to please.

Find out more about Gears of War 4 and the Gears series as a whole on their website.

Remedy Entertainment's time-shattering, T.V / video game mashup Quantum Break has arrived to give Xbox One fans something to finally brag about. In between all the time-stopping bullet battles, story-altering choices, and full episodes to watch, you may have spent some time exploring the gorgeous environments presented in Riverport.

For those who have to check every last corner and crawlspace, there are a whole lot of Easter eggs left lying around, and almost all of them have to do with Remedy's other major franchise, Alan Wake. In fact, there are times where the game feels more about the titular Alan Wake than about Jack Joyce... at least if you are spending time finding all the collectibles.

There are so many references that one has to assume a new game is in the works (it would be pretty brutal to the fans to have so much Alan Wake memorabilia scattered across every part of Quantum Break if nothing new is coming).

Considering how both games deal with breaking time and alternate realities, there's no reason the two franchises can't be directly connected – maybe a crossover is in the works? If you haven't found them yet, we've collected all the notable Easter eggs below.

1. Alan Wake Returns Video

Near the very beginning of Act 1-1 you will come across a Monarch protest outside the university. Off to the side is a tent with a bunch of chairs and a video screen.

Be sure to turn that screen on and take some time to watch the full video. Riffing on X-Files and themes from Remedy's catalog, the video seems to indicate Alan Wake will be returning at some point.

2. Bright Falls Tour Stop

In the same prologue part of the game when you meet up with antagonist Paul Serene for the first time, be sure to walk behind him and take a look at this band t-shirt listing a series of tour dates. The name of the first town might be of interest to Alan Wake fans...

Best show of the tour, hands down!

3. Chalkboard Ramblings

Later while exploring another segment of the university, you may discover that some professor (or more likely, overly-attached student fan) has succinctly summed up Alan Wake as though it were an equation to solve.

Reading the entire chalkboard from left to right pretty well breaks down everything about that other game's story and different theories about what was really going on, from truly supernatural events to Alan simply losing his mind.

Alan Wake: a critical analysis

4. AWE Graffiti

Following up on the chalkboard ramblings, it would seem another resident of Riverport is a fan, tagging “AWE” on the bricks near the roof of a warehouse. AWE can stand either for the Alan Wake Experience or the bureau of Altered World Events.

That's some excellent can control skills!

5. Sudden Stop

One of the many collectibles scattered across the game includes a copy of “Sudden Stop,” the book written by Mr. Alan Wake himself before the events of that game unfolds.

Some light reading material for the timepocalypse

6. Alan Wake Literally Appears

Yeah... that's a Monarch employee literally playing some Alan Wake on her computer, when she should be helping to restore the fractured time line. That's why companies really need to crack down on non-work related computer activity!

At least its not Facebook I guess?

7. Night Springs Audition Video

Taking the time to see what's on a dinky little CRT television much later in the game will reveal something quite odd – an audition / rehearsal clip for actors on Night Springs, the fake television show from Alan Wake.

Have you found any other references to Remedy games that we missed, and do you think all these Easter eggs mean a new Alan Wake game is coming? Let us know your thoughts below!

You've traveled through time and back, fought your way through countless Monarch soldiers and done everything else you can to get to Paul Serene.  During Act 5 of Quantum Break, you finally come face to face with the big bad himself and are treated with a boss fight that will truly test your skills.

This fight is split into two waves.  Each wave will throw a bunch of Monarch soldiers wearing chronon harnesses your way to overcome.  In addition to soldiers, you also have to deal with attacks Paul throws your way.  If you die before clearing both waves, you'll be brought back to the beginning of a somewhat lengthy cutscene that precedes the fight -- in case you were lacking any incentive.  Now, onto the fight.

As stated above, the fight is broken up into two waves:  The first wave consists of Monarch soldiers that dash all over the place, in addition to Paul's attacks.  The most important thing to remember in this fight is to use your Time Rush as little as possible.  Time Rush is crucial to dodging Paul's attacks which can kill you in one hit.  Take out the soldiers however you see fit, and when you see red lights on the ground use your Time Rush and Time Dodge to avoid Paul's attacks.  

Once all the soldiers are dealt with, Paul moves to the middle of the room and will try to kill you with a blast that has a MASSIVE AoE (Area of Effect).  Let's call these attacks time bombs.  The camera focuses on where the time bomb lands, so you have a few seconds to Time Rush as far away as possible while keeping Paul in your sights.  Once the time bomb goes off, Paul leans over to catch his breath and becomes vulnerable.  There's no need to unload a full clip into him...a few hits will be just fine.  The point of this fight is survival.

Wave two is where I ran into the most difficulty.  Not only do we have soldiers dashing all over the room, there are a few big guys with LMGs and shotguns as well.  One of these big guys has the ability to prevent you from using your time powers...how fun!  Paul's attacks also have a slightly larger AoE compared to the first wave.  Use everything at your disposal to take out the soldiers and Paul will once again teleport to the middle of the room and start throwing time bombs at you.  This time, instead of just one, he will throw three bombs at you.  Again, use your Time Rush and Time Dodge to avoid the attacks, and after the third blast, Paul will become vulnerable.  All you need to do is land one hit on him and the fight will come to a close.

Key Things To Remember

• Try to save your Time Rush for when Paul starts attacking.
• Use EVERY power at your disposal.
• Avoid close contact with the power draining juggernaut during wave two.
• Paul's attacks will kill you in one hit.  Pay attention for the signs an attack's incoming, then Time Rush to avoid it.
• Most importantly, savor the oh so sweet victory once you take Paul down.

It's been a long haul searching for every last document, email, and radio show across all of Quantum Break's mind-bending story, and we're almost at the end!

As before, remember to turn on your time sight by pressing "Y" when looking for Chronon sources, as they don't appear normally on the screen.

Keep in mind that due to the branching story nature of Quantum Break, specific text and images in the collectibles may change depending on which choices you make.

If you missed anything in the previous segments of the game, don't forget to check out:

• Act I Collectibles Guide
• Act II Collectibles Guide
• Act III Collectibles Guide

Quantum Break Act 4 – 1 (Port Donnelly Bridge) Collectibles

Chronon Source 1

After exiting the vehicle and entering the alleyway, this Chronon source upgrade is floating above some stairs leading down.

Chronon 1

Chronon Source 2

Climb up the trash can and stack of wood palettes behind the previous Chronon source to access the roof area. Run down to the end to grab this second Chronon.

Chronon 2

Narrative Object 1: Night Springs (Video File)

After crawling through the window into a room with a large red tool chest, examine the TV to grab this narrative object, which just happens to be yet another Alan Wake reference...

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Theresa Sedmak Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

On the lower level of this same area is a makeshift wood table. Turn on the radio to get this collectible.

Narrative 2 

Chronon Source 3

When you head out the window to the outer area of the building and see a helicopter fly by, turn to the left and grab this source floating in the corner.

Chronon 3

Chronon Source 4

After a big battle you will come upon a fenced off area. Just to the right before the fence's gate is a Chronon floating by some random junk equipment.

Chronon 4

Narrative Object 3: Monarch Noticeboard (Document)

When you go up the stairs to the checkpoint with several guards, look at the wanted poster right in front of the first car.

Narrative 3

Narrative Object 4: Jack Joyce Mugshot (Document)

Across from the noticeboard with the wanted poster, examine the mugshot being held by the guy standing next to the cargo truck.

Narrative 4

Chronon Source 5

To the right of the cargo truck you will see a car and a pickup. This Chronon source is floating in between them.

Chronon 5

Narrative Object 5: Monarch Field Orders Update (Email)

Just slightly beyond the car and pickup truck is a table and a guard. Check out the laptop sitting on the table to grab this collectible.

Narrative 5

Chronon Source 6

When you get up on the bridge on a small walkway with yellow ladders leading down on either side, head over into the corner to find this source floating just over the edge by a red tool chest.

Chronon 6

Quantum Break Act 4 – 2 (Preparing The Time Machine) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Martin Hatch Dossier (Document)

Check the cork board on the wall directly next to the vending machine to grab this collectible.

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Beth's 2010 Plan (Document)

On the other side of the room, examine this document sitting on a table.

Narrative 2

Narrative Object 3: Theresa Sedmak Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

Go through the wood doors to the right of the vending machine and turn on the radio sitting on the table in this room.

Narrative 3

Ripple 1 / Narrative Object 4: Dream Journal 5 (Email)

In the swimming pool area, go by the fallen tree on the floor over to the area with the desk. Look at the laptop to get this collectible and initiate the ripple. Warning: this ripple won't appear if you took the “Hardline” option instead of the “PR” option in the first Junction segment.

Ripple 1 / Narrative 4

Narrative Object 5: Transcript Of Monarch Communications (Document)

Just off to the right side of the previous collectible, take a look at the stack of papers sitting on top of a black crate.

Narrative 5

Narrative Object 6: Lifeboat (Document)

Just a few feet to the right of the last collectible is an open document sitting on the wood and metal shelf.

Narrative 6

Narrative Object 7: Monarch Employee Chart (Document)

Again directly next to the previous collectible, this one is on the counter just to the right of the shelves.

Narrative 7

Narrative Objects 8, 9, and 10: Monarch Documents

These next three are all in a row and clearly visible from one another further down the counter.

Narrative 8, 9, and 10

Chronon Source 1

Run over to the bleachers / seating area to find this Chronon floating above one of the chairs.

Chronon 1

Narrative Object 11: Jack And Will Photo (Image)

Go through the open wood door into a side room with a bunch of boxes and a stuffed giraffe. Look at the photo on the table to get this collectible.

Narrative 11

Narrative Object 12: Beth's Notebook (Document)

In the same room, look for a bench by some sinks and pick up the notebook.

Narrative 12

Chronon Source 2

Go through the door right next to the notebook and then hang a right through another door. The Chronon source is floating inside the stall.

Chronon 2

Chronon Source 3

In a later area where you have to leap across platforms up above the pool to turn on the machine, this one is directly in front after the first jump.

Chronon 3

Quantum Break Act 4 – 3 (Swimming Pool 2010) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1 and 2: Radio Show (Audio) and The Countermeasure (Email)

Look for the brown table with the large painting and the bottles of paint. You can grab both of these narrative collectibles at the same spot by listening to the radio and then accessing the laptop.

Narratives 1 and 2

Chronon Source 1

Head into the large open room just beyond where you grabbed the previous two collectibles. The Chronon is near some red tool chests and equipment.

Chronon 1

Narrative Object 3: Beth's Journal (Document)

In the room with the bench and the sinks where you grabbed some collectibles in Act 4 - 2, check the counter next to the bench to grab a journal (this is directly next to where you found Beth's notebook in Act 4 – 2).

Narrative 3

Narrative Object 4: Wall Of Calendars (Document)

In the very next room, simply walk up to the peg board covered in calendars to get this collectible.

Narrative 4

Chronon Source 2

From the wall of calendars, turn around and go up the stairs to the left. The Chronon is on the landing in between the two floors.

Chronon 2

Chronon Source 3

Head back downstairs, but instead of following Beth, take a left into a large open room to find this Chronon near the lockers.

Chronon 3

Narrative Object 5: Beth's New 2010 Plan (Document)

When you head upstairs to the diner room the green felt boards, look at the cluttered mess on the large table to get this collectible.

Narrative 5

Narrative Object 6: Rise Of Monarch (Document)

Look at the papers connected by strings on the board right next to the table to nab this one.

 Narrative 6

Quantum Break Act 4 – 4 (Will Workshop 2010) Collectibles

Quantum Ripple 1

When you can see construction works off to the left below you while walking on a ledge above, go forward and turn left. Examine the breaker box to activate the ripple.

This is the final ripple – if you get the previous ones as well, the “Spreading Ripples” achievement will unlock when you watch the next TV episode after this Act is over.

Ripple 1

Chronon Source 1

Before going into the actual workshop building, head back towards the side of the building to find this Chronon floating by the fence.

Chronon 1

Narrative Object 1: Countermeasure Designs (Image)

Inside the workshop you will walk by a bike and up a short run of stairs. Look at the desk on the right to find the countermeasure design image.

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Will's Journal (Email)

The next collectible is nearby and found by interacting with the triple monitor setup on the desk.

Narrative 2

Narrative Object 3: Radio Show (Audio File)

Directly to the left of the computer screens containing the previous email is a radio on top of a red tool chest.

Narrative 3

Chronon Source 2

Go behind the area where you found the countermeasure design to find a small hallway. The Chronon is in front of the two large servers.

Chronon 2

Narrative Object 4: Will's Whiteboard

When you go inside the room with the flashing red light, turn around and look at the whiteboard on the wall.

Narrative 4

Chronon Source 3

Go back out the door and leave the room with the flashing light, then climb up the boxes directly to the right of the door. The Chronon is up on the ledge by the broken windows.

Chronon 3

Narrative Object 5: Time Machine Designs

At the very end of the Act when you open up a new door, examine the papers on the chalk board.

Narrative 5

Quantum Break Act 4 Junction Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Changing Email

Go up the stairs, but instead of turning go forward into another room and check your email on the laptop. The contents will change based on previous choices.

Narrative 1

Quantum Break Act 5 – 1 (Monarch HQ) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Theresa Sedmak Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

When the train crashes into the building, check the table off to the side to find this radio collectible.

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Monarch HQ Map (Image)

Examine the map standing next to the escalator to grab this collectible.

Narrative 2

Chronon Source 1

Run over to the left to the bathroom area with the wet floor sign and grab this Chronon source.

Chronon 1

Intel 1: Monarch Radio Note

After fighting the guards who come out of the elevator, check the desk area next to the tall potted plant to get this intel.

Intel 1

Narrative Object 3: Let's Bail While We Can! (Email)

On the other side of the desk, check the computer to get this email.

Narrative 3

Narrative Object 4: Shifter Alert (Email)

On the far end of the same desk is the next collectible.

Narrative 4

Narrative Object 5: Clean Up Completed (Email)

After going up the elevator, check the couch over to the left.

Narrative 5

Narrative Object 6: Monarch PR Protocol (Document)

Head to the back end of this room behind the last table with the yellow chairs and examine the writing on the wall.

Narrative 6

Narrative Object 7: Holy Shit! (Email)

On the opposite end of the room, check for a laptop on the edge of a white desk to read this colorful email.

Narrative 7

Chronon Source 2

In the hallway with the floating guys in yellow suits, head into the cubicle room on the left that has a black monitor on the wall to the left of the doorway. The Chronon is right there in front of the monitor.

Chronon 2

Narrative Objects 8 and 9: Time Stabber (Video File), About My Screenplay (Email)

On the opposite end of this same room, watch the video on the computer monitor sitting next to a laptop. Next turn on the laptop to read the email.

Narratives 8 and 9

Intel 2: Monarch Paperweight

Walk through the glass doors immediately to your right and look at the note underneath the paperweight on the desk.

Intel 2

Narrative Object 10: A Confession (Email)

Three desks to the right of the paperweight, read the email on the computer monitor.

Narrative 10

Narrative Object 11: Untitled Note

Later when you go through the sliding glass doors with the yellow stripes, look at the note sitting on the oddly textured desk.

Narrative 11

Narrative Object 12: Fix This Mess (Email)

In the office following the next major event, check the computer at the desk for another email message.

Narrative 12

Narrative Object 13: Time Machine Core (Email)

Go into the next room where you can see down on the ground floor. Check the white shelf on the right side of the room to find this email.

Narrative 13

Intel 3: Reflections On The End

Walk forward from the previous email until you see the tablet sitting on a black dresser.

Intel 3

Chronon Source 3

Walk up the short steps right next to the tablet to find the Chronon in front of the large painting.

Chronon 3

Narrative Object 14: Quantum Ripple Research Unit (Email)

Now you can finally head downstairs. Look at the laptop sitting next to all the timeline panels for this email.

Narrative 14

Narrative Object 15: Sofia's Personal Notes (Document)

In the next area with glass doors and yellow stripes again, turn into the side room and check out the computer sitting on the corner of a black table.

Narrative 15

Narrative Object 16: Read Me Right Now! CFR Procedures! (Email)

In the room with the rows of large, white tables, take a look at the laptop on the second table.

Narrative 16

Narrative Object 17: Chronon Particle Stockpile Update (Email)

This email is found on the table opposite the previous one you just checked on the other side of the room.

Narrative 17

Narrative Object 18

Go into the next room to the left (where the guy in the yellow suit has to open the door). This last narrative object of the area is directly to your left on the table.

Narrative 18

Intel 4: Charlie's Badge

Turn around and run towards the other side of the room to find the final intel object of the game sitting on the floor by another desk (this may be a different item depending on the Junction options you took).

If you've picked up all the previous intel, grabbing this one will unlock the “Knowledge Is Power” achievement.
 Intel 4

Quantum Break Act 5 – 2 (Return To The University) Collectibles

Chronon Source 1

In the time machine room with the glowing red lights, head up the ramp to find this Chronon floating by the blue door.

Chronon 1

Chronon Source 2

Outside in the courtyard area, jump up onto the tiny yellow vehicle to get another Chronon floating up above.

Chronon 2

Chronon Source 3

In the garage, look to your right to find another Chronon floating by some wall monitors.

Chronon 3

Narrative Object 1: Note Regarding Chronon Dampener (Document)

In the area with all the foliage and the marble floors, look for a note on the wall situated next to the fire extinguisher. 

Narrative 1

Chronon Source 4

When you are up on the yellow scaffolding, instead of climbing up the final ladder, run around to the other side to grab this Chronon.

Chronon 4

Chronon Source 5

Inside the library, this Chronon is found right in front of a painting on the wall.

Chronon 5

Quantum Break Act 5 – 3 (Final Moments) Collectibles

Chronon Source 1

At the beginning of the area, this Chronon is behind you and floating by the white and yellow taxi.

Chronon 1

Narrative Object 1: Bobby Radford Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

Instead of opening the double wood doors, go up the stairs to the right and turn on the radio in the diner area.

Narrative 1

Chronon Source 2

When you follow the thick cables on the floor, take a right and walk towards the standing lights. This Chronon is in the corner of the showers.

Chronon 2 - the last one!

This is the final Chronon source upgrade and the last collectible as well, woo-hoo! As soon as you spend the upgrade point you will unlock the “Maximum Effort” achievement and you can finally head into the last area of the game!

Can a person idolize both Carl Sagan and Shigeru Miyamoto? Can someone enjoy watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson and TotalBiscuit? Is it possible for the same person to be interested in reading the Foundation series and Ready Player One?

I believe the answer is yes, and I am one of those people. And if your YouTube subscriptions include Hank Green, Smosh Games, Phil Plait, Extra Credits, and Veritasium, then just like me, you’re going to love Sciencing the Shit Out of Video Games.

Instead of telling you what this series of articles is about, how about we just dive in?

Tuesday, Quantum Break released. We have been wowed by its time-stopping mechanics and its thought provoking storyline. In an interview with Nerdist, star of the third-person shooter Shawn Ashmore said that the developers had actual astrophysicists on staff to help keep the story in line with actual science. Many people would balk at a statement like that. We’re talking about time-travel, right? That’s the stuff of science fiction; there is no way for us to travel through time, right?

Well, it’s not science fiction. In fact, it’s possible that even the Time Stop bubbles from the game have their place in science. But before we get into that, we have to take a look at how space and time work because they don’t necessarily work the way you think.

Yesterday, I watched a great episode of Agents of SHIELD, and it illustrated space and time in a very interesting way. Time is often considered the fourth dimension. Although that’s probably not the most accurate way to describe what time is in General Relativity, it will work for this illustration.

Imagine for an instant that we are no longer three-dimensional beings. We no longer perceive depth. We’re flat, like a piece of paper. Now imagine that we are a part of a stack of paper on a table with each piece of paper representing one moment in time. If someone were to draw a diagonal line on the outside of the stack of paper, the person drawing the line would see it as a single line, but we, being two-dimensional beings, would see a dot moving in time.

Got it? Because we are going to get deeper.

We all know that all matter has mass and that mass has gravity. We also know that objects with higher mass attract objects of lower mass. That’s gravitational basics, right? But did you also know that time actually slows down the closer you get to a higher mass object? It’s true.

On Earth, we are talking about nominal differences. Your feet perceive time slightly slower than your head, but it’s so minute that you don’t even notice it. In fact, you’re likely not going to notice the time difference even if you were orbiting Earth in the same way that satellites do, but your GPS does. Did you know that your clock on Earth ticks about 38 microseconds a day slower than the clock on your GPS satellite? I know that doesn’t sound like a lot. But it certainly adds up, and it could throw everything off.

By now you’re wondering what this has to do with Quantum Break, I’ll get to that in just a moment. There is one more concept I’d like touch on: black holes. But those are in space, right? They are, but I mention them because they represent the densest objects in the known universe.

The gravity and density of black holes are so great that even light cannot escape from them. Because they are so dense, it means that they have the greatest fluctuation in time from a safe orbit to the event horizon, which is the point where light can’t even escape the gravity. If we were to spin a top and push it toward a black hole, it would seem to slow down until it stopped spinning at the event horizon. But assuming there are no other forces acting on the spinning top, the toy would continue to spin at the same speed infinitely, if you happen to be traveling with it.

Quantum Break is really about mini black holes.

Before the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland started its operations, many people believed that it would cause end-of-the-world scenarios. The novel Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer touched on one of those possible scenarios. However, that book was pure fantasy compared to the belief that it would cause micro black holes. And these quantum mechanical objects are exactly what they sound like, but the problem is that they only exist in mathematical theory; no one has ever observed them.

If someone were to actually create a micro black hole with the mass of the average man, we might actually see a time shift like the ones we see in Quantum Break. In fact, if we go back to the interview with Ashmore, that is exactly how it was explained to the actor playing the main character Jack Joyce.

If the black hole was the same mass as the average man, it would be extremely small. Would it even be big enough to see? Well, thankfully, we have a calculation to figure it out -- it’s called the Schwarzschild radius, which is written:

R=2GM/c² 

This is the radius of a sphere, where if all the mass were compressed into one area, the escape velocity would be the same as the speed of light.

Thankfully, we have all the numbers we need to punch into that formula. G is the gravitational constant (6.674×10^-11 N⋅m²/kg²). M is the mass of the black hole; in this case we will use 80 kg because it’s the average mass of a human male. And c is the speed of light. When you plug in all those numbers, you end up with an astronomically small number. Ready for it? ~1.18813224x10^-25 m.

Yeah, that’s invisible to even the most powerful microscope. In fact, that’s smaller than a proton, but does that make it impossible to exist? Surprisingly, no. The smallest unit of measurement is the Planck. Anything smaller disappears into the quantum fog, and the Planck mass for a black hole is about 22 micrograms, which is far smaller than the 80 kg. In fact, it’s about the mass of a flea’s egg.

But everything starts to fall apart when we talk about how to control these mini black holes.

The funny part isn’t that everything would actually be sucked into the black hole because the chances are that wouldn’t happen. There is just no way to control them or make them not dissipate instantly.

The fiction side of the game gets away with this by introducing the Meyers-Joyce particle. These made-up particles control the gravitational pull of matter, and Jack’s brother William discovered them. But it still falls apart when you think about Jack and others being able to move freely around the Time Stop bubbles when time has been slowed.

The scientific verdict is that although these mini pockets of time differentiations could exist, we just have no way to control them or even contain the mini black holes that would make them.

What do you think of my verdict? Did I get it right or wrong? The whole point of science is to test and retest. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Also, if you’re looking for more on time and space, PBS releases a series of amazingly in-depth videos called SpaceTime. You should check that out.

Next week, I’m going to science the shit out of The Division’s Chimera pandemic, but ultimately, I want to discuss the subjects you want to read about. Is there anything in video games that need to be proven right or wrong? Let’s science the shit out of them.

After the absolute slog fest of unending collectibles in the previous section of the game, Act 3 of Quantum Break is a little less cluttered, but still features a ton of narrative objects and Chronons.

Be sure to use each Chronon source you find to upgrade your time powers, and keep in mind you have to activate time sight with "Y" to view the Chronons - simply knowing where they are isn't enough.

Haven't finished the previous areas of the game yet? Check out the rest of our Quantum Break coverage first:

• Act 1 Collectibles Guide
• Act 2 Collectibles Guide
• Acts 4 and 5 Collectibles Guide

Quantum Break Act 3 – 1 (Research Facility) Collectibles

Chronon Source 1

Off to the right of the area where the turret is firing (disabling the turret first makes this simpler), go up the stone steps to find the first Chronon source in Act 3.

Chronon 1

Narrative Object 1: Gull Island Sign (Document)

In the circular area with the stone dials, head over to the far wall and examine the sign to get the first narrative collectible.

Narrative 1 

Chronon Source 2

Run up the wood planks to the area where you can interact with the cannon, then turn around and jump up on the stone walkway with the short black fence. Turn to the right and follow the walkway until you see the Chronon source.

Chronon 2

Chronon Source 3

Go back to the cannon and walk across it to the stone walkway on the other side. Walk down the steps to the left and you should see this one floating next to a tree and a fenced area.

Chronon 3

Narrative Object 2: Theresa Sedmak Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

When you run up the hill and see a white and yellow guard shack to your right, go inside the shack and turn on the radio to hear this audio file.

Narrative 2

Chronon Source 4

Run from the guard shack over to the helipad and you should see this Chronon source hanging off the side near some lights.

Chronon 4  

Chronon Source 5

Head back towards the building, but rather than going in the yellow door, go through the small gate door and run down the stairs with the yellow railing. This one is near some barrels and a giant spool of wire.

Chronon 5

Narrative Object 3: Changing Video File

Inside the building, look for a monitor on top of a metal desk and simply watch the video being played, which unlocks this collectible. What you see on the video will change depending on what options you took in the previous Junction segments.

Narrative 3

Ripple 1

Off to the right of the video monitor is a laptop in between a desk and an open shelf. Interact with the laptop to initiate this ripple.

Ripple 1

Narrative Object 4: Research And Develop Facility (Image)

After coming down the elevator and seeing all the soldiers, examine the large yellow sign on the wall.

Narrative 4

Chronon Source 6

Near the open glass door area where there's a turn wheel on a pipe on the wall, turn to the left and grab this Chronon floating in front of the map.

Chronon 6

Narrative Object 5: Shifter Presentation (Document)

After shutting off the machine, head inside the room you passed by to grab the previous Chronon and examine the white board in the corner to get this collectible.

Narrative 5

Narrative Object 6: The Lifeboat Protocol (Email)

In the same room as the last collectible, look for a laptop near red and yellow cables to read this email.

Narrative 6

Narrative Object 7: Monarchy Technology Guideline (Document)

In the room with the yellow stripe across the floor and the enemies in yellow suits, examine the huge wall sign.

Narrative 7

Chronon 7

Go through the doors directly to the left of the wall sign collectible and run down the hallway. This Chronon is sitting at the end near some doors.

Chronon 7

Narrative Object 8: Gull Island Monarch Noticeboard (Image)

On the second floor of the area with the yellow stripes running across the floors, look for a whiteboard in the corner next to glass doors. Examine the pink flyer.

Narrative 8

Narrative Object 9: Gala Speech (Email)

Turn around and go down the hallway from the noticeboard and immediately turn right into the first room. The collectible is acquired by examining the computer screen.

Narrative 9

Narrative Object 10: RE Joyce In Custody? (Email)

Go back out the door you just entered and head right down the hallway. Go into the next room where an employee is stuck mid-air while dropping his files. Access the computer to get this collectible.

Narrative 10

Narrative Object 11: Instructions For Tonight (Email)

Go back into the hallway and turn right again and head into the next room on the right. There's again an email collectible at the computer screen.

Narrative 11

Narrative Object 12: FWD Dream Journal 1 (Email)

This hallway is just full of collectibles! Leave the previous room and run into the room at the end corner of the hallway to grab yet another email at a computer screen.

Narrative 12

Narrative Object 13: Projected Fracture Progression (Document)

In the same room as the previous email collectible, check the table in the corner to grab this document.

Narrative 13

Narrative Object 14: Chronon Disrupted Wave Function Subjects (Email)

Again in the same room, across from the previous table is a shiny metal counter. Look at the laptop sitting on the counter for this email.

Narrative 14

Intel 1: CFR Briefing (Document)

It's the room that just keeps on giving! To the right of the previous email collectible is a briefing sheet sitting on another counter.

Intel 1

Narrative Object 15: The Purpose Of The Gala (Email)

You can now finally leave this room and head back out into the hallway, take a right and go into the very first room you come across again. This email is found on a computer up against the wall.

Narrative 15

Narrative Object 16: The Time Machine (Email)

Later, when you have the option to go up or down side stairs, head down to the lower level and go into the first room on the right with an open door. Read the email at the corner desk.

Narrative 16

Narrative Object 17: RE What's Up Girl (Email)

Head into the very next room from the previous email to grab this final narrative for the area on the computer against the wall and near a plant.

Narrative 17

Intel 2: Brenner's Mug

Directly across from the previous email, examine the mug on the table next to the guy in the suit.

Intel 2

Chronon 8

When you pass through the glass room filled with yellow light, look for an area with lockers and two frozen security guards in combat gear. The Chronon is behind the first row of lockers.

Chronon 8 

Quantum Break Act 3 – 2 (Monarch Gala) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Lifeboat Presentation (Document)

Near the beginning of this area you will see a set of stairs heading up. Go inside the room just to the left of the stairs and examine the whiteboard.

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Adventurous Religious Singles Dating Website (Document)

Go into the office opposite the room you were just in and look over the shoulder of the guy at the table reading his laptop.

Narrative 2

Narrative Object 3: RE Time Machine Core (Email)

Look at the laptop on the other side of the same table where you got the last collectible to read this email.

Narrative 3

Chronon 1

Head upstairs to the top floor and go the opposite direction of the arrows on the “Entrance Lobby / Parking Garage” sign. Go inside the empty conference room to find this Chronon in the corner by the projector screen.

Chronon 1

Chronon 2

Go back the way you came and head the other direction (following the sign arrows this time). Head through the glass doors and down the stairs to find the Chronon next to the elevator.

Chronon 2

Ripple 1 / Narrative Object 4: Erotic Play (Audio File)

In the parking garage, head over by the support beam labeled “B2.” Look at the tablet sitting on the crate to both activate a ripple and get the collectible.

Ripple 1 / Narrative 4

Narrative Object 5: Theresa Sedmak Riverport Radio Show (Audio File)

Head into the room in the parking garage labeled “Maintenance” with a green stripe. Turn on the radio sitting on top of the red air compressor.

Narrative 5

Chronon 3

When you walk into the next segment where the yellow door locks behind you, check the area to the side of the stone staircase to find this Chronon.

Chronon 3

Chronon 4

When you head out a door that leads to outside staircases, run up the stairs to find this Chronon floating in front of a “No Trespassing” sign on a fence.

Chronon 4

Narrative Object 6: Changing Text Message

When you walk down the red carpet and see a white truck with open doors, examine the cell phone in the back seat to get this collectible (the text here will change depending on previous choices).

Narrative 6

Chronon 5

Go beyond the couple sitting on a chair towards the stage area. The Chronon source is floating above the podium where a speaker would stand.

Chronon 5

Intel 1

Look for a large table covered in food and find the couch sitting to the right. The intel is the tiny cocktail sword sitting on the white box next to the couch.

Intel 1

Chronon 6

This one is literally directly next to the intel, floating just above the red couch.

Chronon 6

Narrative 7: My Screenplay Part 2 (Email)

Head up the stairs on the side of the building and look for a bench and a plant on the right. This collectible is sitting on the left side of the bench.

Narrative 7

Chronon 7

On the top floor, when you see the drone, check the corner of the deck to see this Chronon Source.

Chronon 7

Chronon 8

When you are escaping the mansion and run up the wood stairs, look for this Chronon floating above a plant and next to a white couch.

Chronon 8

That's all the collectibles for Act 3 of Quantum Break! Unlike the previous acts, there's nothing to be found in the Junction segment, so jump into Act 4 and let's get on finding some more narratives and Chronon upgrades.

Be sure to let us know if you found any different collectibles by choosing different options during the previous Junctions.

Quantum Break is finally here (check out our review), so now you and a cast of famous television actors can have all kinds of fun messing with the time stream and killing soldiers stuck in frozen time bubbles!

If you want to fully experience the story (and nab all the achievements), there's a variety of collectibles hidden across the game - including quantum ripples, intel, chronon sources, and narrative objects such as documents, emails, and audio files.

If you aren't sure if you already went past the area where a collectible is found, just pull the up the timeline and press “X,” which gives specific info on which objects you have and haven't found.

The Quantum Break Timeline

While some of the collectibles change in later acts based on the branching path option you choose at each Junction segment, everything in Act 1 is set in stone and will be found exactly as described below. When you're done with these, check out:

• Act II Collectibles Guide
• Act III Collectibles Guide
• Acts IV and V Collectibles Guide

Quantum Break Act 1 – 1 (Riverport University Experiment) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: University Map (Document)

This first collectible is right after you get out of the cab at the very start of the game. Just run up and examine the university map next to where a student is sitting.

Narrative 1

Narrative Object 2: Protest Flyer (Document)

Directly after the university map, head inside the archway and grab the protest flyer sitting on a table to your left.

Narrative 2

Narrative Object 3: Stop Monarch Problems Poster (Document)

Next to the couple sitting on a bench and the “Conserve The Library” sign is another university info area. Interact with it to pick up the Monarch poster.

Narrative 3

Narrative Object 4: Sofia Amarel Seminar Poster (Document)

Turn around after seeing the previous collectible and run across to the other sign to find the seminar poster collectible.

Narrative 4

Narrative Object 5: Bobby Radford Radio Show Recording (Audio File)

Right after the previous two documents you walk down a path towards a large glass, circular structure. Check the chair next to the “go around” sign to hear the audio.

Narrative 5

Narrative Object 6: Amy's Monarch Timeline (Document)

Directly to the right of the girl with the ponytail is a “sign the petition” poster and a bike rack. In-between is the “Monarch problems” poster, which is the next collectible.

Narrative 6

Narrative Object 7: Alan Wake Returns (Video File)

Further to the right of the bike rack is a small tent room with a television. Turn the TV on to see an Alan Wake easter egg, which may indicate the developer is finally working on a new game in that franchise!

Narrative 7

Narrative Object 8: Dr. Kim Memorial Article (Document)

Before going inside the physics research center, head to the left of the doors to find two articles displayed on the columns. The first one is the Dr. Kim article, while directly to the right is the Paul Serene article.

Narrative 8

Narrative Object 9: Paul Serene Focus Article (Document)

This one is easily found directly to the right of the previous collectible on the next pillar.

Narrative 9

Narrative Object 10: William Joyce Clearance (Email)

Go inside the physics research center and access the computer sitting on the reception desk to read this email.

Narrative 10

Narrative Object 11: Monarch Solutions Job Fair Poster (Document)

When Paul asks you to go in the elevator, instead head over to the room on the left with the large glass display case. Look at the board on the wall to grab this collectible.

Narrative 11

Narrative Object 12: Project Promenade Presentation (Video File)

In the area with the projector and the chairs, sit down and watch the video presentation for this collectible. Sitting down and watching the presentation will also unlock the “Marketing Spiel” achievement.

Narrative 12

Narrative Object 13: Jack And Paul Photo (Image)

After going into the lab, turn to the right and look at the picture and statue sitting on the top level of the desk.

Narrative 13

Narrative Object 14: Project Promenade Beta Test (Email)

To the left of the photo is another desk. Interact with the laptop there to open this email and nab the 14^th collectible.

Narrative 14

Narrative Object 15: Coming Home? (Email)

Further left from the previous two collectibles, go down the stairs to another desk and grab the clipboard sitting on the edge to read the printed email.

Narrative 15

Narrative Object 16: Corridor Schematics (Image)

Slightly further into the room and on the other side of the wall opposite the previous collectible, this one is found by examining the schematic on the board.

Narrative 16

Quantum Break Act 1 - 2 (Campus Escape) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Paul Serene Lab Clearance (Email)

Inside the server room, check the computer on the circular desk (near the large red cable on the floor).

Narrative 1

Quantum Ripple 1

After the gun battle in the laboratory, head over to the right side of the room and look for a dry erase board. Study the equation on the board to initiate the first ripple.

Ripple 1

Narrative Object 2: FWD Library Protest (Email)

Before going into the elevator, go around behind it to a room with brick walls and pick up this forwarded email found on a tablet sitting on the couch.

Narrative 2

Narrative Object 3: University Operation (Email)

During the frozen time segment with the soldiers on the ground floor of the building, grab this collectible sitting on the tiered desk with the potted plant.

Narrative 3

Quantum Break Act 1 – 3 (Library Chase) Collectibles

Narrative Object 1: Bobby Bradford Radio Show Segment (Audio File)

In the construction site area, interact with the radio sitting on the blue barrel to get the only narrative object in this segment of the game.

Narrative 1

Quantum Break Act 1 Junction Collectibles

Quantum Ripple 1

Off to the right near some crates is the statue you saw earlier inside the physics lab by the photo. Interact with it to initiate the ripple.

Ripple 1

Narrative Object 1: William Joyce Dossier (Document)

Just slightly beyond the statue is a black crate covered in papers. Interact with the documents to pick up this object.

Narrative Object 2: John Joyce Dossier (Document)

Over to the left of the previous collectible is another similar black crate covered in paper. Grab the top one to unlock this final collectible of Act 1.

Narrative 2

That completes all the collectibles you can grab in Act 1 of Quantum Break before the branching paths and T.V. episodes begin. Stay tuned for complete walkthroughs of the rest of the campaign acts coming soon!

With how long the next gen has been out (do we finally call it the “current gen” now?), Quantum Break might be the first legitimately hyped exclusive for the Xbox One (with PC users getting some love as well).

Of course there's the Halo franchise, but that's a given, and isn't ever expected to do much different or shake up the genre. Quantum Break on the other hand finally offers those who went the Microsoft route something to rival the Playstation-only or Playstation-early titles.

Style Meets Substance

Like with Alan Wake, the idea here is to marry a particular gameplay style with the storytelling so the two are completely intertwined and not independent of one another.

On top of that, there is no question – this game looks amazing. Faces, environment, cut scenes, T.V. Episode segments: everything's top-notch. What's that? T.V. episode segments? Yeah, the game has four nearly half hour video clips to watch throughout the story.

Remedy Entertainment nailed the faces in this!

There's lots of star power on display with familiar faces, many of which have dealt with time travel issues before, like Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from Lost), Lance Reddick (Fringe, The Wire, Lost), and Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger from Game Of Thrones).

Those live action, full video cut scenes are actually streamed online like a YouTube or Netflix video, unless you want to download them to your hard drive, in which case clear out about an extra 70 gigs ahead of time.

The story starts off innocently enough with the main character heading to a university to hang out with his old buddy Paul Serene – now a very rich man running a research project – while some protesters are around making a ruckus. Things get weirder from there, and as it turns out, you probably shouldn't mess with time.

Woops, wish he hadn't pressed that button.

Choice And Consequence

Quantum Break features an interesting branching storytelling choice system at the end of each area. Switching between perspectives away from main character Jack Joyce, you have to take control of the villain at the end of each segment and use your precognitive powers to pick one of two options, which changes the episode-long cut scenes.

These branching paths also bring about some minor changes in the background (for instance, what is seen on computer monitors and what information is presented in collectibles), and you can end up with one of two different side kick characters depending on your choices.

Speaking of collectibles, there's loads of documents and emails to find – some out in the open, some that you'll have to really search for - that explain what's going on behind the scenes, bringing to mind all the collectibles from games like F.E.A.R.

The game is easily worth playing through a second time to take the other branching path options, but it does feel like this element is underutilized to an extent, and we haven't truly seen the full spectacular range of choices that a game like this could provide.

Quantum Break's Gameplay

Gameplay is like a mashup of Infamous and Max Payne. The time twisting abilities are interesting, and make combat very satisfying for most of your first playthrough, but it does reach a point where you've pretty much done everything you can with them and it becomes sort of rote.

Those first few hours though? They're a wonder to behold. You'll probably spend several segments just marveling at what can be done and how it affects bystanders, staring slack-jawed at time ripples, floating objects, and people stuck mid-action while you go about annihilating enemies.

Time echoes reveal hidden triggers and enemies, time stopping lets you freeze an enemy in place, time dodge is bullet time on overdrive, and there's still more to discover!

Freeze time and then have fun while everyone is stuck!

That leads to one of the downsides... for all the lofty notions of the storytelling, this is absolutely a game about shooting gobs of faceless soldiers as you make your way through a level, like many, many games before it have been.

Remember the product placement debacle of Remedy Entertainment's previous game Alan Wake? Well, yeah, that's back of course, but its all Microsoft-focused this time around instead of promoting Energizer and Verizon.

The Bottom Line

Depending on how much time you spend searching for collectibles and exploring little nooks and crannies, you're looking at about 9 – 11 hours to beat the game (including watching the episodes). Your second play through will probably be shorter, making Quantum Break an excellent choice for a weekend rental.

Although its not a perfect game, it would be nice to see Quantum Break manage to do well anyway, just so that this idea can be expanded on and built up in new ways with future titles.

In less than 24 hours, Quantum Break is going to be released on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows 10.

If you don't know what Quantum Break is, it's a mix of a live-action experience and a choose-your-own-adventure game, where the choices you make in-game are reflected by a cast of actors during the cut scenes. In it, you play as Jack Joyce, who fell victim to an unfortunate accident involving a time machine. Gaining powers to freeze time or to speed it up, Jack has to fix the mistakes he has made and prevent an evil corporation from taking advantage of the situation.

Here's Jack

If you seem to recognize the face, it is because the actor and face-model is Shawn Ashmore, better known as Sam Lake from the X-Men series. Throw in actors from The Wire and Game of Thrones, you get a multi-million dollar project by Remedy Entertainment spanning the past 2 years.

But the news doesn't end just there. If you pre-order the Xbox version, you can get the Windows 10 version, plus American Nightmare and Alan Wake for free. This offer lasts till tonight, so if you are thinking about ordering the game, you might want to take advantage of this from the Xbox Store. We'll see you in two weeks!

We've known about Quantum Break since around the time that Xbox One launched, but the developers have kept us in the dark about its development process. They even pushed it back a year, causing it to dissolve into one of those ghost stories we tell about games that have disappeared into the Abyss. Every so often a trailer would appear to remind us that it still exists... stuck somewhere in time. But now it seems like it the game will finally break out into the world like some mad science project on April 5th.

This makes sense given the premise of the game. Set in the northeast United States, the game casts you as the protagonist Jack Joyce. Being part of a weird H.G. Wells style time travel experiment that backfired, you gain these really cool time-related abilities. You can freeze time and still move around, move projectiles, or people in harms way. It is kind of like that running scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

You will need to travel through and fix temporal distortions around the map that might get in the way of your objectives. You need to do this before the enemy, your ex-best friend Paul Serene, tries to take advantage of the situation and claim global dominance.

If you aren't sold already, another important feature of this game is that the actions you take have a bit of a butterfly effect on everything else. This isn't in the Skyrim way where killing xyz causes his kids to hold a grudge against you. Instead, it's something more akin to one of those Goosebumps "choose-your-adventure" type stories. As you play the game, the choices you make change the live action cut-scenes and the plot of the story.

It's been two years since we first heard of the game, but it looks like we will be delivered a powerhouse of game design and approach that can change the way we approach games when this launches. So pre-order your copy for April 5th, and let us know what you think of the game here.

Recently Microsoft announced that they will be releasing an Xbox One Special Edition Quantum Break Bundle on March 29. The bundle will include a 500GB Cirrus White console with matching controller, a full-game download of Quantum Break, a full-game download of Alan Wake, and The Signal and The Writer DLC - which will soon be playable on Xbox One using backward compatibility.

The bundle, which will sell for $349 USD ERP, will be available at "participating local retailers" including Microsoft stores. Bundle availability and pricing will vary by region.

A version of the bundle with standard black hardware will also be released in most regions worldwide on March 29 - so if you're looking for one version in particular, make sure that's the one you're getting!

The Xbox One Special Edition Quantum Break Bundle can be pre-ordered direct from Microsoft, as well as Amazon and GameStop. The bundle will be released on the latter two sites on April 5.

According to Remedy Entertainment's Head of PR, Thomas Puha, Quantum Break is "so close to being done."

Puha's full tweet states:

Not too much time left. #quantumbreak is So close to being done. Team is getting pretty tired, but inspiring to see the camradrie.

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) January 7, 2016

With the Xbox One exclusive set to drop on 5th April, the team at Remedy are full steam ahead to ensure the game lives up to the expectation and hype as one of the most anticipated games of 2016.

When asked whether the team was in "Crunch Mode" he replied:

@Sarkies_Proxy A large part of our dev team has been working very hard for a while now. Let’s put it that way.

— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) January 10, 2016

Quantum Break is a third-person action game that follows the adventure of Jack Joyce, a man who has the ability to manipulate time to his advantage. The game will be accompanied by a live-action series and features a star-studded cast with Shawn Ashmore as protagonist Jack, Dominic Monaghan as William Joyce and Aiden Gillen as Paul Serene, the game's primary antagonist.  

Watch the latest trailer here:

Are you excited about Quantum Break? What's your most anticipated game of 2016? Answers in the comments below.

Convinced yet to buy an Xbox One? Regardless of which side you're on the console wars, you have to give credit where its due and the Xbox One looks like it's coming in strong this year.

Any games that you're looking forward to this year that I've missed? Comment below and let me know! 

Scalebound

Ok, so I'm cheating a little bit since this game got pushed back to 2017, but I cannot in good conscience not talk about this gem when discussing must haves for the Xbox One. 

If we want to get really technical about it, the initial release date for this was 2016 so, yeah. 

I think I'll let the gameplay footage speak for itself here.

Devil May Cry style action with a pet dragon in the mix? Platinum Games have really outdone themselves with this one. Even if this is all the way in 2017, the wait will be worth it. 

I mean there's really no way that kind of a formula can fail right? 

Sea of Thieves 

There isn't much information floating out there about this game other than some footage showing off some gameplay. But the few things we can garner from the footage shows that we can expect naval battles from a first/third person perspective. 

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag showed that gamers can appreciate naval battles when done right, so any game that's willing to explore that vein even further is surely one to look out for. 

One thing in particular I hope is true is that this is an MMORPG. There is no concrete information out there confirming this yet but if the clues are to be believed, you can sail off into the sunset in a pirate ship with your friends and plunder the high seas. 

Sea of Thieves is set to release some time this year on Xbox One and Windows 10. 

Crackdown 3

Throw in super soldiers to a sandbox with a lot of stuff that can get blown up. What follows? 

Destruction.

Crackdown 3 seems to be taking the Just Cause route, only it ups its game by throwing in super powers to the mix. Let's face it, blowing things up in a large open world is fun and that's exactly what this game looks to offer. 

If you're still on the edge about this game, one of the key features Crackdown 3 seems intent on offering is unadulterated mass destruction, in multiplayer. 

Plus it promises to justify the existence of the Xbox One's cloud computing feature by using it to its fullest so there's that as well. 

Gigantic

I don't know about you, but I'm really digging the art style chosen for this game. That aside, this game is described as a team-based action game pitting players against each other 5 on 5 MOBA style. 

What sets this apart from the rest of the games out there following the same genre? That big, bad Guardian you can summon of course! 

The MOBA genre, despite its popularity looks like its been beaten to death with little to almost no innovation. However, 2016 looks like it'll be breathing new life to the genre and Gigantic looks like it'll be leading the charge.

Gigantic will also be available on Windows 10. And I believe you can still sign up for the beta last I checked.

Recore

Keiji Inafune. That's probably enough to convince you that this will be something special. The man behind Mega Man and the makers of Metroid Prime have teamed up to bring Recore to the Xbox One and Windows 10. 

There isn't much known about this game apart from the short trailer displayed at E3 and there's next to no footage of gameplay, but to be honest, we don't really need those to get excited for this given the pedigree of the team behind this game. 

Taken directly from the website:

\n

As one of the last remaining humans on a planet controlled by robotic foes bent on your destruction, you must forge friendships with a courageous group of robot companions, each with unique abilities and powers. Lead this band of unlikely heroes on an epic adventure through a mysterious, dynamic world.

\n

 While the game was initially set to be released in the first half of 2016, it got pushed to the latter part of this year. Better late than 2017 right?  

Quantum Break

Yet another third person shooter? Yes, but Quantum Break makes itself stand out with its rather unique game play elements. 

While its not exactly a novel idea, the ability to manipulate time has always been a fun mechanic in gaming, and the way Quantum Break employs the mechanic it looks pretty darn cool when you're manipulating time. 

While this makes us wonder how exactly the multiplayer would work out (if the game does feature it.. pretty sure it will) this is without doubt another must have if you own the Xbox One. 

Let's choose not to talk about the fact that your in-game actions are supposed to determine how the TV adaptation of this goes. It could be something else if done right, but if history *cough* Defiance *cough* is to be believed, games and TV series should stay far away from each other. 

Gears of War 4

You can't talk about Xbox exclusives without talking about the Gears of War series and I'm so glad we get to talk about it in 2016. 

This is a game that holds as much weight as the Halo franchise does in the world of Xbox, and for good reason. This third person shooter looks gorgeous, action packed and promises a lot of good old fashioned monster (or alien) killing. 

Oh, and expect brutality. If the previous installations of Gears of War are anything to go by, that is definitely something you can expect. We all know the pure joy of blowing up body parts is on Fallout 4. 

The game is set to release fall 2016 with a multiplayer beta in spring 2016. Usually with a beta announced it means we can rest easy and not expect too many push backs so, Gears of War 4? Definitely something to look forward to.  

The Xbox One, despite making a lot of great improvements to catch up to the PlayStation 4 is still lagging behind in terms of overall popularity. However, the console is on the right track with the number of exclusives its managed to secure and 2016 is shaping up to be a good year for Xbox fans everywhere. 

Heck, I'm a PlayStation 4 owner, but some of the games the Xbox One has lined up for this year is making me want to invest in one. 

After all: we should all learn to get along, right lads? Why not both I always say. 

For the sake of this list though, here are the top 7 Xbox One exclusives to get excited for in 2016. Some of these will be available on PC as well but the name of the game is 'console exclusivity'.

2015 was the year that the PS4 and Xbox One became must-have systems. I personally got a PS4 a few months after it released; I was always going to be an early adopter, but I can see why some people may have held off. Well, the time has come for everyone to upgrade, to make the jump to the current generation. 2015 was a banner year for both systems and you really can't go wrong with either, they both had phenomenal games and even more on the way.

Looking back, 2014 was an OK year but it was very much a transitional one in which the two new consoles were finding their feet. We got some stellar games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Wolf Among Us, some underrated gems like Child of Light and Watch Dogs, and an overrated, yet good, game in Shadow of Mordor. But it wasn't anything like 2013, in which we got one of the greatest games of all time in The Last of Us, another masterpiece in GTA V, and many other fantastic titles like Tomb Raider, Bioshock: Infinite and Rayman Legends.

Of course, games were delayed that would have made 2014 a much better year but those titles fell into 2015 and ended up making it a very memorable year. This year we were gifted with Bloodborne, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Life Is Strange, Batman: Arkham Knight, Rocket League, Mortal Kombat X, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Tales From The Borderlands, Fallout 4, and much more. Any of those would probably have been Game of the Year last year, which made this year really tricky to choose, but it's a great problem to have. This was the year that the PS4 and the Xbox One justified their price tags. Some people will argue that neither system have many blockbuster exclusives as of yet but at this point it seems those naysayers will never be pleased.

So looking ahead to 2016 there is so frickin' much to be excited about. I can't really say too much more without touching upon what I want to go into greater detail about below, so I'll just kick the pretenses and the bush beating here, and get right into the big breakdown!

PlayStation

Sony's PS4 has had a phenomenal year. This was the first year since the system was revealed that some trol...I mean fans seemingly started to turn on Sony, largely due to the apparent lack of exclusives. However there was no real lack when compared to Xbox and Wii U. Both had fewer AAA exclusives than PS4, not even counting Japanese titles - which would really push PS4 ahead. That being said, the fact that Sony lacked a big Fall game was noticeable, albeit a blessing in disguise considering the fate of Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Regardless of exclusives, the PS4 continued to dominate sales charts all year long, losing to the Xbox One only twice, in April and October. The console's meteoric success is still outpacing that of the PS2, and it has done so without a big name exclusive, like Uncharted.

Speaking of which, let's finally look at 2016 and to the absolutely huge deal that is Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The game was originally set to release in 2015 but was pushed back to March 2016, however just yesterday that date was pushed back a month to April 27 (Colin was right). Of course this was met will predictable snide remarks and vitriol from internet trolls but the simple fact of the matter is that delays are only ever a good thing. This game is (probably) going to be amazing, and more importantly for Sony, sell like hotcakes!

But before Nathan Drake and Co. set out on their final adventure, the PS4 will get the blockbuster Street Fighter V in February! Having this title as a console exclusive on PS4 (It's also on PC), is a very smart deal for Sony and will ensure the fighting community finds its home on the PS4.

Also landing in April 2016 is the remake/reboot of Ratchet and Clank, which coincides with the movie. This remake looks amazing and is set to bring the series back to its roots, while retaining the gameplay and level design that was perfected in the PS3 games. Street Fighter V, Ratchet and Clank, and Uncharted 4 are sure to give Sony a big boost in early 2016!

The problem with looking further ahead is that we don't have concrete release dates for everything. We know Sony will have The Last Guardian, Persona 5, No Man's Sky, Horizon Zero Dawn, Drawn to Death, WiLD, What Remains of Edith Finch, Gran Turismo Sport, and potentially Dreams, from Media Molecule. That's a genuinely incredible line-up, and I wasn't even counting the plethora of digital titles that come out on a weekly basis.

We know No Man's Sky is scheduled for a June release, and both Dreams and Gran Turismo Sport have early Beta's next year, implying both games could also release in 2016. The Last Guardian, should it actually come out, seems like a potential August release but it could easily be in October or November. That being said, I am fairly certain Horizon: Zero Dawn will be Sony's big fall game. Everything else is up in the air and we will find out much more in the first half of 2016, but if most of those games actually manage to release next year it will mark the first incredible year for PS4 exclusives.

PlayStation VR

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention PlayStation VR, a product/medium I am incredibly excited about. It seems fairly obvious that most gamers are still wary and unsold on virtual reality, particularly due to the lack of announced games and not having experienced it for themselves. That's a big problem Sony will have throughout 2016.

Sony aims to release PlayStation VR in the first half of 2016 and, so far, the announced games include Rigs, Adrift, Eagle Flight, ARK: Survival Evolved, REZ Infinite, Robinson: The Journey, Golem, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, EVE: Valkyrie, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, 100ft Robot Golf, Final Fantasy XV, Megaton Rainfall, Gran Turismo Sport, and Ace Combat 7, among many others. There might not be a killer app announced as of yet but the announced games are very impressive and I know most gamers won't care about something like Ace Combat 7, until they put on the headset and fly that jet themselves. Then they will care.

Sony is going all in on PlayStation VR. It's easy to look at it like another PlayStation Move or even *shudders* Wonderbook, but this really isn't the same thing. Sony has invested a ton of money in this new technology and is treating it with as much care as it does a console release. Shuhei Yoshida even compared it to the release of the PS1, saying Sony expects to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of PlayStation VR - that's how much he and Sony believe in it. And rightfully so, for anyone who has actually tried the technology, it is truly revolutionary. This is the biggest leap in gaming since the jump from 2D to 3D, and truth be told it's even bigger than that. Virtual reality's potential extends far beyond games, into virtual tourism, music/sporting events, socializing and much more, this technology is likely to be all-encompassing in years to come, making Sony very smart for getting in on the ground floor.

2016 will be a massive year for Sony with PlayStation VR and I wish them all the success with this incredible new medium.

Xbox

But let's move on from Sony. Xbox One struggled in its first year on the market, but let's not continue to rehash that ground. Last year, Phil Spencer took over as head of Xbox and he has turned the entire ship around - it cannot be overstated how impressive a job the man has done in the past year.

Under his tutelage, 2015 was an excellent year for Xbox One. Sure it's still lagging behind the PS4 in sales, but it's doing fantastic in its own right. And should the console continue to receive great exclusive games like Halo 5, Rare Replay, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, it's profile will continue to attract more gamers. And that looks to be exactly the case in 2016.

Following on the heels of this year, Xbox One will kick 2016 off with a bang, relasing Quantum Break in April. Quantum Break looks like a very fun, unique game that may only be held back by its tie-in TV show. Later in the year, Scalebound will be unleashed upon gamers. Scalebound is a semi-open-world action game, involving dragons and Beats-wearing, sword-wielding teenagers developed by Platinum Games, the team behind Bayonetta 2 and Transformers: Devastation.

Following on from that insane-looking game, Xbox One will get Sea of Thieves, ReCore, Crackdown 3, Halo Wars: Origins, and Gears of War 4. These games have release windows, from the summer to the fall. This release schedule doesn't include digital games like Cuphead, Below and Inside, meaning Xbox One will have an incredibly busy year!

Not much is known about Gears 4 yet but no familiar faces were seen in the E3 reveal trailer and it seems to be taking the series back to its darker roots. Crackdown 3 looks like more Crackdown, as is the case with Halo Wars. Sea of Thieves and ReCore are very exciting games, largely because they are very different from what we expect of Microsoft. Not much is known about either game but the teams behind both, Rare and Comcept (Legendary producer/designer Keiji Inafune), is more than enough to get players hyped.

Microsoft and Phil Spencer are wisely doubling down on games and nothing else, much like Sony did in 2014. By continuing to pump out great games and not focusing on the entertainment aspects, Microsoft will continue to win back the many gamers it lost in 2014.

Nintendo

What a weird year for Nintendo. With more rumors than games, the Wii U rapidly dying, rare game delays, and the untimely passing of a legend and company figurehead, it wasn't really one to remember.

Yet, we also got one of the best and most creative Nintendo games in years: Super Mario Maker. An excellent game that allows players to create their very own Mario levels for the first time ever, Super Mario Maker was sheer brilliance that inspired a thriving community of creators. Then there was the surprisingly great Splatoon, Nintendo's first foray into the shooter genre. However, those were the two hits of the year, Nintendo had some rare mishaps with Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Devil's Third, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, Earthbound Beginnings, and Mario Party 10. It wasn't the stellar year you might hope for at this point in a console cycle but truth be told, the Wii U isn't in its glory years, it's in its death throes.

So we look forward to 2016, a year in which Nintendo is set to reveal and seemingly release its next console. Codenamed the NX, much of what we know about the new system are rumors and speculation -- including console and controller patents that suggest a hybrid between home console and handheld. Another, more recent report said Nintendo expect to ship 20 million NX's in 2016, a number we deem a tad ridiculous considering the underperformance of the Wii U and the downward trend Nintendo has been on for years (minus the anomalous Wii). To put it into perspective, the PS4 only sold 12 million in its first year on the market and it broke records.

The latest controller patent for the NX is fully touch sensitive and playable by itself

So with the launch of a new console on the horizon, Nintendo is a very exciting company right now. We don't know much about the NX but most people are hoping it is a return to more standard gaming, as opposed to the innovative experiments seen with the Wii and Wii U. However all the patents and rumors suggest otherwise. From January to E3 in June we should get many more details and rumors about the new console, including a full reveal. If the console is to release next year as suggested, it should be revealed before E3 in June!

Which brings us to the games. Both The Legend of Zelda and Star Fox were scheduled 2015 releases but both were delayed, something Nintendo's first parties do not often do. Star Fox Zero from Platinum Games really does not look good, for a 2016 game it is very poor in the graphics department and the compulsory GamePad implementations are poorly designed and unnecessary. So here's hoping the delay will see the game resurface in much better shape. Then there's Zelda Wii U, which looks set to be another great entry in the legendary series. Many are expecting a Twilight Princess situation with this game, meaning it may end up on both the Wii U and the NX. This seems entirely likely. Though if Nintendo really wants 20 million NX sales, it should simply abandon the Wii U and force gamers to upgrade.

The NX will need games. That seems a fairly obvious thing to say but I mean big games, from both first-party and, more importantly, third-parties. Nintendo spurned third-party developers, like Ubisoft, with the Wii and Wii U, and it needs to win them back if it hopes to succeed. It isn't enough getting a port of a game like Mass Effect years after it released on PlayStation and Xbox. That makes gamers see Nintendo's consoles as mere additions to their primary console, be it an Xbox or PlayStation, whereas Nintendo need to establish the NX as the only system you need, or at least the best of the three.

So big games are a must. They need complete third-party support, meaning Rockstar's games launch the same day they release on PS4 and Xbox One, and the same for Ubisoft, EA, Warner Bros., and more. It will also need great first-party games. A big single-player Mario game was notably absent from the entire Wii-U cycle, so one can hope that year or two ago Nintendo made the decision to slide it over to the NX instead. Having a game akin to Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Sunshine on the NX at launch will be a very big deal. If it gets that Mario game, Zelda, Donkey Kong, a new IP, and complete third-party support, then maybe gamers will have to pay attention. If not, I can't envision it grabbing the hardcore crowd.

I'm really not sure what Nintendo can do to make the NX a legitimate contender to the PS4 and Xbox One. If it's is a dedicated gaming system with similar power levels, then won't it be just more of the same? But if it's experimental and ultimately uninteresting to the hardcore gamer, then they won't sell to the most important early adopters. Nintendo find themselves in a pickle, but as a fan it is going to be a very exciting situation to watch play out.

The 3rd Parties

Now that we've analysed the state and potential forecast of each console and their exclusives, let's focus on the third-party games coming to systems in 2016.

January is home to a ton of great digital games, given that AAA games rarely release in that window. Both PS4 and Xbox One will get Gone Home, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, Resident Evil Zero, and Lego Marvel Avengers, the latter of which is actually a full retail release. A lot to look forward to there, as well as some that are exclusive to PS4.

February, then, is where things kick into gear; Far Cry Primal, The Walking Dead: Michonne, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, Unravel, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 and Mighty No. 9, among a few very exciting platform exclusives, make February the first big month of the year.

March sees the release of two very big games in Tom Clancy's The Division and Hitman. March also has a few remasters on PS4, including Heavy Rain, Day of the Tentacle, as well as the ever great MLB: The Show.

April, May and June are also very exciting months, with PS4 and Xbox One both getting giant exclusives. On the third-party front however, we'll be getting Dirt Rally, Dark Souls III, Battleborn, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, ARK: Survival Evolved, and One Piece: Burning Blood. Including the exclusives, that means at least 8 AAA games between February and June!

From June onwards we don't have too many actual release dates but I will list a few of the big titles coming to PS4 and Xbox One; Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Yooka-Laylee, Batman: A Telltale Games Series, Dead Island 2, Homefront: The Revolution, Dishonored 2, Doom, Friday The 13th: The Game, Outlast II, Mafia III, Mass Effect Andromeda, Overkill's The Walking Dead, Overwatch, Paragon, Tekken 7, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter, Battlefield 5, Titanfall 2, For Honor, and the next installments in Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and all sports franchises.

Needless to say, that's a lot of games coming in 2016. The biggest hitters are Dishonored, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, Deus Ex, Battlefield, and Doom, as well as the yearly installments and console exclusives. That's a lot for sure, but is that really everything coming next year?

The Unforeseen

My 2015 game of the year is one that I hadn't even heard of at this time last year: Life Is Strange. I won't gush on and one about why I love the game so dang much, mostly because I already did that here, but also because my point is that the very best games can pop out of compete obscurity and take the world by storm, like Rocket League.

That's one of the best things about gaming, we don't know everything we're going to play in 2016, and that's really exciting.

Who knows what giant games might be revealed and released in 2016, I have a sneaking suspicion we will get a Rockstar game, be it Red Dead 3 or my long-desired Bully 2. That would be a similar situation to Bethesda and Fallout 4 this year, which clearly worked very well for them, so why wouldn't Rockstar want to emulate that formula. Plus it only makes sense considering it's been 3 years since GTA V, and the team behind Red Dead Redemption didn't even make that, so it's been a long time that they've had to toil away on something. And that's just Rockstar, Visceral are making a single-player Star Wars game, so hopefully that can be a 2016 reveal and release.

Then there's the plethora of digital-only games that are often revealed and released in the same window, which can often make game of the year lists. There is already a laundry list of exciting, innovative "indie" games coming next year, including Bound, The Tomorrow Children, Firewatch, Cuphead, Inside, Below, Mighty No. 9, The Witness, We Happy Few, Thimbleweed Park, Boundless, and, of course, No Man's Sky. That's a very exciting list of games, but then there's the ones we don't even know exist yet, and they might be the games that capture our hearts more than any other.

My Personal Top 10 Most Anticipated Games:

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
2. Horizon: Zero Dawn
3. Quantum Break
4. Gears 4
5. Mass Effect Andromeda
6. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
7. The Last Guardian
8. Telltale Games: Batman
9. No Man's Sky
10. Mirror's Edge Catalyst

So what games are you most excited for? What is your 2015 game of the year? Do you think 2016 can be better than 2015? Let us know in the comments below. 

"PlayStation 4 has no exclusives!"

That's the claim I've heard and read all year long.

"This is the greatest gaming line-up in Xbox history."

That's what Microsoft has touted all year long. Truth be told, though, the playing field is a lot more level than you might think.

PlayStation has always had more and better exclusives than Xbox.

Sure Xbox will always have Halo, Gears of War and Forza, but before the Xbox One, that was pretty much it. Microsoft tried its hand with the Fable series, Viva Pinata, and Too Human, none of which were massive successes. PlayStation, on the other hand has a history of hosting many fantastic exclusives and giving its first-party developers room to breathe and create freely.

Last generation, the PS3 played catch-up to the 360 for many years. Sony's third machine ended up outselling the 360, with a year less on the market. And it did so by having the best games. While Xbox 360 owners twiddled their thumbs between Halo and Gears of War experiences, PS3 gamers were having thrilling adventures with Nathan Drake, killing gods with Kratos, becoming a superhero with Cole McGrath, fighting the endless war against the Helghan, and creating worlds with Sackboy. Year in, year out, the PS3 had exclusives every other month.

A Promising Start for Xbox

This time around, Microsoft aimed to rival PlayStation in that department by having more exclusives - and more than just shooters. They came out of the gate with Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5, and some Kinect titles, as well as showing trailers for Halo 5 and Quantum Break. The first two were easily the most exciting of the launch games, because Ryse had a ton of potential and Dead Rising is a great series to have exclusively.

PlayStation on the other hand, launched with Knack, Killzone: Shadowfall, and Resogun. Games that were initially intended to be launch titles, like Infamous and DriveClub, didn't make the cut-off. Therefore it's undeniable that the Xbox One had the better launch titles.

Microsoft continued its promising start by unveiling Titanfall and Sunset Overdrive - an awesome-looking game by Sony's buddies Insomniac. That was a real blow to Sony. Meanwhile, Titanfall was dubbed the "Call of Duty killer". Then came Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Killer Instinct and more Forza. The Xbox One was really looking like a fantastic platforms for exclusives....so what happened?

Cracks Begin To Show

Titanfall released and was...good. The game was a critical success, but not so much a commercial one, and it didn't bring about the death of Call of Duty like many had predicted. In spite of a year's worth of hype and anticipation, Titanfall faded quicker than a fart in the wind.

Sunset Overdrive was next. The difference with Sunset is that it was actually an amazing game. Sunset Overdrive was a fantastic game from Insomniac that oozed charisma and charm, and yet it sold poorly. Poorly enough that Microsoft never announced any numbers for it, and has referred to it when discussing the challenges of new IP.

A fantastic game that no one played

Forza and Halo did well, as expected. However, neither seemed to shift console sales - plus Halo was a muddled mess with big online issues. Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks, Sony had big success with Infamous: Second Son, The Last of Us: Remastered, MLB: The Show, and DriveClub, despite The Order: 1886 being pushed to 2015. Microsoft was trying, and even producing some great games, but it wasn't getting the desired results.

And so 2015 rolled around...

Do The Math

2015 was supposed to be the year for Microsoft. Sony had "nothing", particularly after Uncharted 4 was delayed. Xbox fans emerged from the crevices of the Internet to poke fun at PS4 owners. I've even heard industry insiders discuss the brevity of Sony's line-up. However, was it really as one-sided as everyone claimed? Nope. In fact, PlayStation 4 had more exclusives in 2015 than Xbox One.

Let's just start with AAA games. Microsoft's "greatest line-up ever" consists of Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport 6, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and Rare Replay. That's a great line-up, and probably the best Microsoft has ever had (as per the claims).

2015 hasn't been the best year for Sony; no one will argue that. But it hasn't been anywhere near as barren as you may be led to believe. The year started with The Order: 1886, a ridiculously pretty game that was unfortunately more fun to look at than it was to play. Then came Bloodborne -- the spiritual successor to Demon Souls was a surprisingly big hit for Sony and was all the talk when it came out. Bloodborne is a surefire game of the year contender.

The next big title to hit Sony's platforms, a game I wouldn't count if I didn't already count Gears of War, was God of War III Remastered. Then came the biggest surprise hit of the year, Until Dawn. A fantastic horror game in the vein of Heavy Rain, Until Dawn shocked many by how well it was written, how beautiful it was, and how much dumb fun it was. Then to round out the year we got Tearaway: Unfolded and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

So, Xbox One had five exclusive AAA games in 2015, while PS4 had six. Now all in all, quantity is not always as important as quality, and the fact that three of Sony's six were remasters is definitely a factor.

For Xbox, Rare Replay and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition outperformed expectations, Halo 5: Guardians has been a hit, Forza always performs, and Rise of the Tomb Raider has been met with critical acclaim, but sold poorly in the wake of Fallout 4. The sales disappointment of Rise of the Tomb Raider is surely a problem, but it's been a great year for Xbox regardless. It outsold the PS4 in the month of October - marking only the second time this year it has done so, and the fourth overall.

If you want to get really nitpicky...

If we look at smaller titles, PlayStation has had a far better year. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, SOMA, Axiom Verge, Journey (Remastered), Volume, Hotline Miami 2, and Grow Home are just some of the games that came to PSN this year. However, one title in particular really captured the hearts of millions in 2015 -- Rocket League. The second vehicular soccer game from Psyonix has been an unprecedented hit, selling over 6 million copies. The game is likely to come to Xbox One in 2016, but it was a Cinderella story on PS4 this year. The only Xbox digital games you heard talked about this year were Ori and the Blind Forest and State of Decay: Year One.

Party Partnerships

Now I've talked at (great) length about what games came to which platform, yadda yadda yadda, but what's really important and interesting to look at, it the logistics of the exclusives.

Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3, Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall, and Rise of the Tomb Raider are all third party exclusives, the latter being only a timed exclusive. The only first-party games Microsoft have published are Halo, Forza, Rare Replay, and Gears of War: Remastered.

Another amazing game no one is playing. Thanks, Fallout 4.

The failure of the third-party games to be commercial hits has probably hurt Microsoft's relationship with third party developers. Take Titanfall for example. EA and Respawn has both admitted it would have benefited the game being on PS4 - and the sequel will be. Phil Spencer has even said that third party games will be less of a focus going forward, though it's not because Microsoft don't want them.

Looking ahead at 2016, Xbox One exclusives Recore, Crackdown 3, Quantum Break and Scalebound are all second and third-party developed games once again. This isn't necessarily a problem, but like I said, should the games continue to underwhelm commercially, developers will be less inclined to work with Microsoft (and Microsoft will be less inclined to work with them). 

On the other side, every game released by Sony this year, minus Tearaway, was a second-party exclusive. Even the Uncharted Collection was done by independent port house Bluepoint Games (although still published by Sony). This is a less risky business than third-party development because Sony still owns the IP, which is also true for Microsoft with Recore, Scalebound, Quantum Break, and so on.

The point is: Microsoft's third-party exclusives are a very short-term solution.

The company has not built any new series, though it's not for lack of trying. There won't be a Ryse 2, and a Sunset Overdrive 2 or Dead Rising 4 is unlikely. Titanfall 2 will be multiplatform. Whereas there will probably be a Knack 2 for the PS4, there will certainly be sequels to Infamous: Second Son, Bloodborne, Until Dawn, and even The Order: 1886. Already this generation, Sony has created 3, maybe 4, new exclusive series.

First-Party Poopers

Part of the problem is Microsoft's first-party studios. Microsoft owns 343 Industries, The Coalition, Lionhead Studios, and Turn 10 -- all of whom are confined to making Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Forza for eternity. That's four main studios, all tied to making the same four games over and over; it's creatively stifling and redundant. Imagine if Sony had gone to Naughty Dog and demanded it work on Crash Bandicoot forever - without that creative freedom, we wouldn't have gotten get Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, or The Last of Us.

Then Microsoft also has Rare, BigPark Studios, Mojang, and a litany of small studios that work on tablet and Kinect stuff. Rare is working on Sea of Thieves, a fun-looking game with tons of potential. BigPark is completely in the dark, and Mojang is doing its Minecraft thing.

There's plenty more where these came from

So we kind of know what every single Microsoft first-party developer is working on, and it's exactly what you'd expect. This is why Microsoft has gone to third-parties like Armature, Respawn, Insomniac and Crystal Dynamics to get exclusive games. The Xbox needs more variety.

Sony has no such problem.

Of Sony's first-party developers, we know we are getting Uncharted 4 from Naughty Dog, Dreams from Media Molecule, Gran Turismo Sport from Polyphony Digital, Horizon Zero Dawn from Guerilla Games and Rigs from Guerilla Cambridge, Gravity Rush Remastered, Gravity Rush 2, and The Last Guardian from Japan Studio, and Evolution is still working on DriveClub. Four of those are new IPs.

The rest of the first-party studios are shrouded in mystery -- Sony Bend, Sucker Punch, Sony San Diego, Sony Santa Monica, North West Studio and Sony London. Sony Santa Monica is almost certainly working on a new God of War, but it also helps with development on a ton of smaller games, from The Unfinished Swan to Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. Sony London is working on Virtual Reality. Sucker Punch is well along in the development of something, according to Shuhei Yoshida -- maybe it's another Infamous. Sony San Diego is inevitably making the next instalment in the MLB: The Show series, but it is also helping produce Drawn to Death, Guns Up, and Kill Strain - three other PlayStation exclusives.

I broke down Microsoft and Sony's first-party studios to paint a picture of the future. Sony gives its studios a lot of rope to hang themselves with and, as such, we get extremely exciting new IP like Horizon Zero Dawn, surprising sequels like Gravity Rush 2, and a few artistic experiments like Dreams. Simply put, Sony's first-party titles are much more exciting.

The product of creative freedom

However, Sony also works with second and third-parties, as mentioned earlier with all of this year's exclusives. Also coming exclusively to the PS4 is Detroit: Become Human from Quantic Dream, Street Fighter V, No Man's Sky, Persona 5, Hellblade, and a lot of third-party VR support. This is different from Microsoft, because those games are all almost guaranteed to sell well - Street Fighter V, No Man's Sky and Persona 5 are no-brainers, and Hellblade and Detroit could definitely do well if marketed properly.

Endgame

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer and spell doom and gloom for the Xbox One, because that most certainly isn't the case. The exclusives games on the Xbox One so far have ranged from good to great, and it's a shame that some of them didn't sell better. If you are a true gamer, you do not wish ill on Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo, because competition is good for everyone.

The failure of Rise of the Tomb Raider is bad news for Microsoft; if a known property like Lara Croft cannot sell, then what can be expected to? However it has baffled me since E3 that Square Enix and Microsoft agreed to send it out to die beside Fallout 4, sandwiched between Call of Duty and Star Wars. Hopefully the game will find some success when it releases on PS4 next year.

Microsoft will always have its staples of Gears of War, Forza and Halo, which may not be the most exciting prospects, but they're a very safe bet. It would be nice to see those developers get more leeway and maybe even develop some new IPs; however, renaming two of them to reflect their respective games kind of suggests they won't get such freedom.

This fall has been a big season for Xbox One, and the winning sales of October are a great sign, but the goal should not be to outsell the PS4. If Microsoft provides excellent games that can only be played on Xbox One, then gamers will come. 2016 is looking exciting for the green brand, with Gears 4, Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, Recore, Quantum Break, and Scalebound, not to mention a myriad of fantastic digital games like Below, Cuphead and Inside. Microsoft could benefit from re-organizing a few internal teams, most of which were working on Kinect, and setting them off to work on new IP. They should follow Sony's example and allow established studios (like Naughty Dog and Guerilla) to stretch their wings and try new things.

The Xbox One cannot afford another Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, or Titanfall, it needs new first-party IPs that can be established into series. Right now, Microsoft is sitting pretty with exclusives but the past two years were not great for Xbox One, and going forward it could serve the company well to take a page out of the competition's playbook. 

During the Microsoft Conference at GamesCom 2015, Remedy Entertainment revealed a gameplay trailer for the long awaited game Quantum Break, which is scheduled to be released on April 6, 2016.

This is our first time getting a look at any gameplay footage. Although Quantum Break was scheduled for release in 2014, the game was delayed twice, pushing the title back to a vague 2016 release.

The trailer begins with a cinematic opening that features so many TV actors and such stunning visuals that make us wonder if they are trying to create a game or a movie. The game is very focused on the concepts of time travel as well as the physics of such an idea. The developer implements these ideas in the form of some very unique mechanics that separate Quantum Break from your average cover shooter.

In the game, time has broken, and the one person who could fix it has been killed by a man named Paul, played by Aidan Gillen.

This break in time gives the character the ability to stop time and warp physics to give himself a shield from bullets, a sort of earthquake ability that sends foes flying, and explosive warp shield that acts as an explosive that the player can set off by shooting them.

The player will not be completely overpowered by these abilities, however, as Paul's men, an entity referred to as Monarch, have technology that can also warp time. The player will have to use these abilities creatively whenever he encounters them.

Although involving time travel gives this game potential to have an engaging story, dealing with time travel can be tricky. This game has been a long time coming, but the final product will show us if this game is truly something special.