Category: News

This week in gaming news. Busy-ness in Games, Esports, and a smorgasbord of Gaming Bits and Bytes.

Let’s start this week’s news with a run down on what happened in the back rooms of game development this week.
On Tuesday Humble Games Business Development Manager Nicola Kwan announced via LinkedIn that all 36 employees “…were being let go and that the company is shutting down.” Humble quickly released a press statement saying it was not shutting down, but it would be restructuring the operations of Humble Games. The statement continues, saying that this would not impact on the releases of upcoming games, or the operations at Humble Bundle.
Warner Brothers is also doing the game dev shuffle this week. With the announcement that NetherRealm’s mobile team was shutting down through LinkedIn job asks came earlier this week with around 50 staff being affected by the cuts. This was speculated to effectively close the live services to Mortal Kombat Mobile, Injustice 2, and Mortal Kombat Onslaught, however Warner has clarified that Mortal Kombat Mobile and Injustice 2 will continue to receive support. Possibly with the recent acquisition of the developer of MultiVersus, Player First Games. With WB Games President stating that the new team will add “… to our extensive development capabilities.”
In better news, Bethesda now has a wall-to-wall union with all 241 either signing up to or indicating the desire for representation with the “Communications Workers of America” or CWA. The union has been recognised by their benevolent overlords at Microsoft, even after their most recent layoffs by closing down Zenimax Studios. And in more studio news, staff from the Pixelberry Studio layoffs earlier this year have rallied to create Candlelight Games and are looking at announcing their debut project soon.
This week also saw gamers voting with their wallets, with 2.2 million people buying the Deluxe pre-order of EA Games College Football 25, and all for the juicy bonus of playing the game three days early. And Comscore’s 2024 State of Gaming Report has revealed that 82% of US gamers purchased some sort of in game content in freemium titles in the 23-34 financial year. They also speculated that over 80% of Gen Z and millennials consumed esports content.

Speaking of Esports content last weekend was Evo 2024, the biggest in the Evo history, where 10 thousand of the best fighting gamers congregated in Las Vagas. Some notable events of the weekend were when “Punk” defeating “Bigbird” to bring home the first Street Fighter for America in over 20 years, 41-year-old Hayao performing physical stunts of celebration as well as an “astounding” parry in the losers quarterfinals of the Street Fighter IIIL Third Strike, with some now referring to the moment as “Evo Moment 38.”

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?” #Evo2024 pic.twitter.com/FKlprooTFT

— Evo (@Evo) July 21, 2024

And it was announced the thrown into a volcano he definitely is dead villain Heihachi Mishima from Tekken that will be resurrected in the next instalment, even though producer Katsuhiro Harada has previously confirmed his permanent demise. That’s not all, but it’s all I have time for, click here to learn more!

Continuing the Esports news. The International Olympics Committee has partnered with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to create the First Olympic Games to take place in Saudi Arabi in 2025. The media release from the IOC states that the reason for this is to support “our young people” and the game titles  will be chosen to promote “… gender equality and engagement…”, however the gaming community are not so happy. While Saudi Arabia does have the money to support this endeavour (and the prizes to attract players), it’s treatment of the women, migrants, and the LGBTIQ+ community are a genuine concern to the safety of players seeking to participate.

@dailymailgaming After taking first-place prize in Mortal Kombat 1 at EVO 2024, SonicFox made a statement to encourage more minorities to break into the games industry. #sonicfox #evo #lasvegas #mortalkombat #gaming #esports #evosesports ♬ original sound – Mail Gaming

Warframe’s Tennocon also happened over the weekend with a few announcements. Firstly, the prequel Warframe; 1999 is coming and is hitting some nostalgia notes. With romancable team members through archaic Instant Messenger CRT Screens and an alternative earth-based timeline. Basically, Warframe in all-new earthy environments, plus a 90s styled infected boyband called On-Lyne. Coming this (northern hemisphere) winter

They also announced the upcoming new title Soulframe. This game will utilise magic instead of the space magic we’re used to from Warframe in what some are calling the baby of Warframe and Elden Ring.

I think it’s now time to start of that smorgasbord of gaming bits and bytes
The FTC have taken to arms over the recent tier and price changes to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, Labelling the new plan a “degraded product” and claims it constitutes “exercising market power post-merger”, this the FTC claims is in direct opposition to Microsoft’s arguments during the merger trial last year. In rebuttle Microsoft states that “The FTC barely mentioned subscription at trial, instead focusing on the theory that Microsoft would withhold Call of Duty from Sony’s console.” Not mentioning that day-one access to first-party titles – like Call of Duty – would no longer be included in the new “Standard” tier.
Bloomberg has reported that workers at Roblox Corp do not feel satisfied with the child safety protections the platform has, and is now the “de facto spot for predators.”  Roblox Corp disputes these claims, and that safety is “foundational” to Roblox.
A new study has pointed to steam CS:GO trades as being used for money laundering. The study looked at the anonymous trading and found significant market manipulation and trading frequency of top traders warranted suspicion.
ConcernedApe has reassured players of Stardew Valley via twitter that “…on the honor of my family name, i will never charge money for a DLC or update for as long as I live.”
Paramount has killed the Halo TV adaptation after its second season. But Xbox will not rest quietly and is already shopping for a new network.
Fortnight is getting the Tesla Cybertruck and players have already announced their intention to either take aim through the huge windscreen or just destroy it on sight.

Get your retro on because in a recent shareholder meeting at Capcom one attendee asked what their plans were for Mega Man, their response? “Mega man is one of our highly-valued IPs and we are considering how to create games for it on an ongoing basis.”
And if you have Netflix and haven’t checked out their game list, now is the time. In their latest earnings call Netflix Co-CEO Gregory K Peters called games a “big market” and even with the “over 100 games launched so far” they have over 80 games currently in development and from this month are planning to release “about one new title per month.”

And now it’s finally time for some game releases!

Friday, July 26, the 2022 Kickstarted indie RPG Wéko the Mask Gatherer is coming to PC

On Monday, July 29, grab a friend and get cooperating in the action roguelite Deathless, coming to PC.
Tuesday, July 30, get multitasking in the tower defence cross match three mashup Cats on Duty, coming to PC, and Consoles. Or get cyberpunky in the FPS roguelite Deadlink on PC. Or maybe you need to relax in a hand drawn cozy life sim? Then grab The Garden Path coming to PC and Switch.
And to round out the month, Wednesday July 21, Save the dog in indie platform shooter Biogun coming to PC. And sci-fi interactive fiction Minds Beneath Us is finally coming to PC

Starting us off in on Thursday August 1^st is the remake of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter  coming to PC, and Consoles. Dive into the depths and find the answers in Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss also for PC.  And lastly get slappy in Thank Goodness You’re Here! from the developers of Untitled Goose Game, coming to Mac, PC, PlayStation and the Switch.

PAX Aus 2024 Indie Showcase Winners

PAX Aus has announced the winners from this year’s Aus Indie Showcase, all made by independent creators around Australia. The showcase will be a part of PAX Aus 2024, from October 11-13.

The six winners of the Digital category:

Untethered by True Anomaly Entertainment

Anticitizen: Red by Queebly Software

Ascending Inferno by Oppolyon Studios

Rita by SporkTank

The Rewinder 2 by Misty Mountain Studio

And last, but not least, Max Mustard, the VR game developed by Queensland studio Toast Interactive.

The six winners of the Tabletop category:

Fight with Spirit by Storybrewers Roleplaying

Oracle by Oracle Games

Glade by Teafrog Games

Frayed Ally by Button Fox

Nimbus by Neural Forge

MEAN! by Mean Games

The Olympic Esports Games

The International Olympics Committee has announced a 12-year partnership with Saudi Arabia to host the Olympic Esports Games, a standalone event. Saudi Arabia had hosted the Esports World Cup, which did result in a number of people boycotting the event over human rights concerns.

Esports has been ramping up over the last couple of decades, with schools and universities creating their own teams, competitive events gaining more and more popularity and viewership, and the introduction of esports events in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, where people from the Olympic Committee attended and were like ‘ok, now we get it’ according to Alban Dechelotte, CEO of G2 Esports.

Keeping esports as a separate event is intended to ‘give more space for a celebration of gaming and esports’, rather than being one of the additional sports.

Rocket League, League of Legends, and Street Fighter are likely picks considering that they were a part of the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Gotta’ Croc ‘Em All

If you are a wearer of Crocs, and a fan of Pokemon, listen up. We’re getting four new designs inspired by some generation one Pokemon: Charizard, with a flame-like marble print; Gengar, which is giving ghostly ‘glamoflage’; Snorlax, with a dreamy blue marble print; and finally Jigglypuff, all pink and pastel. Each pair of Crocs comes with some jibbitz, with the Pokemon the Croc is based off!

No Console Required

Amazon now has a handy-dandy Xbox “No Console Required” bundle, launching alongside their Fire TV Stick Xbox Cloud Gaming app. What this means is that Xbox Game Pass users can stream games straight to their TV without requiring a console.

Microsoft has also released an ad that parodies the Scream movies, promoting the rollout with “you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox”, although some Xbox fans do feel that the console itself has been deprioritised by Microsoft, while expanding Game Pass, and their reach across PCs, mobile phones, and now TVs.

Remember that there have been a lot of changes made to Game Pass and the tiers available, as covered in the news last week by Paul. Only the Ultimate Tier will allow for Fire TV integration.

News Nibbles!

Axis Studios, the animation and VFX team, is officially going into administration, affecting 162 employees. The studio has worked on a variety of trailers and cinematics for Destiny, Halo, League of Legends, and more.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed, is the video game continuation of the film, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, which was released last year. A Heartful of Games, the team developing the game, will be keeping that stylised art-direction from the movie!

If you’ve been participating in the early access period for EA Sports College Football 25, you might have encountered a placeholder bug when trying to select your game mode. Players were given two options: a placeholder image titled ‘Lorem Ipsum’, and a placeholder image titled ‘Lorem Ipsum’. Oops.

And now for some upcoming games!

July 18th (that’s today!)

• Flintlock: Siege of Dawn – PS5, XSX, PC
• Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus – Nintendo Switch, PS5, PC

July 19th

• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – PS5, PS4, Xbox S/X, Xbox One, PC

July 23rd

• Exophobia – PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox S/X, Xbox One, PC
• F1 Manager 24 – PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox S/X, Xbox One, PC
• The Star Named EOS – PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox S/X, Xbox One, PC, macOS

July 25th

• Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS
• Frostpunk 2 – PC

Big changes to Gamepass, farewell to the Wii-U, Aussie games media takes a hit and Epic and Apple are still at it.

(more…)

Crazy Taxi Reboot
At the 2023 Game Awards Sega teased reboots for several of its classic titles like Jet Set Radio,
Streets of Rage, and Crazy Taxi. A recruitment video for the Crazy Taxi reboot, features the
current team including Kenji Kanno, (the director of the original Crazy Taxi game) sharing details
about the project. They aim to preserve the gameplay of the original games, navigating a city at
breakneck speeds, but also to adapt it for the modern audience. So, what does the modern audience want?

Large-scale, open-world, massively multiplayer games of course. It’s a significant shift but might be what the team needs to make it the AAA hit they’re aiming for.
There is currently no release date for Crazy Taxi (or any of the other reboots) so we’re in for a wait.

Xbox partners with Amazon for console-less gaming

Microsoft has announced that later this month (July 2024) Xbox subscribers will be able to
access a wide range of games through their Fire TV Stick, without the need for an Xbox console.
You’ll need one of the newer Firesticks (4K or 4K max), a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and
a Bluetooth controller, but that’s still likely to come in cheaper than a console.

Don’t Nod Delays Game Release
Life is Strange: Double Exposure, developed by Deck Nine, will be released in October 2024. It
centers around Max Caulfield, the protagonist from the first Life is Strange Game which was
developed by Don’t Nod.

Don’t Nod, which is no longer involved in the Life is Strange series, is currently working on Lost
Records: Bloom & Rage. This game was set to be released in Q3 2024 but has been postponed
until early 2025. A statement on Twitter revealed that this decision was made to avoid
competition between the two games. “We know you’re all excited for both Lost Records and the
new Life is Strange game, and we wanted to ensure both have adequate space to shine. The wait
will be worth it!”

Frostpunk 2 Delayed

The release of Frostpunk 2 has been delayed from July 25th, until September 20th
This follows the game’s recent beta where several notable issues were highlighted. 11-bit
studios say they want time to fix those issues and add several additional features before
release. We want to ensure Frostpunk 2 meets the high expectations of our fans and provides a
seamless and engaging experience.” They also promised that until release they would provide
behind-the-scenes updates to show how things are progressing.

Upcoming Game Releases:
Zenless Zone Zero will be released for PC, PS5, iOS, Android on July 4th.
July 5th gives us Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero on PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X
July 11th will see the release of Once Human and The Crush House, both on PC.
Finally, Anger Foot will be released for PC on July 10t

Remember Beyond Good and Evil 2?

Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development! That’s it, that’s the news. Ubisoft have reassured us that they haven’t forgotten about it, and they’re still working on it, which is great because it was first announced in 2008, kinda disappeared, reappeared with a trailer in 2017, and then was kinda totally silent since 2018.

There’s been some concerns about its development since Emile Morel, creative director, passed away earlier this year, but Ubisoft has reassured that it is still in the works, and the 20th Anniversary Edition of Beyond Good and Evil, which was accidentally announced early on Twitter before the tweet was deleted, has launched digitally on the 25th of June.

The remaster is supposed to contain some more of Jade’s past, and other content to tie into the second game. There will be a physical copy, and a Collector’s Edition, with preorders for those kicking off 12th of July.

$19 Billion Dollars!

That’s how much Steam users have collectively spent on games they’ve never played. So, congratulations everyone, I know each and every one of you helped to contribute to this remarkable achievement.

This is a bit of a guestimate, as only 10% of Steam accounts are public, but that 10% was responsible for at least $1.9 billion USD.

Gamer Rage

What do you do if you have a dispute with another player in an online game? Most of us probably try to ignore it and move on. Maybe block ‘em. Maybe stooped to their level. You probably didn’t fly to a different state,buy a hammer and a flashlight, break into a home, and attack said player, in real life.

Well, Edward Kang from New Jersey allegedly did just that, flying to Florida to confront a player that he had an argument with in ArcheAge, an online fantasy game. The two were found in a struggle by the player’s stepfather, who heard the player cry for help. Both the player and Edward were taken to a nearby hospital, with the player having severe head wounds, but both will be ok.

Edward is facing charges of breaking and entering, and assault. When he asked how much time he might serve, Leeper, county sheriff, allegedly responded with “I would say, Mr Kang, it’s going to be a long time before you play video games again.”

So next time, just take a walk. Not to the hardware store.

War Thunder Apologises

Gaijin Entertainment, developers of the free-to-play multiplayer War Thunder, have officially apologised for ‘accidentally including imagery from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster’ in some key art. The Challenger disaster was an event from 1986 where the space shuttle broke apart soon into its flight, killing all seven crew members.

War Thunder players noticed how an image of the disaster lined up with the artwork in the ‘Seek & Destroy’ wallpaper, with one person overlaying a photo from the disaster with the wallpaper.

“Hey guys, please accept our apologies for this, the picture was part of an aerial explosion reference pack used by our artists and the context was lost. We’ll change the key art on Monday and will make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said community manager Oxy.

In the past, the War Thunder community has managed to leak classified military documents onto the forums, often to win arguments or to make suggestions for the developers, so attention to detail is definitely a common trait.

News Nibbles!

Nintendo Switch Sports has had a few updates since it launched, adding golf, and soon, basketball! The motion control should allow players to pass, shoot, and dribble.

Sylvie Nightshade, a software engineer, made a Stardew Valley mod that adds a ‘hardcore’ mode to the game. What does that mean? Well, if you open the Stardew Valley Wiki, your farm will be deleted.

Ryan Lewis, a recent Cornell Tech graduate, created a program that converts the data from Google Maps into Minecraft worlds. The program first converts the data into voxels, and each voxel is turned into a Minecraft block, with the help of an algorithm, accurately recreating buildings, roads, terrain, and more.

And now for some upcoming games!

June 27th

• Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD – Nintendo Switch
• Neo Sprint – PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox SX

June 28th

• Gigantosaurus Dino Sports – PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox SX
• SPYxANYA: Operation Memories – PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC

July 2nd

• Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail – PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox SX
• The First Descendant – PlayStation 5, Xbox SX, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

That’s it this week in gaming news!

Nintendo Direct.
I’m only going to run down the major headliners of the 40-minute June 18 Nintendo Direct, because if you’re into it you have either watched it or you’ve watched your favourite Youtuber’s summary. If you’re not, you probably don’t want a mega rundown. So here they are:

• Mario lovers are getting Mario & Luigi: Brothership coming November 7, this year. It looks to be a dual-control platformer. As well as Super Mario Party Jamboree, a massive party game with the ability to host up to 20 players. Play it October 17.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is coming Jan 16, 2025, with 80 levels plus some from the original 3DS hit.
• Zelda fans were hit with a Nintendo Switch Online addition of Zelda: A Link to the Past Four Swords (basically multiplayer Link). Then the new title The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was announced to much fanfare, where you play as Zelda and create echoes in your adventure to save Link. Coming September 26 this year.
• And finally, in Metroid news, also coming to Nintendo Switch Online Metroid Zero Mission is coming to the collection. And the long-anticipated, after the announcement of it back at E3 2017, Metroid Prime 4 will be gracing our consoles sometime in 2025.

There was a heap more, with the announcement and release dates of Just Dance 2025, Dragon Quest 3, some Marvel vs Capcom collections… lots of stuff.
Want to learn more? Follow the links on our Facebook @zedgamesau

Game Industry News
This week saw the closure of Game Industry’s 2022 and 2023 “Best Places to Work in Canada” studio Timbre Games by owner Sumo Group before the release of its first game. This is included in the 15% downsizing Sumo Group, a subsidiary of Chinese giant Tencent, had announced on June 11 (~250 people). Paradox Interactive is closing down their Tectonic Studio, makers of the upcoming life sim Life by You after Deputy CEO reportedly called the early access title “lacking in some key areas” and “the road leading to release… far too long and uncertain.” (24 people)
After sales lagged on Wizard with a Gun, developer Galvanic Games has closed their doors (12 people). Embracer Group also blamed lacklustre sales for this week’s closing of Pieces Interactive, developer of Alone in the Dark released in March (42 people). VRChat has also announced a 30% reduction in staff (~30 people) blaming plateauing sales and a lack of management. And after the announcement in May of Microsoft’s closure of Tango Gameworks, the studio finally closed its doors this week.
In the wake of all the layoffs, the big name companies’ CEOs and shareholders in the industry continue to profit, with EA CEO’s compensation increased by 22% to over USD$25 million. And this after cutting 5% of its workforce in Feb (~670 people) for restructuring.
At least Gearbox has been somewhat released from Embracer Groups failing model with its deal with Take-Two Interactive closing this week. The deal moves most of the IP and studios under Take-Two’s wings. Including hits such as Borderlands, Risk of Rain, Homeworld, and Duke Nukem, but leaving behind the studios and IP of Lost Boys Interactive and Cryptic Studios.
But not all is lost, with staff from layoffs forming advisory companies – such as those from indie studio Modern Wolf forming Secret Sauce – or creating “support studios” like CodeDev: The Unreal Guys who work as a specialist team to help studios work with the Unreal engine.
But the industry is struggling. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz Tencent advisor and former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden is cautioning the industry to take a more patient approach to game development.

“It’s human nature, right? If you’re at the craps table and someone’s got the hot hand and they’re running the table… you just want to jump on that train and get a piece of that before it goes. That’s why patience is the thing that’s important. The industry is losing patience. It’s ‘we need to find a way to solve this problem in six months’ in an industry where nothing gets done in six months.”

And now for the week in gaming headlines.

• In Bethesda news, Todd Howard says he’s not going to rush the next Fallout game even with all the hype surrounding it at the moment, and Starfield has been review bombed due to a quest paywall in the latest update.
• Discord voice chat is rolling out to PS5 this week.
• Valve drops Mac support for Half-Life 2, Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, basically all the 2’s.
• JackBox Games to launch JackBox Megapicker, a JackBox library where players can access all the games in any title they currently own.
• More than 600 players of Star Citizen have had their accounts suspended for currency exploits and cheats.
• The Apple monopoly is crumbling on iOS with Japan passing a law to allow third-party app stores on iPhone, with Epic already announcing Epic Games Store to Japan’s iOS in 2025. And we could see this spread with four more US states joining the anti-trust monopoly battle in the United States.
• And in Baldur’s Gate 3 news, fan fav romanceable NPC Shadowheart had to be “heavily toned down” for release and was originally too sassy/mean. And developer Larian CEO says mod support is coming in a “final handover moment” patch.

And don’t forget – to read more follow the links in our Facebook profile @zedgamesau

And now for the week in gaming releases.
There’s Fallout in you CoD with a bundle dropping today, and the VR title Blade and Sorcery has finally left early access.
Now, on Friday June 21. Visual novel sci-fi detective game Times & Galaxy comes to PC and consoles. And after 25m copies sold since release, the expansion Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree comes to PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Also don’t forget to be a good tarnished if you grab this and “…be mindful of spoilers for those who want to tread into the Realm of Shadow with nothing but their determination and their minds unclouded.”
Saturday June 22 brings us the retro helicopter top-down shooter Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess coming to PC. On Monday June 24, detective sim Uncover the Smoking Gun comes to PC.
Tuesday June 25 brings us Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit, coming to Netflix mobile. Be the ball in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble coming to Switch. For the VR gamers Riven PC MQ Remake is coming to Meta Quest. The DLC A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars is coming to all platforms. And bouncy farm sim Southfield is coming to PC.
On Wednesday June 26, 2D visual novel and narrative adventure Until Then comes to PC and PS5, and PS1-era styled cartoon precision platformer Frogun Encore is coming to PC and Consoles.
And finally on Thursday June 27, the remaster Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is coming to Switch. Battle Royal MOBA Battle Crush is coming to PC, Switch and mobile. And lastly, the remake of Atari’s “Sprint” NeoSprint is coming to PC and consoles.

This week in sleepless nights,

It’s Annual Showcase Season again. That time of the year where publishers pull out their wares and cram them into various online showcases to get us all hyped. Traditionally this was all based around the Electronic Entertainment Expo but that is now a thing of the past and now centres around Summer Game Fest.  Fragmented would still be an accurate way of calling it though as while we normally think of a few keys shows this last week has contained over 20 events. And I’ve watched them all. Here are some of the larger announcements.

Summer Game Fest

Summer Game Fest was the first major showcase hosted by Geoff Keighly who is commonly known as the Dorito Pope. In the lead up to the event Geoff messaged to fans that they should lower their expectations for this year’s event despite charging participants an alleged $250K USD per minute.

The show kicked off with Lego Horizon Adventures. A LEGO game based in Sony’s Horizon universe. Surprisingly the game is coming to Switch along with PS5 and PC.

A new game for you snitch loving potheads out there. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is coming from Warner Brothers.

Blumhouse, the studio behind films such as Get Out, Insidious, The Purge and so, so many others have thrown their hat into producing videogames. Their first lineup of 6 games is a diverse list of horror adjacent titles. The final game announced, known as Project C is developed by Half Mermaid Productions who are working with Sam Barlow of Her Story fame and film maker Brandon Cronenberg.

Innersloth, developers of Among Us are using their success to create a game fund called Outersloth. The announced titles include Australia’s own Mars First Logistics and a new game from the Thirsty Suitors team, Outerloop Games, which is a cooking game where you pilot a mech currently called Project Dosa.

Do you enjoy Civilisation like millions have?  Well here’s some good news. Th new one is coming out and is called Civilisation 7. Not much is known yet but there will be a gameplay showcase in August.

Lastly Alan Wake 2 will be getting a physical release at last and the first of their major DLC was announced based on the fictional show inside the game, Night Springs.

Devolver Direct

Devolver Digital rarely disappoint with their showcases. Focussing on entertainment over showing off their upcoming games. This year focussed on the 15^th birthday of everyone’s favourite, totally real video game character, Volvy.

Among the celebration 2 notable games from well regarded developers were revealed.  From Sébastien Benard the lead designer of Dead Cells came Tenjutsu, a top down, roguelike, martial arts… city planner? And Heart Machine of Hyper Light Drifter fame announced Possessors, a stylish side scrolling action game.

In Aussie Devolver related news there is an upcoming update for Cult of the Lamb. On August 12 the free Unholy Alliance update will be released which will add local co op to the 2022 hit.

Ubisoft Forward

Ubisoft announced a new Anno game, Anno 117. There were updates for most of their current franchises and did a deep dives into the new Japanese based Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws.

Prince of Persia has become a focus for the publisher with the The Rogue Prince of Persia, story DLC announced for The Lost Crown and confirmation that the long awaited and troubled remake of The Sands of Time is still coming with a planned release of 2026.

Xbox Games Showcase

And to wrap up our brief coverage we have Microsoft and they came in with all guns blazing. We got a deep dive into Black Ops 6 and assurances that there will no longer be any platform exclusive content when the game launches on Xbox, PC and Playstation on October 25. The game will however require an internet connection for single player due to streaming textures which they claim will keep install size down.

DOOM: The Dark Ages was announced taking our armoured demon slayer into a medieval inspired setting with some truly creative weapon designs shown off.

Mixtape was announced by Australia own Beethoven & Dinosaur with 90’s kids listening to music and feeling ways about stuff. It really takes me back. Speaking of feeling things, Life is Strange is back and so is the first game’s protagonist Max Caulfield in Life is Strange: Double Exposure

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was officially shown off for the first time with some gameplay along with the new Perfect Dark, Fable and Avowed.

The Show finished off with the announcement of Gears of War: E-Day. Taking the series back to the beginning with the original emergence of the locust and playing into the series more horror roots .

There’s far too much to cover in this bulletin. You can go to gamesrecap.io see links to all trailers and conferences including the always entertaining  Wholesome Direct.

Upcoming Game releases

Taskmaster VR (Quest 3, Quest 2, PC), Monster Hunter Stories (PlayStation 4, Switch, PC), Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin (PlayStation 4), Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – June 14

#BLUD (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC), Still Wakes the Deep (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – June 19

Dicefolk (Switch), Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 (PlayStation VR2) – June 20

VR Adaptor Coming Soon

PC games can be played on the Playstation VR2 via an adaptor which will be available on the 7th of August, meaning that in addition to the VR games available on the PS5, the VR2 can be used to play the many VR games available on steam.

The adaptor will retail for $94.95 AUD.

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/06/03/playstation-vr2-players-can-access-games-on-pc-with-adapter-starting-on-august-7/

Studio Sanctioned Mods Incoming

Baldur’s Gate 3 is set to become even more mod-able in the near future with the announcement of patch number 7.  The update is set to launch in September and the headliner is the official modding toolkit which will allow for improved compatibility as well as a more convenient experience.  The toolkit will undergo testing via a two-phase process the first being a closed alpha (which started June 3) with a small team of mod creators to further develop the modding tools and in July the closed beta will kick off with around 1000 players (which anyone can sign up for) who will test the mods that were created during the alpha.

But that’s not all for lucky number seven, Larian Studios has also indicated that the patch will also include improved evil ending (for all you sickos out there) and some more bug fixes.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/4179982568653520452

Screen Queensland Funding

As part of Screen Queensland’s game project funding (which since it’s last round has been doubled) 14 projects will receive altogether a total of 1 million AUD and another 3 projects will receive 1.1 million AUD.

The full list of games funded is available on the Screen Queensland website (but a quick shout-out to Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar which I’ve gotten to play at the last couple of Queensland game festivals and is absolutely delightful).

Applications for the next round of funding opens on Friday 7 June and closes on Sunday 21 July.

https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/screen-queensland-games-funding-june-2024-2641288/

Pokemon Centre Online Launches for Australia and New Zealand

And now for the most important piece of news of all time, the Australian and New Zealand Pokemon Centre website has been soft launched and my money will never be safe again.

The Pokemon Centres are online stores that sell exclusive items like plushes and the like (lifesize Mareep plush my beloved) but ship only to specific regions; America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan with this launch putting Australia and New Zealand on the list.

No word yet when the hard launch of the website will be or what differences there will be if any from the soft launch but I am eager to shovel my money into the gaping maw of the pokemon company.

https://press-start.com.au/news/nintendo/2024/05/31/the-pokemon-centre-online-is-now-open-in-australia-with-a-soft-launch/amp/

GAME RELEASES

The Smurfs: Village Party – June 6 – Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC

V Rising – June 11 – PS5

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – A Dance of Masks DLC – June 13 – PC, Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

The LEGO-end of Zelda

Yahahaha! The Great Deku Tree, a wise and monotonous figure in The Legend of Zelda series, can be in your home, after significant assembly, for the low-low price of $450. Oh yeah, this is a big one, with 2,500 bricks it stands at about 33cm tall once constructed. Not only that, it’s a 2-in-1 build, with one mimicking the tree’s form in Ocarina of Time, and the other taking after Breath of the Wild. Basically, one has green leaves, the other has pink blossoms.

Included with the build are figures for both versions of Link and Zelda, Hestu, and some Koroks, and there’s even a little sidebuild that your kids can put together while you put the tree together.

Rainbow Six Siege Subscription

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, the online tactical shooter, will be changing to a monthly subscription system, and the news has not made Ubisoft very popular. The change was announced during BLAST Rainbow Six Major in Manchester, with quite a few boos in the audience. You can opt for a cool $10 USD a month, or $80 USD a year, giving you access to exclusive monthly content drops, Legendary items, access to the premium Battle Pass, and a lot more. You’ll also get to skip 10 levels each month.

This is a separate purchase to each season’s battle pass.

Diablo Be Damned

Diablo 4 update released, and version 1.4.1 has had some teething issues. The update was supposed to balance some areas of the game and fix up a few bugs, but instead it disabled Masterworking, an endgame crafting system that was only added recently.

If the fixes worked, then Masterworking was only meant to become cheaper, costing less gold. Oops!

LoL $400

League of Legends has released some special tribute bundles dedicated to the newest additions to Riot’s “Hall of Legends”, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok. These bundles aren’t new, and often contain skins for the heroes, finishers, cosmetic items, currency, and more.

The three bundles are called the ‘Risen Legend Collection’, the ‘Immortalized Legend Collection’, and the ‘Signature Immortalized Legend Collection’, going for $60, $375, and almost $680 AUD respectively. It does contain a ‘Final Boss Faker’ title, themed signature move, 100 pass levels, and more, although some fans commented that they expected an Ahri statue to be included for that price.

What Can $700 Million Get You?

Not Star Citizen, that’s for sure! Star Citizen, in development by Cloud Imperium Games, is a multiplayer game based around trading and combat simulations. It was originally announced in 2012, when their kickstarter launched and concluded successfully, raising $6 million, with an estimated release date in June 2014. During development, modules of the game have been released to tide over fans, but the extended development time has garnered a lot of criticism.

Through the sale of ships, ranging in price from $20 to a few grand, and crowdfunding, Cloud Imperium Games has managed to raise over $700 million. So maybe a release date is within the foreseeable future. I doubt that though.

News Nibbles!

Destiny 2: The Final Shape is upon us, and fans seem to be pretty hype about it. The newest trailer shows that yes, Cayde-6 is alive (and we’ve known that for a while) but also Zavala appears to be having a continuation of his midlife crisis. In unrelated news: I’m still in love with Ikora.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be coming to Game Pass at launch, so you could get that CoD fix for a fraction of the price.

Days of Play is here! Running until June 12th, it’s Sony’s season of sales, and coming with it will be an assortment of bonus games for Premium members, which includes PSVR2 games like Walkabout Mini Golf and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, or PS2 games like Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.

Speaking of game events, we’ve got Summer Game Fest and Devolver Direct on the 8th of June, Wholesome Direct, Women Led Game Showcase, Latin America Game Showcase, and Future Games Show on the 9th of June, Ubisoft Forward, Xbox Games Showcase, and PC Gaming Show on the 10th, and of course, most importantly, the Queensland Games Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse on the 22nd of June.

And now for some upcoming games!

May 30th

• Horizon Chase 2 – PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, XSX
• Umbraclaw – PC

June 3rd

• The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road – PC

June 4th

• Life by You – PC
• Destiny 2: The Final Shape – PC, PlayStation 5, XSX
• Star Wars Hunters – Android, Switch
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game – PC, PlayStation 5, XSX/S

That’s it this week in gaming news!

Mods and Rockers

After years of promise CD Projekt Red have finally released Redkit for The Witcher 3, a comprehensive and more polished set of tools originally used by the developers to create the game. Available on PC the tools allow modders unprecedented access to the game’s scripting, environmental, animation and gameplay tools along with integration with both Steam Workshop and Nexus Mods. The tool is free to use for anyone who owns the game.

Not to be outdone however modders Rovertronic and Arthurtilly have released Mario Builder 64 a level editor for Mario 64. Impressively the level editor can run on real Nin tendo 64 hardware with the use of a flashcart and of course your own personally dumped, legal ROMs

Summer Game Fest is Nigh

That time of year is approaching again wherein we are inundated with gaming announcements from a variety of conferences, now headlined by Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest which is scheduled to air on Saturday June 8^th at 7am AEST.  The event has over 55 partners showcasing their wares and will be followed by other events such as Day of the Devs, Wholesome Direct, Future Games Show, The Xbox Games Showcase, a Nintendo Direct and Ubisoft Forward along with others.  Known times and dates will be added to the Zed Games’ event calendar.

Dead Certain Rumours

Rumours have been flying around Valve’s next title and while we generally don’t report on rumours it does help when there are lots of hands-on reports, screen shots and even video of the unannounced game. Deadlock is a 6 vs 6, 3^rd person hero shooter with elements of DOTA and Overwatch. No word on w hen Valve will officially announce it but try to act surprised when they do.

GoT’ta Sell Em All

Despite an 11^th hour change blocking the release of Ghosts of Tsushima’s PC port in 180 countries and regions the game has a tremendously successful launch. The game is now Playstations biggest single player launch ever on PC surpassing the 2022 release of God of War.

Nintendo’s Embrace

Nintendo, not normally in the news for acquisitions have acquired Shiver Entertainment from Embracer’ s… embrace. The developer had recently specialised in ports to the Nintendo Switch including Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 11.

Shadow of Elden Ring

There’s a trailer out for the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree.  That’s it. That’s my whole story. Go watch it.

Upcoming Game releases

Hauntii (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC), Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch), World of Goo 2 (Switch, PC, Mac) – May 23

MultiVersus (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) – May 29

Nine Sols (PC) – May 30