Chillin’ out on Zed Games this week, Maylee, Caroline and Cameron talk the IP buyout trend in this weeks Gaming News discussion, Caroline dives deep into gameplay loops in a review of Dave the Diver, & Maylee tries to get to the relaxation station in Metro Mini.

Call of Duty Uses AI To Find Toxicity

Call of Duty is no stranger to less-than-pleasant behaviour from players, like many massively popular games with an online component. What is Activision doing now to combat it? Activision is now teaming up with Modulate, an AI program developed specifically to filter through voice chat in order to flag, and deal with, problematic behaviour.

It’s still in its early stages, with ToxMod, the tool being used, entering beta testing on North American servers. The tool is already used in a number of online games, but Call of Duty would certainly be a large task.

The program isn’t capable of banning players, but instead will monitor voice chat in real time, flag problematic behaviour depending on context, and then provide this information to moderators to take action. In theory, you can still cuss out your friends when they’re taking their sweet time getting to you, so players shouldn’t be worried about being boisterous.

Goodbye Volition

The game developer company, Deep Silver Volition, developer of titles like Saints Row, and Red Faction, has closed its doors after 30 years of development. It hasn’t been a smooth journey for the company, with Volition’s Saints Row reboot facing negative criticism upon reveal. After a transfer from Embracer, and a multi-billion dollar deal collapsing, Volition has been shut down while Embracer goes through some pretty significant restructuring.

IPs including Saints Row and Red Faction will be transferred to another subsidiary, Plaion.

“For 30 years now you have played our games – sometimes you’ve loved them, sometimes you’ve been disappointed with them, but you’ve always been there… We can’t thank you enough for sticking with us throughout this time.” Volition says in a letter to its community.

STRAY MOVIE

Did you like that cat game that came out last year? The one where you’re a little kitty cat in a futuristic city populated by robots? Well, it’ll be hitting the big screen! Annapurna Animation, who developed the film Nimona, will be developing an animated film based off of the game.

“It’s a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there’s such a hilarious dynamic. So, there’s comedy inherent in this, but there’s not one human being in this movie. I think it’s one of the reasons why the game was incredibly popular,” says Robert Baird, Annapurna Animation boss.

Annual Diablo Expansions

Blizzard will be releasing multiple expansions for Diablo IV on an annual basis, with each year being broken up into quarterly seasons, with long-term storylines promised.

This roadmap isn’t unusual for developers, to space out new content on a regular basis. The 11 year long gap between Diablo III and Diablo IV has also been cited as a reason, and it’s hoped that this approach will help rectify that.

Season 2, Season of Blood, has been announced as part of GamesCon opening night.

Arcane Season Two!

Season two of Arcane, the Netflix animated series based off of Riot Games’ League of Legends game, will be premiering in winter 2024 (or summer for us Aussies). Woohoo!

And now for some upcoming games!

September 7

• The Dragoness: Command of the Flame – Switch
• Toss! – PC VR, Quest, PSVR 2

September 8

• Fae Farm – PC, Switch
• NBA 2K24 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

September 12

• Eternights – PC, PS5, PS4
• The Isle Tide Hotel – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

September 13

• Heretic’s Fork – PC
• Super Bomberman R 2 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

September 14

• Ad Infinitum – PC, PS5, XSX
• AK-xolotl – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• The Crew Motorfest – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Heavy Duty Challenge – PC, PS5, XSX
• Sugar Shack – PC

That’s it this week in gaming news!

This week join the Zed Games crew of Zahra, Hazel & Peter, as they discuss the news hot from the News Press of Paul. Peter makes their Deview (debut review) with a review of musical shooter City of Beats, and Zahra takes second fiddle to a Lobster with a review of Frog Detective The Entire Mystery.

BG3 is coming right at ya

Baldur’s Gate 3, one of this year’s run-away hits, has launched on PC and PS5 is coming this week but the Xbox release was not expected until next year. That is now changed after the developer Larian Studios managed to secure permission from Microsoft to release the game without feature parity between the Series X and the weaker Series S. There had been great difficulty getting the split screen co op working on the weaker console and, in what will surely be a start of things to come, the Series S version will launch without the feature. Otherwise, the game will remain the same and feature cross save so you can still take your save to Series X, PC or even PS5. You can now expect the game on Xbox platforms by the end of the year.

Speaking of cross save the long running hit online action game Warframe has also announced robust cross save allowing players to play their games seamlessly across PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, PC and Switch by year’s end.

Playstation Portal

Previously know as Project Q, Sony’s new handheld device has been revealed as the Playstation Portal. A handheld streaming device with a 1080p 8-inch 60hz screen between two halves of a Dualsense controller. The devices’ sole function is to stream PS5 games inside the home with no native software.

Much like the Playstation 5 the Portal will also not allow Bluetooth headsets to connect. Sony has you covered though with a head set and earbuds called the Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore respectively, releasing alongside the Portal using special proprietary technology that I’m sure will become as commonplace as the UMD.

A firm release date beyond this year has not been announces and neither have Australian prices but the US prices convert to roughly $310 for the Portal, $230 for the Elite and $310 again for the Explore.  Don’t forget to round up!

BREAKING: Sony has announced it will the increasing the pricing of its online services. The Australian pricing is still to be confirmed but in other regions prices are set to increase 35 percent. This price rise brings with it no additional features.

Headlines have all the info you ever need

With Starfield just days away it is now time to announce that the Elder Scrolls 6, a mere 5 years after it was announced is entering early development!

Following the successful launch of Shadow Gambit two weeks ago developer Mimimi has announced the title will be their last and the studio will close.

Star Citizen has crossed 600 million in crowd funding a number over 8 times more than the budget of India’s recent moon landing.

Upcoming Game Releases

30XX (Switch) – September 2

Chants of Sennaar (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC), Rune Factory 3 Special (Switch) – September 6

Baldur’s Gate 3 (PlayStation 5), Starfield (Xbox Series X/S, PC) – September 7

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis (iOS, Android) – September 8

This week Paul takes Zahra and Caroline on a journey through Escape Academy, with a review by Zahra, and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, with a review by Paul. Maylee brings it all together with the week in gaming news!

Mario is no more.

Nintendo has revealed that Charles Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario who has played the role since 1991 will be “stepping back from recording character voices for our games” and will now serve as a “Mario Ambassador.” The post continued that “With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!”

Charles Martinet quote tweeted the post, adding “My new Adventure begins!  You are all Numba One in my heart!  #woohoo  !!!!!!!”

Slime Rancher on the big screen

A recent announcement, shared by Deadline, revealed that Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher games are being adapted into a feature film.

The first Slime Rancher, released in 2017, is one of the highest-rated games on Steam of all time with a 98% positive average score and has sold over 6 million copies across all platforms with over 15 million players worldwide. In it, you play as Beatrix LeBeau, who moved from Earth to the Far Far Range to become a slime rancher. The second game, currently in early access, also follows Beatrix and features plenty of adorable slimes.

It’s unlikely we’ll get more details on the production anytime soon but that hasn’t stopped excited fans from speculating.

Gamescom 2023

Early Wednesday morning we same the opening ceremony of Gamescom 2023 and were treated to a closer look at some upcoming titles and the announcement of several new games. Here are just some of what was there:

Bandai Namco’s Little Nightmares series is getting a 3^rd installment, sometime in 2024. It will feature two characters and will be a cooperative game with online multiplayer. The developers came on stage to also reveal The Sounds of Nightmares, a narrative podcast series based on the world, which is available now.

We got a closer look at Black Myth Wukong, in a new trailer featuring gorgeous visuals and intense gameplay. It will be releasing sometime next year.

Dustborn is coming to PS4 & PS5 in early 2024. It looks like a colourful road trip through Americana and in it you’ll use the power of words to shape relationships with your crew, get out of trouble and reach your final destination.

We saw a trailer for Diablo IV: Season of blood, a vampiric expansion dropping in October, promising a new quest line, vampiric powers, and 5 additional endgame bosses.

We also got a trailer for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, showing off the numerous features that will be added to the game, like vehicle combat, overhauled combat AI, and a new district to name a few.

Upcoming Game Releases

August 25^th

• Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon (PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One)

August 29:

• Goodbye Volcano High (PS5, PS4, PC)
• Sea of Stars (PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch)
• Samba de Amigo: Party Central (Switch)

Grab your bootstraps gamers, it’s RADIOTHON!
Join us in our Radio Against The Machine Subathon Special as we pack the studio with Maylee, Rani, Caroline, Cam & Hazel to spruik, hawk, pitch and otherwise tout the prizes, satisfaction, support, and warm inner glow that subbing to 4ZZZ gives you. Not to mention it’s the only reason we have this show, so show up, and show your bling, in this years subathon!

Embrace this!

While parent company Embracer is currently in crisis, laying off developers and cancelling projects in a major restructure, THQ Nordic put their best foot forward in a showcase of their upcoming games this week.

We got our first tease of TMNT: The Last Ronin. A darker story based on the 2020 comic run of the same name in which all but one of the turtles has perished.

South Park: Snow Day is a 3d co op multiplayer game, leaving the style of the popular rpg games behind it.  Few details are known currently but they style has brought comparisons to the N64 South Park first person shooter.

Titan Quest 2 has also been officially announced finally!  The classic, mythology themed ARPG was originally released in 2006 so let’s see if a sequel 17+ years later can live up to its legacy.

We also got updates and new footage for the Gothic 1 remake, Alone in the Dark, Outcast: A New Beginning, Wreckreation, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy and Tempest Rising.

Tremors of the past

Did you feel a rumble in the earth? It wasn’t the end of times, it was Quakecon 2023 the annual celebration of all things id software. Which now also includes the wider Bethesda and Microsoft’s universe.  But Quakecon keeps it old school as mostly a giant LAN party for fans of shooters. As a surprise this year there was an announcement and drop of a remaster of Quake 2.  What did they improve?

• The original campaign
• Both mission packs
• Quake II 64
• An entirely new campaign by MachineGames
• Visual upgrades across the board
• Restored content missing from the original release
• Gameplay improvements
• Local, online and crossplay multiplayer
• Bots

If you own the original on Steam, GOG or Microsoft store you automatically own the remaster.  Otherwise it is available on all major consoles.  Not a bad glow up for a 26 year old title.

Press F to pay for purchase

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 charted at number 5 in the UK sales chart last month.  This may seem like uninteresting news other than the fact I’m not referring to 2022’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 but rather 2009’s game of the same name.  2012’s Black Ops 2 did even better hitting 4^th.The game saw a surge in popularity after work was done to fix the matchmaking in the backwards compatible versions on xbox platformer. The move along with some aggressive sales has given the older titles a new lease on life as players old and new flock to revered online shooters.

Remember remember the 23^rd… of August.

A quick reminder for all those who celebrate gamescom’s Opening Night Live you can catch the show live on Wednesday, August 23rd at 4AM AEST. So you’ll probably just watch it later.

Upcoming game releases

Red Dead Redemption (PlayStation 4, Switch), Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), Vampire Survivors (Switch) – August 18

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (Switch, PC), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – August 19

Fort Solis (PlayStation 5, PC, Mac), Immortals of Aveum (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), WrestleQuest (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – August 23

This week Zed Games levels up its social standing talking this week in gaming news, the marathon effort in a recap of Netherworld‘s Mario Kart Speedway Event, and Zahra betrays the fan within in a review of Sonic Dash.

Hold onto your overpriced gaming chairs folks because this week’s gaming news is coming in hot!

Gotta Catch ‘Em All – Again!

Nintendo announced a bunch of Pokémon-related stuff the other night, including more details about their upcoming The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, which is the DLC for
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the Switch. More importantly though…they’ve brought Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Stadium to Nintendo Switch Online! Yes!! Now
you can relive your childhood with these classic games on your gigantic television that was not designed for this kind of stuff! Hooray!

Red Dead Back From The Dead

Red Dead Redemption is coming back! What everyone was speculating to be a high quality remaster of the original Xbox 360-era sequel (if that makes sense) is actually a port to the
PlayStation 4 and…the Switch?! How that’s going to work remains a mystery, hopefully better than the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Switch port at any rate. But I guess it means technically it’s coming to PlayStation 5 through backwards compatibility, so quit complaining!

EVO was a smash hit

The world’s biggest fighting game tournament, EVO, was held again in Las Vegas this past weekend, and it was the place to be if you’re a fighting game fan. Perennial favourites like
Tekken 7 and King of Fighters XV were joined by new contenders Guilty Gear Strive and Melty Blood: type Lumina. I was personally hyped to see the return of Ultimate Marvel Versus Capcom 3 on the stage, but the big event was the debut of Street Fighter 6 to the Evo stage.

Over 7,000 people took part in the Street Fighter 6 tournament alone which is a new record, and congratulations to AngryBird for taking home the ultimate prize. The show’s also the
place where new sequels and characters are announced, including Tekken 8’s first ever Peruvian character “Azucena”. As of press time it’s unknown if Triple Zed will be sending us
all to next year’s show.

Shocking news – Baldur’s Gate 3 is Popular!

The hot new RPG of the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3, is the hottest thing in games since a Steam Deck that’s been left on for more than ten minutes. More than 800,000 people were
playing at the same time the other day, making it one of the ten biggest games of all time for that achievement! So there’s a lesson for everyone, put bear sex in your game and start
cashing the cheques.

And now for some hot new gaming releases!

August 10
Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon (c64)
Stray (Xbox Series S/X)
Atlas Fallen (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

August 15
Moving Out 2 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch)
Party on dudes, and be excellent to each other!