Category: News

Nintendo News
This week Nintendo had several announcements with president Shuntaro Furukawa saying the Switch was in the middle of its lifecycle. With the Switch selling more units than all previous generations of Nintendo’s home consoles, with over 100 million units sold so far, the Switch, Switch Lite, and the new OLED version that released last year, it seems the Switch is closing in on Game Boy’s near 120 million console total. Despite this, year-to-year sales in 2021 dropped by 6% and profits were down 9.3% compared to 2020, after Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ exceptional release. Shuntaro Furukawa also announced they would not be participating in the consolidation wars of Microsoft and Sony, and are instead focussing on strengthening their own company. In better news for Nintendo, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has sold 6.5 million copies in its first week, outselling Sword and Shield which sold 6 million collectively in its release week.
The announcements of today’s Nintendo Direct was packed with sports and ports. In Sports, Mario Strikers Battle League, a Mario soccer game utilising items, skills, and strategy is coming June 10. Nintendo Switch Sport, a new Wii-like sports game including Bowling (with survival mode), Tennis, Chambara, Badminton, Volleyball, and Soccer complete with leg strap, as well as a future Golf game to come. This comes to Switch April 29 with a playtest for Switch Online members February 18 through 20. Baseball game The Show 22 announced cross play to take your game on the go. Disney Speedstorm, a free-to-play cross platform Disney and Pixar action racer to come midyear.
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival, a rhythm drum game with 76 songs and a future in-game subscription that will give access to over 500 songs is coming this year.

In DLC announcements, Mario Kart 8 is getting a paid DLC with 48 remastered courses to be released over time named Booster Course Pack. This will be included in the Online Expansion Pack or may be purchased separately. And Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course DLC will be available June 30.

In Ports, Star Wars: Force Unleashed is available from today in the online store, also EarthBound and Earthbound Beginnings have been added to Nintendo Switch Online. Assassin’s Creed Enzio Collection is coming Feb 17, Triangle Strategy March 4, Chrono Cross: The Radican Dreamers Addition, a remake with enhanced soundtrack, is coming April 7, Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp April 8, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series July 8, and Live A Live July 22. No Man’s Sky and Front Mission 1st: Remake are coming to the Switch midyear, and SD Gundam Battle Alliance, and Portal: Companion Collection have been announced for 2022.

Surprising Grand Theft Auto News
On February 4^th Rockstar surprised fans by announcing in a blog post that they are “actively developing[sic] the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series [and] is well underway.” This same post also confirmed the release date for GTA V and GTA Online coming to PS5 and Xbox series S & X on March 15.
In other surprising news, CEO Strauss Zelnick claimed GTA Trilogy, with a user score of 0.6 on metacritic, “significantly exceeded” expectations. In an investor presentation Take Two-claimed they have sold up to an estimated 10 million copies of the game.

Now in some Gaming Bytes:

Mobile Warcraft
In 2021’s financial report Activision Blizzard shared that they are planning the release of a Warcraft franchised mobile “content” to be released this year. There is no indication as to what form this may take.

Wordle Madness
With the popularity of Wordle and its sale to the New York Times last week, several spinoffs have started to pop-up online. There are both word based options for the Wordle connoisseur with Semantle – a word meaning match, Dordle – a double word match puzzle, Lewdle a humorous addition where only lewd words are allowed, and Gameboy Rom and Wordle Archive for those wanting to take it on the go or check it out historically. For those sick of the word based wordles, Globle has you guessing countries, Squirdle is all Pokémon, and Nerdle is for those math fans.
But for those OG Wordle fans… it seems everything is right there on the webpage. So, before the New York Times takes over, don’t forget to right click and save your way to years of offline Wordle.
If you have another Wordle spinoff we need to know about, leave a comment on our Facebook news post.

Now for some upcoming games:
Friday the 11^th free-to-play MMORPG Lost Ark is coming to PC
Pixelated action RPG where your choices matter Infernax is coming to PC, Xbox, PS4 and Switch just in time for Valentine’s Day. On Thursday 17^th, King of Fighters 15 comes to PC, Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 4 & 5, and Total War: Warhammer 3 comes to PC and Game Pass.

And that’s all this week in gaming news.

It’s Time To Vote For GDCA

Online voting is now open for the 2022 Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Games Festival Awards. You have until Friday, February 11th at 5.59pm AEST to submit your vote.

All finalists are eligible for the awards, and casting your vote can determine the winning games, with the winners being announced at the Game Developers Conference in March.

Local game Unpacking by Witch Beam is on the finalist list for GDCA and Unpacking and another local game, Webbed by Sbug Games are both on the list for IGF. These games join the ranks with Sable by Shedworks, Halo Infinite by 343 Industries, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart by Insomniac Games, and so much more.

You can check out our Facebook page @ZedGamesAu for links to vote!

Sony Buys Bungie With More Acquisitions On The Way

Sony has announced a deal to acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion, making it yet another large consolidation deal in the games industry. Bungie will be ‘an independent subsidiary’ of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and will remain a multiplatform studio. They promise that Bungie will have the option to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play, which may come as a relief to current players who have already had to migrate their accounts in the past.

But Sony isn’t stopping there! Jim Ryan has said that we should expect more studio acquisitions in the future, with Sony aiming to expand beyond the PlayStation console, although the timing of the Bungie acquisition has many suggesting it is in response to Microsoft’s recent acquisitions of Activision, although the Bungie deal has been in the works for over 5 months.

New York Times Now Has Wordle

The popular word game that has taken the internet by storm has been acquired by the New York Times for an undisclosed price in ‘the low seven figures’. Wordle’s creator, Josh Wardle, says the game will continue to be free to play, however the New York Times statement seems to imply otherwise, stating that Wordle will “initially remain free to new and existing players”.

The New York Times does promise that Wordle will have an interesting future ahead, with a team of designers and engineers to further the user experience.

It’s unclear exactly what this means at this point, but many are cautious for the future of this little world game.

Ubisoft Complains That Players Don’t Get NFTs

After Ubisoft announced Quartz in December 2021, an NFT platform that would allow players to buy and sell virtual goods for real-world cash, they had been met with a wave of concern as to the potential environmental impact such a platform could cause, and what NFTs in video games actually mean for players.

The publisher answers critics by explaining that Quartz would use the Tezos blockchain to circumvent the energy-hungry algorithms, so that a single transaction would use roughly the same amount of energy as a video stream. However, this hasn’t stopped criticism, with many asking ‘what’s the point?’.

“I think gamers don’t get what a digital secondary market can bring to them. For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it’s first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation”, said Nicolar Pouard, VP at Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovations Lab.

“But what we [at Ubisoft] are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they’re finished with them or they’re finished playing the game itself. So, it’s really for them. It’s really beneficial. But they don’t get it for now.”

And now for some upcoming game releases!

February 4

• Cheftastic!: Buffet Blast (PC)
• Dying Light 2 Stay Human (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)

February 8

• Apex Legends: Defiance (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch)
• Model Builder (PC)
• OlliOlli World (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch)
• Rumbleverse (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)
• Sifu (PC, PS5, PS4)

February 9

• Unbound: Worlds Apart (PS5, PS4)

This week in gaming news…

Unpacking Clone Tops Download Charts.

Witch Beam Games’ hit indie title Unpacking has recently fallen victim to a copy-cat company, selling a knock-off version of the game on Google Play and the App Store. The brazen copy was accompanied by an intense ad campaign across social media sites which boosted it, briefly, to the top of charts. Thankfully this alerted fans, who then alerted Witch Beam Games, who were able to get the imitation taken down.  “It’s demoralising for a small team like ours to see content we spent literally years planning, refining and handcrafting be hastily reproduced in an opportunistic ad-riddled app a mere 3 months after our launch,” the studio wrote on twitter.

This isn’t the first time someone has bastardized Unpacking, and Witch Beam is not the only studio to have their game mimicked for quick cash. Clones of successful games are rampant in the ever-growing world of mobile gaming. “We’re a tiny indie team and even with the success we have achieved, we still don’t have the resources to pursue companies trying to use our game’s distinct look and feel to make a quick buck. We have to rely on storefronts like the App Store to better curate their content.”
If you still haven’t tried out Unpacking and are interested, you can find the real deal on PC, Mac, Xbox, and Switch.

Australian Global Game Jam This Weekend.

This weekend the Australian Global Game Jam is taking place, as part of the worldwide event. If you don’t know Game Jams bring people together to connect, collaborate, and create games in a short time. This event will run from 5PM Friday the 28^th to 5pm Sunday 30^th, consecutive with similar events around the world. You don’t need to be a professional or have ever participated in a Game Jam before, it’s just about having fun with other game lovers. Everyone over 18 is welcome! For more details and to register visit /jamhost.org/e/0009T8QsaW/about

Final Fantasy 14 Launches Oceanic Server

Since the release of the Endwalker expansion in early December, Final Fantasy 14 exploded in popularity which left them with more players than they could handle. It got so bad players were left queuing for hours just to get online and new purchases of the game were briefly suspended. Since then, Square Enix have been working hard to improve the situation and the worst has past but players around Australia have still had to deal with connection issues because of the server congestion. Thankfully, on the 25^th of January, doors to the Oceanic Data Centre were finally opened as it released alongside the 6.08 patch.   In this Oceanic Server there are 5 worlds available which will all be considered “new worlds”. This means it will be free to transfer existing characters and all characters will have an experience boost until Level 80.  There are also a bunch of in game rewards available to celebrate. Game Director Naoki Yoshida has recently stated he plans to work on the game for at least another decade so if you’re interested in exploring now is a great time to join up.

Upcoming Game Releases

Circuit Superstars [PS4] – January 27

Deflector [PC] – January 27

Rugby 22 [PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO] – January 27

Vagante [PS4, XBO, Switch] – January 27

Zenith: The Last City [PC, Quest 2, PSVR] – January 27

Pokemon Legends: Arceus [Switch] – January 28

Re:turn 2 – Runaway [PC, XSX, XBO, Switch] – January 28

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection [PS5] – January 28

Life is Strange Remastered Collection [PC, PS4, XBO, Stadia] – February 1

And that’s all, this week, in gaming news!

GamesDoneQuick beats their record again!
Charity streaming event GamesDoneQuick has been running since 2015, and is a marathon of high-level speedrunners playing games to raise money for various charity organisations. This year between the 10th and 17th of January, they raised over $3.4 Million US Dollars for the Prevent Cancer foundation, beating the 2021 total by almost half a million dollars and setting a new record for most money raised in a single Games Done Quick event! The event ran from the 10th to the 17th of January.

Leaks ahead of major game releases

As some Pokemon fans will know, the weeks before a new release will inevitably have leaks aplenty, and we’ve started seeing that this week with what looks like an early release of Pokemon Legends Arceus out in the wild. Screenshots of early game footage have appeared on twitter so if you want a spoiler-free experience, maybe avoid the internet for the next week or so. 

The same can be said for fans of Sony’s Horizon series. An early build of the sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, has been confirmed to have leaked into the public. The leak appears to be a PS4 version of the game, with some art assets missing, but the entire core game is there, so spoilers could start to be shared soon.

Microsoft confirmed to have discontinued Xbox One 

In a statement to The Verge, Microsoft confirmed that they had ceased manufacturing the Xbox One consoles at the end of 2020 in favour of producing more Series S and X consoles, highlighting them as their top priority. This comes after a recent report from Bloomberg that Sony would be producing more of their older generation consoles to address shortages of the PS5.

Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard

More news from Microsoft! This week they have bought yet another gaming giant, with Activision Blizzard being brought into the fold. The deal has been valued at around $68.7 Billion US Dollars, and is Microsoft’s biggest acquisition to date. With games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot, and Tony Hawk, Activision Blizzard has a huge range to bring into Microsoft’s growing gaming sector. Once the transaction is finalised, it will leave Microsoft as the third-largest gaming company by revenue, with Sony and Tencent still leading.

This week in gaming news.

Take-Two Interactive to Acquire Mobile Developer Zynga for A$17.7 Billion
Take-Two Interactive, the company behind the Grand Theft Auto games, has issued a press release stating that they’ve reached a deal to acquire FarmVille developer Zynga for more than 17 billion Australian dollars. The deal would be the largest acquisition in the history of the video games sector and appears to follow a trend of major PC and console developers making large acquisitions of mobile games developers as a way of expanding into the mobile sector. The merger opens up the opportunity for Zynga to adapt classic Take-Two franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and NBA 2K for mobile platforms. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.

LAPD Officers Denied Appeal After Being Fired for Ignoring Robbery to Catch Snorlax
Two fired LAPD officers were denied reinstatement in a California court this week after being fired in 2017 for playing Pokemon Go on the job. The pair were dismissed after a dashcam recording showed them receiving a call for backup to a robbery at a nearby department store and choosing to ignore it to play the mobile game. They left the area and spent the next 20 minutes catching Pokemon, the two were even heard discussing a Snorlax they could see on the map and the best route to take to catch it. The officers appealed their dismissal on the grounds that dashcam recordings were not meant to be used to monitor officers’ conversations, but a California judge denied the appeal.

E3 2022 Show to Remain Online-Only for Second Year in A Row
The massive annual games industry trade show E3 will again be held as an online virtual conference this year as COVID-19 cases surge, it will be the second year in a row of online-only events for the conference in a show of caution from organisers. Last year’s E3 2021 was moved to an online-only event and the 2020 show was cancelled entirely due to COVID-19 related concerns, making 2022 the third year with no physical E3 event. Similar trade shows such as the Consumer Electronics Show and the Game Developers Conference have received some criticism over the decision to go ahead with in-person events this year despite the potential for spreading the virus during the current spike in cases.

Activision-Blizzard Legal Saga Continues and Overwatch 2 LEGO Set Delayed
Activision Blizzard’s legal troubles related to allegations of toxic workplace culture continue as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing or DFEH has appealed a decision preventing it from intervening in the settlement of a federal lawsuit. The developer settled with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September with the creation of a compensation fund totalling 25 million Australian dollars. The California DFEH has attempted to intervene in the settlement over concerns it could release Activision-Blizzard from pending California lawsuits.

At the same time, LEGO has announced that they are reviewing their partnership with Activision-Blizzard due to the aforementioned allegations and pausing release of the upcoming Overwatch 2 Titan LEGO set which was due to hit shelves in February.

Now for some upcoming releases
4-player co-op shooter The Anacrusis is releasing to early access on PC, Xbox Series X and Xbox One today, January 13th, along with the Playstation and Xbox ports of Mushroom Wars 2. January 14 sees the critically-acclaimed God of War finally coming to PC.

That’s all this week in gaming news.

Record VR Sales Across The Holidays

The 2021 holiday season was a big one in terms of virtual reality systems and games, with the Oculus app topping the Apple App Store on Christmas, beating TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Meta doesn’t release sales numbers for Quest headsets, so we can only piece together how popular it is through unofficial data points. So the Oculus app being at the top indicates a strong uptick in new headset usage. But that’s not all, Rec Room, a free social virtual reality experience has reported record numbers over the holidays, with over 1 million VR players logging in over a 60 hour period.

Apps such as Hand Physics Lab, Golf+, Eleven Table Tennis, and Loco Dojo Unleashed, have also reported a similar spike in new users.

PS5 Explains Their New VR2 System

PlayStation have announced the names for their new virtual reality system for the PlayStation 5 console. PlayStation VR2, and the new virtual reality controller, PlayStation V2 Sense controller.

PlayStation VR2 promises to take virtual reality gaming to a new level of presence and escapism, with new hardware features, greater depth of immersion, and new worlds being built. PS5 VR2 offers the following:

4K HDR 110-degree field of view, combined with an OLED display, means a display resolution of 2000×2040 per eye and smoother frame rates.

Inside-out tracking, with the player and their controller being tracked through cameras embedded in the VR headset, eliminating the need for an external camera.

Brand new sensory features, combining eye tracking, headset feedback, 3D audio, and the VR2 Sense controller to pull you deeper than ever into virtual reality. The most significant hardware feature being the motor in the VR headset that can vibrate to offer tactile feedback.

VR2 will detect the motion of your eyes, allowing the player to interact more intuitively with their environment.

PlayStation has announced that Horizon Call of the Mountain will be coming to the PlayStation VR2, making it one of the biggest franchises for the potential lineup available for the VR2.

Activision Sues Call of Duty Cheat Maker

Activision has asked a court to take action against EngineOwning, a cheat maker selling cheats to Call of Duty: Warzone players. This latest case is another battle in Activision’s war against hackers in their online battle royale, accusing EngineOwning for causing “irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation”.

Activision alleges that the cheat maker has hurt sales through the distribution of aimbots, triggerbots, and other cheats. Other than allegedly ruining the online experience for thousands of players, Activision says that EngineOwning has infringed on their copyright, and violated its terms of service, and claims that “tens of thousands’ of players have been caught using EngineOwning’s tools over the past year.

And now for some upcoming game releases!

January 10:

• Super Sami Roll (XSX)

January 12:

• PUBG: Battlegrounds Free to Play (PC, PS4, XBO, Stadia)

January 13:

• The Anacrusis (PC, XSX, XBO)
• Mushroom Wars 2 (PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)

Riot Games Settles Gender Discrimination Suit  

Riot Games has agreed to pay the equivalent of 138 million Australian dollars in a settlement with members of a class action lawsuit over cases of gender discrimination against women employees. The class action suit was first filed in 2018 by former employees Melanie McCracken and Jes Negrón after a Kotaku investigation into Riot’s sexist workplace culture, and includes all current and former full-time and temp employees in California. Riot also agreed to third-party monitoring of pay equity and internal reporting for the next three years. The plaintiffs’ counsel Genie Harrison released a statement saying “We appreciate Riot’s introspection and work since 2018 toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive company, its willingness to take responsibility for its past, and its commitment to continued fairness and equality in the future.”

Final Fantasy XVI Reveal Delayed

Final Fantasy XVI’s Producer Naoki Yoshida has issued a statement via the game’s official Twitter account apologising for pushing back the game’s “next big reveal” that was previously announced for this year. Yoshida wrote that “FINAL FANTASY XVI has amassed a sizeable team composed of talented creators from around the world. However, in an effort to offset the effects of COVID-19, we’ve had to decentralize that workforce … This has unfortunately hampered communication from the Tokyo office which, in turn, has led to delays in … asset deliveries.” He further stated that that “next big reveal” would come in Autumn next year for us in Australia.

Possible Steam ban in China

News outlets this week reported that some Chinese Steam users were unable to log into the global version of Valve’s digital game store Steam. Steam monitoring website SteamDB was quoted as saying that access to the service was cut off in a way consistent with the Chinese government’s efforts to block other websites, but users were still able to access Steam China, a restricted version of the platform with less features and a limited library of games which are approved by the government. Rumours have circulated on Twitter that some users in China were still able to access Steam without a VPN and some have speculated that the apparent block was the result of a DNS poisoning attack. Without official statements from the government or Valve the exact nature of the situation remains unclear.

Tesla Disables Passenger Play Under Regulatory Pressure

Finally we have an unsurprising update to the story about Tesla’s new in-car gaming feature known as Passenger Play. Tesla appears to have caved to regulatory pressure, confirming that an automatic update has rolled out to Tesla vehicles that forcibly disables Passenger Play while the car is in motion. The move came just one day after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a formal investigation into whether the feature would be a hazardous distraction to drivers. NHTSA has stated that they are working with Tesla but will continue the investigation into whether the manufacturer’s infotainment screens are a distraction hazard despite the changes.

Stalking NFTs
With big brands like Nike and Adidas jumping on Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, it would seem like a mistake for game developers not to do the same. However, Ubisoft’s experimental NFT sales for Ghost Recon Breakpoint appear to have sold just 15 NFTs since their release on the 9^th of December.
Jumping on this bandwagon, GSC Game World, developer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, announced on the 15^th of December their intention to introduce NFTs via auction in January of 2022 and later. These NFTs would range from “genesis” collectables to the rights to be scanned using photogrammetry and inserted into the game as an NPC “metahuman”. Within 24 hours after the publication went live, GSC Game World was hit with community backlash and responded with a tweet saying, “Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.” but not before doubling down in a now deleted tweet attempting to reason with the community.
It must be noted that in the third quarter of 2021, NFT games such as Sky Mavis’ Axis Infinity reportedly generated about 2.32 billion US dollars in revenue, paving the way as further incentive for future developers to integrate NFTs into games.

Winning Games
In an unprecedented year for games, Hades now sits alongside Oscar-winning Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond’s Colette for being the first game to win a prestigious industry award in 2021.
In this year’s Hugo Awards, the World Science Fiction Society used its bylaws to create the one-off 2021 Best Video Game award. Many games were nominated with Spiritfarer from Thunder Lotus Games and Animal Crossing: New Horizons from Nintendo coming runners-up to the award winner Hades from Super Giant Games. While Super Giant Games were unable to be there, Greg Kasavin, Creative Director and Writer of Hades had the following to say on twitter.

Wish I could have attended the #HugoAwards in person. I wasn’t able to make an acceptance speech there on behalf of the team though did have a few words here. I’m grateful that the awards are recognizing work in this category, much less the work we did! pic.twitter.com/S9bfSp1i8H

— Greg Kasavin (@kasavin) December 19, 2021

“We are incredibly honoured to be the first-ever recipient of a Hugo award in the category of best video game. We, myself included, grew up experiencing these classic works of science fiction and fantasy, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Philip K. Dick, what have you. That’s when we first came across the Hugo Awards name, of course, as kids.
“To have earned this distinction all this time later, especially alongside such an incredible slate of nominees, games of all shapes and sizes, from teams big and small, it really means the world.”

Keep an eye out in the future as there are rumours floating around online that this gaming category may become an annual Hugo event.

Now for some Gaming Bytes:

Finishing First
HowLongToBeat’s stat breakdown of game releases in  2021 show that Resident Evil Village is the most completed game this year with 2.6 thousand completions of the game so far narrowly beating Metroid Dread with 2.2 thousand completions.

CD Projekt Settles
CD Projekt has settled with suing investors over the release of Cyberpunk 2077 to the tune of 1.85 million US Dollars. The lawsuit accused CD Projekt of misleading investors over the release quality of the game and suing for damages incurred by this.

North America Unionises
North America finally has its first ever video game studio union, formed at the Vodeo Games Studio, developers of Beast Breaker that released for PC, Mac, and Switch this year. The Vodeo Workers United union formed to protect independent contracted workers and salaried staff to maintain a fair and equitable workforce and lock in some of the perks they love… like the 4-day work week they currently enjoy.

Sony Faceplates Finally
After exerting legal pressure to stop the creation of personalised faceplates for the PS5 late 2020 and more recently against dbrand in October of this year, Sony has finally released their own personalised faceplates with 5 different colour offerings of Midnight Black, Cosmic Red, Nova Pink, Starlight Blue, and Galactic Purple.

Now in upcoming games:
On the 23^rd of December the 3D platformer puzzler Scarf released by Uprising Studios has you forming an unbreakable bond with your dragon who is also your scarf on PC and Stadia. Teratopia and Tunnel of Doom are releasing their Switch ports on the 23^rd.
On the 24^th Tunnel of Doom is also porting to the Xbox One and releasing on the 28^th of December, the Switch port of Lacuna.

Australian Video Games Industry gets a Union… Finally.

Game Workers Unite Australia also known as GWUA mostly known for its advisory and support of video game workers is now planning to transition into a full-on union. GWUA intends on becoming Game Workers Australia in 2022 with Professionals Australia which is a larger union that encompasses more than just games industry workers ranging from engineers to scientists. This new found union with GWUA will mean that all games industry employees can join the same union and be afforded all the XP and buffs that joining a union involves plus the added bonus of benefits being specifically tailored towards games businesses. Game Workers Australia will launch in the new year but you can register your interest by clicking here.

Ubisoft bring NFTs to Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Ubisoft are taking to the unique virtual cosmetic NFTs this week by implementing them as an “experiment.” Digits as they are called, will be the first non-fungible tokens to ever be introduced to a playable triple A game. These NFTs will be brought to Breakpoint’s Windows version of the game through the Ubisoft Connect platform.  Ubisoft said in a statement, “Each Digit is a unique collectible that features its own serial number for others to see in-game, also keeping track of its current and previous owners for years to come, making players an integral part of the game’s history.” Ubisoft went on to say that NFTs will, “provide players the ability to personalize their experience and complete their missions with style.” Ubisoft said that Digit drops will happen on Dec 9^th, Dec 12^th, and Dec 15^th.

Tesla will let you play video games potentially while you drive.

A new feature has been introduced to Tesla vehicles that the company didn’t advertise called video-games-on-the-go according to Motor Trend the games currently installed are Polytopia and Stardew Valley as well as some classics such as Asteroid and Centipede. We are still unclear about whether you can actually play these titles while the car is in motion. So, if any Tesla drivers out there would like to message us in on the Zed Games FB Page to let us know that would be great.

The week in games releases:

• December 9^th Breakwaters and KEO come to PC
• December 14^th Among Us launches on all platforms [PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO]
  • Clockwork Aquario [PS4, Switch]
  • Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue [PC]
  • Greak: Memories of Azur [PS4, XBO]
  • One Hand Clapping [PS4, XBO, Switch]
• December 15^th Rogue Invader [PC]

Discontinued PlayStation services rise again

A sad fact of many online games is that at some point the servers are going to be shutdown and the game will be left unplayable.  Thankfully projects like PS Online Network Emulated exist which aim to restore the online functionality for such titles. They recently announced that Motorstorm for PS3 now had its online functionality restored following on from support for Socom Confrontation, Killzone 2, Warhawk and Twisted Metal Black. The team is also currently working on Ratchet: Deadlocked, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Resistance as well as the trying to bring back PlayStation Home.  To use the service, you don’t need a modified console. Simply point your Playstation’s DNS at the projects server and you’re good to go. You can find the projects homepage here:  https://www.psone.online

Halo Infinite can’t please everyone

Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer launch has gone as smoothly as most could have hoped for with one major exception. Many players have found the game’s leveling system to be less than satisfactory. Gaining levels on the battle pass is tied to completing specific challenges which has been  leading to slow progression and high rates of players quitting matches. To the point that the title’s design lead tweeted that he “feels everyone’s pain on progression”. One day later the community manager detailed changes they had already made to help alleviated the community’s displeasure and said larger changes were still to come.

DICE’s Design Lead on Battlefield steps down, then up

Fawzi Mesmar who acted as the head of design on Battlefield V, Star Wars Battlefront II and the recently released Battlefield 2042 has stepped down from his role at the company. An internal email to staff at DICE revealed Mr Mesmar had been planning to leave once the latest title had shipped.

“It was an absolute pleasure to serve on the best design teams in the galaxy. The incredible design work that you do continues to inspire me every day. Thank you for putting some faith in me, I hope I didn’t disappoint.”

It didn’t take long for Mesmar’s future to be revealed though as later in the week Ubisoft announced he would be taking the role as the new VP of editorial putting him in a high position of influence for the company’s future titles.

The Zed games Release Calendar

Fights In Tight Spaces (Xbox Platforms, PC), Solar Ash (PlayStation Platforms, PC) – December 3

Chorus (PlayStation 5 Xbox Platforms, PC), Danganronpa Decadence (Switch) – December 4

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (PlayStation Platforms, PC, Mac), Heavenly Bodies (PlayStation Platforms, PC) – December 7

Life is Strange: True Colors (Switch), SpellForce III Reforced (PlayStation Platforms, Xbox Platforms, PC), White Shadows (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – December 8

Halo Infinite (Xbox Platforms, PC) – December 9