Awarding me some Stonks, it’s the News!

The Escapist has lost its entire video team. The Escapist is a video game website that also produces video content – most well known for the short-form video reviews by Yahtzee Croshaw known as Zero Punctuation which has been ongoing since 2007.
The company has been owned by a trail of different parent companies since 2011 (with the company Gamurs Group being the latest).  The company began to find stability when Nick Calandra was hired and began to bring in new talent and diversify the content.
And then last week he was fired, allegedly for: “’not achieving goals’ that were never properly set for us, and a lack of understanding of our audience and the team that built that audience.”
And the entire video team resigned.  Within days of this mass exodus Calandra announced that he would be starting a new company with everyone who resigned, called Second Wind, a fully creator owned independent company.  (which reached the 150K subscribers within 2 days of the channel’s creation)
While some of the creators retain the rights to their IP, Zero Punctuation is still owned by the escapist although Calandra and Croshaw have announced a legally distinct segment called Fully Ramblomatic (which when you’re listening to this will have premiered it’s first episode).
Love to see creators going independent and seeing such an outpouring of support from the community.

In other news Stray Gods and it’s composers (Montaine, Tripod and Austin Wintory) have been nominated for a grammy for Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media in the 2024 Grammys.  The other games up for the award are God of War: Ragnarok, Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Do you remember back in the ancient times of 2021 when the GameStop stocks (something to do with hedge funds) were memeing?  Me either but there’s a movie about it to refresh your memory!  Called ‘Dumb Money’ it was out in cinemas in September but if you’re like me and somehow missed it you can get it digitally.

Releases!
November 16
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR -Quest 2
Astlibra Revision -Switch
Dredge: The Pale Reach DLC – PC, Playstation, Xbox
Flashback 2 – PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch
Jagged Alliance 3 -Playstation, Xbox
The Kindeman Remedy -PC
Loddlenaut-PC
PowerWash Simulator: Back to the Future Special Pack DLC -PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch
Tobor -PC

November 17
Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections -PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch
Persona 5 Tactica – PC, Xbox
Super Mario RPG -Switch
The Walking Dead: Destinies -PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin – PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

November 20
In Stars and Time -PC

November 21
Construction Simulator – Spaceport Expansion DLC -PC, Playstation, Xbox
Worldless -PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch

Pre-Order Now!

This week Zed Gamers put your hands together for Hazel, Cam, & Peter as they throw bants talking the week in Gaming News, Caroline pokes trash in Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic from Rogueside, Hazel can’t stop playing Trigahex, and they chat the pre-show incoming for GTA6 later this year.

Lawsuits, Esports, Live-Action Movies Oh My!

Sued Over Video Game Addiction

A lawsuit in Arkansas, United States, has been filed against Microsoft, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, and other companies claiming that they ‘use patented designs, algorithms, and marketing containing addictive features and technology’, subsequently leading to addiction.

The concern over gaming addiction isn’t new, with a clinic in the UK being established to help those with ‘gaming disorders’ experiencing a massive influx of new patients in recent months.

Tina Bullock, the attorney representing the family who filed the lawsuit, states that she believes video game addiction is serious, and should be treated as such. The firm she represents claims that this is only the first of many lawsuits that will be filed in the foreseeable future.

 

Revenant Hill Ain’t Coming

We got to see Revenant Hill unveiled earlier this year during the PlayStation showcase, in development by the same team behind Night in the Woods, and in a similar style, and unfortunately development won’t be continuing. The reason? Key developers impacted by severe health issues.

“We are a cooperative, and we make decisions as a group. For us, this was the clear path to take for the well-being of the team, which is frankly more important than games.” says The Glory Society in a statement on their website.

Live Action Zelda: It’s Happening

Wes Ball, the director of the movie Maze Runner, will be directing the live-action movie based on The Legend of Zelda franchise. Shigeru Miyamoto, Legend of Zelda creator, and Avi Arad, who produced Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, will also be involved as producers, with the movie being co-funded between Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“I have been working on the live-action film… for many years now… It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.” said Miyamoto on socials. So it’ll still be a bit of a wait.

Video Games In School

No no, I’m not talking about Coolmath Games, and I’m not talking about the games of CounterStrike you’re definitely not supposed to be playing. Thanks to the increasing popularity of esports there’s some renewed conversation among parents and teachers about the future of welcoming online video games into school.

With 50,000 students from over 300 schools taking part in the Fuse Cup, an international esports competition for children, it’s no longer just a fun oddity, it is becoming as embedded as traditional sports. Recently 60 players from 25 schools across Australia competed in the national esports finals on the Gold Coast. Although the esports scene isn’t quite as lucrative in Australia as it is in Europe or Asia, it was an Australian teen, Lucas Malissa, who was crowned champion in the Olympic Esports Series held in Singapore earlier this year.

Of course, this acceptance also means that schools can delve into topics with their students about healthy gaming habits, keeping themselves safe online, and other fun stuff like that.

And now for some upcoming games!

November 10

  • Air Twister – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

November 13

  • Spirittea – PC, XSX, XBO, Switch

November 14

  • Gods of the Twilight – PC

November 15

  • Checkmate Showdown – PC
  • Lake: Season’s Greetings DLC – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
  • The Last Faith – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
  • Teardown – PS5, XSX

November 16

    • Flashback 2 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
    • Jagged Alliance 3 – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
  • Loddlenaut – PC

That’s it this week in gaming news!

This Video Game Industry Is So Exhausting Some Times, and Other News

Even though video games peaked in 2004 there’s still video game news happening, so let’s check, check, check, check it out.

Tony Hawk is back – Literally!

Do you love the soundtrack to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater? Do you love skateboarding or at least pretending to skateboard on a video game console? Do you love going outside and doing things? Then boy howdy do I have good news for you.

To celebrate 25 years of Tony Hawk’s pro Skater, the Fortitude Music Hall will have two sessions on January 27, one all-ages and one for those of us who were around when the first game came out, that will feature bands playing music from the game, an area set aside with consoles for you to play the games, a giant vert ramp and none other than Tony Hawk himself!

Bodyjar will be there at the 18+ gig playing their contribution to the classic game soundtrack, and Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of a Tony Hawk Cover Band) will be playing all the classics in addition to acts like Alex Lahey and Teenage Joans. Skate legends Lizzie Armanto, Elliot Sloan and Reese Nelson join Tony Hawk himself and other pro skaters to show off their skills. It’s gonna be totally late ‘90s-riffic.

Find out more info at thps25.com.au

South park calls out Baldur’s Gate

The latest South Park special made a snide joke about Baldur’s Gate 3’s cross-platform saves not working, prompting developer Larian to respond publicly on social media.

In the show, the kids of South Park travel to an alternate universe where they’re in different bodies. Alternate reality Cartman complains about how they’d already sunk 50 hours in to Baldur’s Gate 3 and wanted to know if save games could cross between multiple universes. The reply from Stan jokes that cross saves don’t even work between PCs and PlayStation 5s.

In reply, Larian posted that while cross-multiversial barriers are beyond their technological abilities, cross-saves between PC and PS5 in this dimension do indeed work. So there you go folks, next time you want to complain about something in a game not working right for you, just start up a multi-million dollar entertainment franchise and use it to complain directly to the developers.

Atari Keep Buying History

Long-time video game publishers and my #1 enemy on Earth Atari keep buying up companies. After a string of acquisitions including the AtariAge website, video game history database Mobygames and the back catalogues of classic computer game developers Accolade and Microprose, they just announced the acquisition of Digital Eclipse. They’re widely known as the premier software house that deals in remastering classic games for modern systems, and recently released The History of Karateka, Teenage Mustant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection and Atari 50.

The $20 million US Dollar Deal means two things – one, Atari now has a top-tier studio that can handle their preservation and re-release efforts, and two, someone’s given Atari 20 million dollars and I want to know who it was. Confess your sins, heathens! Atari does not show pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop until it buys everyone. Who’s next?!

More layoffs for everyone!

Isn’t the video game industry great? As a reward for all their hard work on Destiny 2, Bungie this week announced a massive slew of layoffs in the company, kicking an estimated 8% of the company to the kerb. Apparently it’s because a line didn’t go up in some spreadsheet, or didn’t go up enough, it’s hard to make clear from the HR-filtered press statements issued by Bungie, but the long and short of it is that not enough people are playing Destiny 2 these days. The people who Sony gave 3.6 Billion US Dollars to for buying Bungie are doing fine though, so that’s all that really matters right?

And now for the latest game releases!

Today sees the release of:
RoboCop: Rogue City PC / PS5 / Xbox Series
Thirsty Suitors on PC PS5 PS4 Xbox Series, Xbox One and Switch

Tomorrow is all about
WarioWare: Move It! On Switch
Boulder Dash Junior 8 ½ for the Commodore 64

The Spooky Boos of News

Blizzard wants your blood

Blizzard has launched a US campaign encouraging players to donate blood. The Diablo Blood Harvest has a goal of 666 quarts of blood which will unlock a series of in game rewards for all players. Participants just have to submit proof of donation to at the campaign’s website. Not content to leave rewards in the digital realm, once the goal is complete a sweepstakes will open to win a custom PC! That’s right nothing creepy about it at all as long as you skip the part where real human blood is included in the liquid cooling system.  It’s US only and while I normally would recommend finding potential 3rd party shipping, that whole real human blood thing may cause a few headaches at customs.

I can’t wait for the Valentines promotion where they try to collect 69 gallons of…

I hate to see you leave but I love to watch you t-pose

This week brings not one but two rounds of layoffs at Sony owned studios.  PlayStation’s Visual Arts Group an animation house who act as a support studio on games like Last of Us Part 1 received a substantial round of layoffs this week. Not to be outdone, Media Molecule of Little Big Planet and Dreams fame have had roughly 15%-20% of their workforce let go.

Studios are tightening their belt in difficult economic times and are downsizing across the industry. The developers at CD Project Red, stressed out after a third round of layoffs in just three months have now unionised to secure more stability in their roles. You can find out more information on the Polish Gamedev Workers Union website.

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It was always a bad idea

If you like anime and mechs then you probably enjoy some form of Gundam but did you know Bandai Namco was developing a Gundam metaverse?  That’s right a world that bridges the gap between games, model kits, anime and music. Plus you can’t dream anymore.

One part of the Gundam Metaverse project, “Gunpla Colony” (Gunpla refers to the plastic model kits) launched into a public beta on October 11 before suddenly shutting off access a week later. Bandai Namco have confirmed that the shutdown was due to players discovering that the game data included CAD files of several Gundam models that would potentially allow anyone with a 3d printer to create their own accurate model kits. Bandai Namco have stated that it will take “necessary measures to address the situation.” which I would expect means not leaving sensitive files, that could significantly hurt profits, unsecured and unencrypted in future.

Game releases

Dave The Diver (Switch), Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (PlayStation platforms, Xbox Series platforms, Switch), Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (PlayStation VR2, Quest), Ghostrunner 2 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), Mineko’s Night Market (PlayStation platforms, Xbox One), World of Horror (PlayStation platforms, Switch) – October 27

Alan Wake 2 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – October 28

Resident Evil Village + Resident Evil Village: Winters’ Expansion (iOS) – October 31

Jusant (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), The Forest Cathedral (PlayStation 5) – November 1

Alien Hominid Invasion (Xbox platforms, Switch, PC), Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story (PlayStation platforms, Xbox Series platforms, Switch, PC) – November 2

Scary Guys Gals and Non-Binary Pals

Rani’s back with a BANG! Joined by Paul and Caroline the team talks Gaming News and the death-knell of Bandcamp and it’s effect on gaming music. Then Rani chats with Directors Ricard Cussó & Tania Vincent and Producer Ryan Greaves from Brisbane’s Like A Photon Creative and their new film based on the game Scarygirl . Zed then gets uncomfortable while Paul reviews the audio visual experience that is Decarnation.

Done Deal, 300,000,000 Sales, and Pika-Uh-Oh

It’s Done

It’s been in the works for a while, but Microsoft has finalised its deal to acquire Blizzard Activision for a whopping $68.7 billion. It has taken 20 months of duking it out with regulators, restructuring the deal to appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, and defeating the Federal Trade Commission in the US federal court, but now it’s finally done.

“We love gaming. We play games, create games, and know first-hand how much gaming means to all of us as individuals and collectively, as a community. And today, we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and their teams to Xbox,” says Phil Spencer, Xbox chief. “As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people.”

And just so you know, Activision or Blizzard games will NOT be coming to Game Pass this year.

300 MILLION SALES

Minecraft has officially become the first video game to hit 300 million sales. To put that in perspective, Minecraft’s biggest rival in sales is Grand Theft Auto V, which has sold over 185 million copies. (Tetris doesn’t count as it’s considered a series). It is suspected that a good portion of these sales might be from people purchasing multiple copies.

Minecraft has been available since 2009 in its pre-release version, before being officially launched in November 2011. And it still has a grip on the gaming community to this day. Congratulations!

Epic Gains Bandcamp, Employees Lose

Epic Games acquired Bandcamp a year ago, a platform that co-founder Ethan Diamond hoped would “bring the power of healing to everyone” through music.

Well, Epic Games sold it to Songtradr, and following it, roughly half its staff laid off. Songtradr, the music licensing company, states “… the operating costs of Bandcamp have significantly increased. It required some adjustments to ensure a sustainable and healthy company that can serve its community of artists and fans.”

50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr, with the remaining 120 employees being laid off with 6 months severance, while negotiations with Bandcamp’s union continue.

 

Pokemon Van Gogh Cards Gone

The Pokemon and Van Gogh collaboration event, which involved giving a special promo card, Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat, to customers who bought any item at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, has been ruined by scalpers, because scalpers ruin everything.

Now collectors will have to spend a minimum of $30 on Pokemon Trading Card Game products to receive one of the cards. So, stop looking at that online listing that’s going for $500.

And now for some upcoming games!

October 20

  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – PS5
  • Super Mario Bros Wonder – Switch

October 23

  • Just Dance 2024 Edition – PS5, XSX, Switch
  • Three Minutes To Eight – PC

October 24

  • Cities Skylines 2 – PC, PS5, XSX
  • Dark Envoy – PC
  • The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria – PC, PS5
  • Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1 – PC, PS5, XSX, Switch