Tag: game development

Nominees, Restrictions, and Who Else Is Farming Right Now?

The Game Awards 2024 Nominees

The nominees for 2024 have been announced, bringing a bit of discourse over the inclusion of the Elden Ring DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree. Elden Ring previously won game of the year in 2022. There’s a lot of nominees and categories, so here are a few:

Game of the Year

  • Astro Bot
  • Balatro
  • Black Myth: Wukong
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
  • Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio

Best Art Direction

  • Astro Bot
  • Black Myth: Wukong
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio
  • Neva

Best Score and Music

  • Astro Bot
  • Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio
  • Silent Hill 2
  • Stellar Blade

Best Independent Game

  • Animal Well
  • Balatro
  • Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
  • Neva
  • UFO 50

Roblox Rules

Under 13s are now blocked from directly messaging others on Roblox outside of games or experiences in their latest effort to protect children and reassure parents. Additionally, under 13s will only be able to publicly broadcast messages inside of games, and users under the age of 9 will only be able access experiences rated Minimal or Mild.

Yet Another Consolidation

Sony appears to be gearing up to purchase Kadokawa, a parent to dozens of Japanese entertainment companies. Along with Kadokawa owning Gotcha Gotcha Games (known for RPG Maker) and Acquire (known for Mario & Luigi: Brothership), they also own a majority stake in FromSoftware. It’s unknown what this may mean regarding the company’s ability to collaborate with Nintendo, but a deal could be signed in the coming weeks.

News Nibbles!

Farming Simulator 25 has hit 2 million sales, and peaked at over 125,000 active players on launch day.

In Germany, Steam users have only been able to see games with an age rating since 15th of November. Developers will need to complete a questionnaire to receive a rating before being allowed to release in Germany.

Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern is a live, theatrical experience coming to Sydney in December this year, where the audience gets to control the quest and the dice rolls are real, meaning that no show is ever the same. It opens 15th December at the Sydney Opera House.

 

Upcoming Games

November 21st

  • Dungeons of Dreadrock 2: The Dead King’s Secret – PC
  • Star Wars Outlaws – PC
  • On Your Tail  – PC, Switch
  • Loco Motive – PC, Switch
  • Servonauts – PC

November 22nd

  • Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection (physical) – PS5, Switch
  • Spirit Mancer – PS5, Switch, PC

INTERVIEW

Image of Allard Laban and dog via Jackbox Games on the left and the gnome and headless knight from Keyfairy of Tex Barnes and Mars Bleach with a microphone in the foreground. In the background images from Jackboot and Keyfairy with the text Interview and the Zed Games and 4zzz Podcast logos.
Image of Allan Laban via JACKBOX GAMES and Gnome and Headless Knight via KEYFAIRY.COM.AU

This week on Zed Games Hazel and Zahra with special guests Tex and Mars from Owl Machine talk the week in Gaming News from Caroline. The team then chats with Tex Barnes and Mars Bleach about their upcoming game Key Fairy. Paul then manages to pitch to Jackbox Games CCO, Allard Laban at this year’s PAX and interview them about the upcoming Jackbox game Survey Scramble.
And mixed in are some promos from Ascending Inferno from Oppolyon Studios and Fishbowl from Imissmyfriends.studio.

Swapping Spit @PAX

Two images from the game Neva take president where the protagonist in a red cape holds a young white wolf like creature with horns on the left, and then the same but an older version on the right. Dugtrio Alola form is in the bottom left and the pax logo and zed games logo are in the bottom middle and right. The text “swapping SPIT @ PAX” is in the bottom foreground and the 4zzz Podcast Logo is in the top right.

This week on Zed Games, Paul and Maylee swap more than PAX tales before Zahra brings us the week in psychically enhancing #GamingNews and the team talk Game Freak freaky leaky news.
Paul gets the feels playing Neva from Nomada Studio. And Alexis drops in and the team talks the indie presence at this year’s PAX Aus. Plus some extra interviews in between from the developers from Away From Home (Squishy), Drăculești (Fine Feathered Friends), and Game Over (Jacob Houston)

Game Freak Leak, Why So Many Disco Elysiums, and STEAM DECK IN AUS!

Gotta’ Hack ‘Em All

Game Freak has issued a statement that they experienced a data breach, affecting the cases of 2,606 current and former employees. The Pokemon developers assured that the vulnerability had been patched since.

The data leak also reportedly contained data such as:

  • a yet-to-be-announced Pokemon game, reportedly codenamed “Gaia”,
  • A project codenamed “Synapse”, which MIGHT hint towards a Pokemon MMO,
  • Plot information for an unreleased sequel to Detective Pikachu movie (the one that was supposed to release this year),
  • A live action show on Netflix,
  • Switch 2 stuff,

And, reportedly, a lot more. None of that has been confirmed by Game Freak however.

Panic! At The Disco Elysium

The most Disco Elysium thing just happened… multiple groups of former Disco Elysium developers have each formed studios, and they have all had identical announcements: we will be making a spiritual successor to Disco Elysium.

Of course this has sparked debate about which one would be the ‘true’ spiritual successor, whatever that means. Each project is a little different.

Longdue Games Studios is making what they call a ‘psychogeographic RPG’, where the world and characters shift depending on your choices.

Dark Math Games has XXX Nightshift, which looks just like Disco Elysium in tone, UI design, and even voice acting.

Summer Eternal has come out with a dramatic, blood-red website, and a manifesto about the exploitation of game developers.

There is also a project by ZA/UM, but many key developers have been dropped from it, as well as a fifth studio that formed during all this called Red Info Ltd, with no projects announced as of yet.

So that makes five studios, four ‘Disco Elysium’ projects announced.

STEAM DECK

PAX Aus has treated us well this year, bringing the announcement that Valve will officially bring the Steam Deck to Australia in November! Preorders are open now if you want to lock one in, if preordering is your thing.

The 256GB LCD deck is $649, the 512GB OLED deck is $899, and the 1TB OLED deck is $1,049.

News Nibbles!

Sony has announced PlayStation: The Concert, a world tour that’ll display a compilation of music from various Sony games, like The Last of Us, and God of War. Europe’s tour dates and stops have been announced, the United States and other countries (hopefully that’s us!) will have to be patient.

Tetris Forever will be released on November 12th! A celebration of Tetris, it’ll contain 15 classic Tetris games, an hour-long documentary, and a new ‘Tetris experience’ where players can warp through different Tetris eras.

Those involved in the lawsuits contesting that the Activision Blizzard aquisition in 2022 have settled, where both sides agreed to dismiss the case permanently, and pay their own legal fees.

Until Dawn will be in theatres in April, 2025! Directed by David Sandberg, it’s a live-action adaptation of the 2015 horror game, which is basically an interactive movie to begin with. No word on whether it’ll be released outside of the United States however.

 

And now for some upcoming games!

October 17th

  • Blazing Strike – PS5, Switch, PC
  • A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – PS5, Xbox, PC
  • Super Mario Party Jamboree – Switch

October 18th

  • TMNT: Mutants Unleashed – PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC
  • Unknown 9 Awakening – PS5, Xbox, PC

October 22nd

  • Forest Hills: The Last Year – PC
  • Lynked: Banner of the Spark – PC

Silent Hill Shenanigans, Games Grants, Timewarping and MORE

Silent Hill Fans Are Not Silent

The Silent Hill 2 Remake has launched, and the Wikipedia page had to be locked due to editors just stating lies like the game had “received the worst reviews imaginable” despite receiving very positive reviews, and otherwise vandalising the page.

The motivation? Unclear, although there was some discourse about the remake being ‘woke’ due to changes to characters’ facial features and clothing, discourse about Bloober Team being the ones to develop the remake, and discourse about there being a remake at all.

I just hope everyone is having fun and that you all win.

Screen Queensland Funding

Nine independent studios in Queensland have been awarded a collective amount of $1.3 million in funding, securing the development of 12 games, and supporting an additional 40 positions for developers throughout the region.

Benefiting from the Games Grant funding includes studios Sbug Games, who developed Webbed, Maxart, who is developing Servonauts, 5 Lives Studio, who are developing Cozy Caravan, and many more.

“We are proud to be driving a step-change in ambition and opportunity across an industry where Queenslanders can be world leaders in the creation of unique and innovative games… we achieved a 133% increase in the number of projects we are now supporting and these indie games are driving real ‘bricks and mortar’ highly skilled technical jobs,” stated Jacqui Feeney, Screen Queensland CEO.

If you’re a dev, next round for grants commences in December 2024.

Epic Games vs Google

Epic Games butted heads with Apple in 2023 regarding the App Store, where Epic alleged that Apple were engaging in monopolistic behaviour, and although they weren’t successful in their case, they were successful in requiring Apple to allow alternative payment methods on the App Store.

Now Epic Games has taken Google Play to court and has won a significant antitrust case, compelling Google Play to open up and offer alternatives to its Google Play store for downloading apps on Android phones. Epic appears to be building up their mobile market, after recently launching its own mobile store. There are plans to draw in developers with a free games program, reduced commission fees for studios using Unreal Engine, and more.

Google do plan to appeal the Epic Games verdict, stating that Apple and Google compete directly for consumers and for app developers, and that ‘Android is open and Google Play is not the only way to get apps’.

Epic and Google will form a small committee to review technical issues with Google’s compliance.

 

Less Timewarping For You

If you’re a World of Warcraft fan, you’re probably familiar with Timewalking events, where old dungeons and raids are available at their current level, earning rewards and experience. As a recurring event, there is an array of mounts, toys, pets, badges, and Timewarped gear to earn. However, collecting the Timewarped Badges necessary will be a bit more difficult, with the number of badges you earn being nerfed.

With a quest that would’ve originally given you 500 badges, players can only expect that reward for their first character on their account. Subsequent characters will only earn 300 badges for the raid, and 200 for the dungeon.

Right before World of Warcraft’s 20th anniversary event on October 22nd. Fans aren’t too happy.

News Nibbles!

Paradox Interactive seems to be done with Vampire: The Masquerade, according to deputy CEO Mattias Lilja. “It is not in our strategic direction to make this kind of game, so if Bloodlines 2, God willing, is successful, Bloodlines 3 [will be] done by someone else… we don’t know that stuff, so we should probably let other people do it.”

The Shinobi series by Sega will be getting a film adaptation! The hack-and-slash games followed Joe Musashi, a ninja fighting evil, although plot details haven’t been revealed. Stuntman and filmmaker Sam Hargrave will be a director, along with Ken Kobayashi writing the script.

Red Dead Redemption will finally be officially on PC on the 29th of October. Barbie Horse Adventure fans, it will soon be your time. We ride at dawn.

And now for some upcoming games!

October 11th

  • Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – PS5, Xbox, PC
  • Europa – Switch
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio – PS5, Xbox, PC
  • Nick Jr. Party Adventure – PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC
  • Starship Troopers: Extermination – PS5, Xbox
  • Transformers: Galactic Trials – PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC
  • Undisputed – PS5, Xbox, PC

October 15th

  • Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition – PS5, Xbox
  • Just Dance 2025 Edition – PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC
  • Just Dance VR – Meta Quest
  • Neva – Switch
  • New World: Aeternum – PS5, Xbox, PC

A Cup of Tea For Someone Else

Paul, Zahra, and Caroline battle the void before Maylee brings us the week in Gaming News and the team talks The Sims microtransactions. Paul dressed up to paddle some balls in Pinball Spire from Apparition Games. Then Zahra double dips with two reviews. Firstly, they put on their gardening shoes in Pikmin Bloom from Niantic Labs and then struggle with the puzzle in Coral Cove. And don’t forget some of us will be down at PAX next week!

Plucky Creatures

This week on Zed Games… Zahra, Hazel, and Paul start us off with confirmation that Zahra’s brain is indeed blue from all the Sonic they consume, then Tobi brings us the week in Gaming News. Zahra interviews Deola D’brown from MADE Concepts and their PLAYGRND Showdown and their eGame competition happening at the Brisbane Showgrounds 21st and 22nd September. Paul ages rapidly in the multi-aesthetic/dimentional The Plucky Squire developed by All Possible Futures. Zahra channels their intergalactic conservationist flute player while reviewing Creatures of Ava from Inverge Studios. And Paul shares the haptics in Astro Bot.

Aussie News, Layoffs, and Resignations

In Aussie Gaming Headlines, Billy Mitchell has finally arrived on Australian soil in his bid to sue youtuber Karl Jobst for defamation. The disputed Donkey Kong record holder  is defending the claim that his actions against the late youtuber Ben Smith aka Apollo Legend were a “significant factor in Mr Smith taking his own life” and that he “hounded Mr Smith to death.” The case is ongoing.
Dungeons and Dragons has again been caught in the crossfire as an Albany council held a meeting regarding the removal of sex education books to be removed from the library. While the motion was defeated the group Keeping Children Safe Albany lead by former One Nation candidate Michelle Kinsella called the books “borderline pornographic”, and has previously claimed that transgender people hijacked Pride for an ”agenda” and that D&D could be used to “groom children.”
In better news, Australian Games Classifications will be updated from September 22 to push the classification of games that allow the purchase of chance, mystery items, or loot boxes with real money to the M rating (not recommended for children under 15 years of age) and any game containing simulated gambling to R18+.

On the Business side of gaming (also known as – hiring, firing, and foreclosures), all 25 staff from Annapurna Interactive have resigned after the gaming division failed to convince founder Megan Ellison to allow them to spin the gaming segment as its own company. After Ellison pulled out of negotiations earlier this month president Nathan Gary, and co-heads Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella resigned. Ellison has stated the company is still committed to the upcoming games releases such as Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, Ghost Bike and Wanderstop. Annapurna Interactive is known for the games Stray, Outer Wilds, and more
Microsoft went through a round of restructuring September 12, laying off another 650 “mostly corporate and supporting” staff in from Activision Blizzard and Xbox to add to the 1,900 staff cut in January. Xbox chief Phiil Spencer announced the layoffs in an internal memo claiming the cuts were needed for to organise the “business for long term success.”

And now for the bytes.

Now for the Game Releases!