Tag: Halo Infinite

Embracer Group Takes in Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and More

Development studios Eido-Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montreal will be acquired by Embracer Group, who has entered an agreement to acquire the studios as well as multiple IPs such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and many more from the Square Enix catalogue.

The acquisition also includes over 1,100 employees in eight locations, with the total purchase price reaching 300 million USD. This agreement is expected to close later this year.

“We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group. We recognise the fantastic IP, world class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades. It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realise their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer,” says Lars Wingefors, Co-founder of Embracer Group.

Alleged Pokemon Thieves Killed

Police officers in Florida, USA opened fire on four suspects who were believed to have stolen Pokemon cards, as well as some pizza. After multiple units converged on a Target in Florida in response to an Audi with obscured registration tags, they spotted two teenagers who were immediately deemed ‘suspicious’ due to wearing hoodies and face masks. A security officer in Target had alleged that the teenagers had stolen some Pokemon cards and a pizza, confirmed via security footage.

Police attempted a takedown and then opened fire on the teenagers, injuring two and fatally wounding another, with a fourth suspect detained. None of the teenagers were carrying any weapons.

County Sheriff Marcos Lopez has defended the actions of the officers involved after facing backlash for the over-the-top response.

Halo Infinite Had A Massive Update

Halo Infinite’s second season is here, and it is a big one! With new maps, modes, and cosmetic items, the detailed patch notes needed a six-chapter table of contents.

Some of the new content includes a King of the Hill, Attrition, and a battle royale inspired Last Spartan Standing game mode.

Updates have also been made to some of the movement abilities, affecting what players call ‘skill jumps’, which utilised movement tricks to pull off some very hectic tricks around the various maps. The left shoulder pad of the Jorge-052 armour kit now also shows the correct texture, for the more observant fans out there.

Sonic Prime Teaser Trailer Is Here

Netflix released a trailer montage showing off some of the kid-friendly animated shows that will be joining the roster. Right at the end we got to have a glimpse at everyone’s favourite blue hedgehog, also giving fans a listen to voice actor Deven Mack’s performance.

And now for some upcoming games!

May 5

• Best Month Ever (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch)
• Trek to Yomi (PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO)
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (PC)

May 6

• Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit (PC)

May 10

• Songs of Conquest (PC)
• This War of Mine: Final Cut (PS5, XSX)

May 11

• Brigandine (PC)
• Source of Madness (PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch)

May 12

• Achilles: Legends Untold (PC)
• Cantata (PC)
• The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story (PC, PS5, PS4, Switch)
• Flippin Kaktus (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

The Zed Games crew provide you special coverage of E3 recapping and hyping over this years biggest announcements in the games industry. Not to mention a review of the Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart one of the most anticipated games of the year.

We asked the crew at Zed Games what their highlights of this year’s show were and they were happy to oblige.

Ezie

Tiny Tina’s Wonderland: Gearbox Software creators of the famous Borderlands series have a spin off shooter looter that requires no prior knowledge of the Borderlands’ universe. I’m new to having a Borderlands addiction and the excitement I have for a spin off with a fantastic and fantabulous character like Tiny Tina is very exciting. Expected to drop in 2022 with BUTT STALLION!

Halo Infinite: Master Chief is back with what appears to be a ‘new Cortana’ and I’m so excited to see out more of his journey, fight more evil aliens and venture further into unknown threats. I’ve been playing Halo since I was kid on the very first Xbox this is my most nostalgic game drop AND IT’S ON GAME PASS! Expected December 2021 along with the free online multiplayer that also looks like a while ride with friends.

We Are OFK: A making-of-the-band series & Interactive EP about dreaming, dating, and paying rent in Los Angeles.With colourful animations that give me Spiderman Miles Morales(the movie)visual vibes.A coming together making music kind of story, as a lover of interactive narrative games this is my biggest hype for indie releases fromE3this year.Developed by Team OFK and expected Spring 2021.

Woodo: A 3D puzzle game with heart. It’s everything you could want in a wholesome puzzle game. I’m excited to sit back and piece together wonderful little wooden rooms filled with cute animations. Looking to release in 2022.

Zahra

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2: Breath of the Wild is a stunning, immersive game,and I loved exploring, finding my own trails, puzzle solving, and uncovering the events of the past. And Breath of the Wild 2 builds on from that beautiful foundation, with a tantalising peek into the adventures and trials that await, while promising to be bigger and better, with new enemies and abilities to face and conquer.

Redfall: A 4 player co-op game with cool characters, each with unique abilities, personalities,and fun banter? Count me in! The trailer seems to indicate dynamic gameplay, with lots of opportunities to pull off cool attacks, while assisting and backing up your crew.I can’t wait to see more, and to find out more about this world with vampires, magic,and student debt.

Riders Republic: I have far too many breakable bones to get into extreme sports IRL, but extreme sports in a video game where I can participate in massive races, events, and game-modes where doing the most the best is the aim of the game? That I can do.And the fact that there is a lot of customisation,and that I can play it in my own style just makes it much more appealing.

Paul

Trek to Yomi: Just look at it! Taking notes from samurai cinema of the 50’s and 60’s this gorgeous looking game, I mean. Just look at it. Geez. Anyway this game looks pretty sweet which is unsurprising as it come from Leonard Menchiari who developed the incredibly cool and vastly under exposed The Eternal Castle [Remastered]. 

Warioware – Get it Together: Every WarioWare game is a classic which means this game has a lot to live up to but also an extremely strong base to build on.  It’s a real twist to the formula (not to be confused with WarioWare: Twisted) where for the first time you interact with the microgames by playing a character that moves around inside them. Also it’s designed to include 2 player in the games. Boy I am excited and nervous!

Somerville: Inside is one of the best games ever made.  Some might call that an opinion but I believe it to be a hard fact. While this isn’t Playdead’s new game it is the new game by one of Playdead’s founders who split off to start a new studio (Jump Ship) but the sensibility of Inside and Limbo are plain to see in this extremely evocative trailer.  A family living surviving in a world gripped by and alien invasion?  Get ready for feelings!

Elden Ring: I wasn’t hyped. Now I am. Open world. freaky designs and a horsie. Thank you From Software.

Honorable Mentions: Death’s Door, Replaced, FAR: Changing Tides, Metal Slug Tactics, Battlefield 2042, El Paso Elsewhere

Rani

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

Metroid Dread

Trek to Yomi

Honorable Mentions: Elden Ring

Maylee

Anacrusis: Nothing quite like a good co-op shooter, plus this game shares some of its team from Left 4 Dead. That and Anacrusis’ aesthetic make me pretty confident this will be a fun ride.

Slime Rancher 2: Maybe it’s cheap to pick the sequel of a game I really love but how can I not be excited for more slime. They’ve got bunny slimes this time!

Bear and Breakfast: I’ve known about this one for a while but seeing the new trailer got me excited all over again. It’s a cute, cozy, management game with spooky sinister undertones? Sign me up!

Tobi

Book of Travels: This tiny multiplayer online RPG (TOMRPG) aims at creating a new online community with high stakes. The aim? Shaping your own journey and finding your own story in the vast hand drawn world of Braided Shore.

Despot’s Game: Because a game with premise of creating an army and watching the outcome in an auto-battler tickles both the idler and the sadistic warmonger in me. ATTACK PUNY HUMANS!

WarioWare – Get it Together: With a new kid flailing on the floor the ability to play this alone or in multiplayer with over 200 minigames and multiple playable characters just clicks for now… and for future battles with the bub.

Honorable Mentions: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Silt, Haunted Space and a heap from the Wholesome Direct (Venba, Dordogne, Hoa and Letters – a written adventure)

This week in gaming news

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3 has come and gone for another year and in its, and other non-official event’s wake we have a mountain of game news and announcements.

Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighly’s alternative E3 program kicked off the major events of the week starting with an announcement of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Gearbox’s High Fantasy Borderlands’ spinoff staring Tiny Tina. A splattering of other announcements followed including Jeff Goldblum introducing us to Jurassic World Evolution 2, Hideo Kojima announcing Death Stranding Director’s Cut for PS5 and finally the major reveal of footage from Elden Ring, the long-awaited new game by From Software in collaboration with the writer George R.R. Martin which will launch January 19 2022.

Ubisoft hit the ground running showing off gameplay for the latest Far Cry game starring Giancarlo Esposito as well as the upcoming DLC’s which will allow players to play as the antagonists from several of the other games in the series and includes a remastered copy of Blood Dragon. More details for the extreme sports game Rider  s Republic were shown along with the PvE spin off of Rainbow Six Siege, Extraction which will pit the operators against an alien force. A new version of Rocksmith was announced called Rocksmith+, a guitar playing and teaching service that will allow player to use their real instruments and their phone or microphones to connect. The game supports electric, acoustic and bass guitar and you can currently sign up to a beta for the service online. A sequel to the 2017 hit Mario + Rabbids was announced subtitled Sparks of Hope with Mario and his strange collection of Rabbid dopplegangers going on a new cosmic scale adventure. The final announcement for Ubisoft was a reveal of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora a game set in James Cameron’s Avatar universe made by Massive Entertainment who are most well-known for The Division.

Microsoft started their event with the first footage of Bethesda’s long-awaited RPG Starfield. While we are still yet to see gameplay from the title, we were given a glimpse at the universe we will be exploring and details that it is currently slated for release in late 2022 as an Xbox and PC exclusive. The Outer Worlds 2 was announced as early in development, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was shown off with a release of next year along with sequels to Slime Rancher and A Plague Tale. Halo Infinite was confirmed to be release later this year with the multiplayer being made free to play for everyone to enjoy. Forza Horizon 5 was shown with its new Mexican location. Sea of Thieves has a story based cross over in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe coming very soon called A Pirates Life featuring Jack Sparrow and other characters from the film franchise. And the show finished on a reveal of Arcane’s new game Redfall an open world co-op shooter featuring magic, vampires and a lot of style.

Square Enix announced Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy a single player 3^rd person adventure where the player controls Star-Lord leading his band of misfits across the universe. It is being developed by Eidos Montreal best known for the modern Deus Ex games and is set for release on October 26. There was also a look at Platinumgames’ new live-service game Babylon’s Fall, the new Life is Strange True Colors and a reveal of the Final Fantasy action spin off Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.

Nintendo apologised that they had no details to share on Metroid Prime 4 but quickly followed up with a reveal of Metroid 5, which is also known as Metroid Dread a title originally in development for the DS 15 years ago which was cancelled due to technical limitations. Mario Party Superstars a collection of boards and minigames from the N64 era was announced along with a remake of Advance Wars 1 and 2 titled Re-Boot Camp. Wario is back with WarioWare: Get it Together a new take on the microgames format with a focus on 2 player games. We got a closer look at Shin Megami Tensei V’s hellish version of demonic otherworld Tokyo which will see release in November. The Nintendo show closed with a look at some Zelda announcements. DLC for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the remaster of Skyward Sword which releases in July and a new Game & Watch device that includes the original versions of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link and Link’s Awakening along with an altered version of Vermin that includes Link. We finally got a glimpse at Breath of the Wild 2 which will see Link adventuring into the sky above    Hyrule and utilise a multitude of new powers and tools.

Now that the show is over you can check out many of the games on both Steam and Xbox live. The Steam Next fest will run until June 22^nd and included hundreds of demos of unreleased games while Microsoft has released 40 game demos from its ID@Xbox lineup.

The Week in game releases

June 22 – Dark Alliance (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights (Switch, PC), Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – The Official Video Game (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Stadia, PC)

June 24 – Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC), Legend of Mana (PlayStation 4, Switch, PC), The Eternal Castle Remastered (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4)