Tag: indie

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

Pixelated CHAOS

Paul, Peter, and Maylee get sticky and show the making of the sausage while introducing the BRAND NEW #GamingNews format and LIVE chat politics, patents, original overwatch, and upcoming games. Paul embraces the chaos and raves about visor and text based PROXIMATE from Cain Maddox. Then Rani returns to review the overwhelming but addictive isometric shooter Kill Knight from Playside Studios. And lastly the team returns to remind us of the INDIE DEV NIGHT happening NEXT THURSDAY (Nov 17th 6-9pm) at Netherworld’s Lost Souls Karaoke.

Nippy Nuns

At the top there is the key art of Frostpunk 2 of a person wearing goggles reflecting flames, at the bottom is the key art from Indika of the protagonist, a young woman in a black hooded nun habit surrounded but older nuns ghoulishly laughing. The older nuns have gold halos around their heads. The text Nippy Nuns in Ice and flames with halos features in the middle, and the Zed Games podcast and 4zzz Podcast logos sit in the bottom and top left of the image respectively.
This week on ZedGames: Special Guest Tom from Netherworld/ZedGames joins Maylee and Paul as they talk Gaming News, Reviews, Community, and Culture. Maylee injects news into your ear holes and then the team discusses the exciting topics – Nintendo game sales, horror visor game Proximate from Cain Maddox, and SAVE&SOUND. Paul gets guilty in the “not a hardcore nunnery RPG” Indika from Odd Meter Games, and Maylee reviews Frostpunk 2 – a different game living in the shadow of the original – from 11 Bit Studios.

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)

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!