This week the Zed Gamers goes wild, with Maylee talking Roblox in Gaming News, Caroline travels through bits, chips, and cosmic insanity with a review of WORLD OF HORROR (ALL CAPS), and Cameron gets convoluted in a remake/remix/rewind twisty twisted review of Air Twister.
Game Engine Dev News
After the backlash against Unity’s contentious plan to charge developers extra fees for each game installation as of last month, Unity is parting ways with CEO John Riccitiello. Riccitiello has stepped down as CEO, and all major seats at the Unity Table, effective immediately. Unity’s announcement of his near decade-long tenure ending rave about his contributions rather than his recent price gouging – sorry, I meant subscription model.
While the change in pricing structure from Unity was almost universally panned, it hasn’t stopped Epic from taking the idea on board with the announcement of a per-seat licensing fee for licensees in Film, TV, Automotive and other fields… but excluding the gaming industry. This would primarily affect studios using the technology for real-time CGI like Disney (The Mandalorian), Warner (The Batman), and HBO (Westworld), as well as small companies who primarily use the system for 3D animation (3rd World Studios). This price restructuring also comes after a recent layoff of nearly 900 employees. CEO Tim Sweeney has attributed these changes to recent financial difficulties at Epic Games, primarily due to the company’s heavy reliance on Fortnite’s revenue over the last 6 years.
CD Projekt Makes Headlines
CD Projekt have announced the cost of bringing Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 to all platforms as well as the recently well received DLC Phantom Liberty totalled around $125.9 million dollars. That’s almost $200 million in Aussie dollar bucks.
In totally unrelated news also at CD Projekt, CD Projekt employees, along with others in the Polish video game industry, have formed a union in response to multiple rounds of layoffs at the studio in the last year (totalling around 170 lost jobs). The union’s goal is to improve workplace and industry standards with legal power and a stronger collective voice. The union aims to address these issues and protect the gaming industry’s potential by providing a stronger voice in times of crisis.
Hopefully this gives them the job security they need, unlike the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf QA unionised workers we reported on in June of 22 who have all been laid off in September. Bioware’s head of marketing, Liz Corless, said in an email this was due to “…the end of a fixed term client contract.” And according to a former employee Keywords Studio (their employer) has “…no more work available” while posting job vacancies for QA work. The union has filed a complaint against the studio this week.
Nintendo Formally Steps Away From The WiiU & 3DS.
Nintendo announced this week that they will formally be discontinuing the online support for the Wii U and 3DS in April of 2024. This will include all online play, ranking systems, and data distribution for all Nintendo titles. However, this does not include eShop support! You will still be able to update and redownload purchased software. And for you Pokéfans, the Pokémon bank and Poké Transporter will also continue to be supported until further notice.
And now for some upcoming games!
Friday October 13, get ready for Christmas with The Grinch: Christmas Adventures and Transformers: Earthspark – Expedition both coming to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.
Monday October 16, cozy hex strategy game Growth comes to PC.
Tuesday October 17, cyberpunk RPG Cyber Knights: Flashpoint comes to PC, or enjoy the roguelike autobattler Legend Creatures 2. Both coming to PC.
Oh and Sonic Superstars is also coming to everything the 17th as well.
Wednesday October 18 brings us Alaskan Road Truckers coming to PC.
And next week on Thursday October 19 comes a heap with The 7th Guest VR for PC VR, Quest and PSVR2. Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express from developer Microids coming to PC and Consoles. Or how about you get your vehicle combat experience with Chaos on Wheels coming to PC. Pick up the twin stick shooter and tower defence game Endless Dungeon, coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Maybe battle for your sanity in the Lovecraftian horror Forgive Me Father 2 coming to PC. Or for a social experience, grab a friend to rob the rich to give to the poor in the co-op action game based in a Robin Hood world Gangs of Sherwood coming to PC and next gen consoles. Or shoot at your friends in the large scale, top down, multiplayer shooter Operation Valor coming to PC. Or just play a few games with them with The Jackbox Party Pack 10 coming to most platforms.
This week Paul sends in his ball heavy review of the mighty morphin cosmic puzzler Cocoon, then the team chats Springfield Gamers‘ SpringCon ’23 & The 2023 Australian Game Development Awards.
BLUEY!
Whether you’re a parent to a child who is obsessed with the blue puppy, or you’re an adult with some form of emotional damage, you’ll be pleased to know that there is a video game coming out in November based off the cartoon!
Outright Games, a UK-based publisher, has officially announced Bluey: The Videogame, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The game has been developed by Artax Games with a lot of input from Ludo Studio, delivering a game that features a new four-part storyline that can support four-players, allowing you to play as the entire Heeler family.
The game will feature the voices from the English cast of the show, and you can expect to see some of your favourite characters, as well as existing and original music. It promises to be an “interactive sandbox adventure” with “story-driven, episodic gameplay”.
Sony’s State of Play
Sony recently had their little showcase, and here is a really quick summary of it:
The remake of Resident Evil 4 will get an update with playable Ada Wong and Albert Wesker, along with PSVR2 support on the way.
Avatar fans (the blue people) can experience a whole new part of Pandora, revealing the Western Frontier in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. It is to be set between the first and second movies.
Foamstars, the Splatoon-style shooter by Square Enix, will be getting a playable open beta from September 29th to October 1st, but only for PS5 players in North America. Tragedy.
The second chapter of the Final Fantasy 7 remake project is on its way, and it’s bringing back something weirdly nostalgic for older gamers: experiencing a game across two discs! Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth comes out 29th February, 2024.
Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games expands out to Brooklyn and Queens! So you can patrol every single neighbourhood I guess.
Aaaaaand NINTENDO DIRECT TOO
Tis the season for game announcements and rumours. There’s some speculation about what a new Switch would look like, how much it would cost, blah blah blah.
In more exciting, tangible Nintendo news, we got to see Princess Peach: Showtime, where Princess Peach attempts to save a theatre from the Wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch.
F-ZERO 99 has come to Nintendo Switch Online, allowing you to race against 98 other players.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD will bring spooks in more definition, Mario vs. Donkey Kong will have the plumber facing off against the primate yet again, and detective pikachu returns in Detective Pikachu Returns.
We also got to see the Splatoon 3: Side Order expansion, Another Code: Recollection, from the DS and Wii, will be coming to the Switch, WarioWare: Move It! Was announced to be released on 3rd November, 2023. Exciting times for Nintendo fans.
And now for some upcoming games!
September 21
September 22
September 25
September 26
September 27
That’s it this week in gaming news!
Chillin’ out on Zed Games this week, Maylee, Caroline and Cameron talk the IP buyout trend in this weeks Gaming News discussion, Caroline dives deep into gameplay loops in a review of Dave the Diver, & Maylee tries to get to the relaxation station in Metro Mini.
This week Zed Games levels up its social standing talking this week in gaming news, the marathon effort in a recap of Netherworld‘s Mario Kart Speedway Event, and Zahra betrays the fan within in a review of Sonic Dash.
The week Paul and Zahra pull in Tom from Netherworld to talk the Mario Kart 8 Tournament happening this weekend! The crew also chats Gaming News and Paul takes to time weaving radio waves in a review of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals.
Who Wants Activision’s Transformers on Game Pass?
Does anyone remember those Transformers games for the Xbox 360 developed by Activision? The ones you can no longer buy digitally? Well, Hasbro has expressed an interest in bringing it up for the Game Pass. The problem? Hasbro initially claimed that it was because, “apparently Activision’s not sure what hard drives they’re on in their building. When a company eats a company that eats a company, things get lost…”
They did also follow-up with an apology for saying that Activision lost its Transformers games, stating that the comments were “made in error”.
Hasbro do really want Transformers on the Game Pass however, “Hope is that now that the deal is moving forward with Microsoft and Xbox they’ll go through all of the archives and every hard drive to find it all because it’s an easy Game Pass add.”
So, who knows?
The Last Of Us Knockoff Is Dead
A budget Switch game called The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival, bore a striking resemblance to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, down to the gruff-dad character with an Ellie-like companion. And as you can imagine, it did not last long, with the game being pulled from the Nintendo eShop, and the game’s trailers disappearing from YouTube.
The game’s trailers were less than awe-inspiring, and for those who decided to give The Last Hope a try found their hopes dashed when the entire game is around 20 minutes long and horribly buggy.
While the trailers being pulled can be clearly attributed to Sony submitting copyright claims, The Last Hope’s disappearance from the eShop might be due to caution from the developers, Sony themselves, or Nintendo covering their six o’clock.
Mutant Turtles Invade Minecraft
No no don’t worry, the sea turtles in Minecraft are fine. But our favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be crossing over with Minecraft, which includes a special DLC texture pack featuring Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, special maps for exploring the turtle’s favourite haunts, and you’ll even be able to battle enemies such as Shredder and Krang.
This is of course on top of the pizza-scented Xbox controllers we mentioned the other week. All leading to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film coming out in a few weeks. Hype!
Zoom Zoom Guardians
If you’re participating in this year’s Solstice in Destiny 2, you will be thrilled to learn that you can now use Sparrows in the European Aerial Zone, so you can get to the bad guys really, really quickly, and beat them up quicker than it took me to finish this story. Happy Solstice!
And now for some upcoming games!
August 3rd
August 4th
August 8th
August 9th
August 10th
That’s it this week in gaming news!