Tag: PC Games

This week Zed Games goes the whole hog with news, reviews, community, and culture as CAMERON brings in the hottest in this week’s gaming news! CAROLINE gives us the quick and dirty in a review of The Fantastic Kitty Rue, AND the entire team makes sure YOU ALL ARE INFORMED on the latest in Sonic culture with a discussion of the recently released Sonic Prime series.

DnD OGL Update Aftermath
In the aftermath of the Open Game Licence 2.0 leak, Wizards of the Coast have struggled to claw back their fanbase as DnD Beyond servers suffer under the load of mass subscription cancelations. Additionally, several big third-party publishers who would be affected by the new royalty system have tabled their intention to either jump ship or create their own licensing system. Kobold Press teased “Project Black Flag”, Matt Colville’s MCDM Productions is working on both a new OGL as well as a new TTRPG, and Paizo/Pathfinder looking to collaborate on an open RPG license.
In response, a statement was released insisting “It was never our intent to impact the vast majority of the community.” They also tried to clarify stating that any future revisions “…will not include the license back provision that some people were afraid was a means for us to steal work. That thought never crossed our minds.”

Activision Blizzard… when will it end?
As the saga continues, here’s the current headlines coming out of the company that can’t stop making waves.

• Activision Blizzard has refused to acknowledge the union that formed late December. Management at Proletariat issued the statement that leadership “…has always been pro-worker“ and that employees “…deserve some time to process (sic) and to better understand its potential impacts.”
• The Microsoft Activision Blizzard merger that was announced in January 2022 has had new challenges with the European Union filing an antitrust challenge and Google parent Alphabet Inc, and Nvidia are filing for unfair advantages in the gaming market. These join other objections placed with the US Federal Trade Commission to be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority, and finalised in April.
• In some hearsay arguments Activision Blizzard claims that it was Netease that rejected the six-month extension of their partnership. Various sources cite irreconcilable differences including Netease president referring to an Activision Blizzard executive as a “jerk”. Because of these, after January 23^rd several titles will no longer be accessible in China, most notably World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, Starcraft, and Overwatch 2.

Doors Close on Stadia
As the curtains close on the experiment that was Google Stadia, refunds have been processed for everything but Pro subscriptions… but payments were also paused the day shutdown was announced. But what about all that hardware you don’t have? Well, if you did manage to get the controller, Google has pushed a self-serve tool to enable Bluetooth connections with the gamepads. Meaning, your Stadia Gamepad may be obsolete, but at least you can still use it on the hardware you didn’t get because you used Stadia.
Oh! Remember that guy who had 6000 hours in Red Dead Online on the Stadia who was pleading for a character transfer? Well, not only did Rockstar organise a transfer, he also got a gift box from the company. Unfortunately, Rockstar has announced they will no longer be releasing any major content for Red Dead Online, instead focusing on the upcoming GTA6.

And finally, a moment for the death of Google Stadia…

And now, for some upcoming games.
On Friday January 20^th, the next instalment in the series Fire Emblem Engages and its Wave 1 DLC are coming to Switch. World War 1 horror survival Trenches emerges from Steam early access onto PlayStation, Xbox, & the Switch.
Tuesday January 24^th, the RAM-hungry, RPG, fantasy shooter Forspoken is coming to PC & PS5, and deckbuilding & strategy boardgame mashup Mahokenshi comes to PC.
And on Thursday January 26^th, for that nostalgia hit Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is coming to PlayStation and Switch. The strange Hitman: World of Assassination hodgepodge that collects Hitman 1 to 3 as well as Hitman 3: Freelancer Mode are all coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Fight the nightmares of a girl in the twin stick shooter NeverAwake, coming to PlayStation and Switch.

Mission: Hitman Changes

Fans of the Hitman series are undergoing some changes in order to create an “ever-expanding” world that could evolve over time. And this next step is set to allow IO Interactive realise the vision they’ve set out to achieve.

Hitman 3 will become HITMAN World of Assassination, and will include access to Hitman 1 and Hitman 2. Those who already own Hitman 3 will get a free upgrade to HITMAN World of Assassination. This also means that World of Assassination will be the only single option to start playing.

“There will be no more confusion over which edition to buy, what content you own, how to redeem Legacy packs or import locations, etc. We’re done with that,” says IO Interactive.

These changes will come into effect on the 26th of January, 2023.

Sonic’s Dad Indicted for Insider Trading

The blue hedgehog’s co-creator, Yuji Naka, along with a former Square Enix employee, Taisuke Sasaki, have both been formally indicted after their arrest in November for alleged insider trading.

Naka has been determined to have confidential information about Square Enix’s plans to develop a Final Fantasy spin-off, and used this information to buy ¥144.7 million yen of company stock, or $1.6 million AUD, knowing that the announcement would cause the stock value to rise.

Square Enix has stated that they are fully committed to working with authorities as the investigation continues. It is unclear when Naka and Sasaki will stand trial.

What’s This? It’s Sephiroth with the Chair!

Kenny Omega, a famous wrestler joined the fray at Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom event in a Sephiroth cosplay, even walking out to his theme song, “One Winged Angel ”.

Kenny Omega has spent a few years in America in AEW, a newer competitor to WWE. Omega however returned to Wrestle Kingdom, which is exactly what it sounds like. And yes, his walk was exactly as cool as you imagine it would be, featuring Sephiroth’s wing, giant screens, and pyrotechnics. Omega also won the match.

Logan’s NFTs

YouTuber Logan Paul had developed a “really fun game that makes you money”, CryptoZoo, where you buy currency to spend on egg NFTs that hatch. You can breed these animals to make hybrids, and eventually you’re supposed to be able to cash out money. Members of Paul’s team ended up selling their currency early to make millions, while fans ended up losing thousands.

Logan Paul did address accusations of CryptoZoo being a scam by attempting to discredit his critics, such as investigative YouTuber Stephen “Coffeezilla” Findeisen, who had spent a year looking into CryptoZoo, as well as a slew of scams in the crypto space.

I don’t want to talk about this anymore.

And now for some upcoming games!

January 10

• Flash Party (PC)

January 11

• Children of Silentown (PC, PS4, XBO, Switch)
• Kandria (PC)

January 12

• Gatewalkers (PC)
• One Piece Odyssey (PC)
• Rogue AI Simulator (PC)
• Terror of Hemasaurus (Switch)
• Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider (PC, PS4, Switch)

That’s it this week in gaming news

Join Zed Games in the chaos that is New Years Game Resolutions and a Triple Threat review from Paul where he reviews, not one but THREE games! Plus the last in Gaming News for 2022.

This week on Zed Games, Paul winds us up over the Playdate, and Zahra & Caroline talk Games for the Holidays!

Listen while the ZedGames crew talks gaming news, Rani attempts to pat chickens in The Stillness of the Wind, and Maylee speed runs a review Kaichu!

Valve VR

Valve has posted a job listing. Nothing new, except that it gives us a hint of what’s to come, with the listing looking for someone to ‘prototype, ship, and support’ a virtual reality headset, saying “At Valve, we are pushing the boundaries of virtual reality experiences… The main scope of this position is to prototype, ship, and support consumer gaming products leveraging visual-inertial tracking, camera passthrough, environment understanding, eye tracking, and hand tracking.”

This certainly isn’t Valve’s first foray into VR, but it does signal a push to get ahead in the VR headset market.

Metaverse Isn’t Popular

Decentraland, a Metaverse project, hasn’t exactly been flourishing. It’s a sandbox environment where users can buy and sell virtual real estate, and has a market cap of $1.2 billion. The number of active users over a 24 hour period? 38.

Dencentraland do point out that active users are defined as unique blockchain wallet addresses, which leaves out users who just use it as a place to socialise and hang out, which may bring numbers up to 8000 users per day.

Doom’s On Notepad Now

You’ve seen Doom on PC, consoles, calculators, pregnancy tests, and more. Now get ready for 60 frames per second Doom gameplay in notepad, the very same notepad you have at home. It is playable, using text to create the visuals, much like ASCII art. In very quick, simplified terms, notepad is being used as a monitor, with other software running in the background doing the hard work.

Splatoon Gets a Bit… Rowdy

Nintendo had to release a public statement recently, reminding players of Nintendo’s streaming guidelines, and more specifically, how open streamers are to legal actions. Why? Streamers had started a trend of using chroma-key to superimpose explicit adult videos over the enemy’s ink, essentially treating it as a kind of greenscreen.

As it goes against Nintendo’s streaming guidelines, they can now take down posts, videos, and streams, and even pursue legal action.

AGDA Winners

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association has announced the winners of the 2022 Australian Game Developer Awards. Judging goes through 70 game industry professionals, with winners from 13 categories announced, plus an additional 4 cultural awards, resulting in this year’s awards being filled with the highlights of what Australia has to offer.

Cult of the Lamb has left with four awards, including Game of the Year.

Julian Wilton, Creative Director of Massive Monster, says “After experiencing our success overseas, it was an amazing feeling to see our game really resonate with Australians as well. We received such strong support locally and we love that it’s being enjoyed, not just for the gameplay, but also for the art and music.”

Raymond Corrigan, the creator of Earthlingo, won the Rising Star award.

Ryan McMahon, art director at Playside Studios, won the Ambition award.

Clara Reeves, CEO of Hipster Whale, has been recognised for her ongoing contributions to the Australian games industry with the Adam Lancman award.

Gameloft Brisbane has come away with the last cultural award with the Studio of the Year award.

And now for some upcoming games!

October 13

• The Case of the Golden Idol – PC
• The Darkest Tales – PC, XBO, Switch
• The Eternal Cylinder – PS5, XSX
• Fueled Up – PC, PS4, XBO
• GOAL! The Club Manager – PC
• Kao the Kangaroo: Oh! Well DLC – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Lost Eidolons – PC
• Sunday Gold – PC
• Triangle Strategy – PC
• Trifox – Switch
• Winter Games 2023 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

October 14

• Dragon Ball: The Breakers – PC, PS4, XBO, Switch
• NHL 23 – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• No More Heroes 3 – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• PGA Tour 2K23 Standard Edition – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Saint Kotar – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Scorn – PC, XSX
• Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival – Switch
• Trifox – PC, XSX, XBO

October 17

• Destiny’s Sword – PC

October 18

• A Plague Tale: Requiem – PC, XSX, PS5, Switch
• Amberial Dreams – PC
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Marvel Snap – PC
• Them’s Fightin’ Herds – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

October 19

• The Last Hero of Nostalgaia – PC, XSX, XBO
• The Last Worker – PC
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection – PC
• The Valiant – PC

October 20

• Batora: Lost Haven – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Hell is Others – PC
• The Jackbox Party Pack 9 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope – Switch
• The Pegasus Expedition – PC
• Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

This week Maylee wrangles a full crew with Zahra, Hazel, and Caroline coming in to talk games and chat this week in gaming news. We also have two review with Toby digging deep with a review of A Mortician’s Tale, and Maylee takes us on a amaurotic trip through Blind Drive.

Palladium and Bungie Collaboration

Destiny guardians are no stranger to making sure they look their best, or most absurd, in-game. So the more fashionable guardians may be excited to learn that Palladium, the shoe company, are collaborating with Bungie to create boots inspired by The Witch Queen. These boots come in tan and black, made of canvas, and have some Destiny 2 flair.

Wizards of the Coast Casts Lawsuit

Wizards of the Coast, the current publisher of the popular Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, has filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of Star Frontiers: New Genesis, a space opera in a tabletop roleplaying game format, being developed under TSR LLC.

TSR LLC is the latest company to claim the name of TSR Inc., the original publishers for Dungeons & Dragons in 1973. TSR LLC is attempting to revive the original Star Frontiers.

However, with an online leak, Star Frontiers: New Genesis has been facing a significant amount of backlash due to racist and transphobic content, including a ‘negro’ subrace with a maximum intelligence rating of 9.

Wizards of the Coast writes that “it would be irreparably harmed by the publication and distribution of the game using its trademarks because consumers may mistakenly associate Wizards with the reprehensible content of the game, damaging its reputation and goodwill, and undermining its efforts to foster a culture that embraces diversity.”

Northeastern University Bomb

A staff member of Northeastern University has suffered injuries to his hands when he opened a package that was detonated.

Investigation is still ongoing, with motive being at the forefront of concerns. It’s been reported that the package contained a note that criticised Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, and the relationship between virtual reality developers and academic institutions.

This note was contained in a hard plastic container, and detonated when the latches were released and the lid was lifted.

Thankfully, the staff member was not seriously injured.

State of Play, Nintendo Direct, and More

Sony, Nintendo, and Ubisoft have made many announcements for upcoming projects and games during Tokyo Game Show, one of the big three gaming conferences.

Sony announced Tekken 8, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition, Demeo, a dungeon crawler, Like a Dragon: Ishin, a Yakuza spin-off, Pacific Drive, a driving survival game, and a new loyalty program called PlayStation Stars.

Nintendo brought The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Fire Emblem: Engage, Pikmin 4, and some old favourites will be coming to the Nintendo Switch Online via the Expansion Pack membership subscription, such as Mario Party 1/2/3, Pokemon Stadium, and GoldenEye 007.

Ubisoft follows up with Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Skull and Bones, a pirate simulator, Rider’s Republic for BMX, skateboarding, and snowboarding fans, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Heartland, and Rainbow Six Mobile, with a partnership announced with Netflix.

And now for some upcoming games!

September 16

• The Dark Prophecy – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Hidden Through Time: Definitive Edition – PS4, Switch
• Various Daylife – PS4

September 18

• Fortnite Season 4 – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch

September 19

• Return to Monkey Island – PC, Switch

September 20

• Construction Simulator – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker – PS5, XSX
• Soulstice – PC, PS5, XSX

September 22

• The DioField Chronicle – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Gundam Evolution – PC
• Potion Permit – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Serial Cleaners – PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch
• Session: Skate Sim – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO
• Slime Rancher 2 – PC, XSX
• Train Life: A Railway Simulator – PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO