Tag: Steam Deck

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

Zed Gamers gather close and listen as Rani, Paul, & Cameron press buttons and banter while chatting gaming news, Paul pretends to review Vampire Survivors while ranting about the Steam Deck, and Cameron feeds his mafia pigs in a review of Adios.

Developers react to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
In the last week, as Russia invaded Ukraine, several studios, developers, and publishers from around the world have voiced their support for Ukraine and its plight.
International developers such as CD Projekt Red have tweeted

“We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such injustice and we ask everybody to join in and help in any way you can. Together we can make a huge difference.”

State of Play Games and Amanita Design have also joined in donating their earnings to the cause. In some cases, this support has resulted in backlashes from the gaming community. After 11 bit studios declared they would be donating profits from sales of This War of Mine to the Ukrainian Red Cross, they were review bombed by players from China and Russia, and Space Engineers received similar treatment after announcing their support for Ukraine.
Closer to Ukraine, indie developer Crytivo’s CEO Alex Koshelkov announced all profits from February and March, and 1 million Polish zloty, will be donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross, as well as support for Ukrainian employees while they search for safety. CEO of tiny build also voiced their support for their Ukrainian employees, tweeting “Nobody gets left behind.” Wargaming, developers of World of Tanks, supported their over 550 Ukrainian developers by assisting them to find alternative housing, early salary, and making sure relocation and evacuation efforts are paid for. They also donated a million USD to the Ukrainian Red Cross, and when their creative director posted support for the invasion of Ukraine on social media, they quickly acted “letting him go[sic]” the next day.
With Ukraine calling for support from developers, other companies such as EA Sport and The Chinese Room, developers of Little Orpheus, have joined with others in their support of Ukraine.

Steam Deck
In lighter news, with the limited release of the Steam Deck in the U.S., Gabe Newell, president of Valve Corp, has been spotted hand-delivering signed Steam Decks in Seattle. The Steam Deck released on the 25^th of February along with the free game Aperture Desk Job to celebrate the console’s capabilities. Critiques on battery life and gaming power are rife, and some users are already reporting stick drift. Furthermore, while Destiny 2 can run on Linux, Bungie has issued a statement that those who hack Destiny 2 to work on the console will be met with game bans.
However, Gabe Newell has already talked about the future with Steam Deck 2 on the horizon as a possible VR running machine.

Ducks, Kittens and Apple Crocs Coming to Pokémon.
After the announcement earlier this week of a Pokémon Direct, fans were already getting their hopes up for a Gen 9 Pokémon game. And they were not disappointed. Right at the end of the Direct, they announced Pokémon Scarlet and Violet along with the three starters; an attention seeking grass cat called Sprigatito, a relaxed fire type crocodile named Fuecoco, and Quaxly, an earnest new water duck. Both the names and the release video have lead Pokémon fans to speculate that the Gen 9 region will be inspired by Spain, and the game will follow the open world style that has become so popular with the recent release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Now for some quick Gaming Bytes:
● American and British Sign Language support coming to Forza Horizon 5 on March 1^st.
● In the 25^th annual D.I.C.E. awards show local Brisbane developer Witch Beam won the award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game for Unpacking.
● Activision has ended a near 20 year tradition of annual releases of Call of Duty by delaying the next edition in the franchise until 2023.
● Nintendo may have joined the acquisition wars after acquiring long term partner SRD, after working with them for almost 40 years.
● Tokyo Game Show 2022 has revealed the theme of this year will be “Nothing Stops Gaming!!!” and will be a physical event taking place at Makuhari Messe from September 15 to 18.

And finally, some upcoming game releases.
On March 4, Gran Turismo 7 is coming to PlayStation. 80’s synth, arcade platformer, Gunborg: Dark Matter comes to PC, PlayStation, Xbox One and Switch. The upgraded Music Racer: Ultimate comes to next gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles. 2014’s Quest For Infamy gets a console release, releasing on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. And finally, tactical RPG Triangle Strategy comes to Switch.
And March 10, real time space strategy Distant Worlds 2 comes to PC, and lastly, Submerged sequel Submerged: Hidden Depths, is a relaxing exploration game set in a ruined, water filled world and comes to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.