I’m so freaking stoked.
Gamers, gaming, video games, gamering.
That’s the intro I have because I’ve run out of clever intros especially after yesterday’s deflating State of Play.
Let’s talk gaming news.
Gaming
THE RETURN OF PLAYSTATION LEGENDS???
It’s Friday night, I’ve had a Truly, and this news is making me scream.
According to a “well reputed” insider, a new Sly Cooper and inFamous game are in development.
Now, according to numerous news outlets, the above industry insider has a very well documented track record with previous tweets going into detail about Quantic Dream’s Star Wars game, Forspoken being delayed (which turned out to be true) and a few other well documented scoops on their part. AccountNGT goes on to mention that Sony is planning to have a showcase sometime this month, but due to the conflict going on, the event may be delayed but still take place in March with the contents of the event unknown.
Edit: PlayStation did hold an event yesterday, and it wasn’t the best….
Holy shit…
I’ve gone on record in the past talking about my love of Sly Cooper and how they should bring the sneaky raccoon back. I think it’s even crazier given the fact that fellow PlayStation heroes, Ratchet and Clank, have been going strong for 20 years. I could talk about this forever, but I do hope this report is true. Don’t forget, there supposedly is still a Sly Cooper TV series somewhere out there.
On the other hand, inFamous is quite a surprise compared to other PlayStation titles I would’ve expected to make a comeback. I’m all for it though as inFamous was a really good series, and after how technically sound inFamous Second Son (last entry in the series) was, I’m picturing a next generation inFamous would be an absolute banger.
I think the most interesting thing here is that both of these games are Sucker Punch Productions’ titles. Would we see Sucker Punch develop these while supposedly gearing up for a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima? It remains to be known, but I’m here for this 2000%.
Please let this be real!!
Elden Ring round up and devs being unkind
In case you missed it, From Software’s newest masterpiece released two weeks ago, and it’s taking the gaming world by storm. I’ve never really understood the desire to play a game that punishes you that hard, but I bought it because I’m a masochist.
My side story aside, Elden Ring has been very successful… like absurdly successful. The PS5 version currently sits at a 96 on Metacritic making it top 20 highest rated games of all time (link is from an older article when it sat at a 97). On top of that, it has had the strongest first week launch of any From Software game of all time. Absolutely absurd, but well deserved since you can tell From Software really cares about their games and the final product.
Now with that, there’s obviously some criticism that’s been pointed to the game, both fair and unfair.
Firstly, the PC version of the game had some wild spec requirements and performance wasn’t up to par. I do believe the issues have been getting much needed attention from the devs which is obviously good.
Secondly, and this blows my mind, check this out.
A few developers have taken time out of their busy days to talk about Elden Ring, and it’s just bizarre. I’m not going to point any hate at these developers, but in order, the tweet belongs to a UI developer who’s worked on Battlefield 2042 (lol) and with Ubisoft, a developer from Sony (I believe) and Senior Quest Designer from Horizon Forbidden West…
Again, I’m not going to point hate, but in an industry where devs should be celebrating each others work, this was weird behavior. I find the most irony coming from the fact that this started from a developer who’s worked on Battlefield 2042 and Ubisoft both of which have been heavily criticized for multiple reasons: Ubisoft makes bland open world games with markers galore and Battlefield 2042 is just a mess. Not to mention, the dev from Horizon Forbidden West has just been a part of a very successful release.
What the hell?
Word vomit aside, devs should be supporting devs not tearing each other down.
What the hell is going on with Halo?
Halo Infinite shocked the world when the game suddenly launched its multiplayer on December 8th, 2021. After having been delayed, the game looked ready to reclaim the crown as king of shooters with it launching free to play and with the esports scene ready to fire on all cylinders. Since then, however, the game has lost an immense amount of smoke.
In an update on the 4th, the team behind the game gave an insight as to what to expect when the second season launches in May (what…) and priorities they have. Within the blog post, 343 details the next season will contain two new maps and King of the Hill return, but Forge (the map making mode) and the co-op campaign are delayed until season 3.. Fans were rightfully upset, and even though I don’t play this that much, I’m upset for them.
Now, this is all my opinion. Being free to play is pretty cool; it opens up a lot of avenues for new players to play your game and invest time into it. That being said; free to play only works if you’re ready to meet the demand for content and updating your game. This game seems to have not been ready for that as it’s been 3 months and they’re only on season 1, and plenty of the features fans have been waiting for has been pushed back exponentially after the game was delayed a year. I hate pointing at Fortnite, but to my knowledge, Fortnite has been pretty well updated with new content and updates. Not to mention, players and pros have voice their concerns over ranked play, bugs that run rampant, and the lead multiplayer designer has left (whether that’s a good or bad thing will remain to be seen).
Again this is my take, but it’s been disappointing to see how this has unfolded.
Trailers
Dolmen
Dolmen is described as a “sci-fi Soulslike” game, and this trailer was pretty neat. This hits platforms on May 20, 2022.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderland Season Pass Trailer
Alright, as hype as I am for this game, I don’t really like that a season pass trailer is coming out weeks before the game comes out. Here’s a breakdown of what comes with it for all interested!
Exoprimal
Never played Dino Crisis, but I thought this was a trailer for a new game in the series. This looks… okay to say the least. It gave me vivid flashbacks of Anthem, and that’s not a good thing. This is set to release in 2023.
Esports
OpTic Texas defends home turf and CDL Major 1 numbers recap
After a shocking start to their season, which saw the squad start off 0-2 during the qualifiers, OpTic Texas turned the shaky start around and culminated the first Major with a W.
OpTic started off with a quick 3-0 of the struggling Seattle Surge on Day 1 of the event. Day 2 saw them with their backs against the wall against the defending champs in Winners Round 2, the Atlanta FaZe, until they reverse swept them in spectacular fashion. Day 3 saw them 3-1 the promising London Royal Ravens, and the Grand Finals saw them defeat FaZe again this time in a best of nine to a score of 5-2. Quite a transformation from a team that was struggling to start off the season.
I won’t go too much in depth as I’m no Call of Duty savant, but for what it’s worth, this event went very well for a scene that has been struggling with a lot. The average viewership was around 69,000, according to Esports Charts, with the Grand Finals raking in a total of 157,421 viewers. This game isn’t my favorite or the best, but the talent (player and casting wise) and story lines will carry this scene for the time being. That’s good enough to keep me watching!
Edit: The general manger of Call of Duty esports has come forward with official numbers for the first event.
Kudos to OpTic, and be sure to tune in tomorrow for the start of Major 2.
Also, I need to go to a LAN event damn it.
Snoop Dogg joins FaZe Clan
Not going to lie, I didn’t like the trailer because it made me really uncomfortable. That being said, this is a huge W for the scene. The more celebrities that get invested, the bigger the reach and the more people get exposed to gaming as a whole.
Snoop Dogg will join FaZe’s “board of directors after the company goes public later this year, and will also co-create content, participate in key business initiatives, and launch merchandise with the brand as a member of the roster” (link to and article above). Snoop will also help usher in the move to the metaverse as he is a prominent member of the Web3 universe… which I don’t particularly like the idea of that but, knowing Snoop, we’ll get some hilarious content.
Memes
Other News
- Star Wars Eclipse, the newest work from Quantic Dreams, may not see a release until 2027-2028. Industry insider, Tom Henderson, wrote up a brief article detailing that the studio is having staffing issues to help develop the title. Probably doesn’t help they’ve had brush ins with workplace issues in the past.
- Returnal is getting a new update introducing a co-op mode and a new survival mode on March 22.
- Gotham Knights, the next Batman game not related to the Arkham series, got a release date of October 25th, 2022. On the other hand, Forspoken has gotten a delay until October 11, 2022.
- A God of War tv series may be heading to Amazon Prime Video soon, as reported by Deadline. No idea what they even do with this, but if true, I’d be interested in a series covering Kratos’ journey from God of War 3 to God of War 2018.
- Dying Light finally receives it’s next generation update bringing in a variety of options for better frame rate and resolutions.
- On the flip side, Grand Theft Auto 5 also got a breakdown of what the 18th (hyperbole) version of the game will bring to next generation consoles. This will launch on March 15th, 2022.
- Another Dead Space dev stream is coming soon according to developer Motive Studio!
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