GAMING NEWS PART DEUX

You're all bad people, comment about the Kojima about being silly but when we had proper news about inclusion of a trans character in a game none of you reply.

Shame

I fully admit to being a terrible person. Also my eyes glaze over when a post starts with XBox.

It's not a capital B, I reckon you're all doing it on purpose.

Yeah I guess, as when you first see Xbox guessing most would think it's going to be about an FPS or something as it's a shame because of the accessibility controller and special effect, things with even the LGBT community from what I gather from Major Nelson and now funding a game with trans character, they do seem to get a raw deal.

I must admit I missed that post, but I'd have had nothing to add beyond "aye, that's good news and is overdue", whereas I've a wealth of sass available for garlic related humour.

Epic Games have signed a deal with Remedy (Alan Wake, Control), Playdead (Limbo, Inside) and genDESIGN (Last Guardian) which they Epic pay 100% of development cost, the studios own the IP's and any profit will be split 50/50.

Now, these games might be Epic Store only or might come to the next-gen console under the Epic Publishing Label, time will tell but this seems like a great thing for these devs.

It's not that I can't understand the salt: Epic Games do seem to be buying out the competition, which however good it is for the studios in the short term feels a bit icky.

The devs etc I do follow seem to like the deal especially in this current climate knowing they have no worries really financially.

Also if Control 2 comes to PC via Epic, Xbox Series X and PS5 then it's all good to me.

I can't see genDESIGN going PC exclusive

Well from what I said it says PC and Next Gen but these things change.

The Japanese videogame rating agency has shut down, with almost inevitable knock-on effects on upcoming games releases.  Nintendo's emptyish schedule isn't filling up any time soon.  

Obviously I hope that not too many people are badly affected health-wise, including our very own Man in Japan.

Microsoft have just bought ZeniMax who own Bethesda and takes Microsoft to 23 Game Studios

The deal will cost $7.5 Billion and all future Bethesda games will launch straight into Game Pass

No idea if they will be treated like Mojang and games still come to PlayStation, Switch etc or more like Obsidian where games planned for PlayStation, Switch still come out Outer Worlds then anything after Avowed is Xbox exclusive

Oddly as well PlayStation has two Bethesda time exclusives coming to PS5

Edit

Phil Spencer has said both the PS5 games deal will be honoured and all future games will looked at on a case by case basis if coming to other systems beyond Xbox/PC

I'm stealing this point from TCGS, but I don't think Microsoft care about games being exclusive to their consoles, that's not the selling point any more. The selling point is that it's all on Gamepass.

Kind of like how Netflix don't want a film to be on Amazon Prime but they don't care if you can buy it through Amazon.

Yeah I've seen different takes from industry people looking at all ways and really all we know at the moment is Deathloop and Ghostwire will be timed PS5 exclusives, ESO will remain the same, DOOM Eternal still coming to Switch, DOOM Eternal DLC still coming to everything

Everything else is a ? as how far out is a Starfield then Elder Scrolls VI which is after that

In the immediate future though I would think all of Bethesda's OG through to ONE games will be added to Game Pass along with Series updates for likes of Skyrim

All this leaves me even more confused as to which of the new boxes to buy now. My family will want to play the PS5 exclusives that are still exclusive (or will be) so I think that has the edge. But man, I'm Elder Scrolls itchin' right now. But then, PC I guess. This reply probably shouldn't be here - I need to think.

Why not both? Like the PS5 seems to have the games in the immediate future

Where Xbox might end up with more games and stuff like Elder Scrolls VI, just how far out is it (After Starfield) and the Series S is rather cheap already, that I imagine be even cheaper by Elder Scrolls out that really think that is part of MS plan get peeps to pickup cheap S & pay the £12 a month Game Pass sub

Even maybe not buying any Xbox hardware with XCloud, at the moment it's just phones but will something like the Chromecast or a App on a TV and subbing to Game Pass much like Netflix

Well Cyberpunk has been pulled from PSN and Sony has setup a website just for it to process refunds.

MS haven't done anything yet but few sites seem think they'll do the same.

It's OVER.

KFC Announce their own video game console

Keep your chicken warm whilst gaming!

Last night I genuinely had a dream that I went and got some KFC. Coincidence? I think not!

2020 there, realising it's almost over and needs to outdo itself.

Bethesda is now officially a part of Xbox and we had a roundtable recently where 20 games added to Game Pass, bunch getting FPS boost on Series X|S and will share game engines etc.

Spencer also said this on exclusives:

I'm going to try to be as clear as I can because that's what I, I just think it's fair. So obviously I can't sit here and say every Bethesda game is exclusive because we know that's not true. There's contractual obligations that we're going to see through as we always do in every one of these instances. We have games that exist on other platforms and we're going to go support those games on the platforms they’re on. There are communities of players. We love those communities and we’ll continue to invest in them. And even in the future, there might be things that have either contractual things or a legacy on different platforms that we’ll go do.

But if you’re an Xbox customer the thing I want you to know is this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists and that’s our goal. That’s why we’re doing this. That’s the root of this partnership that we’re building and the creative capability we will be able to bring to market for our Xbox customers, it is going to be the best it’s ever been for Xbox after we’re done here.

My take is:

Current contracts are things like Deathloop, Ghostwire, DOOM 3 VR etc

Existing games are things like ESO, F76 etc

Future contracts I'm guessing will be Indiana Jones as Lucas I believe publishing

Legacy this I took tad like Banjo in SMASH that sort of thing or Bethesda had a weird SNES game a reboot would be on Switch. I've seen some Xbox centric places think Wolfenstein 3 will still be on various systems to finish the story. And some places including likes of IGN think Fallout 5, Elder Scrolls VI will still be on PS5 because previous games on PlayStation hence have a Legacy but Starfield along with other New IPs would be Xbox only.

Overall going forward got to think Bethesda game is only on Xbox and if does come elsewhere that's great, just don't expect Elder Scrolls VI on PS5.

Earlier today, the upcoming Playdate handheld console got it's first big update since it was announced two years ago:



That video has all the info about pre-orders and release, costs, accessories and the first Season of games. In a nutshell, it's $179 without shipping...and that's maybe what's going to be the thing that puts me off getting it. As novel as it looks and as much as I admire it's stylishness and independent spirit, with UK shipping and the various import taxes you just know that it's going to cost a packet.

Just watched it and can only agree, I think it end up costing to much getting to UK unless it's picked up by Fun Stock or someone distributing.

I forgot all about this thing.
I'm definitely intrigued but I think £100 was about my limit for what I think I'd actually get out of it.

It's the sort of thing I want to do well but would never actually buy, unless it reached impulse-purchase levels.  Good luck to them though!

I watched the Elden Ring trailer last night expecting to be blown away and suddenly want a PS5. But there were a few things off about it for me.

The dialogue was standard fantasy fare, quite expositional, not like the mysterious storytelling in Dark Souls.

The visuals didn't really impress me either. Maybe I was expecting Game of Thrones in game-form because of RR Martin's involvement, and I found it very video-gamey. Which normally I don't mind, but I thought PS5 etc could do more than this. The animation wasn't great either, especially the horse jumps. It looked very stiff.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Earlier today, the upcoming Playdate handheld console got it's first big update since it was announced two years ago:

<video>

That video has all the info about pre-orders and release, costs, accessories and the first Season of games. In a nutshell, it's $179 without shipping...and that's maybe what's going to be the thing that puts me off getting it. As novel as it looks and as much as I admire it's stylishness and independent spirit, with UK shipping and the various import taxes you just know that it's going to cost a packet.

If I was feeling wasteful I would buy it as a pen holder, clock, and speaker for my desk, and very occasionally try the games. It does look nice.