Issue 7 October 5th 2019

PS4 Cross-Play Exits Beta

Cross-Play is finally coming to PlayStation. This is something that should have been apart of PlayStation for a long time, so I'm glad that it's finally happening. For a short time, PlayStation was the one who dragged their feet about joining the cross-play initiative because they were doing so well with their exclusive titles (even though PlayStation's online has never been as a robust as Xbox.) Now, PlayStation is starting to make major strides in their cross-play technology. We can expect to see it in big online games such as Call of Duty and Borderlands 3, but I wouldn't be surprised if PlayStation kept smaller games' online separate. There still needs to be some sort of competition in the online space, so I doubt that cross-play will apply to every game with an online component. This competition is driving PlayStation and Xbox to be more innovative and find ways to make their console sharp. We can already see the impact through cross-play and a decrease in prices. I'm excited to see what else happens to keep the competition fierce! What would you like to see?

Image credit: Playstation.com

PS5 and Xbox Scarlett Leaks

I try not to include many "leaked info" articles in the newsletter because you never know if they're true, but this one is too juicy to ignore! There's a lot to unfold in these leaks by someone who claims to be at a company that is working with the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett Prototypes. First off, please don't let the PS5 look anything like the rumored prototype (the picture for this article). It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. In retrospect, I haven't been impressed by the past PlayStation models, but they grew on me. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a box! The biggest leak (based on the time of writing this) is the cameras being included with PS5 and Scarlett. The reported info is that the cameras will focus on turning your console into an all-in-one streaming box. The Scarlett camera is reportedly better hardware than PS5's, which would match the brand of Xbox. Since the launch of Xbox One, Xbox has tried to make their system a way to effortlessly stream to Microsoft's streaming platform, Mixer. On the other hand, PlayStation has included the ability to easily stream your games to Twitch or YouTube, but they haven't made it a major selling point. It would make sense for Xbox to differentiate Scarlett as the console for streamers. Hopefully these leaks hold some truth and can hold us over until we get some real announcements! What do you want to see in the next-generation? Do you want a streaming console or would you rather have a focus on gaming capabilities? Let me know!

Image credit: VG247.com

Rocket League Will Destroy Loot Boxes, Valve Tries To Find Loopholes

Get rid of the boxes! If you've been subscribed for a while, you know that I hate loot boxes. Rocket League announced that they wanted to regulate their loot boxes a while back, and now they're taking it a step further by basically removing the luck portion of loot boxes. Props to them! They're making the right move with this. Loot boxes piss people off more than they make people happy (I've yet to hear from someone who loves loot boxes). On the other hand, Valve is trying to sneak it's way around the laws against gambling and still have luck-based loot boxes. It's ridiculous to me that a company as big as Valve can't just give up with loot boxes. Players will still buy in-game cosmetics and loot, don't make them do it through stupid loot box systems.

Image credit: Rocket League Twitter

Sony, Sega and Warner Avoid Paying Millions In Taxes

Tax avoidance can be good, and big companies are good for the economy because it boosts the overall condition of the economy. But it still sucks that this tax relief plan implemented to benefit small businesses is being exploited by big companies who could afford to pay the taxes that they're avoiding. I've always rooted for the underdog, so in this case I wish that the smaller businesses could have been the 80% that received the tax relief. Who knows, this could have resulted in some awesome indie games or even people who are struggling to make ends meet receiving a break from taxes and stress. Either way, I hope that some small businesses are prospering from this tax relief program. This is a polarizing subject, some hate big business and some consider this a business strategy, what do you think? I would love to hear your opinion and discuss this topic.

Image credit: Sony.com

Troy Baker Didn't Return To Borderlands 3 Because They Did Not Support Union

Borderlands 3 is an interesting beast. The majority of BL fans have praised the game for being a bigger and better Borderlands, which is great! But, on the other hand, some have called out Gearbox games and CEO Randy Pitchford for the not-so-stellar ways they've gone about making the game. First, the news that Claptrap's original voice actor was not returning to Borderlands 3 saddened fans of the series. Quickly after this, Claptrap's OG voice actor accused Gearbox and Pitchford of abuse and underpay. In the past year, Pitchford has faced multiple allegations from abuse to owning underage porn. So while BL3 is a fun game, it's hard to ignore the situation it was made under. I'm not saying that everyone at Gearbox is a terrible person, but Pitchford has a far from spotless record. This brings up the issue of separating the art from the artist. What do you think? Can you enjoy BL3 and ignore those who were hurt during its development? Personally, I know that I've played games that I've loved that were probably made by questionable people under bad circumstances that I don't know about. It's impossible to be so woke that you avoid every game made under rough conditions. But, we should still be wary of the conditions in the industry and speak out against abuse, underpay, and mistreatment so we can protect those that make the games that we love.

Image credit: Borderlands 3

October Has Arrived

Welcome to the Spooky Season! I started this month out with seeing the outstanding Joker, which you should plan on seeing! But this isn't a newsletter about movies, it's about games! So this week in games, we have a lot of industry news about next-gen and loot boxes. In development, we got some substantial updates about titles such as Pokemon: Sword and Shield and Red Dead Redemption 2! As always, respond to this email or tweet me @SethMcMorris if you have any thoughts about this week's news!

Enjoy the read!

Development

The Avengers Game Adds Ms. Marvel As The Main Character

For some reason, this article does not include the trailer that introduces Ms. Marvel, so you can watch that here. This is the first trailer that got me somewhat excited for this game. When Avengers was first announced, I was disappointed by the gross-looking characters and unentertaining gameplay. This trailer catches my attention because the acting looks incredible. The tension between Tony and Bruce towards the end of the trailer looks like it would fit right in with a Marvel movie. The Ms. Marvel gameplay still looks goofy to me, but hopefully the story will be enough to make the game. Marvel and Crystal Dynamics have a lot to live up to after the smash hit Spider-Man for PS4. So far, it looks like Avengers is lacking the beautiful landscapes and characters that Spider-Man had. Will Avengers be the misstep of Marvel game studios or will they put out another hit? We can expect the game to be sell well because it carries the weight of a Marvel product, but will that be enough to make it successful? We can only wait and see.

Image credit: Crystal Dynamics

Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Coming To PC

This is probably the biggest news of this week. While there's some fun details of new items coming to the PC edition of RDR2, I want to focus on the wording of one particular sentence: "The first game in the Red Dead Redemption series to be featured on the PC platform..." To me, this hints at the original RDR coming to PC soon. You can call it a shot in the dark, but imagine a remastered RDR released for consoles and PC. I could either see this happening sometime next year or whenever next gen launches. What better way to make Rockstar relevant in the next gen than by making a super improved RDR? Maybe this is off track, but that sentence is trying to tell us something, I know it! The sentence could have said "RDR 2 is coming to PC with these improvements." But instead, it's worded in a way that makes you think of the original RDR. On another note, this is a great move by Rockstar to bolster its Game Launcher that recently released for PC. I'm looking forward to seeing the stats of downloads and pre-orders. Surprisingly, the Steam version is coming after the initial PC release. So far, there's no explanation for this delay, but it's another blow towards Steam's platform. There's a lot to digest here, so I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Do you think we could see a RDR PC Port soon or am I crazy?

Image credit: Rockstar.com

Destiny 2 Celebrates Its Independence

While plagued with issues, Destiny 2's Shadowkeep and Free-To-Play launch stands for so much more than developments inside the game. These are direct changes made solely by Bungie. Earlier this year, Bungie announced that it had left Activision and now had complete creative control over their Destiny (pun intended). Now, we're finally starting to see what Bungie wanted Destiny to be but could not do under the control of Activision. Looking past the launch issues, I'm so happy to see the excitement around Shadowkeep and the Free-To-Play launch. On the night that this was happening, Destiny was trending on Twitter. I checked the tweets and they were filled with positive comments towards the Bungie team who was hard it work trying to fix the launch issues. This is the positivity I love to see! I can't wait to hop back into Destiny 2, start a fire squad, and try out everything new. Cheers to Bungie!

If you want to make a Fire Squad or run some missions together, shoot me a friend request on PlayStation! You can find me @Heuy24.

Image credit: Destiny Twitter

Pokémon Sword and Shield Will Include Autosave

Prepare yourself: a lot of Pokemon news is being announced this week. First off the presses, Game Informer has an in-depth interview with Game Freak about a lot of the new features coming to Sword and Shield. I had to link this article because it's about the autosave feature, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, and I was right! The new games will include an optional autosave feature that can be turned off by those who want a classic Pokemon experience. For the rest of the announcements, you can check here for the full Game Informer article.

Image credit: Pokemon.com

Reviews

Ghost Recon Breakpoint Roundup

I don't know anyone who is actually interested in this new Ghost Recon game, but I know there's an audience for it so I'll list a roundup here. I've never played a Ghost Recon game, so I'm far from an expert in this series. The reviews seem to be pretty mediocre so far, but VG24/7 gave it a scathing review, a whopping 1/5. It's always unfortunate to see a big AAA game like this fall on its face. Are you planning on picking it up? Let me know!

Image credit: Ghost Recon website

Community

GTA V's Role Play Community Is Even Crazier Than You Thought

I'm always surprised at how vast the GTA V role-play world is. Reading this article is like reading a synopsis of a really interesting TV show episode from a series that you know you'll never watch. As the GTA V RP world continues to thrive and grow, I wonder what Rockstar has in the works for GTA VI to foster this community. We can expect a rough online launch because it's a Rockstar game, but once things get going I hope the RP community can find a home in the new GTA VI world. Speaking of GTA, it's been 6 years since GTA V launched. It's shocking that a game can still be as relevant as GTA V is after 6 years of being around. I could see GTA VI being announced at this year's Game Awards and releasing 6 months to a year after next-gen launches. What do you think? Do you think GTA VI will be announced soon? It may follow GTA V's example of releasing at the end of current gen's life cycle and rereleasing on next-gen. I can't wait to see what happens!

Image credit: Rockstar.com

The Truth About The Chinese Games Market

The video game industry in the U.S. puts out tons of news stories every day, so it's easy to develop a ethnocentric mindset when it comes to video games. This eye-opening article dispels five stereotypes of the Chinese video game market and highlights that we fail to recognize the contribution of markets like these in the international game market. Take some time read through these and get a better understanding of the world around you. It was enlightening to me and I'm glad that Games Industry featured it.

Cuphead Has Sold 5 Million Copies and is 2 Years Old

Remember when we began to doubt Cuphead because of it's long development cycle? When it was first announced at E3 2014, I was immediately intrigued by the beautiful art style. 1930s animation has always been interesting to me I watch this clip about once a month). Hearing that it was an Xbox exclusive broke my heart, and when the game took a few years to release, fans began to think that the game was going to be failure. Fortunately, the game was incredibly fun and challenging and delivered on the beautiful gameplay with every frame hand drawn (no wonder it took so long!) Seeing this milestone along with news of DLC, the sequel, and the series for Netflix, makes me happy because it's what the hard workers behind Cuphead deserve. Cuphead will forever stand as an inspiring indie game and will encourage indie devs for years to come. Congrats to the Cuphead team!

Image credit: Studio MDHR Twitter

Before You Go

See You Next Week!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm always surprised at what every week holds in video games news. So far, we haven't had a slow week! As fans are celebrating the free-to-play release of Destiny 2 and its new expansion, let me know if you're playing or if you plan to! I'm redownloading Destiny 2 now and will hopefully be able to jump in some this weekend.

Until next time,