Vidya Games Thread

[That Chuuba Enjoyer]

Looks like Sony isn't confident this generation. Console been out since late 2020, but I think one factor of sales being down, is due to how damn hard it was for 2-3 years to even get one. Hell PS5 had a huge black market during that period, going upward of 2k for a console itself.

Not many interesting games either to make me personally go out and grab a PS5 either. Especially as they're slowly porting games to PC, with more to come after the Insomniac leaks shown how Sony wants to put more games in that market.

Still wonder if we'll see a second video game crash with amount of layoffs and sales going down. I know indie scene will be fine, and more creativity will blossom from it if we do see another crash.

PS5 Entering ‘The Latter Stage of Its Life Cycle’, Sony Says - IGN

After sales of the PlayStation 5 failed to meet expectations, Sony has said the console is entering “the latter stage of its life cycle.”

www.ign.com

 

[John Vtuber👁️]

I will now proceed to write essays about current-ish monster taming game news, and monster taming related accessories (only one of the games isn't a monster tamer game), because I am autistic.

---

Spoiler: Palworld sells 25mil copies

Palworld at 25mil copies sold within the first month of sales, surpassing Pokemon is merely a matter of time



With the current onslaught of twitch and chuuba promotion, it doesn't seem like it will die out any time soon - and hopefully the developers are able to hire as many people as needed, because last I checked they said they were woefully understaffed to handle the sheer amount of popularity it gained. Any investor that doesn't jump on ruthless expansion will live to regret their words and deeds.

---

Spoiler: Temtem: Swarm, Survivor style game using assets from TemTem, focus on evolution and co-op

In other Monster Taming news, TemTem is releasing a survivor-style game using their assets which, while smart from a development perspective, isn't exactly what people wanted out of them for the "next TemTem game":



Personally, I like TemTem, I backed the game during Kickstarter. It's a good competitive Pokemon-like, which is why it's unfortunate that the developers seem to be so out of touch with what people want. New regions and creatures? No, what the people want are battle passes, seasonal events, a rotating cash shop, of course! PVP updates and additional game-modes are good, excellent, as are the two variants of "shiny" for hardcore hunters/breeders, but if that's where the above post-launch funding for the game goes, it might genuinely take a "TemTem 2" to have an actual chance of reaching Palworld-status, let alone Pokemon.

...I'm going to get TemTem Swarm because my autism is tuned to Pokemon and Pokemon-likes, it's a mental disease of its own that only indie devs seem to focus on. Hopefully with Palworld, larger devs are able to have creature collectors greenlit once more, now that executives have dollar signs in their eyes at the prospect of jumping on the Palworld trend.

---

Spoiler: Re:Legend comes back from the dead after ghosting players for 2 years

Re:Legend was kickstarted during a time when Pokemon had yet to transition into the HD console era, billing itself as somewhere between "Stardew Valley" and "Pokemon". An absolute winning formula, so you could understand its success in funding! But because this is a kickstarter game, it unfortunately follows the path of various kickstarter games before it: releasing in an incredibly buggy state that years of Early Access could not overcome, combined with the publisher preventing them from working on the game post-launch to not only fix it but finish their kickstarter promises (alleged by the developers for the past year or so). So it's also not surprising that it completely fell by the wayside!



Last month, the developers made a post stating that the publisher has since allowed them to start fixing the game again and adding the remaining content, as well as making console ports - current fixes are on the beta branch. Coincidence of coincidences, this comes days after Palworld becomes a smash hit, so my take on it is that the publisher sees dollar signs and wants to capitalize. That being said, don't buy it until it's "finished" with all of the backer content implemented, and fixes in place.

Also coincidence of coincidences, the developers' next game seems to also hit similar notes to Palworld, recently signing up with a completely different publisher ALSO days after Palworld's success:



Cash grab or not, I'm going to buy it because I have a mental disease, and I will report back with news good or bad when/if it releases!

---

Spoiler: Digimon Con announced, Dizzy's wallet in shambles

the Digimon Animation 25th anniversary is being celebrated in a few weeks, the Digimon Games Twitter retweeted it, and if there's not a game announced by then Dizzy might actually consider playing sudoku (for real for real this time):



Last I read from the developers, there's a Digimonstory game in the works that's not Cyber Sleuth related, and I have been waiting for it to release for years now. They also polled users whether or not they want to purchase modern ports of their old games in English, to a resounding "yes", so there's some hope on that end as well. If not, we can always play another playthrough of Digimon World: Next Order until those old Digimon World ports are put together. If Monster Rancher could do it, so can they, and that's the copium I am relying on!

---

Spoiler: Gundam Breaker 4 announced, multi-plat, English, Dizzy continues to be in shambles

While it may not be a Monster Tamer game, a similar level of autism is applied with its loop of collecting and building Gundam, as Gundam Breaker 4 was announced the other day, and this is the real shit, absolutely nothing like New Gundam Breaker. This is the game that people kept buying all of the other recent English Gundam games for, in the hopes that either it or 3 would come to modern platforms. If you even remotely like Gundam, you are going to want to purchase the most expensive version of this game possible on PC, because it is a builder's dream - and people far more autistic than any of us are almost guaranteed to mod even more crazy things in.



If Dizzy doesn't know by now, it's probably for the best that nobody tells her, because she is going to ruin her life with this game.

---

Spoiler: Monster Hunter: Stories gets modern ports, content from Japan

Monster Hunter: Stories is a series of games that also aims for the Pokemon audience, so this port announcement may also coincide with Palworld's success, somewhat. It's also had a bit of a troubled release, with each English platform beforehand having different content, with some content releasing in Japan only, so now it's all in one package for people to play - and possibly pick up Monster Hunter: Stories 2 along the way, which I am still hoping for an expansion to.



Hopefully this does well enough that a Monster Hunter: Stories 3 is considered, or the big wigs at Capcom might think people don't want Monster Hunter: Stories games anymore. And that's terrible! I dislike gaming executives like you wouldn't believe! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

---

And with this, I have done infinitely more work than most modern gaming journalists for free, and I will now proceed to die internally.

 

[UberSoldat]

PlayStation hit with layoffs

Difficult News About Our Workforce

The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company. We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local...

sonyinteractive.com

An Important Update from PlayStation Studios

Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment initiated a reduction in our workforce – including within PlayStation Studios – and I wanted to talk about the impact that will have. These decisions have been extremely difficult, but they are necessary, and I think it’s important to be transparent: The...

sonyinteractive.com

 

[Jealous]

Yuzu emulator getting sued

 

[Empty_Inbox]

EA laying off around 670 employees. Such a good start of the year, gamedev bros!


EA.com article from 28th of Feb

...we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce.

 

[Saturnus]

Yuzu emulator getting sued

Update on this today:
Yuzu is dead.

[archive]
Citra (the only (publicly) available 3DS Emulator) was made by the same devteam as Yuzu and they are dead.

[archive]

 

[That Chuuba Enjoyer]

Warner Bros aims to increase focus on free-to-play and live service games because 'disappointments' like Suicide Squad make the big-budget business 'very volatile'

After the high of Hogwarts Legacy, the low of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has Warner shifting strategy.

www.pcgamer.com

Guess WB is moving away from AAA Game centric model to more live service/f2p multiplatform model. Kind of dumb they're doubling down on the live service model, and not seeing the reasons why Hogwarts Legacy performed better than Suicide Squad.


WB and DC making several decisions that suck in recent months too. Such as their indifference with a batman beyond film pitched by spiderverse team and creators. Something fans been wanting for years.

 

[chihirogumi]

Somewhat related to vidya since it involves the Sweet Baby controversy.

Archive

Archive
Unsurprisingly, the senior editor of Kotaku is a self-hating whitey who thinks she'll be considered "one of the good ones". She wrote a hitpiece on the anti-SweetBaby group that has recently formed.
Also, are the zoomers about to introduced to GamerGate 2: Electric Boogaloo? Sargon, this is your moment, you can end you employment at Applebee's now!

 

[Xuhle]

probably late but all of C&C is now on steam. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39394/Command__Conquer_The_Ultimate_Collection/

The only ones that are missing is the OG C&C and Red Alert which are part of the remaster.

 

[Abomination]

Guess whose door Death is knocking on next!


Archive


Archive

Staff writer at Kotaku (also non-binary and a they/them, lol) :

Archive

Lol, look who:

Archive

 

[UberSoldat]

In studio news:

Embracer divests Gearbox, but will retain Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, Cryptic Studios, Lost Boys Interactive, and Captured Dimensions

Embracer Group divests Gearbox Entertainment for a consideration of USD 460 million to Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. - Embracer Group

INSIDE INFORMATION: Embracer Group has today entered into an agreement to divest Gearbox Entertainment, for a consideration of USD 460 million (SEK 4.9 billion) to Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (“Take-Two”). The proceeds from the deal will, upon closing, significantly reduce net debt...

embracer.com

Sega sells Relic Entertainment and lays off employees from Creative Assembly, Sega HARDLight, and Sega Europe

Sega sells Relic and will cut 240 jobs across UK studios

Sega has sold Relic Entertainment, and will cut 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight.

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[That Chuuba Enjoyer]

Relic Entertainment lays off employees to give itself 'the best possible chance to survive in an increasingly volatile industry'

Word of the layoffs comes just one week after Sega cut Relic loose.

www.pcgamer.com

Company of heroes 3 really was a big failure for them. Wonder how much Relic paid to be sold off from sega, instead of sega shutting the studio down.

 

[John Vtuber👁️]

Todd Howard is at it again, Fallout 4 is getting next-gen updates and free creation club content in a few weeks, modders on suicide watch after years of stability:



Speaking of modders on suicide watch, Rimworld: Anomaly is out NOW for $24.99:

 

[UberSoldat]

There is no helping the steaming pile of shit generously described as a video game, Paradox will never make a good game ever again, don't fall for Jewhans mind tricks. It's gonna be mana up ass, you're gonna be railroaded into focus trees. (with with plenty of epik memes XD of course *holds up spork*) Vicky 2 did improve greatly with " A house divided" however, this was when Paradox still had some competent staff, or perhaps they respected themselves and their audience enough to not just release absolute garbage and try to fix their (as they always are and where) broken games. Also, do remember that the Vicky 2 being played now is not Vanilla. It's HPM variants, Crimeamod if you're and edgy edgy boi, or alternate history forks (usually based on HPM) beacuse Vicky 2 is still very much broken in Vanilla, even with the 2022 beta patch you still will get the 6 Gorillion rebels by 1900 since it's impossible to satisfy them even with all political and social reforms, Health care is still completly broken, great wars are a mess at best (and not intentionally!) ACW still gets confederate Iowa due to the AI being unable to properly respond to events... The list goes on.

The modders helping to fix/improve the base game requires the modders to be: 1. Competent and: 2. The modding scene to be active. If one is missing you're fucked (See HoI 4 with their garbage VN's masquearding as strategy games) and the negative press and general shit quality has ensured Vicky 3 will never be properly modded (the increased railroading does not help modders either)

Ask yourself; have you enjoyed any of their games post leviathan DLC for EU4?(I'm being kind here, the release of HoI 4 killed Paradox, the corpse just kept shambling for a couple of years afterwards) If so, you are the most tasteless shit-eater possible so you might just enjoy the next Vicky DLC, however you'd enjoy watching keys jangling in front of your face even more, and maybe a little Subway surfers and Familiy guy funnies on the side? as a treat? So just go watch that and save yourself the 30 eurobux price.

They're doing great

Paradox closing Umea and Malmo studios to veer away from decentralized development

Paradox intends to unify its operations in Sweden, and stressed that its studios North America and the rest of Europe won't be impacted by the move.

www.gamedeveloper.com

Paradox Report Notes Cases Of Harassment But Doesn't Fire Anyone

Abuse allegations apparently didn’t warrant “legally permissible” employment termination.

www.thegamer.com

Paradox have cancelled several unannounced games

Paradox Interactive have cancelled several unannounced projects, to focus on strategy and management games and insure quality.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

Paradox's grand strategy Star Trek Infinite will receive no further updates

Star Trek Infinite, released in 2023 and published by grand strategy kings Paradox, will receive no further updates - much to the chagrin of its players.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

 

[Migoed Helmet]

So, inspired by the Paradox-posting in here the other day, I decided to pull up good old Victoria 2 again. "Surely there are some people out there still making mods for this game", I thought to myself.

And then, after a little bit of aimless internet searching, I found this.

Project Alice.

Project Alice is an open-source recreation of Victoria 2, with a few changes like no 3d models(because of copyright issues) and modern performance improvements. Most of the biggest mods have compatibility patches so you can use them with Alice, and it also is supposed to have working multiplayer which is FUCKING NUTS to me. Apparently it was a long time project that got reworked after Victoria 3 sucked. It's In 1.0 already, the open source stuff has people frothing at the mouth over it, so it runs and plays. Lots of weird fonts and UI, but overall pretty fucking good considering the short timeframe and the size of the project.


But that's not the most interesting thing going on here.

Alice's development has been embroiled in weird internet shenanigans, leading me down a bizarre rabbit hole of back-door development drama! (get it cause alice in wonderland haha)

Apparently, there is a SECOND open-source version of Victoria 2, called OpenVic. And the lead developers of these two projects (Alice's head dev goes by schombert, and OpenVic's dev is a streamer who goes by Spudgun) worked on the same project together for a little while, calling it OpenVic2. And they split up VERY quick, with OpenVic 2 being renamed to OpenVic and schombert using his previous solo work to create Project Alice. And now, they make pissy posts about one another on various sites such as reddit and Discord, with the other devs screenshotting them and throwing them around after the fact!

Sorry for the wall of Imgur posts and links in advance, they're breaking when I put them in spoilers

This one was posted by Spudgun's reddit account called "Mountandthrowaway313":



Which, when you go through the account, you find more imgur screenshots of schombert (some of which are apparently cherrypicked):






Here's some of the more entertaining reddit blurbs:

Argument 1

Argument 2, Spartan322 is also a OpenVic dev btw

"Does it run on Mac?"

"You're really going to start this 'people's front of Judea' beef?"

Argument 3, this one is probably the most entertaining one.


________
So, yeah. TL;DR, there are two versions of open-source Victoria 2 out there on the internet. From what I've seen so far, they have their own use cases.

OpenVic: Changing multiplayer to be more stable/easier, runs on Mac and Linux more reliably, slower development.

Alice: Already mostly finished while having original Vic 2 style multiplayer, runs at hyperspeed, much better mod support for now.

Thought this one would be interesting for some of you guys. I'm not going into it any further unless one of the devs becomes a V-tuber.

 

[Bronze]

Embracer group is splitting into 3

 

[UberSoldat]

So there's a bit of drama going on in the boomshoot community currently.

Phantom Fury skipped Early Access and preorders entirely and came out yesterday to some rather mediocre reviews even though the gunplay was improved from the lackluster demo, including a scathing criticism from Civvie himself. Common criticisms include, but are not limited to: Simplistic AI, bugs of all kinds, underwhelming combat, and generally feeling undercooked.


The folks at 3DR/Slipgate decided it was a good idea to start flinging shit at creators who didn't like their game.

3DR Staff Name Calling YouTubers :: Phantom Fury General Discussions

Hey All! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! Nick who posts here and other 3DR staff like 3D artists are name calling YouTubers. Accusing them of “following the trend” and more. 3DR can’t take any criticism and now they are burning bridges with creators. Enjoy the proof: Nick accusing Zlim of following the...

steamcommunity.com

a

Archive sites are fumbling Twitter right now so I can't post any.

Keep in mind that 3DR/Slipgate already have a reputation of pushing out games that were clearly not ready, earlier this year Graven got the same treatment. Not a good look guys.

 

[I Wanna Die]

Tarkov is finally adding a PvE mode for everyone whose tired of cheaters. Only problem is it's locked behind a $250 version of the game and even EOD purchasers don't get it despite EOD saying future dlc/expacs would be included with the game.

 

[Bronze]

Speaking of them

 

[UberSoldat]

Another day, another wave of layoffs

Take-Two reportedly shuts down Roll7 and Intercept Games, Private Division suffers layoffs

More details have emerged about the ongoing layoffs at Take-Two Interactive, with reports suggesting the publisher has …

www.gamesindustry.biz

---

I hope none of you play Riot games

Vanguard is taking screenshot of your pc!

I think that's a great day to publish this. With Vanguard about to launch in League of Legends tomorrow, I wanted to share something interesting I fou...

www.unknowncheats.me