The shrewdest of you out there might have noticed that it was The Game Awards this week, and expect it to dominate this roundup. However, it shan’t, for three reasons. First, there will no doubt be about a million articles going into painstaking depths about that already. Two, I didn’t care about most of it. And three, there were way more interesting things happening this week anyway.
Warframe The Old Peace has launched with incredible gameplay
Even before Digital Extremes started inviting me to TennoCon, a gift I will never be able to repay my then-editor for, I loved Warframe. It is ninja robots, what more do you need? 1999 has an amazing update, and it looks like Rebecca Ford and co have knocked it out of the park again with The Old Peace.
We have Uriel, a frigging awesome Demonic Warframe to play as, some amazingly flashy ultimate moves to dazzle us, and a 12-minute war mode which is as hectic as it is fun. Not to mention the narrative itself, we are going to Tau finally, during a fascinating point in history. And you can enjoy it all for free, still, after 10 years. I will sing Digital Extremes’ praises until I am dead and gone.
Leon Kennedy returns in Resident Evil Requiem
I remember playing Resident Evil 1 as a child, I had responsible parents, and I enjoyed it. Yet, then I did not pick up another until Resident Evil 4. It was at that moment that I, like many others, fell in love with hero Leon Kennedy. He was amazing, and I wanted his jacket. And we now have confirmation he was back in Resident Evil Requiem.
To be fair, Capcom basically gave it away when they refused to categorically say “no Leon”, but damn is it good to hear it officially confirmed. Better yet, we will be seeing a lot of him, as reportedly, you will split gameplay time between time and legacy heroine Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from Outbreak. It will be interesting to see her story unfold.
Katsuhiro Harada leaves Bandai Namco
This one is painful because I adore Bandai with all my heart, even if I am not a big fighter fan. Katsuhiro Harada, a name synonymous with Tekken, is leaving the company after 30 years. He will be appearing at the TWT Finals in January as a guest, and then that might be a wrap on the Harada-Bandai Namco Era.
As sad as it most certainly is, you can understand it. Working 30 years on the same thing, maybe he just got bored. As he says in his announcement, he will share his next steps in the future, so for now, we are just left with memories. And also a Soundcloud link to a 60-minute Tekken DJ set by him. As parting gifts go, that one is memorable.
Square Enix Shareholders spark a revolution
Another company that I love hit the headlines this week, but for a much more worrying reason. 3D Investment, a major Square Enix investor, released a 100-page document basically slamming Square and its management issues. From sluggish growth rates to a lack of strategy, they go for the throat.
Apparently, they have spoken directly with the top brass in Square for a few years and have been politely told to shove it. So now, they are trying to incite a shareholder revolution, and honestly, I think Square needs it. It’s a struggling company, and even its cash cow, Final Fantasy XIV, has taken a kicking lately with Dawntrail. Maybe this will wake them up.
Rockstar gives us hope for the return of Bully
We are definitely etching out a sliver of copium on this one. Perhaps in attempts to distract from the latest delay of GTA 6, Rockstar released some new merch. One particularly exciting shirt was based on a much-loved, yet neglected, IP: Bully. Or Canis Canem Edit, as some overly sensitive idiots had it renamed to in that peak “video games are evil” era.
I loved Bully, more than I do Grand Theft Auto. You controlled a young Wayne Rooney in a private academy and surrounding towns, doing school-based GTA things. You had interactive detentions, a carnival, and you beat up all the bullies in school. You were Rorschach in the Watchmen prison scenes, basically. It is a huge leap, but I hope this means we will see a sequel or remaster soon
Webzen has been fined for deceptive gacha practices
Here is one that is a win for the industry: Webzen has received a $107k fine for dodgy gacha practices. Basically, there were a few gacha mechanics that had a 0% chance of dropping a rare until at least 50 pulls were made. Some reports say that the threshold was as high as around 150.
Obviously, this was a probability that was hidden from customers, and even though Webzen offered refunds, less than 5% of those affected got them. So, this fine occurred. Now, $107k for a gacha game is probably less than a day’s revenue, let’s be honest. They probably made much more than that when this “bug” was happening. I wish it were a fine that scaled based on a company’s profit, but we will take what we can get. At least some action came of it.
The Game Awards of it all
Yes, yes, we had to touch on it a little. Expedition 33 won everything, trailers were shown, and my beloved Ben Starr got the limelight he deserves. He loves Final Fantasy 8 and was in Warframe and Final Fantasy 16; he is my idol. We won’t talk about it all, so here is the highlight reel.
IO Interactive showed off Hitman’s next Elusive Target with Milla Jovovich, and unveiled Lenny Kravitz as a villain in 007 First Light. Original Star Wars KOTOR director Casey Hudson revealed that a new game set in the Old Republic is under development with Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, and I can not wait for this.
We had the trailer that showed off the aforementioned Leon Kennedy’s arrival in Requiem. Deadpool is joining Marvel Rivals, so I might have to actually play that. Total War is doing Warhammer 40K, which will be completely insane and amazing. Finally, Digital Extremes released a trailer that had famed filmmaker Werner Herzog dramatically explain what Warframe is, which was weird but delightful.
