Our weekly news liveblog
Here’s the very first of RockPaperShotgun’s new weekly news liveblogs. Read more about the thinking behind them inour announcement post, if you dare.
A few PC game releases coming up this week that have our curiosity, perhaps even our attention: historical locomotive RTSLast Train Home(29th Nov), timeloop puzzlerOrten Was The Case(29th Nov), first person mage ‘em upWizordum(29th Nov), futuristic Robin Hood-inspired action gameGangs of Sherwood(30th Nov), and city-building dungeon crawlerSteamWorld Build(1st Dec).
This week’s soundtrack is Low Roar’sI’ll Keep Coming, from theDeath Strandingtrailer.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
(Tom Clancy’s) The Division: Heartland has been rated PG-15 in Taiwan, which implies that it might be out soon, as Eurogamernotes. It’s been given that rating for violence, “inappropriate language” and for being “anti-society”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Bloober Team have requested that people looking forward to their Silent Team 2 remake have “a bit more patience”, reassuring the Hillians in asocial media postthat development is “progressing smoothly”.
pic.twitter.com/h7tC7WFCmR
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Like A Dragon developers have toldGame Informerthat they are not “particularly conscious” of having to maintain a balance between real-time and turn-based combat, saying that each LAD game is kind of its own thing, and that choice of narrative tends to decide the approach to combat.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Katharine suggests that the aforesaid Bloober post about their Silent Hill 2 remake could be designed to get ahead of any complaints about the absence of a Game Award or PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted announcement.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Valve kingpin Gabe Newell has been ordered to give an in-person deposition regarding the antitrust lawsuit brought against Valve by Wolfire Games, as reported byGamesIndustry.biz.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Retro Commandercame out over the weekend and seems to be Command & Conquer with campy “Bond meets Advance Wars”-style visuals.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A quick aside from our guides writer Jeremy: “cool site if you want to look at classic box art”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
BloodDome99, out 4th Dec, is a satirical Survivor ‘em up about deathgames in an alternative Reaganite USA. The satire is a bit too heavy-handed for me, but I quite enjoy the visuals.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As spotted byPCGamesN, Inscryption creator Daniel Mullins appears to be teasing a new game. Here’s a video.
GameFuna | AdBotWatch on YouTube
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Alonger write-upabout the new Daniel Mullins project.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Footage of a new Tribes gamefrom a recent playtest? Don’t mind if we do. Ta,Eurogamer.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
FlyKnightis a free, short and atmospheric King’s Field-style first-person dungeon sim in which you are some kind of “knight fly”, or possibly a “fly knight”. Thanks for spotting, Dominic!
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Well, that escalated quickly.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Alittle more about the new Tribes game, which is seemingly called Tribes 3: Rivals. I feel like giving it a number and subtitle will be ruinous for promotion, after such an interval between games - why not just do a Lords of the Fallen on the sucker, Prophecy?
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Ubisoft aregiving away a free copy of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, which is the London one where you get bushy sideburns and a stovepipe hat. The catch, as often with these big-name giveaways, is that you’ll need to sign up to Ubisoft’s Connect service.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A quick insight from one of the developers of NightDive’s Turok 3 remaster, explaining the effects of calculating joint collision boxes on performance.
With Turok 3 Remastered coming out in 3 days, I figured I share some technical tidbits of how the game works.For animated characters, every ‘joint’ of the model can be collided with projectiles. To do this, a collision box is computed. In the remaster, these boxes are…pic.twitter.com/kaINus2WfN
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Good evening! I’m manning the RPS news cannons for the evening. And Edwin has left me the pleasure of sharing this fairly-goofy-looking-but-in-a-fun-way (I think?) Attack on Titan fan game.
I just RELEASED my new FREE#AttackOnTitanFan Game!Fight Titans! Host your own Lobbys! Play with your homies! 🔥🔄Please RT to Support!pic.twitter.com/qfZXdNdkv1
I can only assume it’s a knowing attempt to satiate me, personally, after what I felt was a very disappointing ending to the anime. This, by comparison, looks to be a very silly take on the best bits of AoT: zipping around, hitting big naked giants with swords.
Still, it’s got tough competition in the excellent ODM gear from Fortnite.
–Matt Jarvis
Elsewhere,Reuters is reportingthat ByteDance plans to exit the games scene, including stopping development on planned games at its games division Nuverse and “divesting” from those already out.
Most notably, Nuverse is behind Marvel Snap - which by all accounts is a pretty damn good digital card game, but apparently struggled to make the money required to keep its parent company in the market.
The decision will also affect hundreds of staff, it’s claimed, continuing a thoroughly rotten year for anyone making games.
–Matt Jarvis
Bungie has confirmed that Destiny 2’s Final Shape expansion will now release next June (thanks,EG), as previously reported by Bloombergduring the studio’s recent spate of layoffs.
–Matt Jarvis
Some more details on that delay for Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion, including what to expect in the meantime.
–Matt Jarvis
Andhere’s the full storyon the reported retreat from “mainstream games” by TikTok makers ByteDance, owner of Marvel Snap publishers Nuverse.
Marvel Snap devs Second Dinner have responded to the reports by assuring that the game isn’t going anywhere.
–Matt Jarvis
A closer look at that promising Attack on Titan fan game!
I’m sure AoT fans will have zero problems with my feelings on the ending, no siree
–Matt Jarvis
Frontier - makers of Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster and this year’s Warhammer RTS Realms of Ruin - aredoubling down on management gamesafter what’s been a rocky few years for the UK developers.
They recently confirmed layoffs as part of an organisational review, following the shuttering of their third-party publishing arm Frontier Foundry over the summer.
–Matt Jarvis
TUESDAY IS HERE. By the gods, it’s hideous. Back! Back! FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
There’s an on-going furore over Geoff Keighley defending Dave the Diver’s nomination for Best Indie at the TGAs, despite it being funded by a billion-dollar publisher -VGChas more.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Dragon’s Dogma 2 Showcase is imminent! Join us 11/28 at 1pm PT/9pm GMT for a 15 minute livestream featuring exciting new gameplay reveals.Hosted by director Hideaki Itsuno (@tomqe) and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi.📺https://t.co/bXae8sF1ug#DD2#DragonsDogma2pic.twitter.com/shJa2YdThq
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Big fan of this week’s plannedBaldur’s Gate 3 update, or at least, of the amazing slowdown bug it’s designed to fix - basically, the game has been burdened by second-hand guilt about your undetected crimes.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Bethesda customer support have been getting into it with Starfield haters on Steam, as spotted by JuiceHead on Xitter. The game still has a Mixed user review consensus, with over 80,000 reviews posted.
Bethesda is responding to negative Starfield reviews on Steam. Absolutely bizarre if you ask me and despite media attention this hasn’t stopped, the last response is from todaypic.twitter.com/ay589tg8cc
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A post about the aforesaid Bethesda vs Steam reviewers palaver. Did you know that you can put points into different characters? Did you know that planets are supposed to be empty? (I do have a bit of sympathy for some of Bethesda’s points.)
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Asteroids With Bad Musicis exactly what it sounds like and slightly more. At the risk of sounding condescending, I think it’s very sweet. Not so much a game as an opportunity to meet somebody. Be sure to play for a bit after you think you’ve finished.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I’m going to giveSiheyuana try over lunch. It’s a tile-based “minimalistic test of coordination” that is “inspired by the historical courtyards of Beijing, China”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Eurogamer arereporting layoffs at Chorus developer Fishlabs. Best of luck to everybody affected.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Here’sour story on the Fishlabs layoffs, which have now been confirmed.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Maw shouldn’t eat right before bed, and yet it hungers. Just-announced cyber-slasher Quantic River looks quite niceand has a Steam page.
–Graham Smith
Cyberpunk 2077 is a noir and therefore “no place for happy endings”, says CDPR’s senior writerresponsible for the Judy Alvarez storylinein a new interview. I agree. Phantom Libertycrushed me and I loved it.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
Chicken & Mushroom. The only flavour. (King sized.)
–Graham Smith
It’s cute that Edwin thinks he can soundtrack the entire week. I’ll be using their creation ofthe theme music of the new Scott Pilgrim showto dive into Necry Talkie again, a Japanese band I’ve loved for a couple of years.Try this.
–Graham Smith
Over on Aftermath, Gita Jackson wrote aboutthe short memory of games journalismand a new anthology of that seems oblivious to the prior existence of “writing about video games from the personal, emotional perspective.” New Games Journalism is referenced (Don’t mention the war. -Ed), as is RPS.
–Graham Smith
Chet Faliszek says he “will never do Early Access again” after The Anacrusisdue to inaccurate player count reportingmaking it difficult to change the narrative around a small game. The Anacrusis is due to launch on December 5th.
–Graham Smith
One of the worst interviews I ever did was with Faliszek. It was over the phone, around the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 for a PC Gamer cover feature. Fans of Left 4 Dead 1 were threatening to boycott the sequel due to how soon after the original it was announced, and I opened by asking about the boycott in what I’d imagined was a jovial way. Faliszek’s response was something along the lines of, “Really? You want to talk about that?”. I was mortified - although the rest of the interview was fine. Faliszek recentlydid a TikTokwhere he spoke about the misery of that fan reaction and of only being asked by journalists about the boycott when he wanted to talk about the cool new game. It was a good lesson for me, back in 2008, to better empathise with an interview subject and, if I’m going to approach a negative topic, to at least do it sensitively.
–Graham Smith
Lovely. My fondest memory of being off school is spending day after day watching Red Dwarf, media with a real anti-Pot Noodle bias.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
IT IS WEDNESDAY. Zounds, the beast is almost fully manifest! Power up the Lucent Archive and FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Well, it’s no wonder the Maw is so lively today - Graham has been feeding it pot noodle and New Games Journalism. Keep this up and you’ll give it indigestion and we’ll have to write about Fortnite skins till the Maw settles down.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Development of The Witcher 4 proceeds apace - as spotted byIGNin the latest CD Projektearnings report, almost 330 people, or just under half of the studio’s development staff, were working on the game as of 31st October.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
VGCsources claim that Embracer may close Timesplitters studio Free Radical on 11th December, just in time for the holidays.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Vanity Fairhas some shots of Amazon’s forthcoming Fallout TV adaptation. The feature includes some chat from Todd Howard about how the show fits in alongside the games.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Genvid founder Jacob Navok has fiercely denied claims that Silent Hill: Ascension was written using large language models or other recent “AI generation” techniques, as reported byPCGamesN, calling it a “veiled insult” to the interactive drama’s writers.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Sony haveteamed upwith Guild Wars publisher NCSoft to “collaborate in various global business fields, including mobile.” Sony president and CEO Jim Ryan says that “partnering with NCSOFT advances our strategy to expand beyond console and broaden PlayStation’s reach to a wider audience." Spare some love for PC, Jim?
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
More tasty space simulation #content: it’sthe system requirements for Homeworld 3.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Graham also cracked wise last night about my weekly music recommendations. FINE - we’ll switch to daily ad hoc reccs. On which note, here’s one fromPanzer Dragoon Saga.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Here’sour storyon the Witcher Polaris news, in which I try to decipher various CD Projekt codenames.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I donewrote up that Quantic River gamefrom last night - it’s a thoroughly non-whimsical cyborg katana combat sim.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Unity havecut 265 jobsas part of a company “reset” that will also see them ending their partnership with Peter Jackson-founded digital effects company Weta FX.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A PSA from Leaf, the founder of Itch.io: somebody’sposted an AI-generated scam page for Dead by Daylightin a bid to spread malware. I’m not sure if there are any other such scams in circulation on Itch right now - tread cautiously.
Speaking of AI generated trash ruining the internet, this scammer AI generated all the assets & content of a product page in the style of “Dead By Daylight”, including generated screenshots, in an attempt to distribute malwarepic.twitter.com/mQNp5EwGYx
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
It’s all downhill from here - my work playlist is a dank cocktail of dad rock, Sonic Adventure tracks and anime OPs.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
There’s a bit inthis Sega earnings presentationwhere an executive discusses how the publisher adopted a strategy of accelerating the growth of Sega studios amid “the favourable winds of the early Covid-19 period” - a move that hasn’t panned out well for Creative Assembly, who recently cancelled their online shooter Hyenas and are facing layoffs. Hmmm.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Here’s our report on theUnity layoffs.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Jarvis here, checking in for the evening shift! And I can’t let a good music debate slide, so I’ll offer that my yearly stats for a well-known music platform offered little more than confirmation that I listen to a lot of lofi and Final Fantasy soundtracks while I’m working, so my whole algorithm now just wants to offer up synthwave at every waking hour. (The rest is anime OPs and K-pop.) TheTPR covers of FFIXare especially lovely, mind.
–Matt Jarvis
Anyone in the comments manage to sneak intothe Beyond Good & Evil Anniversary Edition that slipped out? I’d crack a joke about how the 20th Anniversary release might arrive just in time for the 30th anniversary, if folks weren’t already somehow playing.
–Matt Jarvis
Ah, there’s that Netflix Grand Theft Auto game that wasrumoured a while back- it’s are-release of the trilogythat you can play for free if you’re a subscriber. Just for mobile for now, it seems!
–Matt Jarvis
(Edwin here, sliding in before Matt notices to say thatI wrote up that Wizordum game.)
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
After cancelling their ambitious shot at making an extraction shooter earlier this year in Hyenas, Creative Assembly are apparentlygoing back to what they’re best at(or what Sega reckons they’re best at, anyway): “offline RTS games”. In other words, expect a lot more Total War games.
–Matt Jarvis
–Matt Jarvis
Seems that Cult of the Lamb’s Sins of the Flesh will feature, err, sins of the flesh, as devs Massive Monster look to make its ‘sex update’ meme a real thing.
It’s, ahem,coming next year.
–Matt Jarvis
Things are looking increasingly grim for TimeSplitters devs Free Radical, as it’s reported that the resurrected UK studiocould be closed before Christmas.
–Matt Jarvis
THURSDAY IS NEAR. All News Writers gain +5 Loathing. FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Microsofthave launched a Compact Modefor the Xbox PC app that provides “a more intuitive user interface on smaller screens” i.e. handhelds.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
It was on our radar! I played an old demo yonks ago and loved it. But then we had Other Stuff To Attend To and the full release fell through the cracks. I am keen to return to it.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Today’s warm-up music is theChainsaw Man OP- Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The latestHumble Bundleis all about JRPGs - to be specific, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, Mato Anomalies, Edge of Eternity, Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, Nexomon: Extinction, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising and Dark Deity. I’m not sure there are any outright bangers in there, but I’m happy to be corrected in the comments.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As reported byGamesradar, Bungie have yanked an eye-watering $15/£12 Destiny 2 Starter Pack from Steam following a player revolt against overpriced microtransactions.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Nightdive’sTurok 3: Shadow of Oblivion remasteris out today.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
BothRemnant 1andRemnant 2are now on Game Pass.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Studio Wildcard have brieflyturned off ARK: Survival Ascended crossplay on PvP servers for Windows userswhile they work on anticheat measures. Private servers and singleplayer are apparently unaffected, and they’re hoping to re-enable everything next week.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As spotted byPCGamesN, free-to-play battle royale Naraka Bladepoint isgetting a roguelike mode in today’s big updatealongside a slew of other adjustments.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Those crazy Capcom people are trying to charge $69.99 / £53.98 for Dragon’s Dogma 2 - it’s the publisher’s first $70 game, and follows a Capcom executive’s remarks that game prices are “too low” (thanksVGC). Get ‘em, lads!
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I’ve not played it but I like the art, and any new RPG series that styles itself “a spiritual successor to Suikoden” is an automatic wishlist for me.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As noted, Capcom is selling Dragon’s Dogma 2’s base edition for $70/£54-ish. It’s ano thanksfrom me.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
In case you’re wondering, we’re currently prepping some Stuff that will go up in a couple of hours, which is why things are a bit quiet on the site right now.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The first DLC for Wartaleshas been announced. I’m blogging this mostly to remind myself to play Wartales, because people keep saying very nice things about it - the writer and designer of Citizen Sleeper isa fan.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Open world survival-crafty Victorian Fancy Hat simulator Nightingale is getting an online stress test early next year - here’show to sign up. This is the one from ex-BioWare devs.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Baldur’s Gate 3just got patched in a big way- there’s a new epilogue, modes and some performance fixes for Act 3 specifically.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
This was my most played song on Spotify this yearand that seems justified to me.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
Bloodlines 2’s third clan has been revealed, the somewhat stealthy Banu Haqim, via a trailer mostly using previously released dialogue footage. Very odd:
–Graham Smith
It’sFRIDAY, it’sFRIDAY. One last push! FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Today’s “getting it done” music is Sonic Adventure 2’sGreen Forest theme. Won’t stop, just go!
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
This could be interesting: Activision are planning to do a bit of talking about skill-based matchmaking systems in Call of Duties old and new, after lots of spicy feedback from players about SBMM in this year’s Modern Warfare 3.
BREAKING: Call of Duty has addressed SBMM in#MW3:“Our approach combines latency, search time, and skill, along with many other factors” and the team will share more in “the coming weeks after Season 1 launches.”pic.twitter.com/12uPeVRaMU
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Build A Rocket Boy’s accessible game development tool Everywhere (previously described by Graham as"metaversal porridge") has new in-game footage, from a livestream last night. This is the one that’s being made by a team led by ex-Rockstar people, including former GTA lead developer Leslie Benzies.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Trailers, trailers, trailers! Here’s one for Kepler’s Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, which reminds me of Respawn’s Jedi games, except that instead of the Force you have a big demon cat.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has entered the final stages of development, and GSC Game World have put out a new trailer to celebrate.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
If you’re one of those sickos who likes playing videogames on a telephone, Downwell has come to Apple Arcade, as reported byVG247.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Speaking of sickos - nautical commerce ‘em upSeaOrama: World of Shippinghas a release date: 14th December. I don’t play many sims like this but I’d love to read a diary play of this one.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A couple of RPS trailer-and-release-date write-ups: one forPacific Driveand one forFlintlock, both of which seem promising.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
And so it begins:GTA 6’s first trailer has a release date and time. What do you all make of the teaser art, here? I can’t work out whether it’s brand new or adapted from GTA 5. It could be designed to suggest arriving in a new city - or leaving one.
pic.twitter.com/BguwiJokQt
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Capcom still have more Resident Evil remakes on the way, according toIGN. We’re surely getting to the point where the remakes will come out before the original game, and the games industry will turn into a version ofthe Four Yorkshireman sketch from Monty Python.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Warhammer 40k FPS Darktide will drop thesecond part of its free The Traitor Curse updatebefore the year is out. Expect a bunch of new items (Stimms!) and a couple of new bosses to take down in the form of the Karnak Twins.
Oh, there’s a combat shovel in there, too. I dig it.
–Matt Jarvis
Some fairly obvious but still pleasing news:expect another Resident Evil remake at some point in the future.
RE5 (with, uh, some changes, probably), Code Veronica or Zero, perhaps? What would be on your wishlist?
–Matt Jarvis
EA making more of their accessibility patents free for anyone to use - and includingreadymade code for a photosensitivity analysis tool- is a very cool thing to see. More of this, games industry!
–Matt Jarvis
Prepare for a new Solid Snake Butt Controversy, as it looks like the Metal Gear Solid hero isheaded to Fortnite- alongside Family Guy’s Peter Griffin, no less.
–Matt Jarvis
Ark devs Studio Wildcard haveturned off crossplay in PVP serversuntil “early next week” in an effort to combat widespread cheating, which has led to PC players zipping around and killing players through walls.
–Matt Jarvis
The latestIndiepocalypsefeatures a pretty nifty-looking danmaku-style shooter, Touhou: Lonely Lovely Bonfire. “A uniquely circular bullet hell” that reminds non-genre-expert me a little of Resogun.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Graham Smith
Stardew Valley continues to be updated becauseits developer considers it his “life’s work”- and progress is going well on update 1.6.
–Graham Smith
Remedy are teasing aNew Game+ mode for Alan Wake 2, possibly to arrive later this month.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
If you’ve been on the internet since the ’90s, you might remember some of the rectangular, often animated 88x31 pixel website linkscollected here. You’ll find all sorts among the archive, including plenty that are vide game related - from Blue’s News to a couple dozen Quake modding sites.
–Graham Smith
Sometimes, it gets a little hectic out there, but for now The Maw retreats, swell and fat. Until Monday…
–Graham Smith
The Maw is dead; long live the Maw - here’sthe new liveblog for the week 4th-9th December.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
