This Week in Games
Year-End News Overload
by Heidi Kemps,
Hello again, friends! It's time for this week's somewhat delayed TWIG column, filled to bursting with NEWS! I delayed the column this time around so we could catch all of the announcements at The Game Awards, but also because I wound up taking a bit of a trip…
Yes, I'm at Granblue Fes 2019! You can look forward to lots of photos, interviews, impressions, and news about Granblue Fantasy and all of its upcoming spinoff games over the next several days. The show's been a lot of fun so far – it's really neat to see such a big fan gathering live and in-person.
Anyhow, let's get on to the news!
A LOT HAPPENED AT THE GAME AWARDS
We all know by now that nobody actually watches the Game Awards for the actual awards. We're all here for the reveals, and every year brings us some pleasant surprises. Actually, there was a pretty pleasant surprise in the show itself this time around, in the form of some plushy pals:
Muppets make everything better. This is proven fact.
Anyway, there was a lot of news that dropped, and it'll take forever to go through all of it, so I'm mostly going to focus on the stuff that will be of key interest to Anime News Network readers. Let's get this rolling.
XBOX SERIES X IS A TOWER OF POWER
We all know a new console generation is looming, and the first official shots were fired at The Game Awards. Microsoft made its first big play by revealing the casing and name of its next console, the Xbox Series X, due to launch in the holiday season of 2020.
The most noticeable thing about the Series X's design is that it's a chonky, PC-tower like structure, rather than the flat rectangular boxes we're used to in our console designs. (Everyone on Twitter eager to flaunt their Obscure Import Gamer Cred immediately pointed out the design similarities to NEC's ill-fated PC-FX.) I'm definitely in the “I don't like it” camp, mostly because it feels like consoles are simply becoming standardized PCs rather than creatively engineered pieces of hardware with distinct identities, and the fact that the Series X looks like a damn PC cements this.
There were a few unveilings alongside the system, too. Hellblade 2 is a nice surprise follow-up to a fan favorite, while Halo Infinite is… more Halo, but hey, people still enjoy Halo, right? I'm sure there will be a slow, steady drip-feed of hype and info over the next year leading up to launch, but it feels good to finally get out of the speculation phase and get even a little bit of concrete info about what the next generation of consoles will be like.
SONY'S LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE, TOO
Not content to let Microsoft drop some announcements for their next platform, Sony also revealed some games that will be coming to the PlayStation 5. The biggest is Godfall, an action/RPG by Gearbox and Counterplay Games that certainly looks impressive from its trailer, but hasn't shown any real gameplay yet.
Given that Gearbox is strongly associated with the “Looter Shooter” genre, it might be cool to see a swords-n-sorcery spin on that base gameplay style. Then again, Godfall could be something totally different. We really don't know! Guys, you gotta give us more to go on, here!
MEANWHILE, IN NINTENDOLAND…
I can safely say that I did not expect a sequel announcement to a cult favorite JRPG to be part of The Game Awards 2019, but I was certainly glad to be proven wrong. Here's Bravely Default II, coming exclusively to the Nintendo Switch!
Yes, it's called Bravely Default II, even though there was already a followup called Bravely Second. That's Square-Enix naming conventions for you. Anyhow, it's really encouraging to see traditional JRPGs continue to do well on Nintendo platforms, and Nintendo seems more than happy to help promote them. Also, the soundtrack's gonna kick ass.
But that's not all! We also have a big new trailer for the upcoming No More Heroes III that showcases the all-new alien menace Travis Touchdown will be fighting against. This game's looking absolutely bonkers already, and I'm totally down for it.
No Smash announcement this time around, but… honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if a character from either of the above series made it in. Though, if Mai Shiranui was too saucy for Smash, I'm not sure how they'd handle implementing Travis and other material from No More Heroes…
WE'RE STILL NOT DONE WITH FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE TRAILERS
We're only three months away from what may be 2020's biggest game release. It still seems pretty unreal, doesn't it? Anyhow, here's the trailer from The Game Awards, which mostly speaks for itself. I'm sure we'll see at least one or two more before the game's finally in our hands.
OTHER INTERESTING GAME AWARDS NEWSBITS
Sucker Punch's Ghosts of Tsushima now has a Summer 2020 release date, making it likely the last big PS4 exclusive. I wouldn't put it past Sony to also be prepping an enhanced edition for the PS5 launch, though…
Also, the new Ori game has been pushed back a month. Eh, delays happen. March is getting uncomfortably crowded, however.
The globally popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering is getting an action/MMORPG spinoff in the amazingly boringly titled Magic: Legends, published by Perfect World and developed by Cryptic Studios. If you want to join an upcoming beta, you can sign up here!
Right, that's about everything from The Game Awards that sticks out in my mind. Well, there's that Fast and the Furious thing, I guess, but I think I'm suffering from F&F fatigue. But that's not the end of this week's news, oh no!
STATE OF PLAY OFFICIALLY CONFIRMS RESIDENT EVIL 3 REMAKE AND MORE
Surprisingly, the R3make (I am calling it this from now on and you all can't stop me) was actually not a Game Awards premiere as expected – instead, it debuted on Sony's State of Play stream earlier this week. Here's your first glimpse of Jill, Carlos, and Nemesis in shiny HD glory!
And hey, remember Babylon's Fall, the upcoming Square-Enix/PlatinumGames collaboration? We've got some actual gameplay footage of that, too! It seems to be running a bit behind schedule, which makes me wonder if it's also getting moved over the PS5.
Dreams has been in beta for what seems like an eternity, but Media Molecule's latest is finally made available to the masses on February 14th. Early impressions have been good, but I'm still a bit skeptical as to whether or not something this ambitious can really deliver. I guess I'll see soon enough!
Finally, you can be a terrible goose on PS4 and Xbox One next week. Untitled Goose Game isn't really my thing, but I totally get why it's popular. It's a unique game that holds a broad appeal to folks who might not be into the big AAA releases or niche Japanese stuff. Show it to your visiting relatives over the holidays and they'll probably dig it.
KAZUTAKA KODAKA IS MAKING A NEW WEIRD THING AND I'M 100% ONBOARD
For those who don't know, Kazutaka Kodaka is the brains behind the Dangan Ronpa series. He's taken up residence over at upstart studio Too Kyo Games, where he's been working on a bunch of projects like Death March Club. His latest game announcement is a surprising one, as he's taking his brand of storytelling into an entirely new dimension of flesh and blood. Real flesh and blood. As in, full-motion video.
This is Death Come True, an adventure game consisting of full-motion video segments. Main character Makoto Karaki wakes up in a hotel with no recollection of where he is or what's going on, only to hear that he's a wanted serial killer. He also has a time-leaping ability that can send him to the past should a terrible fate befall him. Sounds intriguing to me!
Full-motion video games have had something of a bad rap since the days of the Sega CD, but there's honestly a lot of interesting stuff that can be done with FMV, as we've seen with recent games like Control. As someone who has enjoyed Kodaka's previous work, I'm eager to hear more. Thankfully, it sounds like localization is already confirmed.
FIGHTING GAME NEWS ROUNDUP: LEROY SMITH. LEROY SMITH.
Leroy Smith. He's available in Tekken 7 now. And he's amazing. Like, seriously the coolest fighting game character design of the decade. He's got a cane. And a dog named Sugar. And a totally awesome intro video:
Leroy wasn't the only character to drop at last weekend's Tekken World Tour finals, though. We also have creepy sumo Ganryu trying to get that streaming money. Both he and Leroy are available now as part of Season Pass 3, or available piecemeal if you don't feel like owning every DLC fighter.
There's still one more fighter coming for Tekken 7 season 3, however. No, he's not an out-of-left-field guest character like Noctis or Negan, but he's definitely one scary dude. Meet Muay Thai fighter Fahkumram, who makes one hell of an entrance:
Fahkumram rounds out all of Tekken 7's season 3 content. Will there be a season 4? The game still seems to be pulling big numbers, so I wouldn't totally discount it. With next-gen consoles on the horizon, though, a lot of fighting games are in an odd place. We'll just have to see what Tekken series overlord Katsuhiro Harada wants to do, and as he's said many a time, don't ask him for shit.
Phew! Okay, that was a lot to discuss, and a whole lot of videos to embed. Now it's time to get back to what's important: lining up for half an hour to play Granblue Fantasy-themed carnival games. Yeeeeeehawwww!
