Happy Independence Day! While we are going through some troubling times here in the U.S.A I think it is important to recognize the history of this great nation and celebrate its founding. Before we all head out for a weekend of BBQ, Fireworks, and swimming pools, let's recap some of the interesting game news from the last week.
Curse of the Moon 2 Launches Next Week
Curse of the Moon 2, the retro action game announced by Koji Igarashi last week, already has a second trailer and a release date! Thankfully we won't have to wait long for this awesome looking throwback to hit Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One, as the game will be available for download on July 10th. This trailer also shows off the games new coop mode, which is something I am definitely interested to try out. Check out the new trailer below and look forward to our impressions in the weeks to come.
Next-Gen Games Getting a Price Hike?
With the announcement this week of the 'Mamba Forever' versions of NBA2K21, 2K Sports also dropped a next-gen bombshell about game pricing. While some publishers like CD Projekt Red and EA have announced that their cross generational games will allow owners of the current-gen game to upgrade for free to the next-gen version 2K is taking a different approach. 2K has announced that the next-gen version of NBA2K21 will cost $69.99, which is a $10 hike over the standard price of $59.99 that has been in place for the last two console generations. Also, there is no upgrade window like we have seen from other publishers, which mean that if you would like to grab the current-gen version and then upgrade to next-gen later you will either have to purchase the game a second time or you will need to purchase the 'Mamba-Forever' version for $99.99 which will give you access to the game on both generations of hardware. For more details on the specifics of this check out this article on Polygon
While it isn't clear if this will be an industry wide move for next-gen games I wouldn't be surprised. Game budgets continue to grow and the technical requirements for next-gen are only going to increase that problem. Bumping up the standard pricing for new games to $70 will help offset that additional cost, and I imagine more and more publishers will give this a try. If this does start to look like a trend across the industry you may want to think twice about purchasing a digital only console. Physical games still continue to see much better discounts than digital titles after launch and if the prices are going to start higher those discounts may be more important than ever.
Ghost of Tsushima - A Storm is Coming Trailer
Ghost of Tsushima continues to impress with each new reveal, and this new story trailer is no exception. I am very interested to see what Sucker Punch has been able to do with the long development cycle for this game. By all accounts it looks fantastic, and thankfully we won't have to wait much longer to find out for ourselves. Ghost of Tsushima will be released on July 17 for PS4.
Fallout Getting a TV Series?
As reported by Eurogamer, Amazon has teased a new Fallout TV Series for their Prime Video service. Industry news says that this project is being headed up by the creators of the HBO hit Westworld and that it will dive in to the dark comedy and off-beat storylines of the game world.
#PleaseStandBy. @Fallout @BethesdaStudios #KilterFilms pic.twitter.com/IEDr7AkVvD
— Amazon Studios (@AmazonStudios) July 2, 2020
For more details check out this article at Eurogamer
Crysis Remastered Trailer Leaks and the Game Gets Delayed
Early this week Crytek started a tease for the first trailer of Crysis Remastered, an upgrade of the legendary Crysis with the latest graphics tech that would be coming to current-gen consoles. This is a game that has been highly anticipated by fans for years and something that I was personally excited for as I never had a PC that 'could run Crysis'. After the tease the upcoming trailer leaked, as they tend to do these days, and basically all hell broke loose.
WARNING - Late game story elements of Crysis are revealed in this trailer
It didn't take fans long to start complaining that, based on the trailer, Crysis Remastered looked worse than the original Crysis! Honestly, I don't see the issue but I am not as familiar with the original version. Interestingly the outcry from fans was so negative that within a day of the leak Crytek announced that they would be delaying the game to improve its quality and visuals. Hopefully Crytek can make some upgrades to the game and release it in a condition that will please the fans. I am excited to give it a try and will definitely check it out on release.
Blackjack Masters Leaderboards Update
The latest update for Blackjack Masters launched this week on iOS and should be coming soon for Android and Kindle Fire Tablets. It includes leaderboards so you can compare your Blackjack skills against other players from around the world and it allows you to link up with your friends so you can compete with someone a little closer to home as well.
You can grab Blackjack Masters for iPhone and iPad by tapping here. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for stopping by this week. I hope everyone has a fun and safe July 4th weekend and that you'll swing by again next week for another round of gaming news updates.