Everything Everywhere Once A Week (1/27/2023)

It’s sort of grim that last week’s newsletter is already slightly out of date — not in the sense that any of the information in it is incorrect or that I wasn’t hard enough on the corporate apathy of human lives angle, but that there’s been a lot more layoffs since then so my already non-exhaustive list has several more notable exclusions. In that vein, I’ll dedicate this week’s newsletter to the life and death of Washington Post’s Launcher vertical, perhaps once the best evidence that mainstream news organizations are taking the giant gaming industry seriously as both a craft and an economic force. I myself have published writing with them before. They got unceremoniously dumped by the Washington Post this week days after Walking Thumb and owner Jeff Bezos visited the newspaper. A man that makes more money in minutes than any of the laid off journalists make in a year decided those people needed to lose their livelihoods. I guess a thing to think about the next time Amazon Prime raises its prices while simultaneously banning bathroom breaks.

Anyway, on that cheery note, let’s get into this past week’s news.

All Things Xbox

After essentially no-showing The Game Awards, Xbox seemed keenly aware that they were letting the communications pipeline with their audience wither slightly from disuse. Their not-E3 showing last June was strong and was itself relatively future-proof by promising that everything shown from Silksong to Starfield was coming out in the next year. The enthusiast audience doesn’t seem to believe that in and of itself is a license to skip big events, however, so Xbox produced a Developer Direct this week to give some updates and a new announcement to stop the incessant knocking at the proverbial door.

Was it successful? I suppose that depends a lot on the intention, but it shut some people up and accentuated the volume of a lot of other questions.

The key complaint about Xbox over the last generation and a half is that their first-party lineup has been barebones at the most generous and lackluster at the worst. There’s occasional bright spots, like Pentinment, but as bright as those spots are, they’re never intended to be comparisons to first-party efforts on Switch or PlayStation 5. Inevitably, however, they get compared to things like God of War Ragnarok and Breath of the Wild because there aren’t a lot of other comparison points, and it gives the impressions of a Microsoft on their back heels rather than one trying desperately to get games out.

This livestream didn’t, like, solve that. It was not a coming out party for the next few years of Xbox’s first-party software or a surprise debutante ball shocking everyone that actually 2023 is going to be absolutely chock-full of banger AAA titles every month or two. That was an unrealistic hope to begin with and no one, or at least no one with any sense of practicality, seriously thought that was possible. It did dive deep on a few games and showed off a few others.

I’m not sure what anyone wants me to say about Minecraft Legends or Forza Motorsport; they’re games that are going to serve their audiences well and the particular ways they do so will more or less be beyond me. Cars look good, I hope Minecraft Legends is fun and I am glad that series is doing well after creator Hatsune Miku retired.

I had to catch Redfall later, as we recorded an episode of Materia Possessions in the middle of it. Catching it later, though, Redfall looks good. I was going a bit more cynical about the game after the initial reveal, if only because CGI tone trailers don’t really do it for me anymore, but actually taking time out to explain the game and realizing that it will come with a built-in Game Pass audience probably helps a decent bit.

The only actual reveal of this Direct, which did not advertise itself as a reveal-heavy stream, was Hi-Fi Rush from Tango Gameworks. So let’s talk about that for a second.

The Devil May Cry’s Chord

Hi-Fi Rush was both announced and shadow dropped this week, which is usually a sign that the game was probably not worth a marketing budget. In this case, however, revealing and then letting people immediately play the game provided a sense of being utterly blitzed by something innovative, colorful, and self-assured in a way most games don’t really feel like these days.

The newest game from Tango and The Evil Within 2 Director John Johanas is sort of like Devil May Cry by way of Crypt of the Necrodancer, establishing an entire battle system around the beat of the world. Essentially, actions are performed on-beat and you’re rewarded for timing your button presses to the music, though not punished for failing to do so. This concept is aided by a great artstyle and fun writing.

Moreover, I think Hi-Fi Rush actually got me rethinking a firmly established idea in my head. I love modern Capcom games, but there’s no argument that the publisher is different from previous decades — most publishers are, really. The kind of Capcom that let developers experiment with weird shit like Viewtiful Joe mostly doesn’t exist anymore and is more tuned-in to their greatest hits of games like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, etc. This is not without exception, but it is more or less true.

The Capcom that birthed Clover, you would logically assume, became PlatinumGames because that’s where those actual people went. But the soul of that Capcom, the kind of cultural “We Can Make Anything From Horror Movies to Saturday Morning Cartoons” mentality has permeated a lot of different studios, with Tango obviously being one successor to that spirit. Hi-Fi Rush seems like it could have slotted perfectly right next to any of the Capcom 5 on the GameCube, which is a hell of a compliment.

Xbox Does Not Commit to E3

In an interview with IGN, Phil Spencer confirmed that another Xbox event will probably once again be held in the summer, but wouldn’t go as far as to say it would be related to E3.

But, when asked outright if Xbox would have a presence at E3, Spencer stopped short of any kind of confirmation one way or the other.

"Well, we pick our time for our showcase specifically so that we're there," he said. "E3 is just, to me, one of the seminal moments of gaming. I love the history of going down to LA, thousands of people there, getting to see great new things...getting to see people in the industry, the fan events that we've had. I definitely want that to continue."

It’s entirely possible that Spencer, who presumably by the summer will own several large chunks of the Entertainment Software Association, does not want to directly tie the show to E3 and make an unintentional show of force. They also might want to save those specific announcements for closer to the June show.

I personally have been hearing more and more consternation with E3 over the last year and would not be shocked if none of the major platform holders have E3-branded events. That doesn’t mean there won’t be shows in June, just that they’re distancing themselves from the Electronic Entertainment Expo itself. Until or unless the ESA specifically says the company you’re looking forward to seeing will be there, I would maybe hold off on buying a ticket to the convention center.

Dead Space Remake Seems Good

I’m not necessarily surprised, but it does seem like critics and fans alike agree that the Dead Space remake is a winner. I’m quite interested to see how well it sells, especially with The Callisto Protocol as a comparison point. The latter sold about two million copies before the end of the year, a number that publisher Krafton said fell short of their expectations of five million copies, so I’m curious if Dead Space can beat that.

Assuming it does do well, what does that mean for Motive and for the series going forward? Remakes of Dead Space 2 and the fairly-maligned Dead Space 3 seem obvious, but I think pitching a Dead Space 4 or something like that might be a better, smarter call. It seems especially logical from a publisher that is pursuing similar seq-boots in Mass Effect and Dragon Age at the moment.

We’ll see! For now, Motive should just be happy they’ve got a critically-acclaimed game out there, because the past few years have not been kind to them.

Kenny Omega and Rahul Kohli Are Cameos in Like A Dragon: Ishin

SEGA YOU HAVE MY MODEL DATA JUST PUT ME IN THE GAME

I’M BASICALLY A LESS ATTRACTIVE RAHUL KOHLI

Check Out This Trailer for Granblue Fantasy: Relink

The action-RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been very delayed over the years, but CyGames has finally released a new trailer for it and it looks exciting. You can check it out here.

I can never publicly share what I heard about the original version of this game, but I’ll always kind of wonder how that would have shaped up if it had ever come to fruition. I did see a gameplay demo of it behind closed doors once that was impressive, but who knows how much of that was really a game at that point.

Neil Druckmann Comments On Sequels for Uncharted and The Last of Us

We’ll close things out on this story for the week, because it speaks to how much cache Naughty Dog has been allowed with their series. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Naughty Dog chief Neil Druckmann commented on possible sequels to Uncharted and The Last of Us, stating:

“For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — Uncharted 4 was one of our best selling games — and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on. Likewise, with The Last of Us, it’s up to us whether we want to continue or not.”

There are probably a lot of people who don’t think Uncharted should end, but I see no better time for it to end than when the creators are explicitly done with the story. Similarly, I see a lot of wishing for a TLOU Part III, but I think the last thing any narrative-based series needs is an attempt to strain for longer than it needs to. (Though I am also of the belief that I maybe didn’t need a Part II, either.)

Other Things:

• Hell of a Materia Possessions this week, where we talk about Forspoken, Fire Emblem Engage, Season, and picked what games we are excited about for 2023.
• Check out Natalie’s review of Season
• I like The Last of Us TV show but I don't like the changes from spores to tendrils/hive mind. Feels like they just didn't want to put their actors in masks.
• I started Pikmin 3 and right when I was at the point where I was like “Oh finally the game is about to open up,” it ends? Like, fairly abruptly? Very oddly paced game.