Daily Briefing: Monday 3rd January

Samsung's new TV line will have built in Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, NFTs

Samsung made the...interesting announcement as part of CES 2022, outlining that their new 2022 range of Neo QLED televisions will ship with a new native Gaming Hub with support for cloud-based streaming and NFTs. The idea is to unite all gaming content in one dedicated location, meaning that the Gaming Hub will handle any console connections, livestreaming, and cloud gaming from places like Google Stadia or GeForce Now. As such, players will be able to pair controllers to their TV and play games without dedicated hardware, as well as other things from the Google Stadia marketing blurb.

• While the idea of being able to cloud game directly from an app within your TV sounds pretty neat as far as convenience-centric gaming innovations go, the integration of NFTs isn't so much. What was one of 2021's most controversial trends is well and truly alive in 2022, and Samsung have confirmed that new model owners will be able to purchase, display, and "trade" NFTs straight from their device. It's an incredibly accessible and convenient way to access one of the most pointless products in the history of human endeavour. Neat.

Elden Ring's graphics team felt extra pressure due to the PS5 Demon's Souls Remake

That's straight from Elden Ring director and general father of the Souls series Hidetaka Miyazaki who, speaking in the latest issue of Edge Magazine, suggested that the impact of Bluepoint's 2020 remake has had far-reaching effects for the Elden Ring team. When asked whether the Demon's Souls Remake's marvellous graphics provided any additional pressure for the Elden Ring team, Miyazaki replied "yes, I’m pretty sure our graphics-creation staff felt that pressure more than anyone else."

• But Miyazaki isn't particularly worried, because graphics aren't typically a priority for FromSoftware as a studio. He says “and not just with Elden Ring, but with all the games we make. Graphical fidelity is not something we put as the top priority. What we ask for on the graphics side depends on the systems and requirements of the game itself, and it takes less priority compared to the other elements of development.” Miyazaki also hasn't played the Demon's Souls Remake, but it's for about the most creator reason you can think of, “as you say, I was not directly involved in it, and I haven’t actually played the Demon’s remake. But this is because I just don’t enjoy playing the games that I’ve made in the past.”

Square Enix announce NFT/blockchain future, makes everyone mad

It already feels like we've all had enough NFT-centric chat to last us a lifetime, but Square Enix have now entered the fray with a pledge to devote more resources to the usual metaverse and blockchain gaming buzzwords. According to studio president Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix are also planning to issue their own NFTs at some mysterious point in the future. Excuse me while I polish the edge of my seat, Matsuda-san.

• Anyway, all of these statements came via the Square Enix president's open letter to kickstart the new year. Matsuda outlines that 2021 was merely "NFTs: Year One" and then proceeds to descent into the depths of marketing buzzwords - crypto, blockchain, metaverse, shared ownership, AI gaming etc. - before outlining that he believes  that 2022 will be the year when the controversial technology becomes "more commonplace among the general public." Matsuda's letter does get pretty weird in some parts, including an apparent belief that people like to treat gaming like a second job they have to pay for: “I realize that some people who “play to have fun” and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends, and understandably so. However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute,” by which I mean to help make the game more exciting. Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit." Yikes.