Author: Padraig Fahy

  • Gaming News – 26th July 2024

    Gaming News – 26th July 2024

    • SAG-AFTRA is on strike again, but the time, it is video game companies surrounding the Interactive Media Agreement. There are apparently not enough protections for voice actors when it comes to AI.
      • Companies involved are: Activision Productions Inc, Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc, Electronic Arts Productions Inc, Epic Games Inc, Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc, Take 2 Productions Inc, VoiceWorks Productions Inc and WB Games Inc.
    • PlayStation VR2 users will be able to use their headset on PC via a free Steam app on August 6th – Steam Page
    • Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered has been spotted at San Diego Comic-Con.
    • S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 has been delayed from September 5th until November 20th.
    • Blizzard’s World of Warcraft development team has voted to unionise and becomes the largest union within Microsoft.
    • Apex Legends is reversing is 2 x $10 Season Passes after an outcry from the community. They initially had planned to remove the ability to get the new Battle Pass via Apex Coins, forcing the players to pony up more money for overall less rewards.
    • Concord will not have a Battle Pass.
    • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is reportedly releasing on August 8 on Game Pass.
    • Multiversus has been data mined and references to Harry Potter, Barbie, and Adventure Time has been found.
    • A follow-up to a previous story, Humble Games is not closing but is being restructured.
    • Paradox CEO has admitted that they made several wrong calls following the cancellation of Life By You, their The Sims clone.
    • Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be released directly on Steam, doesn’t require the EA App, and will be Steam Deck compatible.
  • Gaming News – 23rd July 2024

    Gaming News – 23rd July 2024

    • IOC have unanimously voted for the Olympic Esports Games (with backing from the Saudi Government). FPS/Shooters will not be included. Likely games included: League of Legends, Rocket League, Street Fighter, Tekken, iRacing, NBA2K, EA Sports FC and mobile games.
    • Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble Bundle, has announced layoffs with the loss of 36 jobs.
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) is coming to Xbox Game Pass for Console/PC/Ultimate members tomorrow. (24th). Black Ops 6 will release on Game Pass Day 1 on October 25th.
    • While not confirmed, VALORANT‘s console release is set to be released on July 26th on Xbox and PS5.
    • Additionally, Xbox are looking to add new Game Pass tiers, including a Cloud-only subscription.
    • The “biggest update yet” for Helldivers 2 is coming next month titled: ‘Escalation of Freedom’ which includes: larger enemy outposts, new bots, returning bugs, fresh mission objectives and a new difficulty level: Combat Rating 10. Trailer
    • Capcom has announced that while 90% of the game sales are now digital, they will not stop producing physical games.
    • Ubisoft have released a statement regarding Assassin’s Creed Shadows around the discourse of Yasuke, the protagonist. Full statement
    • Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones is coming to Steam on August 22nd.
    • Warner Bros has acquired the studio behind MultiVersus Player First Games for an undisclosed sum ahead of Season 2 launching this week.
    • Bioware have revealed the voice cast for Dragon Age: The Veilguard
      • Rook’s played by Alex Jordan (CP2077, Gumball), Bryony Corrigan (Baldur’s Gate 3, Good Omens), Erika Ishii (Apex Legends, Destiny 2) and Jeff Berg (Battlefield 1 and NCIS)
        • Harding, played by Ali Hillis (Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy 13)
        • Davrin, played by Ike Amadi (Mass Effect 3, Halo 5, Spider-Man)
        • Bellara, played by Jee Young Han (Perry Mason, Unprisoned)
        • Neve, played by Jessica Clark (True Blood, Pocket Listing)
        • Taash, played by Jin Maley (Star Trek: Picard, Silicon Valley)
        • Emmrich, played by Nick Boraine (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Black Sails)
        • Manfred, voiced by Matthew Mercer (Critical Role, Fallout 4 and god knows what else lol)
        • Lucanis, voiced by Zach Mendez (Horizon Forbidden West, Married Alive)
        • Solas, played by Gareth David-Lloyd
        • Varric, played by Brian Bloom.
    • Heihachi Mishima is coming to Tekken 8
    • Terry Bogard gameplay trailer has been released for Street Fighter 6 – Trailer
  • Gaming News – 20th July 2024

    Gaming News – 20th July 2024

    • Paramount+ has cancelled the Halo TV show after 2 seasons.
    • Prime’s Fallout TV show has received 16 Emmy nominations. Additionally, Season 2 is ‘ahead of schedule’ according to the Head of TV at Prime.
    • Splitgate 2 has been announced for PC and consoles for next year.
    • Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap has been announced for Xbox consoles and PC.
    • The next Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza/Like a Dragon) game will be revealed at Tokyo Game Show.
    • Pacific Drive is to get a free update including photo mode, new car and garage content and some cosmetics. Paid cosmetics are available. They also plan on more free updates later this year.
    • You can now purchase Persona 5 hot sauce and coffee beans – Shop now
    • PowerWash Simulator has a new free-update Muckingham Files 3 which is available now. This is alongside the release of the paid-DLC, which collabs with SpongeBob SquarePants.
    • Days after Tenacious D ends, it has been leaked that Jack Black will play the role of Steve in the upcoming Minecraft film.
    • NetherRealm (Mortal Kombat ) has laid off 50 workers.
    • Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Resurgence has been delayed beyond March 2025.
    • Approximately less than 400 people work at Valve, according to recent court documents. 79 people work on Steam. 41 people work on hardware (Steam Deck), 181 game developers and 35 ‘admins’ (HR, Accounts, Sales, etc) – By contrast, EA has 13,700 employees.
  • Gaming News – 16th July 2024

    Gaming News – 16th July 2024

    • Dead By Daylight‘s 2v8 mode is coming on July 25th.
    • Baldur’s Gate 3‘s 7th update is coming, and it won’t be their last. This will include a split-screen mode, official mod support and tweaks to Honour Mode.
    • The Casting of Frank Stone‘s release date has announced. It will release on September 3rd for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
    • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has been leaked online. Saber Interactive and Focus Interactive has released a statement to avoid playing the unfinished build and to not the spoil the game for others.
    • To celebrate the closure of the Xbox 360 game store, Microsoft has released a ‘Blades’ background for the Xbox Series S|X.
    • New Games are being added to Xbox Game Pass.
      • Magical Delicacy – Console, Cloud and PC from today (16th July)
      • Flock – Console, Cloud and PC from today (16th July)
      • Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – Console, Cloud and PC from July 18th
      • Dungeons of Hinterberg – Console, Cloud and PC from July 18th
      • Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – Console, Cloud and PC from July 19th.
    • Resident Evil 7 on iOS has been purchased by less than 2000 people.
    • GTA+ is reportedly coming to Nintendo Switch with Red Dead Redemption appearing to have a Switch logo.
    • Before Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire were released, they had old names titled Pokémon Indigo and Pokémon Crimson
    • Early Access Beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be happening from August 30th to September 4th and then again from September 6th to the 9th.
    • The cover for EA Sports FC 25 will be released tomorrow (Wednesday)
    • Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone are set to have a WWE crossover as part of Season 5 on July 24th.
    • Nexon, the developers for The First Descendant will apparently change their icons in their game, which uses the same icon library that is used by Bungie for Destiny 2
    • Fallout 4 mod Fallout London will have a robot version of the Speaker of the House (of Commons) voiced by former Speaker John Bercow. Fallout London has also clarified that they are not using AI to voice any of their characters, and they indeed get John Bercow to voice the speaker.
    • Additionally, it has been confirmed that the Fallout London mod will only work on the GOG and Steam versions of Fallout 4. It will not work with the Epic Games version.
  • Gaming News – 11th July 2024

    Gaming News – 11th July 2024

    We’re getting there… hang tight

    • As of today, the Nintendo Switch has been Nintendo’s longest lasting console, with no new successor.
    • Planet Coaster 2 is releasing this autumn for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S|X – Trailer
    • As part of Amazon’s Prime Day even later this month, Prime Members will be able to get Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Chivalry 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider for free on July 16th for PC.
    • Shift Up, the developers of Stellar Blade had their IPO today in South Korea with them being the biggest gaming IPO in 3 years. On the first day of trading, their stock went up nearly 50% raising $320 million USD.
    • Riot Games has cancelled their Smash Bros-style fighter.
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month.
    • Arc System Works is working on a new 3D Double Dragon game.
    • Pocketpair, Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Aniplex have created a joint venture “Palworld Entertainment Inc.” which is responsible for developing the Palworld brand including licensing and merchandising outside of video games.
    • From July 10th (for new members) and September 12th (for existing members), Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Which covers PC, Console & Cloud) tier will increase from €14.99 per month to €17.99 per month.
      • PC Game Pass will be increased from €9.99 per month to €11.99 per month.
      • A new tier for Xbox console players, ‘Xbox Game Pass Standard’ (priced at €12.99 per month) which will have more games compared to ‘Core’. ‘Core’ and ‘Standard’ subscription will no longer have Day 1 releases of certain titles. (This change does not affect PC Game Pass)
    • Atlas Fallen is heading to Xbox Game Pass soon :tm:
    • Elden Ring sales in the UK have rose nearly 500% in June with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC being released.
    • Cloud Chamber (Bioshock) has approx 30 job openings, hinting to a new entry in the Bioshock series.
    • Piranha Bytes (Gothic, Elex) has been shut down by Embracer Group – 10,800 jobs in the gaming industry have been lost since January 2024.
    • GAME in the UK are to end in-store pre-orders.
  • WWE Money in the Bank 2024 & NXT Heatwave 2024 Predictions

    WWE Money in the Bank 2024 & NXT Heatwave 2024 Predictions

    It’s another big weekend for WWE as one of their flagship shows, Money in the Bank, takes place in Toronto, Canada tomorrow (Saturday 6th) with their developmental brand NXT showcasing their talent on NXT Heatwave the next night.

    Let’s predict.

    Money in the Bank

    • Drew McIntyre vs Carmelo Hayes vs LA Knight vs Chad Gable vs Jey Uso vs Andrade in 6-man ladder match for the Money in the Bank contract.
      • PREDICTION: Drew McIntyre. Hopefully he cashes it in on Damian tonight during his match.
    • Lyra Valkyria vs Tiffany Stratton vs IYO SKY vs Naomi vs Zoey Stark vs Chelsea Green in a 6-woman ladder match for the Money in the Bank contract.
      • PREDICTION: Harder one to call, but I would like to see Tiffany Stratton winning this. More than likely it would go back to IYO so she could cash in on Bayley and continue that feud.
    • Sami Zayn (C) vs Bron Breakker in a singles match for the Intercontinental Championship
      • PREDICTION: This is going to be a brutal match and I don’t like Sami is going to survive. Bron to win and become champion.
    • Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens & Randy Orton vs The Bloodline (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Jacob Fatu) in a 6-man tag team match.
      • PREDICTION: If Backlash was anything to go by, you know it’s going to be a messy affair. The Bloodline to win.
    • Damian Priest (C) vs Seth Rollins in a singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship
      • PREDICTION: As above, the match will finish with Drew cashing in MITB that he won earlier in the night, but it would likely be Seth that takes the pin to keep Damian looking strong even in defeat. Or you could go down the path of Damian losing the title, causing problems in The Judgement Day.

    NXT Heatwave

    • Karmen Petrovic & Arianna Grace vs Jacy Jayne vs Jaxmyn Nyx in a tag team match.
      • PREDICTION: Karmen & Arianna to win.
    • Nathan Frazier & Axiom (C) vs Chase U in a tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship
      • PREDICTION: Nathan Frazier & Axiom to win. There is no reason to Chase U to win the titles. They are a pretty good team that doesn’t need titles.
    • Kelani Jordan (C) vs Sol Ruca in a singles match for the NXT Women’s North American Championship
      • PREDICTION: While Kelani is a good first champ, she hasn’t broken through on ‘star power’ and I feel that someone like Sol who has already made a big impact. Sol to win.
    • Oba Femi (C) vs Wes Lee in a singles match for the NXT North American Championship
      • PREDICTION: It is great to see Wes Lee back in action again and to regain a title which is synonymous with him. Wes to regain the NXT North American Championship.
    • Roxanne Perez (C) vs Lola Vice in a singles match for the NXT Women’s Championship
      • PREDICTION: I am not a huge fan of either of these ladies, but I dislike Perez moreso. Lola Vice to win and become champion.
    • Trick Williams (C) vs Je’Von Evans vs Ethan Page vs Shawn Spears in a Fatal 4-way for the NXT Championship.
      • PREDICTION: This is going to be a good match from the get-go, and Trick, is not going to be walking out of Canada as champion. Ethan Page has really hit the ground running, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the title on him. Ethan Page to win and become champion.

    And those are my predictions.