News for the week of March 26th, 2021.
Ghost of Tsu-cinema.
While movie adaptations of video games have yet to set the world on fire, adapting a game that is largely cinematic in its own way can often help bridge the gap so many have failed to do thus far. One of the best games to come out of last year was Ghost of Tsushima, a truly fantastic game that borrowed a great deal of its tone and feel from Japanese cinema. Now, it appears that those inspirations have led to the title being adapted to the big screen by Chad Staheiski, the director of John Wick.
According to Deadline, Staheiski will be helming the picture with Alex Young, and Jason Spitz as producers through their production company, 87Eleven Entertainment. Sony Pictures and Sony’s PlayStation Productions with Sucker Punch Productions acting as executive producers as well.
Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions had the following to add:
“We’re excited to be partnering with Chad and 87Eleven Entertainment, to bring their vision of Jin’s story to the big screen. We love working with creative partners like Chad, who has a passion for our games, ensuring we can create rich adaptations that will excite our fans and new audiences,”.
Now, here is hoping they are smart enough to cast Daisuke Tsuji in the role, as he is not only the voice of the character but the face as well.
Back 4 Blood delayed.
Left 4 Dead has often been duplicated, but when members of the original team formed a development studio and started work on their spiritual successor to Valve’s popular, and seemingly neglected shooter, many took notice. Back 4 Blood was expected to release in the near future but the team put out a statement that that isn’t the case anymore, pushing the game to October of this year.
Alt Text has been added. pic.twitter.com/WjXPIUTd2y
— Back 4 Blood (@back4blood) March 25, 2021
Taking to Twitter, Turtle Rock Studios simply mentions they need more time to work on the game. Now, obviously, people have been having a field day with insulting the team, or rather, any development studio that is delaying a game this year. This isn’t the first game of the year to see a delay, and it likely won’t be the last either, with several other delays likely to come. The team also mentioned that an Open Beta will come this summer, allowing players another chance to try out the game before it releases this fall/winter.
Microsoft to release two new controllers this spring.
Microsoft announced that Electric Volt and Daystrike camo will be the next two controllers to release for the Series X/S and Xbox One. April 27th will be the release date for the Electric Volt, with the Daystrike Camo to release shortly after on May 4th. The bright neon green Electric Volt will retail for $64.99 USD, except that the Daystrike Camo option will be $5 USD more, for some reason.
Now, fans have been eagerly waiting for the Design Labs workshop on Microsoft’s website to open back up, allowing complete customization on their controllers, which was shut down to start work on transitioning towards the Series X/S models. But, so far, we haven’t heard on when this is happening, leaving many stranded to buy these new models if they want new controllers for their new next-gen console.
Final Fantasy XI Mobile release has been canceled.
Announced a while ago, and largely forgotten, the mobile port of Final Fantasy XI has now since been canceled. FF11 was Square’s first attempt at an MMORPG, and while I personally enjoyed the hell out of it, playing it on the PS2 with the HDD addon, It was also a game that was brutally hard to play on your own. Bringing it to mobile would have been an interesting take on it, but those dreams have now since been dashed.
According to SquareEnix via Gematsu, the port of the MMORPG wasn’t living up to their standards, and have opted to end development on it and focus resources elsewhere. With the publisher just announcing what feels like 90 FF7 projects in the works, it’s easily a better call to cut their losses and focus on those. Thankfully, Nexon, the team handling the port, has moved on to other projects, ensuring that no layoffs have hit the studio.
Microsoft to buy Discord and rebrand Xbox Live.
Rumblings have hit the internet regarding a possible sale of Discord to Microsoft, a company that several others such as Amazon and Epic have been trying to also procure. While Microsoft has been acquiring plenty of studios lately, in an effort to beef up its first-party offerings, such as buying the entirely of Bethesda, this latest purchase is looking to build up its communications systems via Windows PC and Xbox.
The Deal, which is a steep 10 Billion, would see Microsoft adapt Discord to its many tech offerings, having a united global communications system that is robust in its offerings, and many use Discord alongside their PC gaming, opting for a better and more fleshed out experience as a whole. Currently, much of this is all talk, but this acquisition would be instrumental in what it could do for gaming communities and replacing several key systems already in place at Microsoft.
To add, Microsoft is also set to rebrand Xbox Live as Xbox Network, a move that would still keep the Xbox Live Gold name for its Xbox Service. Reports surfaced the prior week about this, with screenshots showing the Xbox Network name. Since then, these reports have been confirmed, with Microsoft themselves stating that this change is in fact true.
A statement was made to Game Informer just days ago from a Microsoft spokesperson:
"'Xbox network' refers to the underlying Xbox online service, which was updated in the Microsoft Services Agreement. The update from 'Xbox Live' to 'Xbox network' is intended to distinguish the underlying service from Xbox Live Gold memberships."
Changing a well-known name has its pro’s and con’s, but Xbox Live has been a staple name in the gaming industry, one that came with offering the best online gaming infrastructure of the time, first introduced in 2002 along with Halo 2 being a massive draw for the service. While it’s unclear exactly what the major changes will be to the service with this name change, Microsoft has clearly shown over the course the past few years that Xbox is a brand, not a platform, bringing the bulk of its titles and services to consoles, PC’s, tablets, and phones, via Game Pass and XCloud.
Now, the name Xbox Live isn’t fully going away, oddly enough, as Xbox Live Gold will still be the referenced name when talking about its premium online service, where Games with Gold is still going strong, despite the vastly better deal of what Game Pass offers. While there were rumors of Xbox Live going free, those were quickly muted as Microsoft stated that Xbox Live isn’t going anywhere.
Well, that’s all the news I could fit into this feature this week. Which of these topics interested you the most? Or was there something else that caught your eye, comment below!