The Maw - 8th-13th January 2024

IT IS MONDAY. I am up far too early (I have an appointment to get to on the other side of London). FEED THE MAW.

Morning music? Well, the GTA 6 trailer has made everybody fall in love with Tom Petty, so here's another one of his tunes.

According to the WSJ (via VG247), Netflix are thinking about putting ads and in-app purchases in certain games.

Here's the full trailer for Final Fantasy 14's next expansion, Dawntrail.

Shotgun King developers Punkcake Delicieux are gearing up to reveal their next game soon, which was originally born out of one of the devs making a pixel art maths game to help their daughter get better at adding and multiplication. I'm intrigued! And the clip below looks absolutely wonderful.

As reported by law360, an unnamed former Activision exec has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the publisher, claiming that his role was terminated as part of a campaign "to get rid of 'old white guys'". Age discrimination is a shitty thing, of course, but we should probably compare and contrast the "white guys" bit with Activision's last Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Look-Back report - as of 2022, 73% of the company's workforce were male, and 61% of their US workforce were white.

Something we missed over Xmas: former BioWare scribe David Gaider and Obsidian's Josh Sawyer have been talking on Xitter about how and why 2D isometric RPGs took a tumble thanks to novelty-driven retailers and "industry wisdom".

Kick Bastards - Mirror's Edge meets "THIS IS SPARTA" - is out now and has the makings of a fun parkour platformer.

Medieval Machines Builder - First Siege is out this week and will make all your catapult construction dreams come true, possibly.

I'm sure Edwin won't mind if I borrow the Maw for a spot of hardwaring - AMD just announced the Radeon RX 7600 XT graphics card at CES. It's essentially an RX 7600 with slightly faster clock speeds and 16GB of VRAM instead of 8GB. Maybe a less underwhelming option for fast 1080p?

We've also got Nvidia's presentation starting in a few minutes, with some new GeForce RTX 40 Super GPUs likely on the agenda...

Factorio, often called the definitive factory sim, has received a new update which introduces "parametrised blueprints". There's a lot more through the jump, but basically, these are templates for structures such as train stations that can be reconfigured each time you build them, so you don't have to start from scratch, with minimal "unnecessary UI clutter". The update has attracted a certain amount of interest mostly thanks to the accompanying developer remark that "I always thought the feature is too hardcore to be included." I'm not sure it's any more hardcore than Factorio as a whole, but the breakdown of its creation is interesting.

Ugh, who's been liveblogging about graphics cards in here? The air is foul with it.

Edwin previously shared the latest trailer for Final Fantasy 14 expansion Dawntrail, and here's a dive into its two newly-revealed classes!

The Pictomancer is a magical artist with Splatoon and Scribblenauts vibes, while the second limited job after Blue Mage will indeed be Beastmaster, complete with a Pokémon-style monster-collecting mechanic. Exciting stuff!

The Samurai Champloo OST is finally (finally!) on Spotify, so please join me in bathing once again in the genius of Nujabes:

Final Fantasy 14's Fan Festival over the weekend brought forth plenty of reveals, including a new co-op mode that has more than a touch of Starfield to it.

Cosmic Exploration follows the likes of the Animal Crossing-like Island Sanctuary and Ishgardian Restoration as "expansive" lifestyle content for the MMO, seeing players work together to travel between planets and do... something. We'll find out exactly what ahead of new expansion Dawntrail!

This pixel-art Slay the Spire-like originally made to teach a dev’s daughter maths looks like the best edutainment game I never had. It's apparently out soon, so we can all tick off "get better at maths" from our new year resolutions.

Final Fantasy 14's next expansion is evoking the series' best entry in the reveal of its new cyberpunk city - and I'm holding out hope that it signals some more incoming love in the MMO as a result.

And no, I'm talking about Final Fantasy 7. (You get plenty!)

IT IS TUESDAY. All ceramic objects within 100 metres of the Maw have grown faces overnight. Cast the sacred smelling salts and feed it, FEED IT.

cpt_freakout says: Maybe you already mentioned this elsewhere but there's an interesting hybrid-perspective RPG that came out today called Archaelund, it's on EA though so I guess it still needs work, but it looks pretty polished already.

This does look intriguing! I'm not sure I necessarily need a blend of first-person exploration and top-down team tactics, but I'm curious to try it.

Unity are laying off approximately 1,800 people or around 25% of their workforce in a bid for long-term growth and profitability, as reported by Reuters.

Horror sensation Lethal Company has received an update that adds weekly challenge moons with leaderboards, each using the same random seed. "The point of this is less for competition and more to give us all a shared experience," notes the developer. "It will also give even the most seasoned employees a challenge; I have no idea what moons will be generated for the months to come, but some of them will surely be crazier than others."

You may have seen that OpenAI and Microsoft are being sued by the New York Times for usage of copyrighted material when "training" the former's ChatGPT language learning tools. As passed on by the Guardian, OpenAI have now told the UK's House of Lords that "it would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials". That's kind of common knowledge, I think, but I haven't seen it stated quite so bluntly, and certainly not by the provider of the software in question.

Fantasy Papers Please-alike Lil Guardsman has confirmed it's coming to PC on January 23rd - and here's a release date trailer to celebrate the occasion.

Lil Guardsman Release Date Trailer | Coming January 23 on Steam, Xbox, PS, Switch

Watch on YouTube

I had a good time with this during last summer's Next Fest, so here's hoping the final game lives up to its strong opening.

Game Informer has an interview on the making of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, in which there are thoughts about RPGs "incorporating more action elements" and how "that will be the trajectory of games overall", which is a commentary/prediction Final Fantasy developers have been making for years. I feel like we've all accepted at this stage that Final Fantasy isn't just about ATB, anymore.

Gamereactor's been chatting to Larian about, you guessed it, Baldur's Gate 3. Amongst other things, senior RPG designer Anna Guxens acknowledged the criticism some players had for the game's third act. "Especially Act 2 specifically has a very strong closing moment that just shuts down a whole era of it," she said. "and then starting off in Act 3 especially if you have so many hours running in the rest of the game can feel like a much different tone."

The 31st expansion for Star Trek Online, Both Worlds, launches on January 23rd. Apparently it continues the story of the "Borg King". Since when have the Borg had a king?

Good lord, Star Trek Online has a multiverse component, too. I haven't been following this game and it turns out they have pulled a Marvel on Star Trek. This is an outrage!

Show me the Champion of (Dead by Day) Light.

Here's a new trailer for the forthcoming Horizon: Forbidden West Complete Edition. It'll support NVIDIA DLSS 3, Reflex and DLAA.

Brian Cox narrating Tekken's story so far is a thing I didn't know I needed until today.

TEKKEN 8 – “Story So Far" with Brian Cox

Watch on YouTube

I completely missed that Industrial Annihilation had been announced. It's a proposed sequel to Planetary Annihilation that blends factory building into the RTS, and its developer is currently seeking investment. The Q2 2024 early access launch seems ambitious, as does talk of a campaign, but it's one to keep an eye on.

The Xbox Developer Direct on January 18th will offer an update on MachineGames in-development Indiana Jones game, which we haven't had sight of since it was announced back in 2021. There will also be updates on Obsidian's Avowed, Ninja Theory's Hellblade 2, and Oxide's Ara: History Untold.

Palworld, the Pokémonlike with extremely familiar creature designs and monster pals you can put to work crafting machineguns, now has a fixed release date: January 19th. There's a release date trailer to enjoy, too.

If you enjoyed Brian Cox explaining Tekken lore, I recommend this eleven-year-old series of videos in which a pre-Succession Cox pronounces whisky names for you:

Cult Of The Lamb's next update is referred to by players as the "sex update", which is a missed opportunity because they could have called it the egg update. It now has a release date: January 16th. Join my egg cult by chanting "Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!" until it comes out.

IT IS WEDNESDAY. Why do the chairs have mantis legs all of a sudden? Quick, catch them before they make it past the barricades. FEED THE MAW.

The "restructuring" of the games industry continues as Bloomberg reports that Twitch are cutting 35% of their staff - 500 people.

Valve have released their updated policy on games made with generative "AI" tools. The platform holder will require developers to post disclosures when they use such tools, and are launching a player reporting system for "illegal" AI content.

It seems that the latest Forza Motorsport had a rough launch on Steam - launched in October, it still has a Mostly Negative user review consensus. Turn 10 have blogged about how they're updating the game, addressing three of the major sore spots - progression, driver AI, and race regulations.

Some morning music.

Today is all about generative AI tools, it seems. As reported by Variety, the SAG-AFTRA union have announced a deal with Replica Studios that will allow the use of such tools to create digital voice replicas in videogames, given informed consent from the voice actor in question.

Here’s yer Helldivers 2 system requirements. The minimum to run the game on low settings is an Intel Core i7-4790K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 470, 8GB DDR4 and a 100GB HDD (7200rpm). Find more on the PS blog or check the image below.

Not a story, but the announcement of a "sex update" for Cult of the Lamb has a lot of people asking for sex updates for other games, including Minecraft. I fear I must ask you whether you want Mojang to put sex in Minecraft.

FakeFish and Undertow are planning a new multiplayer permadeath mode for sci-fi submarine game Barotrauma. They've penned a quick blog and would like seasoned Barotraummers to give feedback.

Actors' union SAG-AFTRA have struck a new deal with AI tech company Replica to create AI voice replicas of actors, including for use in video games. They claim that it represents a "fair" and "ethical" approach to the use of AI.

As you can imagine, the news has not gone down particularly well with the performers whose roles might be on the line as a result.

Fruit puzzler Suika Game managed to sneak in a viral wave of success at the end of last year, inspiring a slew of clones not confined to the Nintendo Switch. Amping up the scale somewhat is the upcoming Cosmic Collapse, a more forgiving take on the 2048 x Tetris gameplay that sees you slamming together planets - or blowing them up with missiles - to get the highest score possible. Which planet tastes most like watermelon anyway, do you reckon?

Minecraft Legends’ next update will be its last, nine months after launch. You'll have one last Lost Legend combat challenge to take on, plus a final free skin.

IT IS THURSDAY. All our Normality Detectors are reading "Quite Normal", but please remember that "Quite Normal" is the highest level of Normality they can measure. Better play it safe and FEED THE MAW.

For some reason Exmouth Town Council have emailed to say that they've signed up to the Plant Based Treaty. Er, good job Exmouth. Please be more selective with your PR bulletins in future.

Activision have detailed the next big round of additions to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone. The offerings include a new 6v6 Rio map and new game modes, multiplayer ranked play, a new Warlord and Champion's Quest for Zombies, and some time-limited events including one dedicated to anti-superhero show The Boys.

As pointed out by Gamesradar, Valve have sent a DMCA notice to the creators of a Team Fortress: Source 2 mod and also asked the creator of Portal 64 to take their work down, for fear of annoying Nintendo.

Diablo 4's Season 3 starts on January 23rd, as spotted by Destructoid.

As passed on by Alice0, Terry Cavanagh has released a new update for classic platformer VVVVVV, localising it in 21 new languages and bringing the game up to Steam Deck Verified status.

Well, this seems promisingly unpleasant.

Seems "Indiana Jones And The Great Circle" might be the title of the new Indy game from MachineGames, which is due to be officially presented at the Xbox Developer Direct on January 18th.

Remedy have trademarked "FBC: Firebreak", which could be one of their Control projects, or a piece of Alan Wake 2 DLC - "FBC" is presumably Federal Bureau of Control, and "firebreak" may refer to one of the supernatural boundaries within the Oldest House, as noted by Respawn First.

Here's a new dieselpunk city-builder from developer Core Engage and publisher Daedalic Entertainment. Frostpunk with trains instead of blizzards? It looks like it turns into a factory sim later on.

Midday music: an unplugged Kate Perry cover of Head Over Heels by Tears For Fears.

1970s-France-set detective story Chronique Des Silencieux now has a release date - January 29th.

Bamco have released a tiny Elden Ring PC patch updating its anti-cheating measures in line with a SteamOS operating system update.

Momodora is one of those forever underrated series, because it doesn't get attention from anyone other than hardcore action platformer players. Here's a chance to correct that: Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, the fifth game in the series, is out now.

I can't stop playing The Finals and its latest patch should make it a little less unfair for me, a mouse and keyboard player.

As Edwin mentioned earlier, VVVVVV, one of the best platformers of all time, is now Steam Deck verified. Its latest patch, the result of the game going open source back in 2021, also adds professional translations for 21 new languages.

Another Tribes 3 playtest will kick off sometime in the next few hours and run until the evening (EST) on Friday, January 12th, with a possibility it will be extended. This is according to an update on the game's Discord server. If you've previously received access to a beta via Steam you should have access once again - and the 'request access' button remains active on the Tribes 3: Rivals Steam page.

I didn't watch the Halo TV series - or, indeed, play any Halo game other than the first - but there's now a trailer for season season:

Update 8 for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor adds new accessibility features, including: additional "slow motion presets" which let you further adjust the speed of the game; a high contrast mode which desaturates the environment to highlight critical elements more; and an audio ping that allows players to echolocate "objects and interactable elements." There are patch notes on the official site.

IT IS FRIDAY. No notes. FEED THE MAW.

Old World's DLC pack Wonders And Dynasties is out now. It introduces eight new wonders of the world together with "30 brand new ways of starting your game with the addition of new Dynastic leaders – each empire has received new leaders and starting conditions."

Ubisoft have released a demo for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which Katharine really likes. Find it on Epic Games Store or Ubisoft Connect.

According to The Verge, Discord are laying off 17 per cent of their workforce in a bid to "sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization." If the report is accurate, these are Discord's largest ever layoffs.

As reported by IGN, Ubisoft have said they'll update Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown after release to replace a small amount of dialogue that was voiced using placeholder text-to-speech software.

There are reports going around that Capcom have added the Enigma Protector DRM to certain older games, which is supposedly blocking mods and causing issues with some systems. I've asked Capcom for comment.

Here's a release date for Sand Land, the action RPG based on the manga series from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama - April 26th 2024.

Here be thoughts from Naoki Yoshida of FF14 and FF16 fame about where Square Enix and Final Fantasy should go next, and who should lead the development of Final Fantasy 17.

A quick end-of-week write-up from me about Crystal Story: Dawn Of Dusk, one of the games I referenced in this week's intro.

Smite 2 has revealed its full sequel to the god-battling MOBA, promising flashier visuals, tweaked gameplay and a slew of other upgrades and changes. It won't replace the original, though, and you'll be rewarded for hopping over if you're an existing player. An alpha test is planned for this spring.

Team Fortress: Source 2, the fan-made remake of Team Fortress 2 in the Source 2 engine, has been cancelled after the ambitious three-year project ran into a double-whammy of recent development issues and a legal takedown from Valve.

Kumitantei: Old-School Slaughter looks like a promising indie successor to the darkly comic murder-mystery joys of visual novel series Danganronpa, mixing in card battles, social links and influences from eighties anime to boot.

Here's a breakdown of the hubbub surrounding Resident Evil Revelations on PC, which reportedly added DRM tool Enigma Protector in a recent update to the 11-year-old game - only for it to apparently tank performance and cause various issues, from crashes to stuttering, and be swiftly removed. Capcom aren't giving up on their war against mods and cheats, though, promising the update will return once the problems are fixed.

Overwatch 2's season 9 update, due next month, will aim to make teamwork easier but players less reliant upon it. Among the changes is the ability for non-Support players to use a self-healing passive, to reduce the reliance and pressure upon Support players.

Dominions 6 will release on January 17th, packing even more pretender gods and an improved UI into the already expansive fantasy 4X series.

Starfield's biggest patch so far focuses on bug fixes and graphical tweaks and will launch into beta on January 17th, with a full release planned for two weeks later.

I keep finding myself down Internet Archive rabbit holes, reading old blogs, old games journalism. Maybe sharing this here will help me close the tab: Joshuah Bearman's LA Weekly column in which he wrote with real verve and curiosity about video games while placing them in the context of everyday life. Here's an example of what I mean: The Moralgorithm, which pithily explores whether players in NBA Live 2005 have simulated morale, or whether players just project it upon the digital athletes.

This on Nintendogs is entertaining, too. Bearman is best known today for writing the 2007 Wired article that would later be adapted into the movie Argo.