Andre's Gaming Odds & Ends Issue #1
The Last of Us HBO Series, Super Mario Bros animated movie, Twitch Hacked, Playstation Showcase & Nintendo Direct thoughts, Andre's Game Hype Rankings, Diablo 2: Resurrected Mini-Review
Welcome to the First Issue of Andre’s Gaming Odds & Ends!
This is a reminder that anything below that is underlined is a clickable link.
Since this is a monthly/bi-monthly newsletter series, expect a few more than usual embedded media links. This includes both YouTube videos and embedded tweets.
ENJOY!
Video Game News & Opinions
As a brief introduction of what to expect in this section, expect this to be more of a ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) type news section. If you follow video game news religiously, you’re likely just here for my opinion because a lot of news items here are somewhat old. If you don’t follow gaming news, this section is probably going to have new information for you. This applies to this week’s issue and all future issues.
I am not breaking new news here, just giving my thoughts and opinions on already reported news.
“The Last of Us” HBO Series First Look
Pedro Pascal, who is playing Joel in The Last of Us HBO Series, shared this first look picture on his twitter page.
I’m looking forward to this HBO adaptation of The Last of Us (2013). It will be very interesting to see what parts of the video game version they rewrite and keep the same. I, like many, hold The Last of Us in very high regard in terms of storytelling. I’m most interested to see how the beginning of the story is filmed and shown. In my opinion, The Last of Us has the best beginning AND ending to any video game story I’ve ever played. Now we wait and see.
Nintendo Finally Enables Bluetooth for the Nintendo Switch
I’m generally not down with a lot of the criticism Nintendo receives, but this is an exception. Nintendo is known for being very late to the game with modern technology, except this is not that. As you can read in the above tweet, Bluetooth was enabled via a patch update, not hardware update! This means that the Bluetooth technology already existed since the release of the Switch in March 2017 and they never enabled it! ::facepalm::
Netflix Acquires Gaming Studio
On September 28, Netflix announced their acquisition of indie game studio developer Night School Studio, developers of Oxenfree.
Below is an excerpt from the official statement by Night School Studio:
Over the last few months, we’ve had countless thoughtful chats about our respective visions for where we see games, storytelling, and our collective opportunity for positive impact somewhere in the middle.
Night School wants to stretch our narrative and design aspirations across distinctive, original games with heart. Netflix gives film, TV, and now game makers an unprecedented canvas to create and deliver excellent entertainment to millions of people. Our explorations in narrative gameplay and Netflix’s track record of supporting diverse storytellers was such a natural pairing. It felt like both teams came to this conclusion instinctively…
-Sean Krankel, Night School Studio
Andre’s Thoughts:
This is somewhat big news for the gaming industry, but it’s still unclear if Netflix will launch their own gaming service. Night School Studio developed Oxenfree, an indie game I haven’t played yet, but I do have it in my gaming library.
Super Mario Bros. Animated Movie Announced
On September 23rd, Nintendo announced the development of a Super Mario Bros. animated movie set to be released on December 21, 2022 in the United States. A trailer wasn’t shown, but the cast list was announced.
I don’t have a strong opinion on this, but it can’t be that much worse than the 1993 live-action movie. Jack Black as Bowser is probably the best casting choice on paper, but the other choices may work out also. We’ll have to wait and see.
Twitch Hacked
On October 6, the entirety of Twitch was hacked and released as a torrent to the public on 4chan.
VideoGamesChronicle.com first reported:
The leaked Twitch data reportedly includes:
The entirety of Twitch’s source code with commit history “going back to its early beginnings”
Creator payout reports from 2019
Mobile, desktop and console Twitch clients
Proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch
“Every other property that Twitch owns” including IGDB and CurseForge
An unreleased Steam competitor, codenamed Vapor, from Amazon Game Studios
Twitch internal ‘red teaming’ tools (designed to improve security by having staff pretend to be hackers)
Andre’s Thoughts:
This hack rocked the Twitch world last week because all of the financial earnings for every streamer are now out in the open. It’s still unclear how this hack happened, but it’s crazy that a company the size of Twitch, owned by Amazon, would have this major security flaw. I immediately changed the passwords to all of my Twitch accounts just in case. The hacker has teased that only a little bit was released and more will be released later.
The most shocking part of the leak to me is the revelation that Twitch is trying to create a Steam competitor.
This is certainly a story to watch moving forward.
Events & Showcases Thoughts
Playstation Showcase September 9, 2021
Up until this showcase, I never felt all that compelled to want a Playstation 5, but this presentation showed a lot of good games, despite that some of them will be released on both Playstation 5 and PC. The highlight of the showcase for me was God Of War Ragnarok (2022), as this may be the Playstation 5 mover for me eventually. The other major highlights for me were the teasers and announcements of Knights of the Old Republic Remake (TBA), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023) Marvel’s Wolverine (TBA), Project Eve (TBA), Forspoken (2022), and Tchia (2022). This was a much needed good showing from Sony because Playstation 5 currently has very minimal momentum or incentive for a gamer to want to go through the trouble to buy one right now. Most of the games shown wont be released in 2021, but Sony is looking at a potentially good 2022.
Nintendo Direct September 23, 2021
A lot of people always give Nintendo grief, but they have a brand, they stick to it, and that’s what people should expect. This was a decent Nintendo Direct, and gave me more reasons to want to buy a Nintendo Switch. The major highlight for me was Bayonetta 3 (2022), a game that was teased in December 2017 with no follow ups afterwards. For the past few years I watched every Nintendo Direct wondering when this game would be talked about again. The other major highlight is a new Kirby game, Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Spring 2022). Although I am not a Switch owner or Super Mario Party (Switch) owner, I was disappointed that they announced Mario Party Superstars, which has enough new content to justify a DLC, not a full brand new game. Some other games they announced I’m interested in are Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Wars (October 28), Castlevania Advance Collection (OUT NOW), and Actraiser Renaissance (OUT NOW). Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, also announced the Super Marios Bros. animated movie (discussed above).
Andre’s Game Hype Rankings (October 2021)
I came up with the concept of Game Hype Rankings as a way to create an evolving wishlist, but also to measure how excitement for games can change over time. There are always examples of games that announce certain features than remove them. thus lowering interest in that game.
The list below will be updated every month with released games being removed and replaced as every month passes by. (The links in the list are to the game’s Steam store pages.)
Since this is the first edition of my hype rankings in the newsletter, I’ll go through each game with a brief reason why I have it on my list. Age of Empires IV (#1) has risen in my ranks to number #1, despite my issues with its zoom levels and user interface because I’m really excited about the single player campaigns. I’ve been a fan of the franchise for a very long time and the campaigns are always the best. Harold Halibut (#2) is a story-driven stop-motion animated game with intriguing voice acting set in a large spaceship in an alien ocean. The trailer is just incredible and it was also part of the Tribeca Games Festival. Hard not to get hyped for this one. Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms (#3) is a top-down isometric ARPG that mixes Diablo-style combat with CRPG storytelling. Every new update gets me more interested due to the size of the game, as well as the combat that is supposed to be difficult. I’m most interested in the customization and world exploration. Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo (#4) is a game loosely based on the famous movie that is supposed to be a psychological thriller. I’m very interested to see how the storytelling is in this one, which is why it’s near the top of my list. Chinatown Detective Agency (#5) is a game I just recently played the demo of during the Steam Next Fest and it really surprised me. The voice acting plus the gameplay methods and mechanics put this game relatively high on my list.
Loot River (#6) is a game I immediately became interested in due to the mechanic of moving platforms like Tetris pieces to avoid enemies, while also moving and attacking with your character. Jack Move (#7) is a JRPG set in a cyberpunk world that I played the demo of in 2020. Although it has the traditional turn-based combat of a JRPG, it has a unique aesthetic and a good soundtrack that makes it stand out. The Legend of Tianding (#8) is a side-scrolling Kung Fu combat game featuring the legendary Taiwanese folk hero, Liao Tianding. I played the demo and the game has fun combat, plus very beautiful art direction and visual storytelling. Stray (#9) is a game where you play as a cat in a cyberpunk world. You see the world and interact as a cat and the game just looks very beautiful, including of course a nicely animated cat. I’m looking forward to reading more about this game. Tchia (#10) finishes my list because it’s just a very charming premise of a game of a girl on an island transforming into animals and also playing her ukulele.
Mini-Review
Diablo 2: Resurrected (PC)
As a huge Diablo 2 fan, I was really excited to play this, but a lot of things made this experience a lot less enjoyable. Like many games, the day of launch may cause technical issues due minor bugs, but Diablo 2: Resurrected was not like any other game. Unfortunately, it was hard to have ‘fun’ having to be constantly worried that my game will crash to desktop, which happened at least ten times. Diablo 2: Resurrected was my #1 hyped game for 2021, but unfortunately it did not live up to what I wanted. I was extremely excited that a new generation would get the chance to play this and experience one of, if not the best, ARPG of all-time. To my dismay, the console experience differs greatly from the PC experience due to the removal of chat and custom game names. Yes, I’m playing the PC version, but the game was never promoted initially as a game with segregated features between PC and consoles until near the end of the beta in August. Not only that, but the console versions don’t even run well either. So much for letting a new generation enjoy the Diablo 2 experience on all platforms.
Aside from the above disappointment, the game generally feels like the PC experience it needs to be. It did seem sometimes that the new modern widescreen resolution messed with enemies, causing enemies near the end of the screen to stand still more often than they should. The shared stash is my biggest source of enjoyment because I can do a lot of item hording and transferring items to other characters to make the leveling more fun. I beat normal difficulty so far, but I don’t feel that compelled to play further until ladder is added. Once ladder is added I will try hardcore and not care much if I die and lose my character. All in all, the PC version is the only version you bother playing to get the true Diablo 2 experience.
Trailer Impressions
God of War Ragnarok
God Of War Ragnarok - PlayStation Showcase 2021 Reveal Trailer | PS5
I was not that big of a fan of God of War (2018), but God of War Ragnarok looks like it may be a step up in terms of action and combat. One of the most important things we see in this trailer is the Norse version of Thor. I feel like this could be a return to God of War’s franchise roots with great boss battles, something that was sorely missing in God of War (2018). The moment in the trailer with the dinosaur-like creature also has me excited, as well as the other enemies shown. I’m looking forward to getting more details.
Release Date: 2022
Bayonetta 3
First Look at Bayonetta 3 Gameplay – Nintendo Switch
This gameplay trailer of Bayonetta 3 shows huge battle scenes that look extremely fun. Most of all, the game looks to run fine from a performance point of view. Believe it or not, I haven’t played much more than a little bit of the first Bayonetta on Playstation 3 because it was boring in the beginning, but this action-packed combo style of fighting looks it will be incredibly engaging and interesting for the player. Maybe one of these days I will try the first game again. I can’t wait to learn more about this one.
Release Date: 2022
Thanks for reading! Andre’s Gaming Odds & Ends newsletter will likely be published in sporadic intervals because I don’t want to send it unless I have enough to talk about. This newsletter will likely go through changes over time to reflect how many opinions I have to get off my chest. This is that kind of newsletter series.
If you like indie games, don’t forget to subscribe and confirm to receive Andre’s Indie Game Chosen Ones in your inbox every week.-Andre, Editor-in-Chief of GameReviewPad
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