Hi, I’m Jeff and welcome to the The Geek Dojo Weekly for the week of May 13th 2021! This is a weekly video games newsletter featuring my top stories of the week.
I’m still experimenting with how I want this set up, so this week will feature 3 stories, plus what I’m playing/impressions.
PS5s are still hard to get? The Yakuza series will be turn-based going forward? A new Donkey Kong game is in the works? Let’s get into the news!
Low stock and scalpers are making it very hard for others to get their hands on the PS5 and it looks like things won’t get better any time soon. Sony Group Corp. recently told an analyst group that the shortage is expected to last into 2022. The company also mentioned that this issue has been a stress point for sales targets.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said, “I don’t think demand is calming down this year and even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn’t be able to catch up with demand.”
This is very unfortunate as I would love to see everyone who wants one actually get their hands on a PS5 console. I was fortunate enough to get one late last year and was hoping supply would be better by the Summer time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that has made things a lot more difficult especially with the semiconductor shortage. With vaccines out in the wild, we can only hope things will improve.
Hi, I’m Jeff and welcome to the The Geek Dojo Weekly for the week of April 8th 2021! This is a weekly video games newsletter featuring my top 5 stories of the week.
Monster Hunter Rise prints money, E3 is all online, 99 Pac-Men appear out of thin air? That’s a lot of Pac-Men. I assume that’s the plural of Pac-Man, but anyways let’s get into the news!
Hi, I’m Jeff and welcome to the The Geek Dojo Weekly for the week of March 4th 2021! This is a weekly video games newsletter featuring my top 5 stories of the week.
Fall Guys gets bought out? Yuffie is in Final Fantasy VII Remake? Will we get the greatest Pokemon game of all time, next year? We’ll have to wait to find out. Let’s get into the news!
The studio behind 2020’s smash hit, Fall Guys, is being acquired by Epic games. Epic jumped out ahead to assure nothing about Fall Guys will change by stating, “For Fall Guys fans, your gameplay isn’t changing and Epic will continue to invest in making the game a great experience for players across platforms. Your favorite colorful beans will still stumble through the chaos on PC, PlayStation, and soon Nintendo Switch and Xbox. Check out this blog post for answers to all your Fall Guys questions.”
Both parties seem to be very excited about this move as they share the same goals. Tonic Games CEO Dave Bailey feels like they have found a new home and they share a mission to “build and support games that have a positive impact, empower others and stand the test of time and we couldn’t be more excited to be joining forces with their team.” Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeny also hones in on those same goals, “It’s no secret that Epic is invested in building the metaverse and Tonic Games shares this goal. As Epic works to build this virtual future, we need great creative talent who know how to build powerful games, content and experiences.”
It will be interesting to see where Epic will go from here and if Fall Guys eventually goes free to play. Other than being the creators of the Unreal Engine, Fortnite battle royale has been Epic’s real stepping stone into the gaming space. With that they have been able to build by acquiring Psyonix, the team behind Rocket League, and now Tonic Games Group. Rocket League eventually went free to play under the Epic umbrella, so it could be safe to assume Fall Guys will do the same. Either way, this is a huge get for Epic and the sky is the limit for Tonic Games Group.
Last week we got a brand new Pokemon Presents presentation and they showed off some really cool games. First we were greeted with a new gameplay trailer for New Pokemon Snap showing off the world, new characters to the Pokemon universe, and some of the Pokemon you will run into on your adventure. New Pokemon snap is slated for an April 30th, 2021 release.
Next we were greeted with the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes, titled: Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. This remake will not be handled by Game Freak themselves, instead Pokemon BD/SP will be handled by ILCA Inc. Their previous work includes Pokemon Home and they have also done support for many other games like NieR: Automata, Dragon Quest XI, and Yakuza 0 to name a few. This great news to see Game Freak out sourcing content. They are still a relatively small studio, so they can’t juggle too many projects at once. Also, good on ILCA for securing a lead big project like this. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are scheduled for a late 2021 release.
Lastly, we got to see what Game Freak has been working on and it is a treat. Pokemon Legends Arceus is a brand new open world action RPG Pokemon game! It takes place in the very early days of the Sinnoh region. The trailer shows off a little bit of early gameplay with your character running around the world, catching Pokemon, and a few battles. There is even a dodge roll mechanic! This was easily the most exciting part of the presentation and I cannot wait to see more. Pokemon Legends Arceus is expected to arrive early 2022.
Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and a Couple of New Mobile Games
Our wishes have been granted! Final Fantasy VII Remake will get PS5 updates with it’s next iteration, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. The PS5 version will bring visual improvements, photo mode, as well as new story content featuring Yuffie. Owners of the PS4 version will be able to upgrade for free, but the Yuffie episode will be sold separately. Final Fantasy VII Remake is also now available in March’s PS Plus offering. That version is not eligible for the PS5 upgrade. Intergrade launches June 10th 2021.
Square Enix also announced a couple of new mobile games. Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis and Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
Square Enix to have Multiple Remakes in the Works with Forever Entertainment
Square Enix has recruited Forever Entertainment to publish multiple remakes on the studio’s classic IPs. Forever Entertainment has published the recent Panzer Dragoon remake and will also be publishing Panzer Dragoon 2. At this time, there is no information on what IP Forever Entertainment will be working on. Square has an incredible catalog of games. Fingers crossed it’s Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger.
And to round out The Geek Dojo Weekly this week, turns our Monster Hunter Rise will not be exclusive to just the Switch as the game will appear on the PC in 2022 as well. The game is still in development, according to the producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and director Yasunori Ichinose.
On today's festive episode (which features Hashim in the best mood he's possibly ever been in), the guys talk about their initial impressions of Guilty Gear -Strive-, and the first part of the Summer Games Fest for 2021, which includes (but not limited to): Elden Ring, Tiny Tina's Wonderland, Battlefield 2042, the Ubisoft Forward, Devolver Digital, and more! The guys also talk about Overwatch finally getting crossplay, and Back 4 Blood rumors.
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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theskilltree/message
And is coming very soon! EA released a trailer detailing everything included in the collection:
Mass Effect 1,2, and 3 are included
Remastered in 4K
Gameplay and quality of life improvements
All previous DLC included
Available May 14, 2021
I am ecstatic about this news. The Mass Effect trilogy is one of my all time favorites and I can’t wait to experience it again in all of it’s 4K glory. The trailer gave me goosebumps, so be sure to check it out. Game Informer will have exclusive content on the collection all month.
Google will be shutting down their internal Stadia studios and focusing on their partners instead. This is a pretty shocking move considering they brought in talent, such as former Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond, to lead the charge. Google will offer their Stadia tech to other publishers in hopes other companies will use the streaming service. Stadia head of operations, Phil Harrison, will work on pursuing new partnerships.
I believe the Stadia platform is practically on life support, at this time. One thing they should strongly consider is switching to a subscription based service. Paying for the service and games separetely is not a good way to run this. Not many people will want to buy a $50-$60 game on a streaming service when they can actually own it on another console.
Just Go Ahead and Forget About Anything Bayonetta 3 For a While
Last week I reported on possible Bayonetta 3 news this year. Looks like we may need to reel those expectations back in a bit. According to a recent interview with VGC, Hideki Kamiya joked we should, “forget about Bayonetta 3,” for now.
“I understand it’s driving the fans crazy! In light of that, my suggestion would be that maybe we should all reset and forget about Bayonetta 3. Then when something finally does happen, it will be a nice surprise, won’t it?”
Kamiya also mentions that it is still early in the year so it may be still be possible we get news about it this year. Just don’t get your hopes up too high.
EA Sports College Football is in the very early stages of development. EA is working with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) to obtain the use of over 100 FBS teams, stadiums, mascots, and uniforms. Player likeness or real names will not be used. With or without the real players names, this is great news for the fans of the series.
Gearbox Software, the developer of Borderlands, will be joining Embracer Group as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Randy Pitchford will remain as Gearbox’s boss after the merger.
“Lars [Wingefors]’s vision of Embracer as an allied partner group committed to fuelling and accelerating the ambitions of a series of decentralized, successful entrepreneurial companies while magnifying the collective value and advantages of diversification across the entire group is the most brilliant strategy and design for short, medium, and long-term success in this industry that I have ever encountered in my 30 years in this industry,” Pitchford stated. “The feeling at Gearbox is that we are just getting started and this transaction is not merely a stimulant for the talent of our employee-owned company, but a propellant for the exciting future we have planned.”
Noteworthy:
Apex Legends Launches on the Switch March 9th: EA.com
On today's festive episode (which features Hashim in the best mood he's possibly ever been in), the guys talk about their initial impressions of Guilty Gear -Strive-, and the first part of the Summer Games Fest for 2021, which includes (but not limited to): Elden Ring, Tiny Tina's Wonderland, Battlefield 2042, the Ubisoft Forward, Devolver Digital, and more! The guys also talk about Overwatch finally getting crossplay, and Back 4 Blood rumors.
—
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theskilltree/message
Ever since the first Kingdom Hearts game, I have always been a big fan. The mash up of Square Enix and Disney characters is such a unique concept that always kept me intrigued. Despite the number of spinoffs and the convoluted story, my fandom stayed mostly intact. Coming off of Kingdom Hearts 3, which was fun, but could have been better, I was wondering where Square would take the KH universe next. Fast forward to the year 2020 and the answer is a new rhythm game.
What’s good y’all? Despite the state of the world, I hope you had a great week. We have been graced with another weekend and I hope you are able to get plenty of game time in. Speaking of games, let’s chat. What games are on your gaming playlist this weekend?
FRACTER, originally releasing on mobile platforms in 2018, makes it’s way to the Nintendo Switch, this week. This unique puzzle game has you follow a young hero who is determined to fight back against darkness, with light. Thanks to the dope folks over at The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, I was able to get an early look.
E3 2018 has officially come to a close. It smacked us right in the face with plenty of new game announcements, game previews, some solid press conferences, and some not so solid press conferences. *cough cough* Square Enix *cough cough* Now begins the hard part of waiting for these new games to actually release to the public! Here are 10 that I am impatiently waiting for the most:
Nintendo released a video this morning giving the world its first looks at the next Nintendo console. Know as the NX for quite sometime, the official name is now Switch. That name pretty much fits with the console since it can be played on your TV or on the go. We all know this is the successor to the WiiU, but there is no word on whether Nintendo will keep making handheld systems since the Switch offers portability as well.
In the video you can see how the system functions. It essentially looks like a modernized WiiU gamepad, but with way more functionality. Controllers slide off of each side of the handheld screen, then you combine them on another contraption to get the true living room, console experience. Rumors that the Switch would be cartridge based were spot on. Check out the video below.
The Switch seems to already be garnering quite a bit of third party support as well. Skyrim can even be seen running on the Switch during the video.
The Nintendo Switch is dated to launch March 2017. Hopefully Nintendo has a Nintendo Direct planned sometime soon so we can get more information on the Switch.
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