Episode 77 – Dreams, Sonic The Movie, Anthem Getting an Overhaul, Geoff Keighley Drops Out of E3

recorded on Feb 14, 2020

Headliners
Happy Valentines Day everyone! Go get some flowers, chocolate, or jewelry while you can!

Dreams the ongoing project from Media Molecule launches in full version today.
Play! Create! Share!

The Sonic movie releases today so grab someone and go see the blue blur in action!
Little Bits
Bioware has confirmed that Anthem is getting a massive overhaul to the “core gameplay” (IGN)
Casey Hudson of BioWare said in a blog post that the games “needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression, and a more fulfilling end game”
He also added that to do this BioWare will be “doing something we’d like to have done more of the first time around – giving a focused team the time to test and iterate, focusing on gameplay first” How did you not do this the first time? You had 5 years to do this!
Jason Schreier of Kotaku rumored this last year and now it is officially happening
This overhaul is most like what Hello Games did to No Man’s Sky, hopefully it will work

Geoff Keighley, industry veteran and host of The Game Awards, is skipping E3 2020 (TheVerge)
Geoff has gone to every E3 since it started and usually hosts events at the E3 Coliseum
“I have made the difficult decision to decline to produce E3 Coliseum. For the first time in 25 years, I will not be participating in E3. I look forward to supporting the industry in other ways and at other events in the future.”

New game “Outriders” dropped gameplay footage yesterday, its dope check it out (IGN)
Publisher: Square Enix, Developer: People Can Fly (Bulletstorm, Gears: Judgement)
A new co-op looter shooter that looks very similar to Gears with its 3rd person cover-based combat
Looks semi-open world or “open area”, they showed 3 classes with unique powers
I’m pumped for it

The PS5 production costs are around $450 to manufacture according to high exec (Bloomberg)
PSVR 2 will not be coming at launch instead a year or two after

Nvidia GeForce Now service loses all Activision-Blizzard games a week after launch (TheVerge)

Rapid Fire

COD revealed their battle royale mode called “Warzone” (Gamesradar)
Should finally be coming out soon, idk when yet
Allegedly there was a bug that throwed some players into Warzone, check out the footage one of those players uploaded

Sony acquired Insomniac Games for $229 million last year (GamingBolt via SEC filing)

Resident Evil series on Netflix synopsis “accidentally leaked” online via Netflix’s Twitter account (Forbes)
Takes place 26 years after the outbreak of the T-Virus

The Last of Us Part II will be playable at PAX East later this month and Naughty Dog says they are putting the finishing touches on the game (Nibel, @Nibellion, PlayStation Blog)
The Ellie Edition of the game is back in stock so grab it while you can

Creators of Dead Space to reveal a new game soon under new studio 31st Union (GI.biz)
This studio is led by Michael Condrey formerly of Infinity Ward and is under Take Two

Sony patent hints at an integrated assistant in the software to help players (TweakTown)
However this patent does say this system can be used to show microtransactions

Microsoft and Samsung have partnered together to work on xcloud (The Verge)

Drake signs streaming deal with Caffeine and not Twitch or Mixer (Dexerto)
Drake wants to hype Ultimate Rap League (URL) and use his fame to grow the platform

Quantic Dream announces that they will pursue self-publishing for their games (QuanticDream)

Marvel’s Avengers is now up for pre-order on PS4, Xbox One, and PC (PlayStation Blog)
A Hero’s Edition that has 72 hour early access and an outfit pack and other stuff = $80
Earth’s Mightiest edition (ultimate edition) has the deluxe has and physical merch = $200

Disney says they want to “empower” game developers to “reimagine” the catalog (Gamesradar)
This is due to the success of both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Jedi Fallen Order

Xbox reveals an official Jordan-Branded console Xbox One X (TheVerge)
The only way to get it is from a limited-time competition until Feb 27th
You have to retweet a certain tweet from Microsofts Xbox Account

Bizarre news courtesy of our boy Dpoodly, Streamer ‘Empirrre’ was permanently banned on Twitch after “kissing” a picture of super-popular female streamer “Pokimane” during his stream (dexerto)
He basically brought up a picture of her during his stream and made it look like he was kissing her butt
He received a one-day ban, then Twitch was like “eh, perma-banned” so he is currently trying to appeal this after sending out an apology video
Pokimane heard of it, watched it, was visibly creeped out but laughed it off
Is it creep? Absolutely. Is the ban necessary? IDK, but I do know that Pokimane cant even stand up during her stream without half the chat freaking out and saying “THICCC”

Upcoming Releases and Deals

Bayonetta and Vanquish remasters are available on February 18

Target is running a buy 2 get 1 free sale on video games so get it while you can! (resetera)

Remnant from the Ashes is getting a physical release on PS4 and XB1 on March 17 (PSLS)

Get a new dynamic theme for The Last of Us Part II with the codes below (Nibel, @Nibellion)
Americas: 4FMP-BBNM-J5L3
Europe, AU, NZ, Russia, Middle East, Africa, India: 9DEK-PKNG-N445

Nioh 2 last chance free trial starts February 28 and ends March 1 (PlayStation Blog)

Microsoft and Nike team up to make a Jordan-branded Xbox One X up for giveaway (TheVerge)

The Division 2 is $3 on the Ubisoft store………………………..
Rumor Mill
COD: Modern Warfare battle royale map may have leaked via Season 2 video (IGN)