Weekly Round Up Issue #1

This week has been a busy week for video game news. As such we’ve pulled together all of the news we’ve found interesting over the course of the week and put it in one place. This article is longer than our usual news pieces so we hope you enjoy.

This week in video games:

• Ratchet And Clank is free for all PlayStation 4 & PS5 players
• Sony to scrap PlayStation Video service
• New game based in the world of Aliens
• Sony releases updates on PlayStation VR
• Epic Games buys Tonic Games Group, the makers of Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout
• Yakuza Like A Dragon releases on PS5
• NIS America updates us on their schedule
• Mighty Goose gets a new trailer
• Harvest Moon One World releases
• Smash Bros Ultimate DLC Update
• XCOM Collection now on Steam

Ratchet & Clank

Ratchet & Clank, the 2016 PlayStation 4 game based on the movie based on the game is available for £0.00 as part of Sony’s Play At Home promotion. However the game does form part of the PS5’s PS Plus Collection and was a freebie on PS Plus last year. Still, you do get to own this if your PlayStation Plus subscription runs out. Just sign into your account either through the PS4 or PS5, or on the website and add it to your library.

Effectively, the PS4 game is a remake of the first title and is well worth your time. It’s a lot of fun and throws you into the world of Ratchet & Clank ahead of the next game Rift Apart. You only have until 1st April to add it to your library.

Sony PlayStation Video Closing

Sticking with Sony, the Japanese giant have reviled that they will be stopping the sale of movies and tvs through the PlayStation Store. The service closes 31st August due to increased competition from other providers. If you have any purchases from the service, you’ll still be able to access your content.

It seems like a no brainier for Sony. The service, which started back on the PlayStation 3, always seemed like a pointless offering since they also offer Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services. Amazon in particular lets customers rent films and TV on the PlayStation so it never made sense to us.

Aliens: Fireteam Brings The Action In Summer

Developers Cold Iron & 20th Century Games have announced the latest instalment in the Aliens franchise; Aliens: Fireteam and its coming in summer for PC, PS5, Series X|S as well as PS4 & Xbox One. It’s a third person, co-operative shooter where you and a team of marines are attempting to escape a hive of Xenomorphs.

It looks fine, but again it has to be said that Alien started as a survival horror series where people are quietly and slowly stalled. Alien Isolation focused on this brilliantly. When games are created with action in mind, such as Colonial Marines, well, we know how well that turned out.

PlayStation VR Updates

As well as confirming everyone’s suspicions that they are indeed working on another VR headset, which will be coming to the PS5 in 2022 at the earliest, Sony has announced 6 games to be released on their current virtual reality platform. These games are all coming in 2021 and range from Doom 3 VR Edition and to a brand new first-person shooter in the form of Fracking. Full details can be found here.

Tonic Games Group Acquired By Epic Games

Another week, another games company gets absorbed into a bigger corporation. This time Tonic Group, who own Mediatonic, the developers of Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout, have been purchased by Epic Games for an undisclosed sum.

Paul Croft, head of Tonic Games says:

“Beyond the shared vision among our teams, we see tremendous potential in combining forces with Epic. Whether it’s about making our own games the best they can be or empowering other game developers to take their content from a kernel of an idea to commercial success, we know that together we will be able to reach greater heights.”

Source – https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/tonic-games-group-makers-of-fall-guys-joins-epic-games

Currently there will be no change in the game development, nor the path of Fall Guy’s seasons, however this is being reviewed. The push at the moment would be to introduce cross-play, however as with Epic’s buy up of Rocket League which went free-to-play last year, we’re not confident there will be more changes later down the line.

Tonic Group are much more than Fall Guys though. They own developers The Irregular Corporation & a small start-up studio Fortitude Games. They even work in communities helping people develop the skills of getting people to make video games.

Being wrapped up in a big corporation does mean that there’s a chance all of the good work being done now, won’t continue. We’re worried that Tonic Group will go from a diverse publisher to “those guys that make Fall Guys”.

Yakuza Like A Dragon PS5 Version

Sega have finally released the next-gen update for Yakuza Like A Dragon on the PlayStation 5. Originally launching for the Xbox Series X|S on it’s launch in November, the upgrade was seemingly missing from Sony’s machine until now. Previously the only way to play the game was via backwards compatibility.

The upgraded version gives you better frame rates, faster loading times and, of course, crisper visuals. PlayStation 4 players get the upgrades at no additional cost. As a bonus celebration, Sega are giving away the Legends DLC pack across all platforms for free until 1st April.

Gnosia Comes To Switch

The visual novel with RPG elements, Gnosia has been released on Nintendo Switch this week. The game centres around the crew of a spaceship that is adrift and plagued by a deadly threat. You have to play through each of the crew’s story to find out what is going on. Each play through ranges from a few minutes to around half an hour to complete, but each time you learn something different and progress the story.

NIS America Provide Updates To 2021 Schedule

We’re big fans of publisher NIS America. They localise more J-RPGs, Visual Novels and S-RPGs that you can shake a stick at. We make no secret that they also have a lot of our money due to buying pretty much anything they choose to put out. They’ve also announced a number of release dates for their 2021 schedule.

Games such as Disgaea 6 and World’s End Club have release information. They’ve also announced 2 collections of classic titles which will be launching on the Nintendo Switch this year. Full details are found here.

Mighty Goose Honks Onto Consoles & PC This Spring

What do you get if you cross a run and gun game with a goose? Mighty Goose that’s what. Blending action games such as Metal Slug with a goose on paper sounds like pure video game madness. We’re confident from the trailer above that this’ll be the case.

Mighty Goose is coming to PC & consoles in the Spring and we’re eagerly anticipating this one. The labour of love has taken developer Blastmode years to get off the ground. It looks like there’s only a few months to find out how their debut game will fare but we cannot wait to find out.

Harvest Moon One World Launches

The Harvest Moon series returned with their latest instalment Harvest Moon One World. Releasing on Nintendo Switch the farming sim game looks to be the biggest entry in the series.

Not only are the staple farm and animal raising mechanics back, but you have a choice when it comes to your romance options, or you can jack it all in and move your farm across one of 5 areas in a huge world.

We were scarred when it came to the GameCube’s misinformed title Harvest Moon: It’s A Wonderful Life (lies), so it’s great to see this instalment building on previous successes. It defiantly seems like one to check out.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate Pyra/Mythra Update

The tradition of Smash Bros DLC characters having their own presentation, Masahiro Sakurai returns to show off Pyra and Mythra. They were announced in the last Nintendo Direct for a March release. After the video above, you’ll be no doubt aware that, Surprise! They are available now.

The video above details what to expect from each fighter and does a better job than we could do with text, but we will say that it’ll be interesting to fight with and against this pair in online battles. The other highlights come in the form of Mii costumes from Capcom which are centred around the up and coming Monster Hunter Rise as well as the recently released Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrected. Could this tie-in be a hint for a future fighter? Probably, but we’re not going to find out for a little while.

XCOM Collection Comes to Steam

2K Games have announced that XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad, and all of the available expansions and DLC packs are now available as one bundle. What’s better is that if you’re missing any of the games, you can select the bundle and have the ability to pick and choose which games to buy. The cost will be adjusted accordingly.

This is only available until 18th March. After this time, you’ll only have the option of buying the whole bundle.