In this city, one hope shines through the night: The Gamesline Podcast starring John, Rose, Lilith, and Nikolas! John enters the pastoral world of Pokopia while also returning to Raccoon City in Resident Evil 9. Rose played many games, including Resident Evil 9, Nioh 3, Marathon, Slay the Spire 2, Trails Beyond the Horizon, and Mewgenics! Lily played ULTRAKILL Layer 8: Fraud, Trails to Azure, Monster Hunter Rise and numerous Next Fest demos, including Annihilated, Cicadamata, and Firestarters. Finally, Nikolas has also been playing ULTRAKILL and Mewgenics!

In the news, Nagoshi Studio is in danger of shuttering, Nintendo is suing the US government over tariffs, PlayStation isn’t going PC ports anymore, Xbox is officially making a new console, Pokemon Winds and Waves was announced, Highguard is shutting down, a new Hunter: The Reckoning game was accidentally revealed, and Cookie’s Bustle is free from spurious copyright claims.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on social media @gamesline.net, John, Rose, Lilith, and Nikolas.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and tell a friend about the show!

If you want to send in questions, send them to our email podcast@gamesline.net!

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Crystal with video production by John

The post The Gamesline Podcast Episode 84: Cookie is Free appeared first on Gamesline.

The Gamesline Podcast is now a live podcast! Every week, we’ll be streaming the show on http://twitch.tv/gameslinetv on Sunday at 6PM EST.

On this episode, John introduces four new contributors to Gamesline! Lilith is a big JRPG-head and has been playing Trails in the Sky, Jackson’s a streamer and has been checking out Nightreign, Nikolas is an artist and visual novel reader who has been walking the Hundred Line, and Crystal is a retro gamer playing Wind Waker and Splinter Cell! Plus, we go over a bunch of the not-E3 Summer Game Fest announcements, and John got a Switch 2!

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Social Media @TheGamesline, John, Jackson, Nikolas, Crystal, and Lilith.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and tell a friend about the show!

If you want to send in questions send them to our email podcast@gamesline.net

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Lorelai

The post The Gamesline Podcast Episode 53: The New Batch appeared first on Gamesline.

John and Maverick convene to discuss the officially revealed Switch 2, which had been leaked in its entirety before so it’s not a big surprise or anything. Plus, Maverick has some thoughts on Adios and Helskate, John reviewed Blade Chimera and is messing with Pokémon romhacks again, Katsuhiro Harada gave everyone a fright, Sony is canceling live service games, Miku’s in Fortnite, and there’s an update on the Punch-Out!! rumors.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Social Media @TheGamesline, @John_Michon, and @justmaverick.

If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Lorelai

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 47: Nintendo Showed It appeared first on Gamesline.

Another week, another podcast. This time John and Lorelai sit down to try to dodge the pollen and talk about the huge dump of news over the last week. John’s been playing PokéRogue, Emerald Rogue, and Final Fantasy XIII while Lorelai has been poking at Hades 2 and Fallout 76 when she’s not obsessively trying to clear Rabbit & Steel‘s hardest difficulty.

In the news, Multiversus is back and getting a lot of new characters, the next Valve game leaked, and GTA6 got a release window. There is a lot of weird stuff happening with the Roll7 closure, Nintendo bought Shiver Entertainment from the Embracer Group, and Kingdom Hearts is coming to Steam. Playstation got some new CEO’s and Dead by Daylight is getting some new stuff while we got a lot of new details about Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @JudgementScythe, and @John_Michonski.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show!

If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Lorelai

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 35: The Allergy Episode appeared first on Gamesline.

Big Updates from Big Devs

The latest Assassin’s Creed game, set in Japan, has been detailed. Titled Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, the game stars a female shinobi named Naoe and Yasuke, the famous black samurai who was a retainer to Oda Nobunaga. Shadows will be available November 15th, 2024.

Dead by Daylight dev Behaviour Interactive lad out a few updates for the game, including their next two collaborations. Coming next is a Dungeons and Dragons expansion, with playable killer Vecna and playable survivors Aestri Yazar and Baermar Uraz (who are one character, just two people. Like the Ice Climbers I guess?). Their next collab was also teased, a Castlevania expansion with Dracula as the killer. The DnD update will launch June 3rd, and more information about Big Drac will drop August 6th.

Behaviour also detailed other projects, including The Casting of Frank Stone, their collaboration with Until Dawn creator Supermassive Games, their shooter Project T, and a new rougue-lite game called What the Fog.

Sony has announced the new CEOs of PlayStation. Herman Hulst, previously the co-founder of Guerrilla Games, and Hideaki Nishino, previously SVP of Platform Experiences, will take their mantles in June. Hulst will be in charge of the Studio Business Group, the part of the company in charge of first-party games and adaptation of the games in other mediums. Nishino’s job will be running the Platform Business Group, with third-party games and hardware on their docket.

Take-Two has confirmed in a recent earnings call that Grand Theft Auto VI, the game that’ll probably shift the entire economy on launch, is due out in the Fall of 2025.

The Industry Continues to Bleed

In the same earnings call that gave GTAVI a release window, Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick claimed that Roll7 and Intercept Games, two studios that got internal memos informing them of their shuttering, are actually not closed. Take-Two previously put up smoke and mirrors during their closure of 2K Marin, which hasn’t ever been formally confirmed.

Square Enix, after a report stating Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Final Fantasy XVI, and Foamstars were disappointments, announced they would be laying off staff in IT, publishing, and their indie game division Square Enix Collective. Those effected will be informed over the next month.

After Tango Gameworks’ announced closure, the team seemed to have enough time to squeeze out a final hurrah. A final update to Hi-Fi Rush has been released to combat a few final bugs, and the Limited Run release of the physical copy is confirmed to still be releasing.

The previously thought cancelled update to Redfall that would allow for offline play will also be released.

On June 10th, the Switch will no longer allow for direct posting of screenshots and videos to Twitter or the use of Twitter to search for friends thanks to the biggest moron on the planet.

The post The Bulletin: Good Behaviour is Killer appeared first on Gamesline.

Happy Pokémon Day, You Freaks

The latest Pokémon Presents happened on the 27th, with most of the shown updates focusing on mobile titles.

• Pokémon Go will get a crossover event with the latest season of the anime to coincide with its release outside Japan.
• Pokémon Sleep adds the Legendary Beasts to the roster of napping monsters, starting with Raikou in March, with Entei and Suicune coming later.
• Pokémon Masters will add two new pairs: Silver and Shiny Mega Tyranitar and Geeta and Glimmora, plus reruns of older powerful characters and a new photo editor.
• Pokémon Cafe Remix gives the Paldean starters new outfits, new chances to add either Koraidon or Miraidon to your cafe, and the ability to collect Gimmighoul coins for a chance to get Gimmighoul and Gholdengo on your team.
• Pokémon Unite adds Miraidon to its roster, with Falinks and Ceruledge debuting in the coming months.

The final two announcements were the big ones: First, Pokémon TCG Online game gets a new mobile client. They swear it is not going to be NFT-related.

Finally, the next mainline Pokémon title, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, was announced. Players return to Generation 6’s Kalos region for a game supposedly all set in Lumiose City, X/Y‘s central hub. Mega Evolution will also return. Z-A is scheduled to launch in 2025.

So Back to the Bad

Playstation plans to lay off around 900 people. These cuts include staff at Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerilla Games, and the complete shuttering of their London studio. Firesprite, another subsidiary of Playstation that saw cuts, cancelled the production of live service Twisted Metal game.

EA has also laid off a large swath of their employees: five percent of their workforce in total. Battlefield studio Ridgeline Games folded into another Battlefield focused team, Ripple Effect, and a rumored Mandalorian game from Respawn was cancelled.

Embracer Group continues to shed weight across their properties. Saber Interactive, developers of the continuously in question Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, reportedly will be sold to private investors for $500 million. There is also talk that Gearbox will be sold as well, with an official announcement due in the coming days. Gearbox recently shifted focus purely to Borderlands games, with a fourth mainline entry and a sequel to Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands still in development.

Maybe Some Good?

Toys for Bob, previously downsized by Microsoft after the Activision acquisition, is going independent. No reports on what this fully entails, but they are attempting to keep an active relationship with Microsoft, potentially meaning they will continue to work on Crash, Spyro, and potentially Tony Hawk titles.

Alan Wake creators Remedy have acquired full control of…Control. The studio purchased the rights to the franchise from 505 Games ahead of the eventual sequel that is still in development. as well as another project codenamed “Condor“, which is a multiplayer PvE spin-off of Control.

In other news…

Stardew Valley also has its own anniversary to celebrate, and ConcernedApe confirm that a 1.6 update to the PC version of the game will be coming March 16.

Critical Role is holding a public open beta playtest of their tabletop roleplaying game, Daggerheart, and playtest packets will be available on March 12.

Terminator: Survivors, an open-world survival game, is set to release this fall.

Nintendo sues the creators of Yuzu, a popular Switch emulator. While emulators have been proven to be legal, Nintendo’s case focuses on Yuzu’s circumvention of Switch game encryption as well as promotion of piracy, as the emulator’s Patreon saw a doubling of profits once Tears of the Kingdom leaked online.

Jen Cohn, the voice actor for Overwatch character Pharah, came under hot water when she called for Palestine to be “freed from Hamas” on a livestream. Her statement, which sidelines the very real genocide being perpetrated by Israel, has led to Overwatch fans calling for the character’s recasting.

The post The Bulletin: Zygarde Finally Has A Game appeared first on Gamesline.

A new week, a new episode of the Gamesline Podcast. This week, John and Rose are hopped up on Game Fuel and ready to talk about all the news between what they’ve been playing. John’s been playing Fate/Samurai Remnant while Rose has been playing that as well as Lies of P, the Crymachina Demo, Blasphemous, and Armored Core VI.

In the news, Best Buy seems to be phasing out physical media, the Lolipop Chainsaw Remake has become a remaster, and we now know who’s replaced Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. The Microsoft Activision acquisition has officially become a thing and so has the PS5 Slim. And of course how could we forget the most important news of the week, the return of Mountain Dew Game Fuel.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @john_michonski, and @Horngal.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or directly to our RSS feed.

Edited by Lorelai

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 21: Sliding Over on Game Fuel appeared first on Gamesline.

New year, and nothing is ever not political: A US representative decided to reach far back towards the relics of old video game and meme history of yore by referencing the World of Warcraft “Leeroy Jenkins” meme on the floor of the House of Representatives during name roll-call, in what continues to be the drawn out process of voting for a new Speaker of the House.  Not even Americans truly understand how our government works at all—but basically: The current US Congress has been unable to select a new Speaker of the House of Representatives. Typically, this role goes to the party that controls most of the seats as of the last election cycle, but the majority-holding Republican Party has been unable to unify around who they want to vote in. The Democratic Party has been consistently voting for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Rep. Jared Huffman of California has decided to invoke old nerd culture in response to the ad nauseum of the whole thing. He is in his late 50s, so this all reads.

Gaming magazine Wireframe is shutting down its physical format, and is consolidating their resources to upkeep an online version of the magazine instead. 

Games Done Quick founder Mike Uyama announces his departure from the organization. Current Director of Operations of GDQ, Matt Merkle, will assume his position.

Masahiro Sakurai declares that he is “semi-retired”.

In the midst of the K-pop group’s hiatus, V (Kim Taehyung) of BTS has started streaming Goose Goose Duck, surging the game’s popularity. V’s gaming streams are currently relegated on Weverse. Weverse is a Korean social community app created by HYBE Corporation, intended for fans of HYBE’s properties such as BTS’ current music label, Big Hit.

A suit that alleged CD Projekt Red misled investors about Cyberpunk 2077 back in 2021 has been settled. 

Square Enix still wants to do NFTs.

—While they no longer want anything to do with Bravely Default: Brilliant Lights, ending service to the mobile game later this February, after being online for barely a single year.

Saudi Arabia has bought a major stake in Magic Leap through its sovereign wealth fund.

Sony debuts the concept of Project Leonardo, a new controller that aims to be customizable to the needs and accessibility of its player.

About 300 quality assurance workers at Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios have unionized. Microsoft will voluntarily recognize the union, and the scope of its membership officially designates the shop as now the largest union in the video games industry.

And while some of us are busy trying not fumble on our New Year’s Resolutions this early…

Yuji Naka has officially been formally indicted for insider trading offenses.

The post The Bulletin: Goodbyes and Ongoing Grievances appeared first on Gamesline.

Sony has bought Bungie.

While Bungie is suing a Destiny 2 player for cheating and harassment.

Co-creator of The Last of Us and former employee of Naughty Dog Bruce Straley returns to the games industry.  Straley has been transparent about bowing out from games due to burn out and has opened up a new studio, Wildflower Interactive, that hopes to do things much differently.

A new Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel game is coming into the foray! Dawn of the Battle Royale!! is expected to release on the Switch around this coming winter.

Nintendo Japan vowed that they will provide benefits to same-sex partnerships. The company’s policy introduces a new “Partnership System”, that writes, “employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner [will] have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage”. Same-sex marriages currently remain unrecognized in Japan.

Blizzard Albany, formerly known as Vicarious Visions, is unionizing. This publicly declaration is not that long after the studio’s respective name change and pivot after being acquired by Blizzard Activision.

The FaZe Clan is now officially a publicly traded company and is on the stock market. This is not that long after several members have been long kicked out of the group for promoting cryptocurrency fraud. 

Sadly, speaking of even more crypto—

Square Enix is beginning to implement NFTs in their merchandise. Although there are chances that a variant of the teased Honeybee Inn Cloud (in a dress) figure will not be subjected to the company’s new marketing strategy, it has become increasingly clear that they are sadly committing to it for all intents and purposes.

Meanwhile…

Minecraft vows that there will be no NFTs associated with or within the game in any foreseeable future.

The post The Bulletin: Taking the Heat appeared first on Gamesline.

From personal experience, Death’s Door is a thoughtful, interesting, and stylish little action-adventure with really, really good music and fun combat. It’s coming to PS4 and PS5 next month, and I’m excited to see it brought to a larger audience! 

First Class Trouble – what looks like a pretty dynamic and highly customizable social deduction game – is also coming to the PS4 and PS5 in November. What’s more, it’ll be included in next month’s PS Plus lineup. 

The Isle of Bigsnax is a free DLC coming to Bugsnax in early 2022, which includes a big new area with big new creatures, a little hut you can personalize with a lot of collectables, new quests and challenges, and some hats! 

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach is the new installment of the way-more-popular-than-I-ever-expected FNAF franchise, and while this series hasn’t been in my cultural library since the first one came out, you can use Freddy as a mech suit and the new animatronics are appropriately creepy. 

KartRider: Drift is coming to PS4, and what can you really say about kart racing games at this point? It’s cute, looks customizable, and it’ll be cross-platform with PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S and X. The closed beta begins in early December, with a variety of modes and playable characters. 

The King of Fighters XV open beta was announced as well, featuring 8 playable characters and different match modes, with the full game to be released in February 2022. 

It seems like Little Devil Inside is still alive, having blown past its summer 2021 release date, with an extended look into a few minutes of gameplay. It looks like a top-down action RPG with little guys all over the place, stylized overworld traveling with curious interactions, whimsical presentation and tone — the overall vibe of this game is about taking your time to enjoy the soft, colorful, pastoral world. As for now, its release is set for an ambiguous 2022 date, so stay tuned. 

Another look at We Are OFK — a fully-voiced music biopic game about the band, you guessed it, OFK. It’s a making-of-the-band journey with a lot of narrative in different forms like texts and dialogue, and interactive music videos. It’ll be a 5-episode journey starting sometime in 2022, and it looks like a personal, lovingly-crafted project, so I’m excited!

Deathverse: Let it Die was announced for Spring of 2022, a sequel to Lie it Die set hundreds of years in the future. Opulent dystopian vibes, aesthetically chaotic with weapons forging and combat that looks dynamic, it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up with its predecessor. 

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is coming to PS4 and PS5 sometime in 2022, and it looks completely true to form in that I watched the whole trailer and I still have no idea what’s going on in it. It still has the same sci-fi/fantasy aesthetic scattershot and creatively unhinged character designs, dramatic out-of-context bits of dialogue giving us only the barest hint of story, and shots of both space battles and dragon slaying. I could not be more excited. The debut trailer itself also featured bits and pieces of actual gameplay and it feels like Tri-Ace might be going back to the style and feel of the original few Star Ocean titles  rather than continuing from their last console release back in 2016, which is very promising.  

For a brief 20-minute presentation, there was a little something in there for everyone (except for the people who only watched it in hopes of seeing a new Grand Theft Auto) and while most of it wasn’t exactly new, Star Ocean is BACK, baby, and that’s all that matters to me right now. 

The post The Absolute State of Play 2021 appeared first on Gamesline.