Computerchairgeneral

Yeah, fighting open source emulators is kind of like fighting a hydra. People will fork the project and one of those will probably emerge as the alternative to Ryujinx. At the same time Nintendo did manage to get an entire team of developers to exit the Switch emulation scene under penalty of breaching the settlement. It’s not going to kill Switch emulation, but they did manage to take down one of the most popular ones.

Well that didn’t last long. This has to be a record for shortest-lived emulator project.

Not that surprising an outcome given it was either this or go bankrupt through legal fees as the case dragged on. At least there’s still Ryujinx.

EA saw how many studios Embracer has been shutting down and got worried about losing their record for killing off the most game studios.

I mean it’s not like Sony doesn’t have a history of failing to support their peripherals with first-party titles. Then again adding PC support feels like they recognize there aren’t enough first-party titles and are trying to pad the library of games out. At least it means the VR2 is less likely to just sit around collecting dust.

Good for them. Also glad they are going to continue developing the KOTOR remake, although with everything that’s happened with that project it feels like it will be years before we see it again.

So, they’re no longer part of Activision and presumably no longer part of Microsoft, but they want to keep working with Microsoft? So will they be completely independent or are they just no longer under Activision in the Microsoft hierarchy? Either way I hope a partnership with Microsoft means they might be able to make Spyro 4. Also, excited at the prospect of studios breaking away from Embracer. Obviously there is no guarantee that they’ll be treated better, but at least they have a better chance of not being shut down by the end of the month.

I love the commitment to it, especially the spine reveal. It’s a shame they were shut down soon after they finished it, but what a note to go out on.

Ah yes, handcrafted stolen fanfiction. Exactly what I shop Etsy for. More seriously, I feel for the fanfiction authors. Not only is someone profiting off your work, but this is the kind of thing that gets the attention of copyright holders that fanfiction authors generally don’t want.

Not sure which cynical take to go with here. Either they want to get people to quit without the bad press of laying people off or they know the industry is turbulent enough that no one would actually push back against going back into the office for work that could be done remotely.

This is like getting punched in the gut and then pepper-sprayed.

I never played Galaxies, but I was always fascinated by the concept of it, especially before it was revamped. The idea of giving you the freedom to just exist in the world of Star Wars was always something I wished more games would do. I mean, I loved KOTOR for what it was, but you were still the main character of a story someone else had written. It’s a shame nothing has really tried to emulate the style of Galaxies since then.

It’s a shame for everyone involved, but at the same time it doesn’t feel that surprising. It doesn’t feel like their games after Until Dawn reached the same level of success. I remember the Dark Pictures Anthology getting mixed reviews as it went on and I don’t really remember much about the Quarry’s reception except the hype around it being the next Until Dawn.

It’s a nice thought, but it’s hard to see how there won’t be shortages and scalpers taking advantages of those shortages. Although hopefully those will just be “normal” shortages and not something on the scale of the PS5 and Series X launches where they were almost impossible to find.

Thirty hours into Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Main story has started to ramp up, but I keep getting distracted by the business management mini-game and the kart-racing minigame that I just discovered while wandering around the map. It never ceases to amaze me just how dense these games are and just how many side activities they managed to pack into one game.

This is what happens when you wish for the resurrection of a beloved IP. Another finger on the monkey’s paw curls. The idea of a Crazy Taxi live service game is weird enough, but it’s just bizarre that they are using Fortnight as a major inspiration for the Jet Set Radio reboot. I guess at the very least we are getting proper remakes of these games alongside the live service reboots. It will be interesting to see how the games do head to head, especially with the difficulties live service games have been having lately.

It’s a shame that people are being laid off, especially when it seems like it’s retaliation for complaining about working conditions. Still, I don’t think I’d ever be able to buy anything from ZA/UM after they kicked most of the creators out of the company and took control of the IP.

It’s crazy how far micro-transactions and monetizing games have come since Bethesda charged $2.50 for cosmetic armor to put on your horse. If you’d told someone back then that one day an in-game mount would cost more than the game itself they would have laughed you out of the room.

Hard to say if he’s right given how much of this is behind-the-scenes business dealing. I honestly didn’t think much about them ending support for the game, since it had been so long since it was released. Still, announcing they were going to support the game until 2025 and then ending updates the same year their sequel game is supposed to launch isn’t a great look. Especially since Evil Empire was still talking about continuing updates last year. Makes it seem like a sudden decision on Motion Twin’s end. It’s impossible to say for sure, but it really feels like they didn’t want their old game serving as competition. Hopefully Evil Empire is able to recover and start work on their own project.

The gaming industry is dying is an ice-cold take at this point, but I really don’t see how it’s sustainable in its current form with the way things are going right now. Sure, the analysts are saying things will course correct, but how is that supposed to happen if nothing in the industry changes? Games are just going to get more expensive to make and it feels like the cost-cutting is only going to get worse as more companies invest in AI tech.