News Roundup 08.07.2020

Hey y’all. There was a bunch of news this week and I’m excited to share the interesting bits with you. First, some quick housekeeping. The first installment of Summer of Shinkai was supposed to release Wednesday but, due to technical difficulties that led to me losing the file, was not. Hopefully, I can get it back up to snuff in time for a Saturday (tomorrow) release. If not, it will be up on Tuesday, the next open day on the schedule. So look forward to that. It’s going to be a fun one. Anyway, there was news.

Digimon Is Back And Staying Awhile

Earlier this year, the film Digimon Adventure: Last Kizuna released in theaters, with the Blu-Ray release coming in October (Your boy preordered it so it will get coverage here). That was the last story of the Adventure subseries… kind of. They announced a reboot that started shortly before the world shutdown for a few months. The news is we finally have an episode count for that series: A whopping 66! That’s 15 more than the original so it is truly mysterious what will happen. Aside from that, Digimon: Survive appears to have a release window: January 2021. That is from a seemingly legitimate leak, so we’ll see, but it’s exciting news. The game looks really cool and even made it onto my most anticipated games list.

Casio Is Making a Dragon Ball G-Shock Watch

And it looks hideous. There was a good way to design this and they chose not to do it. This entry is mostly just here to share this watch with the world. If anyone wants to donate $250 to the Patreon, I’ll definitely buy one and review it. Otherwise, none of us are likely to ever see it again.

Spider-Man Is A PlayStation Exclusive In Marvel’s Avengers 

There has been quite an uproar about this and I just don’t get why. Spider-Man is tied to Sony’s brand identity in way unlike almost any other IP in gaming. Sony makes Spider-Man films--both live-action and animated—they had the Spider-Man toy and TV rights for a decade, and they now have the exclusive rights to make Spider-Man video games. Which likely means the only way for Spidey to even be in Avengers is to with Sony’s consent and it wouldn’t make any sense to allow other platform to use. They’re trying to sell PS5s!

Pikmin 3 Deluxe Is Coming to Switch

I missed the Wii U, mostly for financial reasons and not a lack of want. Now that Pikmin 3 is on it’s way to the console, the only major holdout is Xenoblade Chronicles X and that game probably has a port in the works. More Pikmin in our lives is exactly what the world needs. Look at them, they’re so cute!

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

This title is bad. There is already a Crash 4 and while that game is, um, bad, it deserves to be acknowledged. This game does look cool though. They art style is a little too far from the classic aesthetic for my liking, but it looks good enough. The characters look fun, the gameplay looks fun, there’s cool new modes. Oh! And Dingodile is playable! Finally, the best Crash boss gets his day in the sun. Anyway, it looks cool and worth a purchase.

 

The Pathless

This game gives off massive Shadow of the Colossus vibes funneled through the aesthetics of an indie platformer. Hopefully it isn’t boring like Colossus though. This looks like a lot of fun, has a cool art style, and you can pet the bird. Any game with animal petting is automatically good. Seems like a good game to vibe to at the end of a long day and I’ll take that.

 

Genshin Impact

Look at this unabashedly anime-ass anime game. The visual style is somewhat reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild but that might just be because I am currently playing that game and have it on the mind. This game apparently had a beta earlier this year and garnered generally positive reviews so it might be something to keep an eye on, especially if you just need that kind of game like I occasionally do.

 

Aeon Must Die

This is a beat ‘em up. It looks very cool. That is about all that’s known about this one but just look at it. Listen to that dialogue. This game is positioning itself as an epic and it hopefully won’t disappoint. This was by far the coolest looking game at yesterday’s State of Play. What more needs to be said?

 

Temtem

Pokémon is coming to PS5! Sort of. Temtem is an MMO clearly inspired by Pokémon. It has been in Early Access on Steam for most this year and seems to be well liked. I mean, look at it. It oozes charm in that Pokémon way. The art style is a beautiful and the models are details. I don’t know how similar to Pokémon the actual battle system is, but I am willing to bet it’s close. This news does make me wonder if the creators have a planned day to officially release the game and take it out of Early Access. It would be weird if it was in EA on Steam and not on PS5, right? Time will tell and we can joyously wait for this new Pokémon MMO to arrive.

 

As always, feel free to give your thoughts in these comments or on Twitter at @alexraysnyder. And if you like what you read here, consider throwing a couple bucks my way on Patreon to help cover costs.