It’s time to reflect on the silliness of video games, folks. Once again, we must begrudgingly accept that Breath of the Wild 2 isn’t coming out in 2022 anymore. It’s quite a burden to bear.
Unlike last week, there was a steady stream of fun announcements over the past few days. Wave Race 64 is returning after years of being nothing but a distant memory, and Saints Row is arriving soon after. Meanwhile, we got teases for Redfall and The Last of Us Part 1 — both of which are excellent examples of how beautiful current-generation console games can be.
As a reminder, some QuakeCon freebies are up for grabs, courtesy of Epic and Game Pass. So hop on those while offers still stand!
Ok, that’s the honorable mentions down. Let’s roll our sleeves and get into the week’s biggest headlines.
Dragon Ball hysteria takes over Fortnite
After an unfathomable amount of memes counting down to this very moment, Goku and the gang are in Fortnite. Everyone has been going absolutely bananas over the Dragon Ball x Fortnite event, and who can blame them? We now live in a world where Ellen Ripley can perform the Kamehameha, laying waste to countless other pop culture icons. Truly, Epic’s metaverse is now the virtual equivalent of banging random action figures together.
Contractors claim Nintendo is an unhealthy place to work
Over the past few months, Nintendo of America has been contending with ongoing allegations claiming female contractors regularly deal with unwarranted sexual advances and horrific working conditions. Well, more former testers are speaking out about rampant sexism within the company. Nintendo of America’s president Doug Bowser claims that management is looking into these issues, but time will tell if any substantial change will come of it.
Fallout TV show set photos leak
Amazon has been promoting its Fallout TV show for quite some time. There have been promises that it’ll stay true to the video games, and some leaked set photos confirm that. At least from a visual standpoint, since the Vault Boy propaganda posters and bunkers are on-point. Unfortunately, you’ll have to trust us on this one — all of the photos got hit by DMCA claims and were removed from social media and Reddit.
Spider-Man 'Pride flag removal' mod gets banned
Isn’t it great when a company takes a no-nonsense stand against bigotry? World-renowned PC modding site Nexus Mods did precisely that when it banned someone’s Spider-Man mod that removed Pride flags from the game. Shortly after, the company addressed a vocal minority that wanted to know why this happened.
“To address the banning, which is what a lot of people want to focus on, the mod was uploaded by a sock puppet account (i.e. a newly made account by someone who already has an account on the site),” Nexus Mods said. “It was very clearly done deliberately to be a troll mod. The fact the user needed to make a sock puppet like a coward to upload the mod showed their intent to troll and that they knew it would not be allowed.”
We love to see it.
Weta Workshop is working on a Lord of the Rings game
This one is pretty damn nostalgic. Weta Workshop, best-known for special effects work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, is developing an all-new video game set in Middle-Earth. That’s all we know thus far, unfortunately. It seems the ink is barely dry on whatever deal Weta has, especially now that Embracer Group owns the IP. Still, it’ll be fun to see what this studio can do with the franchise that put its name on the map.
Elden Ring sells over 16 million units
Just when you thought everyone was done talking about FromSoftware’s action RPG epic. Unfortunately for the naysayers, Elden Ring has sold more than 16.6 million copies globally. Not bad for a game that is barely six months old! In all likelihood, Elden Ring will keep shattering records for many years to come.
That’s all for this week, friends! See you next Friday for another news roundup.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.