The United States of America really hasn’t been living up to its billing as the ‘Land of the Free’ lately, has it? Yesterday saw the Supreme Court overturn a 50 year old decision on abortion and rights to privacy, using a majority of Republican leaning judges all of whom stated under oath that Roe v. Wade was “settled law”. There’s a bit of pot calling the kettle black here, considering what the UK government has been up to lately, but come on, USA, you were meant to be better than this.
What’s heartening to see is that, despite some executives historically preferring to talk about cats, a number of game companies have spoken out. Double Fine posted on Twitter, so did Sony developer Insomniac, while Bungie has recommitted to covering the fees of their employees who now need to seek healthcare outside their state (and vigorously defended their right to talk politics on Twitter).
We’ll back those companies speaking out byy agreeing that reproductive rights and bodily autonomy should be basic human rights. The actions of the Supreme Court and states now outlawing this is absolutely shameful.
On to the rest of the gaming news.
In the News This Week
- The new PlayStation Plus has launched in Europe, Aus & NZ
- Sony to roll out NTSC versions of PlayStation Plus Premium games to stop stuttering
- A Plague Tale: Requiem release date set for October
- Hyenas is a multiplayer shooter from the studio behind Alien: Isolation
- No Man’s Sky for Switch gets October launch date as a single-player game
- FIA Motorsport Games drops Gran Turismo 7 for Assetto Corsa Competizione
- Ashfall announced by Days Gone creator, will use blockchain and NFTs
- Overwatch 2 release will open all your loot boxes from Overwatch
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 & 4 remasters were planned according to Tony Hawk
Games in Review
This was a great week of games in the review pile, with big hitters like Fire Emblem Warriors: Three HOpes alongside the excellence of Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! and Neon White.
- Neon White – NSW, PC – 10/10
- Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! – PS4, XBO, NSW, PC, iOS, And – 9/10
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – NSW – 8/10
- Capcom Fighting Collection – PS4, XBO, NSW, PC – 8/10
- The Quarry– PS5, XSX|S, PS4, XBO, PC – 8/10
- ANNO: Mutationem – PS5, PS4, PC – 7/10
- Starship Troopers: Terran Command – PC – 7/10
And we had a lonely iOS mobile controller review:
RiotPWR ESL Mobile Gaming Controller for iOS – 8/10
Featured Articles
Outside of the reviews of the week, there wasn’t that much we were able to serve up through the last seven days. Miguel spoke to the iam8bit founders about publishing, Day of the Devs and that Inside Collector’s Edition and I dove into Forza Motorsports and how it’ll be the physics and the race weekend structure that defines it more than ray-tracing.
After that, Miguel gave us one last preview from Summer Game Fest, loving every second he got to spend in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, the latest co-op game from the makers of Vermintide.
And we rounded out the week as usual with What We Played, where everyone was playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.
Trailer Park
See the A Plague Tale: Requiem extended gameplay trailer
Gran Turismo 7 Patch 1.17 adds Watkins Glen, new cars & more
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct reveals some new gameplay details
Your Achievements
Here’s what you in our community have been up to this week:
- willbuchanan played Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars on his old PS3, and then spent far too long comparing PS Plus Essentials with Extra and Premium to figure out if he’d want to upgrade. It’s a firm maybe right now.
- MrYd started off the week with Evil Dead and the PS5 upgraded Resident Evil games. After that, his PS Now sub magically turning into PS Plus Premium had him start downloading Miles Morales and Returnal, and playing through The Artful Escape while waiting for that to finish.
Have a great week and I’ll catch you soon!
