Originally Posted by Destructoid

Speaking to investors (as translated by VGC), president Shintaro Furukawa explained that although Nintendo still feels like Directs are "an incredibly effective way to present information," it might be time for something new. Furukawa is a bit vague here, but states: "Inversely, times change and so does the most effective way to promote products, so there is a chance that a new, better way to present this information comes about. So we always like to examine all of the possible ways to communicate this information to customers."

Reading between the lines a bit here, having watched every single Direct to date (and witnessed several live at E3), I can see what Furukawa is talking about here. The "Direct" format felt like a living breathing entity when the "whole crew" (Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aimé, Shigeru Miyamoto) was together. They were a huge part of what made the Directs special, and with Iwata gone and Reggie's departure from Nintendo, they effectively have no presenter.

Still, as Furukawa noted, Nintendo is in a great spot to shift into some new format. Nearly everyone, from gaming conferences to individual publishers, is copying details of the Direct format (even down to the vocal delivery and the font). It's a great place to be.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, NBA 2K21 will sport an MSRP of $69.99 on the PS5 and Xbox Series X: a $10 price increase over the respective PS4 and Xbox One editions. While the current-gen console versions of 2K21 will launch this September, the future generation will get their versions "this holiday season" at that new price.

2K Sports, owned by Take-Two Interactive (who in turn owns Rockstar, and many other pricey properties), notes that the $10 premium is due to the fact that the new editions are "built from the ground up" for next-generation machines. Although Take-Two is seemingly alone in this venture right now, the writing has been on the wall for some time. Multiple industry veterans have called for a price increase for a long while, with the $60 standard holding for far longer than a lot of people expected it to.

Originally Posted by VG247.com

EVO organisers have moved to suspend one of their own following paedophilia and sexual harassment allegations.

Earlier today, Mikey, a fighting game competitor, shared his account of repeated incidents with EVO organiser Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar. In a Twitlonger story, Mikey recalled some of his time at the Southern Hills Golfland arcade in the late 90s.

A teenager at the time, Mikey would hang out with a group of older players, Cuellar amongst them, who frequented the arcade. This “old boys club” as he called it, would dare them to do “stupid shit just for a laugh” and reward them with free food or arcade game tokens.

“Wizard was especially into this. He would pay people hundreds of tokens to do things like take off their clothes and jump in the water hazard pools for certain amounts of times,” said Mikey.

“99% of the time, it was young boys. There is only a singular instance I know of where it wasn’t a young boy, and that singular instance, she was allowed to do it in the future, in whatever clothes she liked and only for a few seconds. But for all the boys (out of recollection 12-16) it was like 10-15 minutes, we HAD to be in our underwear (under the reasoning that it would be colder) and they were always challenges at the time so we couldn’t prepare change of clothes, towel, or anything like that.”

Mikey has other claims in his story, many of which are of Cuellar’s behaviour. Since his story came to light, EVO issued a statement saying that Cuellar has been placed on administrative leave while a third-party investigates these allegations.

“We are aware of the accusations that have been made against Joey Cuellar. The behaviour in these accusations runs directly counter to EVO’s mission of building a safe, welcoming environment for all of our players and attendees. We Take this responsibility seriously. Accordingly, Joey has been placed on administrative leave pending a third-party investigation,” it reads.

Other members of the fighting game community came out in support of Mikey, and a number of them said they had heard similar stories from other people in Cuellar’s circle.

It also appears this has been an open secret amongst the fighting game community. The two-year-old video below from Super Arcade’s Mike Watson recounts a different incident.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

This might be the start of something bigger. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, research firm IDG Consulting notes that given the last time a price hike occurred was roughly 2005 ($60), we're past due for one. IDG notes that a potential $10 increase will "only" be a 17% hike, compared to a 39% increase for film ticket prices or a 100% increase for Netflix subscriptions. Of course, that figure doesn't take into account all of the extra monetization prospects of games.

IDG says that according to "their channel checks" more publishers are looking at a $70 price point, with the concession that "not every game should garner" that new MSRP. That said, once the floodgates open and the usual suspects (WB, EA, Take-Two) make their move, there's probably no going back.]

Originally Posted by ClockShot (Post 5355720)

Sony circling Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd. for a possible acquisition. Two other Chinese video game developers are also in the mix.

Noted developers under Leyou are Digital Extremes (Warframe), and Splash Damage. Splash Damage is the big prize since they've been cozy with Microsoft for a while now.

Sony has been added to the list of possible buyers for Leyou.

iDreamsky and Century Huatong being the other two.

Leyou is the holding company for Digital Extremes (Warframe), Splash Damage and has a 20% stake in Certain Affinity. https://t.co/xCnwM5FDw2
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 2, 2020

<SCRIPT charset=utf-8 src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async></SCRIPT>

Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD (Post 5355905)

Content is not 'cut' in most cases but I see what you're saying.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

It was a pretty incredible sight to see L.A. Noire, one of my flawed-yet-favorite games of the past few generations, get another lease on life in 2017.

Billed as "The VR Case Files," the game was handled by former Team Bondi developers who worked on the original L.A. Noire, and it seems like Rockstar is happy enough with the project to greenlight another game. According to a Linkedin listing on Video Game Deluxe's page, the studio is allegedly working on a new "open world AAA title in VR" for Rockstar.

They have "a number of job openings" for the project, including Senior Programmers, an Engine Programmer, a Designer and an Animator. The scope of VR has changed so much these past few years, necessitating all of these positions. Although VR originally debuted with a number of tech demo-like experiences, there have been many strides in terms of "AAA" projects or even open world games recently.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Players will take up the role of Dani Rojas, a local guerilla fighter battling to free a small nation under ruthless dictatorship. A gameplay description boasts the largest map to date and promises "makeshift weapons, vehicles, and Amigos, the new Fangs for Hire to burn the tyrannical regime to the ground." A single splash-art image features main villain Anton Castillo who, as recently rumoured, will be portrayed by Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito.

"Welcome to Yara, a tropical paradise frozen in time," reads a roughly-translated blurb. "As the dictator of Yara, Anton Castillo is intent on restoring his nation back to its former glory by any means, with his son, Diego, following in his bloody footsteps. Their ruthless oppression has ignited a revolution."

Originally Posted by Destructoid

The listing also suggests a release date of February 18, 2021, and notes that Far Cry 6 will offer a free PlayStation 5 upgrade for players picking up the next-gen platform. Of course, all of this information is subject to change, seeing as how Ubisoft is yet to officially reveal the sequel at all

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Sony is making a concerted effort to boost production of its upcoming PlayStation 5 hardware, reportedly aiming to double the number of units produced by the end of 2020.

As reported by business news outlet Bloomberg, Sony initially planned to create five million PS5 consoles by March 2021, but is now aiming for an optimistic 9-10 million units by the same date. It is believed that the industry giant raised the bar for itself after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused home gaming to surge throughout the spring and summer of 2020.

Of course, logistical problems caused by the global health crisis mean that even if Sony achieves its mammoth production goals, the company will still face a huge challenge in delivering stock to high street stores worldwide. This is especially true during the typically-hectic holiday period, which already strains global distribution lines at the best of times.

While the plan to double hardware production is yet to be confirmed by Sony itself, several Asian news outlets - such as the Nikkei Asian Review - have received similar reports from their own inside sources.

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5360680)

Current speculation going around the net is Microsoft likely is going to combine Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold into a single subscription service instead of being separate services.

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5360680)

Current speculation going around the net is Microsoft likely is going to combine Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold into a single subscription service instead of being separate services.

Originally Posted by Seph (Post 5360708)

They've already done that and did it awhile ago. Games Pass Ultimate includes Xbox Live Gold. All they are doing is removing the cheaper option.