Month: November 2024

The Backyard Sports franchise will soon return after a nearly decade-long hiatus. Announced today, Playground Productions will bring the games back—and introduce the iconic characters to TV, film, and other media.The franchise began in the late 90s with Backyard Baseball, developed by Humongous Entertainment, and soon blossomed to include entries focused on skateboarding, hockey, football, and more. The last releases before the new announcement were 2015's Backyard Sports: Baseball and Backyard Sports: Basketball.Per Variety, Backyard Sports creator and Playground Productions founder and CEO Lindsay Barnett called the franchise "more than just a game; it’s a cherished part of childhood for millions of people. I look at media as the largest classroom in the world. As such, our goal is to produce meaningful content that not only entertains but also educates and inspires. The return of Backyard Sports is the perfect embodiment of that goal."

Backyard Sports and Playground Productions

Playground Productions labels itself …

Voice actor Atsuko Tanaka has passed away at the age of 61 years old. Per her son Hikaru, she died of an undisclosed illness she'd been battling for the past year."Including her year-long battle with illness, I think she lived a life that was typical of Tanaka," he wrote in a translated obituary. "Serious, dignified, and a little playful. I am truly happy to have such a proud mother."Born November 14, 1962, Tanaka was best known for voicing Motoko Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell franchise. Much of her voicework career was in anime including Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Lupin III, and Queen's Blade.Game-wise, she did the Japanese voice for Bayonetta in PlatinumGames' titular series. She's also been in franchises like Nier (as Kaine), Yakuza (Reina), and Devil May Cry (Trish), and was Lara Croft's Japanese voice for several Tomb Raider titles.Several franchises Tanaka was attached to wrote eulogies of their own following her passing. Ghost in the Shell's Twitter said she imbued Kusanagi "with a presence that is both quiet and powerful and full of charm.""I had a great time playing the role of Kaine in Nier Replican…

Game Science's Black Myth: Wukong has been out for less than a day, and already, it's made waves on the PC front.Per SteamDB, the action-RPG opened to 2.2 million players on Steam, and has quickly climbed the sales charts. At time of writing, it's the Steam store's top seller ahead of the Steam Deck OLED, Counter-Strike 2, and the incoming Final Fantasy XVI port.According to Game Discover's Simon Carless, the bulk of Black Myth's PC base on the platform is owed to China. Players in the developer's home make up 88.1 percent of that player count, followed by the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, and other countries.

Black Myth takes one big, tumultuous step for Chinese devs

While there've been several games from China that've hit big in the West, Black Myth has been positioned as the most triple-A of them all. It's had numerous appearances at game events and is effectively a console exclusive for the PlayStation 5, at least for now.The game has been embroiled in controversy prior to release, namely allegations of a sexi…

Another video game is crossing over into films: Ruiner, the sci-fi shooter from Reikon Games and Devolver Digital.Per Variety, director Wes Ball (of Planet of the Apes and eventual Legend of Zelda fame) will adapt the game for Universal Pictures, which will be produced by Story Kitchen and 87North.It's the newest video game get for Universal, who recently entered the game-to-film scene with the very successful Super Mario and Five Nights at Freddy's films.

Ruiner on the big screen

Ruiner released in 2017 and is set in the cyberpunk future of 2091. Players take on the role of a silent character nicknamed "Puppy" who embarks on a journey to save their brother from a conglomerate named Heaven that runs the city of Rengkok.According to Variety, Ruiner has amassed 4 million players since its release. It first came out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, followed by the Nintendo Switch in 2020.Reikon itself has yet to comment on the adaptation, though co-founders Marek Roefler, Jakub Styliński, and Magdalena Tomkowicz will all executive produce the film.In…

With a few weeks to go before a new tier is introduced to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has released a blog detailing how the service's Standard plan will work for subscribers beginning on September 12.Standard will run $15/mo, and its biggest change is the loss of day one access to first-party games. According to Microsoft, those titles may potentially join the Standard tier "at a future date," ranging up to a full year or later from its arrival, depending on the game.With that wording, the implication appears to be that some first-party titles may not be available to Standard subscribers period, which would theoretically incentivize trading up to another plan that did have those games.

"More choice" for Game Pass players

The new tier was made "to give players more choice" in prices and plans. Since it's currently relegated to Xbox consoles, it's intended as a halfway point between Game Pass Core ($10/mo) and Game Pass Ultimate ($20/mo).Notably, Game Pass Standard will launch ahead of Call of…

At yesterday's Gamescom presser, Bethesda revealed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PlayStation 5 sometime in spring 2025 after its initial December launch on Xbox and PC. For Xbox head Phil Spencer, taking the title multiplatform is for the good of the brand.On a livestream following the event, Spencer explained the decision was in part spurred by the alleged success of games like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves on PS5 and Nintendo Switch ports earlier this year. And if Xbox games are going to be "as strong as possible," more will need to go multiplatform."Our end result has to be better games that more people can play," he continued. "If we’re not focused on that, I think we’re focused on the wrong things."Indiana Jones was one of two Bethesda games that initially had PS5 versions in the works before Microsoft bought the company. Those were then killed, which complicates the situation and highlights the odd place Xbox has been put in with its many acquisitions in recent years.Another wrinkle is Xbox's various attempts to grow its base. In mid-September, it will introduce a new tier (and price hike) to Xbox Game Pass that di…

Techland just revealed Dying Light: The Beast at Gamescom, but it turns out the standalone title isn't new new.Speaking with Game Developer, director Nathan Lamaire explained the game was actually born from DLC originally meant for Dying Light 2. After its plot was leaked by hackers last year, Techland pivoted it into a full game.Leaks have been a part of the industry for a long time, especially recently. A developer leaning into those leaks is rare, and it's even more unusual when it comes to expansions that have bloomed into fuller projects.Another reason to blow it up? Kyle Crane, returning protagonist of the first Dying Light. As Lamaire explained, veterans from that game felt "10 years younger" once he was chosen to lead The Beast, and there was a desire to do right by that older staff.From there, Techland decided The Beast needed "to be more than what we already planned for," he said. The studio famously supported the first Dying Light over the years, and The Beast continues that throughline for the sequel.Players who bought Dying Light 2's ultimate edition (either on current or last-gen) get The Beast at no extra cost, since it was inteded …

Mafia: The Old Country is going to demand your attention when it lands in 2025. Developer Hanger 13 is back, this time with a prequel to the original Mafia game that’s exploring the origins of organized crime – with action, the studio promises,
will be “brought to life by the authentic realism and rich storytelling.” It’s an exciting prospect, particularly as Hanger 13 dials back the open world ambitions of Mafia 3 and settles into an action-adventure experience with a more linear focus. Naturally, it’s a little bold for 2K Games to schedule Mafia: The Old Country in the same release window as GTA 6, but that only goes to show how much confidence the publisher has in this title. With the first trailer out in the wild, and the promise of more information coming this December, now’s a perfect opportunity to get caught up with everything you need to know about Mafia: The Old Country. Mafia: The Old Country release date speculation Currently, the Mafia: The Old Country release date is penciled in for some point next year in 2025. We didn’t see this in the game’s reveal trailer, but it was thanks to a Tweet from publisher 2K after the Gamescom Opening Night Live s…

Australia's National Film & Sound Archive recently conducted a survey on international game preservation. The results show how dire the efforts to preserve games are worldwide and how they will hit local industry the hardest.In the NFSA's survey (conducted in 2023), respondents cited key roadblocks such as legal and technical access, a lack of dedicated staffing, and funds. Its summary further notes most groups treat preservation as part of a larger operation rather than a key focus.Like last year's survey from the Video Game History Foundation, the NFSA said the industry is facing a "significant loss of heritage," particularly as it pertains to the Australian game industry.Its website reveals over 96 percent of classic Australian games are "critically endangered," substantially worse than the US's 87 percent of pre-2010 games. And while the US has support from the Library of Congress, preservation is not a priority for every country.Even more recent games are said to be at risk, as organizations have them saved as digital titles rather than physical releases, of which they're "almost twice as likely to have."One respondent…

Hideo Kojima’s OD remains a mystery. Unveiled in 2023, the Metal Gear creator says he wants to “explore the concept of testing your fear threshold, and what it means to overdose on fear” – which, you know, is a lot. But still I’m excited to learn more, particularly as this is the first time Kojima has taken a swing at outright horror since the demise of his Silent Hills initiative with Konami. OD – or Overdose, as it’s being called – is in development at Kojima Productions, made in collaboration with Xbox Game Studios. The upcoming horror game doesn’t have a release date just yet, but with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach set to launch in 2025, I can only hope that Kojima will turn his full attention to this new Xbox exclusive soon enough. So you’ll want to keep on reading to discover everything we know so far about this wildly ambitious new Xbox Series X game, from the way its leveraging Xbox Cloud Gaming to how the use of Unreal Engine 5 will deliver scares like you’ve never seen before. OD (Overdose) gameplay experience At least when creative director Hideo Kojima was working on Metal Gear Solid games, you sort of knew what you were getting &ndas…