It wouldn’t be a normal week without a bit of (un)healthy debate in the gaming world. This week was no exception. Here’s a recap of what people have been shouting about over the last 7 days:
Metroid Dread
Despite being the fastest-selling game in the series history, Metroid Dread was dragged into the spotlight when an article published by Kotaku claimed that the game was already ‘playing great’ on Switch PC emulators. Some commentators accused Kotaku of actively promoting the piracy of new releases, sparking an online debate around emulation and its role in preserving historical games. After much discussion, Kotaku amended the original article and added this clarification:
An earlier version of this story was understood by many readers to be a direct suggestion to illegally download this just-released game. We regret this interpretation. Kotaku believes emulation is a vital part of the world of gaming, not least when it comes to game preservation, while not directly encouraging anyone to break the law and download games they have not purchased. We believe our readers are intelligent adults capable of making such choices for themselves, independently of us.
Kotaku.com
GTA Trilogy The Definitive Edition Price Leaked
The catchily titled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition will reportedly cost around $70, according to a recent leak. Gaming retailer base.com listed the new collection on their website at the above price before quickly removing it after being posted on Twitter.
Starting an online discussion on the cost of modern video games, some claimed this was another example of Rockstar (and its parent company, Take Two) exploiting fans by charging high prices for pre-existing content.
Diablo II: Resurrected Suffers Login Issues on Launch
Those of you with a long enough memory will recall the infamous Error 38 that plagued the launch of Diablo III back in 2012. It seems history can repeat itself after a patch for Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch caused slow and failed logins for those trying to access Diablo II in the U.S, Asia and the U.K.
As the issues continued, some players took to Twitter, demanding refunds from the developer, Blizzard. Blizzard has since issued a statement explaining the technical cause and its commitment to fixing it. You can read the full statement here.
COD Vanguard & Warzone Anti-cheat Leaked
This week, Activision revealed its new anti-cheat, Ricochet which combines a kernel-level driver and machine learning to examine player behaviour. Within a day of being announced, Ricochet’s kernel driver files were leaked, leading to reports of hackers allegedly reverse engineering the system.
This comes in the wake of Activision reportedly banning 20,000 Warzone accounts at the end of September due to suspected cheating.
Apple Music Might Be Coming to PlayStation 5
PlayStation owners have been able to connect their Spotify accounts to their consoles for some years, but those of us who use Apple Music for our podcasts and tunes have been missing out. That all might be about to change as several users have reported seeing the Apple Music app when creating a new PlayStation profile.
Currently, the app doesn’t work when selected but its presence may suggest it will in future.
Stanislaw Lem’s Sci-Fi Classic The Invincibles Getting a Video Game Adaptation
Developers Starward Industries have released a teaser trailer for their upcoming game, The Invicibles, based on the Polish author’s Sci-Fi novel of the same name. Described as a ‘first-person, adventure thriller set in an atompunk world’, the game is slated to release in 2022 to Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and PC.
The studio is based in Krakow, Poland and comprises developers from The Witcher 3:Wild Hunt and Dying Light. You can watch the teaser trailer below.
I’m definitely going to be keep an eye on this one!