The biggest night in gaming is upon us once again! The Game Awards 2024 are streaming today, Thursday, December 12th, 2024. The show starts streaming at 4:30pm Pacific (7:30pm Eastern) and can be viewed through various platforms including The Game Awards channels below.
And along with the annual show comes my tradition of predicting the winners. Skipping the Esports and Content Creator categories, because I do not follow any of those. After the predictions there will be a couple of hopeful announcement predictions as well.
Here are the Gamewrote predictions for The Game Awards 2024.
Most Anticipated Game
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Ghost of Yotei
Grand Theft Auto VI (Prediction)
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Monster Hunter Wilds
Best Adaptation
Arcane
Fallout (Prediction)
Knuckles
Like a Dragon: Yakuza
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
Best Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Predication)
Helldivers 2
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Tekken 8
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Best Sports/Racing
F1 2024
EA Sports FC 25 (Prediction)
NBA 2K25
Top Spin 2K25
WWE 2K24
Best Sim/Strategy
Age of Mythology: Retold
Frostpunk 2
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Manor Lords (Prediction)
Unicorn Overlord
Best Family
Astro Bot (Prediction)
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
The Plucky Squire
Best Fighting
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
Multiversus
Tekken 8 (Prediction)
Best RPG
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Best Action/Adventure
Astro Bot
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Silent Hill 2 (Prediction)
Star Wars Outlaws
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Best Action Game
Black Myth: Wukong
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Helldivers 2 (Prediction)
Stellar Blade
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Best VR/AR
Arizona Sunshine Remake
Asgard’s Wrath 2
Batman: Arkham Shadow (Prediction)
Metal: Hellsinger VR
Metro Awakening
Best Mobile Game
AFK Journey
Balatro (Prediction)
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
Wuthering Waves
Zenless Zone Zero
Best Debut Indie Game
Animal Well
Balatro (Prediction)
Manor Lords
Pacific Drive
The Plucky Squire
Best Independent Game
Animal Well
Balatro (Prediction)
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Neva
UFO 50
Best Community Support
Baldur’s Gate 3
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Helldivers 2
No Man’s Sky (Prediction)
Best Ongoing
Destiny 2
Diablo IV (Prediction)
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Helldivers 2
Best For Impact
Indika
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Closer the Distance (Prediction)
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Neva
Innovation in Accessibility
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Diablo IV
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Star Wars Outlaws (Prediction)
Best Performance
Briana White, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Hannah Telle, Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Humberly Gonzalez, Star Wars Outlaws
Luke Roberts, Silent Hill 2
Melina Juergens, Senuas’s Saga: Hellblade II (Prediction)
Best Audio Design
Astro Bot (Prediction)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Silent Hill 2
Best Score and Music
Astro Bot
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (Prediction)
Metaphor: Refantazio
Silent Hill 2
Stellar Blade
Best Art Direction
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Prediction)
Metaphor: Refantazio
Neva
Best Narrative
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Silent Hill 2
Best Game Direction
Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Prediction)
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Metaphor: Refantazio
Game of the Year
Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Now for a couple hopeful predictions on some announcements for this years show.
The most obvious one that everyone is likely hoping for would be anything Grand Theft Auto 6, this isn’t very likely, but who wouldn’t want to see more of the game. But Rockstar really doesn’t need to do anything to sell this game, it will be the biggest release of all time whenever it releases, especially as we get further into this console generation. There will be so many XBOX Series X/S and so many PS5s out there that this game will be massive.
More likely prediction would be the trailer for The Last of Us season 2, Geoff has a good relationship with Neil Druckmann it seems and this is the biggest event that they can likely tie the trailer to, there is not show running right now on HBO/Max that has a reliable audience like a Game of Thrones to tie a trailer to. The Game Awards seems like the best bang for their buck on impact releasing the long awaited trailer for season 2 of the hit show.
Along with the probable appearance of Neil Druckmann for The Last of Us season 2, there will hopefully also be the one more thing…The new IP from Naughty Dog. I would hope this comes as suggested at the end of the show, which would free up another big announcement earlier in the show. Another very, very longshot, the Uncharted whatever it is next from a non Naughty Dog Studio. I put this likelihood and virtually zero, but wishful thinking here.
From XBOX it would be great to see something Halo, but their rebranding wasn’t that long ago, so it doesn’t seem likely. However XBOX did have that incredible XBOX Games Showcase back in the summer, so perhaps a follow up on the new Gears title or Perfect Dark would land well here.
It would also be very likely we see whatever Kojima is working on with XBOX as well as a showing from Death Stranding 2, these would presumably come at different points of the show being that they are from competing brands obviously. But we know Geoff loves himself some Hideo Kojima, and there will likely be no shortage of his presence at this years show.
We know that we are getting Borderlands 4 at the show, I have been waiting for the series to feel right since the second game. Hopefully this new one will looks more fast paced, smooth, and show off the variations of the new/returning vault hunters. The original was a really unique look and feel and the sequel pushed it a bit further and had some great character classes, hope the new one is a true return to form.
And as always a few evergreen wishful thinking ideas, the return of Jet Motto or Motorstorm would be a welcome return. Or finally dusting off Syphon Filter for the modern era or more reasonable relaunching Resistance or any number of the long dormant IP from PlayStation. Or in the XBOX camp the long hoped return of Banjo-Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day, not as familiar with what IP they are sitting on, but be bold people.
But no matter what games win at this year’s show and what gets announced, we should all be happy we get this night every year. And we should all be thankful of the work Geoff Keighley does throughout the year to give the industry events like this and Summer Games Fest.
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Tinykin is a game I came across about a year back while searching for something to play on my XBOX Series S with Gamepass. Played it for about an hour or so over cloud gaming, and while it was enjoyable, my unreliable Spectrum internet wasn’t too enjoyable, so I moved along to other games. Recently though, I came across the title once again, this time searching PlayStation Plus for something worthwhile on the PS5. Not wanting to have a similar experience, this time I downloaded the title and started a playthrough. This game is a true delight, it feels like a throwback to earlier console generations. The gameplay is a of 3D platforming while exploring level by level with some great puzzles added in with some Pikmin vibes using the Tinykin.
There are five different types of Tinykin that you discover throughout the various levels, starting with the pink which are your basic units that are used to carry items or move items for you throughout the game. Each of the first few levels brings you a new Tinykin which will perform specific tasks that are also introduced level by level.
Pink Tinykin carry/move items for you
Red Tinykin explode to unlock shortcuts/paths in levels
Green Tinykin are used to stack and climb to access areas
Yellow Tinykin are used to create bridges for traversal
Blue Tinykin are used to convey electrical currents.
Again each level will introduce a new Tinykin that will solve each levels conundrum, until you are left with a whole cast towards the final levels to solve the various puzzles with the full assortment of Tinykin. If you have played games in the Pikmin series this will be a familiar feeling and makes for some great, fun gameplay. Offering plenty of challenges and strategic action and some brilliant level designs as you traverse through the rooms of the house.
The level design is wonderful, bringing back vibes of the old Army Men games, the more recent Grounded, or perhaps even further back Honey I Shrunk The Kids vibes where you are a micro sized character in “real-life” style rooms throughout a house.
Chrysal Workshop: Homebase/Hub where you see your collected
Transidor Crossing: Hallway on split on two levels with a large staircase between them
City of Sanctar: Living room setting including a piano, stereo, TV, and various other furniture to explore.
Foliana Heights: Perhaps a nursery (like for plants…) with plenty of greenery and various terrariums that likely held some insect or reptile.
Waters of Balnea: Two room connected bathroom, one containing a toilet and the other with a bathtub.
Lands of Ambrose: Kitchen with an overflowing sink cascading into a waterfall, plenty of cabinets to search, and a countertop full of interesting appliances to utilize.
Celerion Park: Kids room complete with toy car race track and a building block castle.
(Redacted): Last level, no spoilers!
Each level is diverse and brings unique tasks, looks, and experiences as you gather your Tinykin and help the inhabitants of that level while working towards your goal. There are different objectives on each level, with a main path goal and extra goals and/or items to find if you are pushing towards that 100% completion. And in terms of difficulty there are some challenging spots when you are finding certain tasks that could make it a little hard for kids, the fun factor of the game should offset any challenges they face. Also the game is a rather easy Platinum or a maxed out Gamerscore, with plenty of guides or walkthroughs available if you get stuck on any of the extra challenges.
I would encourage everyone to give this game a shot, it is a true delight as mentioned before and it is the first game to be Gamewrote Approved and receive the Gamewrote Seal Of Approval!
Tinykin is available on PlayStation, XBOX, Switch, and STEAM, with a demo available on XBOX or Switch and is currently available through PlayStation Plus and was developed by Splashteam and tinyBuild.
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*Seal the artist nor the animal have approved their use or likeness in the Gamewrote Seal Of Approval*
Getting this out of the way first, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games is great, impressive, fun, gorgeous, a must play exclusive for the PlayStation 5. From my experience the most impressive thing was how naturally it pushes you through to near full game completion in pace with natural progression of the campaign. As the final mission warning hit, I decided to go with that classic RPG approach and level up a bit more before dealing with it. This felt like the natural progression as the game does an exceptional job of upping the ante as you approach the endgame, once you are doing battle with Venom’s faction of enemies everything feels more challenging, the game scales brilliantly. However once the campaign is done that is where the two biggest drawbacks of this otherwise great game set in.
There is almost no real reason to play the game once you beat the campaign, there is a really touching epilogue mission that takes place, and depending on your playthrough there are possibly some side missions to wrap up…but as mentioned with my playthrough I was nearly at a natural 100% by campaign end. After that is done all there is to experience is a cycle of repetitive crimes to stop over and over again by the various factions throughout the city. This lack of end game content isn’t unique to just Spider-Man 2, but an issue with open world games in general outside of Grand Theft Auto or Read Dead titles. And while this will be fixed to a degree when the eventual update adding New Game+, open world games need to figure out a better way to keep the world feeling alive and useful after the campaign ends.
The other glaring issue with the game for me was after the initial amazing boss fight with Sandman, which sets this massive scale and stage that really isn’t seen again throughout the remainder of the game. Boss fights after that for the rest of the campaign are a strange process of fighting them until their health depletes, then fighting them again until their health depletes, and then sometimes fighting them again…until their health depletes. This usually has a cutscene that pushes the story along through the fight, but it was frustrating in more than one scenario when you have to perform the same repetitive tactics to beat the boss only to do it over and over again. And while some of the boss fights have some cool set pieces or some neat features, they are mostly the same process, which is disappointing when compared to what that intro mission sets up.
However aside from those two big drawbacks, Spider-Man 2 is as initially stated an exceptional game, there is far more good and even great here than there is bad. Another massive highlight of the game are the suits, there is an abundance of suits for both Miles and Peter to unlock throughout the game. Thirty-four base model suits for each playable character and beyond the base models there are color variants unlockable as well thirty-one for Miles and eighteen for Peter. Each player will come across their own favorites during the game, again for myself unlocking the Forever Suit for Miles, honoring Black Panther, was a fantastic surprise and easily became my suit of choice when playing as him. Check out the video below from our IG to see the full sampling of base suits for Miles, and check out Peter’s suits on the profile.
Unlocking all those great suits comes from a mix of completing certain side missions within the game and from utilizing tech from various side quests in the game like in previous Spider-Man games from this series. Again coming very naturally as you progress through the game, complete the Prowler or Mysterio side quest missions and earn a suit themed in their likeness while other suits come from various version of Spider-Man from other properties such as the Spiderverse suits for Miles or the MCU suits for Peter. All of this is part of what makes the game flow and progress so well. The campaign sets things up great, switches you back and forth between Peter and Miles when needed for certain story elements as well as letting you swap on the fly throughout much of the campaign.
Another really cool element within the gameplay is when you are playing as either character and you go to stop a crime there is a chance you’ll stumble across your fellow Spider-Man in the fight, you can even get the classic Spider-Man meme pose after finishing off the objective. This is such a cool experience the first time it occurs and feels great even many times later, whether it’s Miles coming across Peter or vice versa. During the course of the game you’ll hit story lulls, but these are always used as opportunities to introduce new side missions or encourage some exploration of the city and again this all serves to pace the gameplay perfectly. And without spoiling any of the actual story of the campaign, it is great, keeps you engaged throughout and has some decent twists as well.
The final big standout for the game is the design elements of the game, again it looks great, is an absolute standout game for the PS5. But aside from just looking great it plays great too, the team at Insomniac Games do not disappoint. Controls are smooth and responsive, you get plenty of great power-ups over the duration of the story and much like the theme with everything here, it feels paced in such a natural way and builds towards what makes sense in the game. In addition to the gameplay designs some of the character designs as well are brilliant, Venom especially looks just perfect, the design of the Lizard work great, and as mentioned previously all the variety of the suits for both Peter and Miles just show the level of detail and care from the dev team.
Overall I highly recommend the game, obviously it would be best to play the original and the Miles Morales half sequel first but aren’t completely necessary. And despite a couple of gripes about the game, this is a great experience with fun gameplay, an incredible story, and again an exceptional pace. Much like many others I would welcome additional content in the form of DLC and will hope that we see an eventual Spider-Man 3.
Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
Hi! Zach here, the founder and owner and writer and whatever else of Gamewrote. Some of you, not too many, but some may know me from my brief stint with PlayStation at San Diego Studio when I had the great fortune to work as an Online Community Specialist on their Games As A Service titles, Drawn To Death, GUNS UP!, and Kill Strain. Although rather brief, it provided some incredible incite into the industry and certainly made me realize the immense work and teamwork it takes to make videogames come to be. Now, however without further ado…
What is Gamewrote
Gamewrote can likely be best described as a passion project, a slow burn to keep myself engaged in writing about the industry I love the most. Being born in the 80s was perfect timing for someone who would grow to be a fan of videogames. With Atari and Intellivision already available, getting to grow up with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Mario Bros all the way to current day with the potential of the PlayStation 5 or the streaming convenience of an XBOX Series S. There truly is no entertainment medium that can compare to videogames, sure you can get lost in the story of a good book, see the action unfold in your favorite comic, see and feel the emotion of a great or thrilling movie. But videogames is the most in depth medium, it allows you to fully immerse yourself into it. Just look at a series like Grand Theft Auto from where it started with the original GTA to GTA:V (And soon GTA6!), the quality and scope of a game like that is unparalleled in other forms of media.
Main: Grand Theft Auto V’s trio, Insert: Grand Theft Auto PS1
No, Really…What is Gamewrote?
If you’ve made it to this point or if you’ve seen any previous content from here or elsewhere you might wonder, “Is there a meaning to GameWrote?”. And that’s a great question and…there is! The first part is rather obvious, Game comes from videogames. During my very fortunate couple years in the industry, I met tons of amazing people both in terms of my coworkers and peers in the industry. Along with meeting countless numbers of fellow fans of the industry at conventions, meetups, and other events during my time. Gaming is a truly unique, incredibly bonding form of entertainment, generating a great range of emotions, unique experiences, and captivating journeys.
And the Wrote portion comes from the written word obviously, but also from my favorite live theatre show Hamilton: An American Musical. Throughout the show there is a prevailing theme of Alexander Hamilton having a seemingly nonstop obsession with writing with “I wrote my way out” being a key line in the song “Hurricane”. Hamilton uses his writing to pull himself out of poverty, out of scandal or perhaps further into it, and as a way to help shape the founding of the United States of America. Now I’m certainly not in such a dire situation as poverty or scandal, but for myself it’s the hope that my writing can lead to leaving a regular job and making a living from game content. Full disclosure though I’m not holding my breath for this, but one can dream.
Why is Gamewrote
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it’s a way to keep myself engaged and keep some creativity flowing. This will hopefully lead to some constructive, mostly positive dialogue among fellow gaming friends online as well. And if somehow it leads me to be able to make money or potentially earn a living back in that industry even better.
When is Gamewrote
Currently the goal is to write at least one post per month, with the hope of getting to twice a month, then weekly, and one day time and life permitting to be able to cover industry related occurrences up to speed in as close to real time as possible. Also on occasion there will be some live tweeting of events such as The Game Awards or if a particular company does a showcase or press conference or insert what they call it here. Currently while there are plenty of things lined up to write/post about there is no certain or guarantied cadence for updates, although getting to a more consistent timed schedule would be the ideal goal in time.
Where is Gamewrote
First and foremost right here at http://www.Gamewrote.com, additionally on social media @Gamewrote on both Twitter and Instagram. Periodically gameplay footage can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@zat_thomas, recently played through Spider-Man: Miles Morales in preparation for Spider-Man 2 and uploaded that playthrough. And lastly if you want to send a Friend Request on PSN SD-Zach, don’t use that account as a primary, but eventually there could be some Twitch streaming and possibly some game with the community sessions. If there is something you enjoy on the page, please share with your friends, co-workers, peers, etc. any support goes a long ways.
Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
Growing up as a child of the 80/90s it was hard to not love some good ol fashion wrestling. For myself it was WWF, then WCW, then a little bit more WWF/WWE but I eventually grew out of love with wrestling. But a few years back something caught my interest and brought me back in love with it again, All Elite Wrestling or AEW. while I didn’t watch from the very beginning, I became a weekly viewer and fan during the pandemic years. Watching the incredible quality of wrestling from the shear in ring entertainment aspect got its hooks in me good. Then came the announcement in May of 2022, of their first videogame, AEW: Fight Forever.
Having personally got back into the WWE2K games as well a couple years back and having grown up with the essential Nintendo64 era wrestling games, I was excited to see that AEW: Fight Forever was intended to be a spiritual successor to the N64 era games. These were endless fun with arcade style over the top action and in many ways it carries the torch of those older games. In terms of fun factor, Fight Forever is brilliant arcade style fun, it is fast paced and over the top in many, many ways. Definitely sets itself apart from the well established WWE2K series, and there is certainly room for both titles and styles. But if AEW: Fight Forever wants to become the staple that 2K is, there are certain improvements that should be considered.
Below are suggestions I feel would improve the Fight Forever experience and help ensure they can keep this game going as well as their brand in general. And whether or not the fine hardworking people at YUKE’S and THQ Nordic take my input or not, they really should get out there with a solid road map for the title in the next month or so. Perhaps lining it up with the expected August update that will bring the Stadium Stampede, battle royale mode, to the game and have some solid additions by years end to show they are intending on supporting and improving the game moving forward.
Expand Max Character Count: With the announcement of the Stadium Stampede battle royale mode being added to the game, it shows that the game can have more action on screen than currently allowed, however that mode is not confined to the ring and ring area as the regular game modes are. This would likely be a very challenging change, and it is likely capped at four characters at once for a reason, but there is certainly some great additions that could come to the title if more were possible. Imagine what would be possible with maybe six or even say ten wrestlers able to be in a match together, not just how much better it would make current modes like the Casino Battle Royale, but perhaps…
More Match Types: Under the assumption that upping the max character count is possible in regular in ring game modes (The Stadium Stampede mode has been shown off and obviously has a much higher max), how great would adding the AEW World Trios Titles into the mix, or having three or four-way tag matches. Another obvious addition, Blood & Guts, having just come off this year’s epic match with the Golden Elite vs Blackpool Combat Club. How insane would the gameplay be with two rings inside a massive cage and two five wrestler factions going at it, pure chaos in the best way possible.
More Arenas And Locations: Both in terms of more arenas, but anyone who is a fan of AEW knows they are no stranger to fighting in the crowd, the stands, the concession area, etc. Adding more areas throughout an arena seems like an obvious addition, again some assets are already there with what the Stadium Stampede trailer shows. And in terms of more arenas, how is there no Daily’s Place!? This small, intimate arena is where AEW blossomed into the unique brand it is and started to thrive.
More Alternate Attire: While there are some alternate attires in game for some wrestlers, there should be multiple attire for most if not all the wrestlers in the game. And these can even be items that need to be purchased in the in game store with earned currency, you earn plenty of it and it would be a great thing to work towards. Furthermore the current way to adjust the attire is not very simple, should be as basic as select wrestler->select attire, then play.
Vastly Improved Creation Options: Even beyond the roster, which will be covered a little later, the creation content options by far the most underwhelming part of AEW: Fight Forever. The game gives a small base quantity of customizations for create a wrestler and even for create an arena, then has a bit more available for purchase in the in-game store. However it is very minimal, and doesn’t have much in the way of customization within the options outside of an assortment of items having custom color options. And the game offers no community options as have been standard in the WWE2K titles for a long while. Expecting that community download/upload options in their first title isn’t too fair, but expecting a much wider array of clothing, accessories, etc. is very fair. Hopefully this is something that gets expanded on regularly with updates, adding new outfits and accessories.
Official Minigame Party Mode: The minigames are the most unique option in the game, make this a full on mode beyond what it is now. Think Mario Party style knockoff even, go All Out…The game has a fair number of minigames available to unlock within the game, but only starts with the initial three games. There are also a few announced already as part of the DLC/Season Pass, but there is certainly room for a lot more and again, more of an expanded unique party mode featuring the minigames.
Overhaul Season Pass and DLC Pricing: One of the most glaring issues with the game as of release was the roster, despite having a solid number of overall talent, over fifty wrestlers initially, it felt very outdated and puzzling. For instance why is Jeff Hardy included in the game, yet Matt Hardy who has been with AEW longer was a pre-order bonus or $5 DLC add-on. Then there’s the announced DLC having wrestlers like FTR, Keith Lee, The Bunny, etc as when most have been staples of the brand for a long time. At the other end of the spectrum, why in the world is Cody Rhodes in this game still or why is Aubrey Edwards (nothing against Aubrey, she’s great!) a playable character when so many actual wrestlers are missing?
When you think of the various wrestlers that have been around for a year or more that are absent and not even mentioned as the season pass DLC, it’s puzzling. You would hope for a massive Ring of Honor DLC pack bringing in Athena or the Gates of Agony along with the various championship belts from that promotion. Or perhaps just having more recent AEW wrestlers like Skye Blue or Willow Nightingale or even more obviously relevant the two biggest wrestlers in the women’s division in Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter. And ultimate pie in the sky dream DLC, New Japan Pro-Wrestling Pack. Bringing the biggest stars through the digital forbidden door, giving everyone the chance to reenact the likely match of the Year Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega in Fight Forever.
The current DLC/Season Pass is seemingly very high priced especially considering the content in there compared to the game and the game’s $59.99 price tag rather than the now standard $69.99. Having a $29.99 price for a very minimal selection of additional content, is not a great value. The season pass appears to add six wrestlers and four minigames, that’s all, and certainly a bad value compared to the overall game’s offering at $59.99 of over fifty wrestlers and fifteen minigames. Here is what is currently available and announced for DLC:
Available Now
Matt Hardy pack ($4.99) giving users access to what was the preorder bonus, two versions of Matt Hardy
Season Pass ($29.99) which will include the following three packs
FTR: Revival Pack ($11.99) with the duo and two extra minigames
Upcoming
Limitless Bunny Bundle ($11.99 presumably) with Keith Lee, The Bunny, and two extra minigames
Hookhausen Very Handsome, Very Evil Pack ($11.99 presumably) with HOOK and Danhausen
Add More Campaign Content: While the WWE2K campaign/career mode seems to go on endlessly with not a real clear direction and a lot of repetition from my experience, the Fight Forever campaign is rather condensed by comparison. It has a nice setup and takes the player through four chapters and plays well along with having multiple branches depending on successes and failures in matches throughout the campaign. And part of what it lacks, can actually be something that helps to ease the addition of more story chapters, there are almost exclusively text based story with very, very limited VO. Hopefully they are able to add more chapters beyond the initial four that are there now, something like a Forbidden Door PPV chapter if there is an eventual NJPW add-on.
Make Stadium Stampede Fully F2P: Now this may be the plan already, and if it was already announced as being the case, my bad…
But make Stadium Stampede a full free game for even people who don’t own AEW: Fight Forever, much like what Call Of Duty does with Warzone. Allow people to download basically the full Fight Forever title and have access to just this mode, while blocking access to the regular/base game. This would hopefully add to the player base for the mode and more importantly be a lane for new users to adopt the full title over time.
There you have it! What Gamewrote would do to improve AEW: Fight Forever. With that all said, I can’t stress this enough, the game is a blast to play already. These changes are more longevity based and I would urge them to make continued changes to this game for a couple years rather than try for an annual release like 2K does. The base game is great and is ripe for more content add campaign chapters, add modes, add wrestlers, add content creation, add to this wonderfully unique game. I will also state that I have only played this game solo to this point, I have not tried the online modes, nor have I played any couch coop/competitive. And I can only imagine the fun my friends and I would have had in our younger days playing this game together.
OH! And make the character indicator a default setting from the start, damn near impossible to know who you are targeting without that on…
Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
PlayStation finally unveiled some of their live service titles during their PlayStation Showcase on May 24, 2023, and from what it looks like they are objectively making some more bad decisions. This is based off very little shown on these titles and based off the speculation of what these titles will possibly or likely be when released. While the games do look to have some diversity, all of them seem to be shooters in some shape or form. Not only is this an overcrowded genre in the live service games field, this genre already has its established marquee titles, think Fortnite, Apex, Overwatch, etc. making it a very hard genre to really gain traction in.
The titles that were announced/featured during the Showcase were the debut title from Haven Studios Fairgame$, Firewalk Studios Concord, Arrowhead Studios Helldivers 2, and Bungies Marathon. Fairgame$ appears to be a team based competitive heist game, seemingly comparable to the Payday series. Concord, didn’t show much, just a space themed teaser trailer for the game. Helldivers 2 is the most known property shown off in this showcase with it being a sequel, however it appears to be changing to a third person shooter from the original title’s top down view. And lastly Marathon, which is a rebirth of an older property from Bungie.
Now obviously there is a huge risk doing a Live Service titles vs. a standalone or traditional title, there is no shortage of Free To Play titles out there between mobile and console already. Live Service titles also need a long-term plan and a buy-in from the developers, producers, publishers, etc. to set out and stick with a road map but also be able to adapt to the players as quickly as possible or more accurately quicker than possible. Games in the live service realm need to also have enough intrigue to get enough players to buy in to the title, but balance the titles to be worth playing for those who don’t want to spend money. But what also is needed is to be able to uniquely differentiate your title or in this instance titles from what is out there and available already.
Going heavy in the field of Live Service shooters again seems to be a great miscalculation, there are multiple behemoths already in that genre. PlayStation would be wise to reach back into their back catalog and revive/reimagine something like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale or ModNation Racers as a Live Service model. Personally as a massive ModNation Racers fan back in the day, that would be the first choice, for those unaware of what ModNation Racers is/was…
Modnation Racers, released in 2010, was likely the best non Mario Kart cart racing game to ever exist, it had great controls, tracks, character, and such an exceptional track creator option. Developed by United Front Games and PlayStation’s San Diego Studio was inspired by the Little Big Planet play.create.share idea of games with solid user generated options/content. The game had such success that there was even a sequel made for the PlayStation Vita as well in 2012’s Modnation Racers: Road Trip, which brought largely the same great content to the handheld console. Dusting off this franchise and launching it as a free Live Service franchise would be a far better idea than developing multiple titles within the greater shooter based genre. Presenting ModPlayStation Racers!
ModPlayStation Racers would bring the same amazing gameplay and unique style of the ModNation Racers franchise while upping it to the graphical standards of the PlayStation 5 console generation. Update/recreate various tracks from ModNation Racers and ModNation Racers: Road Trip, even take a few of the highest rated community created tracks for the base version and initial season. Have a decent selection of available carts and racers from the start as well, with a limited selection of mods from the start for both, and full access to the track editor in terms of strictly creating tracks.
Expanding the game from there and the base version would have seasons/season passes that include various unlockable items in addition there would be rotating shop items such as unique themed carts or characters. The items would be various things for the carts and racers, both cosmetic and various colors that can be unlocked, track editor items such as decorations that tie in with whatever the current season’s theme would be. By having these type of items as what is unlockable and/or available for purchase it keeps it in the Fortnite realm of having your items be cosmetic based rather than other titles where there is a need to rebalance the game whenever there is new content brought in.
Each season would utilize the incredible depth of PlayStation properties, Uncharted, Infamous, Resistance, Killzone, Horizon, Gran Turismo, Syphon Filter, Twisted Metal, just to name a few. With each new season focusing on a property from the immense gaming catalog PlayStation has amassed over the decades. Having characters from the the featured season as unlockable racers in the uniquely adorable ModNation style, unlockable carts either customizations themed to each season or specific vehicles from a property, and track editor decorations as well. In addition to the carts, characters, and themes each season would bring at least one, maybe two unique courses based on that season’s property.
One season you will be be racing against Navarro in and out of the Amazon rainforest in an homage to Uncharted, next season you find yourself rolling through the Helghan capital of Pyrrhus City from Killzone. And what makes this even more amazing is that not only had you unlocked Aloy from a previous season, but you just bought the shop exclusive kart inspired by Sweet Tooth’s glorious ice cream truck from Twisted Metal. Hopefully over time there would be the possibility to crossover to other properties again the best example would be Fortnite having seemingly partnered with every corner of pop culture, but should that work out there is enough first party properties to last many seasons over years if handled right.
In addition to the purchase of the seasonal pass users would be able to earn currency from finishing races, winning races, competing in and winning various timed challenges. There would be weekly featured community tracks and challenges as well for the ability to earn additional currency. As briefly mentioned before have a daily or weekly shop list with either exclusive or previous season’s characters, carts, themes, etc. that players can utilize their earned currency on. And for those who are still hankering for some same console multiplayer with friends and family there would be splitscreen racing, but without the ability to earn the currency. Just some good old fashion gaming among family and friends, getting practice and gaining expertise on the various tracks.
Time will obviously tell what becomes of the various Live Service Titles from PlayStation, but I certainly have a fair level of skepticism. There seems to be better or more unique options for PlayStation to pull from, or even if they are hell bent on staying with the shooter genre…why not dust off SOCOM. There seem to be no lack of odd decisions from PlayStation lately, the VR2 headset was a bad use of resources and will never reasonably compete with comparable Oculus headsets, the seemingly great mishandling of the upcoming (hopefully) Factions multiplayer from the TLOU2, the powers that be at PlayStation seem to not have their fingers on the pulse of gamers as of late. But like most people, I’ll stay optimistic, but damn I would love to see a bold move like what was outlined above in ModPlayStation Racers.
What do you all think? What are you hoping these announced Live Service titles end up becoming? What older PlayStation property would you want reimagined as a Live Service title?
Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
Update: When I “relaunched” my site under the GameWrote moniker I archived all the previous articles of the site. However with The Last Of Us debuting on HBO this coming Sunday, January 15th 2023, I figured what better time than now to dust off this post. This post was originally from March of 2014, shortly after the announcement that The Last Of Us had been license for a feature film. Obviously things have changed over time and we are now at the point where The Last Of Us has become a television series instead. The HBO series starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game Of Thrones) and Bella Ramsey (Game Of Thrones) taking on the roles of the main characters Joel and Ellie will debut this Sunday. The show is believed to cover the main story from the original title as well as include content, character, and story from the added dlc chapter The Last Of Us: Left Behind.
For this update I did not change any of my choices, nor did I add choices for the characters that come from the dlc, since at the initial time of writing this the dlc had released, but I had not completed it myself. The casting Storm Reid from Euphoria for the series feels like a really great choice for right now, in 2014 who knows who I would have picked. In this post most of the pictures are updated from the archived post, and there is now a small blurb added for the choices as well as listing the actor that has been cast for the actual HBO series. I still feel pretty good about most of these choices although some would not work as well now as they would have back in 2014, due to you know time, aging, etc. But can anyone argue that my Joel and Tommy choices would have been anything short of great casting and seemingly believable brothers even? But enough with the update, go and see how GameWrote would’ve cast The Last Of Us movie in 2014. With all that, welcome back to March 17th, 2014…
Original: This will be the second time around this idea, likely use something close to this approach for future entries in the Dream Cast feature. As most either know or should know if they follow gaming, the most award winning title of 2013, The Last Of Us, has been optioned for a big screen motion picture. So with this in mind I think it’s time we get out there and cast this movie! Worthy of noting we have no impact in the literal casting, but hey why not throw some ideas out there anyways. Mind you as well that the assumption is that this movie will closely resemble the story and characters of the game, and hopefully it will, as of now Neil Druckman is writing the script and he was responsible for the game’s story.
Joel play by Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson at this point had already starred in Taken and Taken 2, which made him the marquee star for such a role in 2014. Joel will be played by Pedro Pascal in the HBO series.
Ellie played by Chloe Grace Moretz
Chloe Grace Moretz seemed like an incredible choice for the role coming off of the role as Hit Girl in Kick Ass and Kick Ass 2. Ellie will be played by Bella Ramsey in the HBO series.
Maria played by Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron at this point hadn’t really done much action, so she was more based on dramatic acting and look for the part. Maria will be played by Rutina Wesley in the HBO series.
Tess played by Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde was also my choice based off how well she fit the look of the part, a lot of what I had seen from her to this point was in comedies so it wasn’t based off previous roles as much. Tess will be played by Anna Torv in the HBO series.
Sam played by Michael B Jordan
Michael B Jordan had just starred in Fruitvale Station in 2013 and had shown dramatic acting chops already at a young age. Sam will be played by Keivonn Woodard in the HBO series.
David played by Adrian Brody
Adrian Brody was by this point a well established actor having starred in The Pianist and King Kong years prior. David interestingly enough is not listed on the series IMDB page…possibly the show is trying to throw the fans a curveball with the story. I would highly doubt they would leave this vital character out of the series, so we’ll have to wait and see with this role.
Bill played by Dean Norris
Dean Norris was my selection solely based off his role as Hank on Breaking Bad. Bill will be played by Nick Offerman in the HBO series.
Tommy played by Sharlto Copley
Sharlto Copley won me over with District 9 and he would really be a believable brother to our Joel. Tommy will be played by Gabriel Luna in the HBO series.
Marlene played by Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson would have been an easy choice for this role, having already delivered great performances in movies such as 25th Hour and Sin City. Marlen will be played by Merle Dandridge in the HBO series.
Robert played by Norman Reedus
Norman Reedus had already been in Boondock Saints and recently pushed into a bigger pop culture role with The Walking Dead tv series. Robert will be played by Brendan Fletcher in the HBO series.
Sarah played by Emily Kinney
Emily Kinney also would be coming off of a key role on The Walking Dead and would fit this role well despite it being a smaller part. Sarah will be played by Nico Parker in the HBO series.
Henry played by Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor had not yet had his massive pop culture role in Doctor Strange, but his performance in Children Of Men was what made him the choice here. Henry will be played by Lamar Johnson in the HBO series.
Callus played by Maximus
Maximus truly delivered a memorable performance in Tangled, now this role would require a more somber tone, but who doubts it could be achieved? Maximus casting unconfirmed in the HBO series.
What are your thoughts on this blast from the past, if you can put yourself back in 2014 how would you have cast some of these roles. What are your thoughts on the actual casting of the HBO series debuting this week, and what is your excitement level for the series. Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
While time has not permitted me to post nearly as much as I would like on here for quite some time, figured it would be a nice quick post to predict The Game Awards 2022. With the show airing Thursday, December 8th, now is the perfect time to throw out predictions on a majority of the categories and add a few predictions or more possible a few wishlist items for the show. First up, here are the categories, nominations, and my predicted winner for them, I skipped a handful of categories that I have no interest in, but most are covered below. Mind you these are not necessarily what I feel should win for the categories but what I think will win, Horizon and As Dusk Falls would win much more if it was what I felt should win.
And the nominees are…
Game Of The Year: Predicted Winner: Elden Ring
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Stray
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Game Direction: Predicted Winner: God Of War Ragnarok
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Immortality
Stray
Best Narrative: Predicted Winner: God Of War Ragnarok
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Immortality
Best Art Direction: Predicted Winner: Horizon Forbidden West
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Scorn
Stray
Best Score and Music: Predicted Winner: God Of War Ragnarok
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Metal: Hellsinger
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Audio Design: Predicted Winner: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Elden Ring
God Of War Ragnarok
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
Best Performance: Predicted Winner: God Of War Ragnarok, Christopher Judge
Horizon Forbidden West, Ashly Burch
A Plague Tale: Requiem, Charlotte McBurney
God Of War Ragnarok, Christopher Judge
Immortality, Manon Gage
God Of War Ragnarok, Sunny Suljic
Games For Impact: Predicted Winner: As Dusk Falls
A Memoir Blue
As Dusk Falls
Citizen Sleeper
Endling-Extinction Is Forever
Hindsight
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
Best Ongoing: Predicted Winner: Fortnite
Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Genshin Impact
Best Indie: Predicted Winner: Stray
Cult Of The Lamb
Neon White
Sifu
Stray
Tunic
Best Mobile Game: Predicted Winner: Marvel Snap
Apex Legends Mobile
Diablo Immortal
Genshin Impact
Marvel Snap
Tower Of Fantasy
Best Action Game: Predicted Winner: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Bayonetta 3
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Neon White
Sifu
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Best Action/Adventure: Predicted Winner: Horizon Forbidden West
A Plague Tale: Requiem
God Of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Stray
Tunic
Best Role Playing: Predicted Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Elden Ring
Live A Live
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Triangle Strategy
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Fighting: Predicted Winner: Sifu
DNF Duel
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
The King Of Fighters XV
Multiversus
Sifu
Best Family: Predicted Winner: Splatoon 3
Kirby And The Forgotten Land
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope
Nintendo Switch Sports
Splatoon 3
Best Sim/Strategy: Predicted Winner: Victoria 3
Dune: Spice Wars
Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope
Total War: Warhammer III
Two Point Campus
Victoria 3
Best Sports/Racing: Predicted Winner: NBA 2K23
F1 22
FIFA 23
NBA 2K23
Gran Turismo 7
Olliolli World
Best Multiplayer: Predicted Winner: Overwatch 2
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Multiversus
Overwatch 2
Splatoon 3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Best Indie Debut:Predicted Winner: Tunic
Neon White
Norco
Stray
Tunic
Vampire Survivors
Most Anticipated Game: Predicted Winner: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Final Fantasy XVI
Hogwarts Legacy
Resident Evil 4
Starfield
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Now with that covered here are a few predictions, then a few wishlist items.
Predictions
Fairly good look at whatever the next/new Silent Hill game is
Game set in the Knives Out movie setting, maybe it’s a Tell Tale style game, or perhaps a point and click game
New Kojima game, probably XBOX exclusive
Gameplay trailer for Spiderman sequel
Trailer for Wolverine game, probably not gameplay
Grounded update maybe a bit of a roadmap
Ghosts Of Tsushima sequel teaser
The Legend Of Zelda trailer
At least one new Marvel Studio property announced
Assassins Creed update
BioShock update
Wishlist
Next Elders Scrolls title teaser with tentative release window
Sunset Overdrive for PS5 and announcement of sequel
The Last Of Us multiplayer game release date, beta info, and trailer
Infamous remake or potentially a new title from a different PS Studio
Animal Crossing Update, DLC, something for the game/series
Syphon Filter is back!!! Alright this won’t happen, but I can always dream
I genuinely feel like this year’s show will be a lot bigger on the announcements and reveals, the past few years were rough with all the reasonable Covid issues, studios overhauling workloads and schedules to adapt to work from home and remote/hybrid roles. But it feels like the industry is turning the corner over the past few months and we will finally start to see the new/next generation take off. These first few years have been underwhelming to a large degree and next year should be the shift needed to push the next gen consoles to feel like there is actual separation from the PS4/XBOXone generation.
The Game Awards will be streaming Live on Thursday, December 8th at 4:30PM PST. Links below should put you through to the Twitch or YouTube stream from The Game Awards, and there are some prizes to be earned through watching on Twitch, check out @thegameawards on Twitter for details on that. And follow @GameWrote on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GameWrote) for some likely live tweeting on announcements.
Roughly one hundred ninety two hours ago the gaming world awoke to the biggest news story to hit the industry in years. With a tweet from Phil Spencer the industry would forever be changed “As we extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone, we are incredibly excited to welcome the fantastic teams and iconic franchises of Activision Blizzard to Team Xbox”. In what is expected to be close to a seventy billion dollar deal, Microsoft has reached an agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard along with all their combined studios and IPs, including the industry’s annual best selling franchise Call Of Duty. The deal is expected to finalize in 2023, and puts many things into question both for Sony and Microsoft over the coming months.
What could Microsoft do with all these studios and IPs, what is their assumed endgame with this acquisition…There are some highly likely outcomes with this deal and while there was also a statement pertaining to their intentions. To paraphrase the statement, Microsoft wants to keep titles on PlayStation and adhere to deals currently in place for any particular IPs. However as mentioned, there are a few highly likely outcomes.
Microsoft Leverages Deal
Adding this acquisition to the Bethesda deal of recent years, Microsoft is greatly expanding on the value of GamePass. Having all first party titles available on the service is an incredible deal that is currently unmatched. And makes GamePass basically a must have for anyone owning a Microsoft console. But could this be a way to leverage PlayStation to allow some version of GamePass on Sony consoles…That is a commonly assumed plan from many covering the industry. Allow PlayStation gamers the option to purchase titles individually or join GamePass. It would certainly be a massive change in the industry and seems far off for the time being, but something to keep an eye on. More likely in the shortterm seems with Microsoft having the highly successful, digital only, Series S and the long running rumors of a TV based streaming service the additional properties only help sell those GamePass subscriptions to new non PlayStation gamers.
Microsoft Pulls Titles
Could the industry possibly see the end of Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles? Sure. But just seems like an unfathomable possibility. When their Bethesda acquisition was in progress, I personally thought the best move would be to have marquee, known titles remain multi-consoles. Meaning established titles like Elder Scrolls, then taking new IP such as Starfield and making them XBOX exclusives. Guaranteeing the most sales possibility on known commodities and push console sales with intriguing new IP being exclusive. However it seems more likely that either the majority or just all Bethesda titles will be Microsoft console exclusives moving forward. So there is clearly the chance this occurs with the newly acquired IP, once any contractual obligations are fulfilled. Pulling all owned IP from PlayStation would presumably add to an increase in XBOX console sales, but would this be the best move? Selling games and/or GamePass is likely more profitable than consoles for Microsoft.
Microsoft Combo
Combine the two above concepts, pull the release of all your newly acquired IP when possible and allow them only through GamePass on PlayStation. But with such a bold, aggressive move would PlayStation play ball. And would such a potential damaging move to your main rival be good in the long-term. Both companies seem to genuinely value each other and the competitive nature they bring out in each other.
Sony Service Counter
There is already strong rumors relating to Sony reupping either a redesigned/rebranded PS Now or just a whole new service to more closely rival GamePass. So this won’t necessarily be a direct reaction to this acquisition, if handled right and effectively can help steal that spotlight back. Imagine a service that allows the user to have access to all previous generation first party PlayStation titles, four generations of titles. Or if Sony adds current gen first party titles to a subscription service, doubt they would do day and date like Microsoft has, but what if all first party come to the service six or twelve months into release. Their first party titles are currently the industry standard for quality and single player narrative, and any inclusion into their service would be a huge plus.
Sony PC Love
Simply release all first party studios day and date on PC along with PlayStation (PS4/PS5). Not a huge deal, but there has been some good traction with the first party PC releases, with God of War most recently being their highest/fastest selling release. Ramp up releasing/porting all major first party titles over on PC and then moving forward day and date releases of all major first party games. While this doesn’t directly deal with the issue at hand, it increases sales of their titles and hopefully generates new users on another platform that is already more aligned with Microsoft titles.
Sony Acquisition Counter
Obviously this is just complete speculation, but fight fire with fire, buy up a studio or studios of your own! Personally I am pulling for them to go bold and somehow buy up THQ Nordic, almost entirely for the chance that we get a new TimeSplitters game…I think they still own that IP. But more realistically as detailed in my previous post, Sony is far more limited in terms of financials. This likely puts anything remotely on the scale of a seventy billion dollar acquisition far out of reach.
Its Been A Week…And A Day
Again, there currently is no certainty on what the future holds with this acquisition. It truly is a massive, bold move by Microsoft and while it could mean some serious negative ramifications for the industry depending on the direction they end up going after it is finalized. Recent years have shown more cooperation between these industry giants and hopefully this trend will maintain. Personally I will be cautiously optimistic and eagerly await more news in the coming months.
After E3 2021 had come and gone, something sure seemed to be missing…
We had Microsoft, Nintendo, Capcom, Ubisoft, and many, many other companies showing off what they have been working on, what’s to come, but still seems like something was off. Sure it was again a virtual/online version of events, but we have all likely grown accustomed to online events and showcases.
Despite having a State of Play in June showing off Horizon: Forbidden West, it feels like there is a large void in gaming at the moment. And as mentioned in our recap of the XBOX & Bethesda Game Studios Showcase, there seems to be a large shift incoming in the power struggle of console gaming. We are seeing Microsoft make bold moves, smart strategic changes, and really focus on the gamer in what is almost a complete swap from last generation.
Currently on deck for PlayStation we have Horizon: Forbidden West coming possibly the end of this year, God of War: Ragnorak coming hopefully early 2022, a Gran Turismo is in the works as well, along with new IP from Bend Studios and just announced unknown title from Deviation Games. Before the last State of Play word broke that there are twenty-three titles in development from the various owned and partnered studios from PlayStation. And shortly after E3 2021, Sony announced that they had acquired Housemarque as well. However through the recent months and years there has been a decrease in studios for PlayStation, and what seems to be a shift in focus by the company. We are seeing multiple IPs being utilized in various other forms of entertainment, an Uncharted film starring Spiderman himself Tom Holland has wrapped and slated to come out early 2022. Then over at HBO there is a series being developed in the world of The Last of Us, with Neil Druckmann heavily involved in the inner workings of the show. Additionally there were strong rumors suggesting a Twisted Metal show and Ghost of Tsushima Movie are both in development breaking earlier this year.
What changed since last generation where we almost knew most of the slate of games multiple years out, whereas now we have more info on PlayStation in other media forms aside from gaming. Or from even earlier generations where PlayStation not only heralded as the highest quality of first party titles, but also boasted the biggest range of genres. Just look at the variety that graced the PS3 generation:
Arcade Racer: Motorstorm
Play/Create/Share: Little Big Planet and Modnation Racers
Simulation Racer: Gran Turismo
First Person Shooters: Killzone and Resistance
Third Person Adventure: Uncharted and Heavenly Sword
Third Person Action: InFamous and The Last of Us
Party Games: Buzz! and Singstar
Tactical Shooters: SOCOM and MAG
Family Games: Jak & Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Rachet & Clank
Unique “Artistic” Games: Beyond, Heavy Rain, and Journey (Thatgamecompany titles)
(Top Left to Right: Modnation Racers, Uncharted, SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet. Bottom Left to Right: Resistance, BUZZ!, Motorstorm, Journey)
And while we are early on in the PS5 generation it would certainly be a shock to those paying attention to hear that PlayStation is dusting off Buzz! for another round. Or returning to make a Free To Play Modnation Racers game with loads of potential DLC and content packs with the vast abundance of PlayStation properties. Or another long running hope of mine a new Jet Moto (PS1 jet ski racing gem for you youngsters). Or possibly even have Deviation bring SOCOM back to life again in either a Free To Play style or priced release. However none of these seem likely to fit into the current roadmap for PlayStation. And while these ideas aren’t bad in my humble opinion, they certainly aren’t the sure fire hits like putting out sequels to Spiderman or Ghost of Tsushima would be and that seems to be where PlayStation is right now. Albeit predictable, but it is also safe and when your main rival in Microsoft is being as bold as they have and have the financial viability to go even further if need be, where does that leave PlayStation.
Will gamers, some of whom are in the fifth console lifecycle be ok with this vast shift away from diversity and the push for strictly marquee or AAA titles. Will the consumers be ok to just wait around and see if these new entertainment options produce the hopeful revenue streams for the company overall to return to some boldness of their own. Or perhaps PlayStation will just announce the remainder or majority of the remaining twenty-three titles in development and that will be enough to reassure many of their gaming faithful. Only time will tell and in time I’ll lay out some things that I would love to see PlayStation do in the coming months to realign themselves more with what we’ve been collectively used to from the predominant industry leader.
Would love to hear some of your ideas on that state of PlayStation, games in general, and what you would love to see from any of the major players in the industry. Comment here and please follow @GameWrote on Twitter and Instagram to interact more with me.
GameWrote 