GameNama Weekly #10
Ali Hasan November 26, 2022
On this week’s GameNama we’ll go over major developments in Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard along with exciting updates on Ubisoft’s remake of the original Splinter Cell. Also in this week’s coverage is news regarding the sequel to Bayonetta 3, some long-awaited features for Rainbow Six Siege, and a new big-budget AAA PC title coming from a very unexpected publisher.
Ubisoft Debuts New Concept Art from The Splinter Cell Remake
The last Splinter Cell game, Splinter Cell: Blacklist was released nearly a decade ago and received generally positive reviews from fans and critics alike but after that, the franchise just fizzled out, mostly due to a lack of direction and fatigue. A VR game was in development but was canned by Ubisoft following uncertain economic situations. In keeping with the recent trends of remakes and remasters, Ubisoft put their Toronto studio on a from-the-ground-up remake of the first game.
The Splinter Cell Remake is still early in development, with the team looking back at the story, music, and combat and aiming to modernize it while keeping the same great essence that fans have come to love. The technical director, Christian Carriere did discuss that the remake would make use of advanced AI to modernize the combat while ray tracing and global illumination will add more believability to the title. The Splinter Cell remake is currently without a release date, but Ubisoft shared some early concept art to show that the project is progressing smoothly.
Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard faces tough Scrutiny
Microsoft’s $69 billion-dollar acquisition of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft creator Activision-Blizzard is looking bleaker and bleaker as the deal has been undergoing strict scrutiny from competition agency’s around the world. While Sony tries to convince the regulators that the deal shouldn’t go through, Microsoft is doing exactly the opposite. Sony cites the potential removal of Call of Duty from PlayStation consoles as the main reason behind its current stance.
Even though the deal has been approved in many jurisdictions, including the UK, the FTC is reportedly gearing up for a lawsuit against Microsoft over anti-competitive concerns. It remains to be seen whether the acquisition will even go through now, many sources now claim that the deal is poised to fall apart. Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard would mean the former would have complete control over the latter’s robust library of games and developers including where their games would be published.
Also Read: God Of War Ragnarök Review
Netflix Developing New Big Budget AAA Game
Netflix started dipping its toes into the gaming world earlier this year by offering mobile games within the Netflix app. The streaming giant is now reportedly working on a big-budget AAA PC title. The search for a game director is currently underway. It’s unclear what this game will entail and which studio will develop it but it’s safe to assume it’s going to be a couple of years before we have anything tangible. This certainly shows that Netflix is planning to go all in on its gaming division. Netflix acquired Seattle-based indie game developer Spry Fox earlier this year.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Open to Mixed Reactions
The next mainline Pokemon game, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are finally here and reception has been mixed. Most of the criticism has been put toward the game’s lack of polish and performance issues. Scarlet and Violet face constant frame rate issues on top of featuring muddy texture work and constant pop-in which has severe negative gameplay implications. The game still plays great and has all the bells and whistles of what you come to expect from a Game Freak led Pokemon game including fun exploration, exciting gym battles, and hundreds of Pokemon to catch but it seems like there is a considerable lack of polish and love in this title.
New Rainbow Six Siege Update Adds Crossplay and More
Rainbow Six Siege has long cemented itself as the premiere tactical PvP shooter. Featuring great gunplay and stellar mechanics along with continued support from Ubisoft, the game has remained as popular as it was five years ago when it first came out. Following a major visual overhaul, a couple of months ago, the team said that it was working on even more features behind the scenes to make the entire Rainbow Six Siege experience as accessible and seamless as possible and with the next major patch this will certainly be the case.
Rainbow Six Siege is finally set to receive crossplay in early December, allowing PlayStation and Xbox Players to party up seamlessly, PC players will be kept in a separate matchmaking pool to prevent any unfair advantages. Voice comms will also work between console platforms. This update will also bring cross-progression, allowing you to play across multiple systems with the same profile, this will be implemented through Ubisoft Connect. Renown, unlocks, operator skins, and cosmetics will all be pooled together once the player connects their accounts to Ubisoft Connect.
Bayonetta 4 is Already in Development
Bayonetta 3 has been out for less than a month and there are already rumblings for a fourth title in the series. The third installment in this hack-and-slash series was in development for well over four years and opened to positive overall reception although there were some technical hiccups as the game pushed the Nintendo handheld to its absolute limits.
Platinum Games Vice President Hideki Kamiya was discussing the game’s divisive ending on Twitter and also nonchalantly mentioned that the story would continue in a fourth entry. Although there haven’t been any official announcements for a sequel, with something like this coming from Kamiya himself it’s safe to assume that Bayonetta 4 is in at least some form of development at this point in time.
That’s all for this week! Tune in next week right here to Gameutha.com to make sure you stay up to date on the latest news from the gaming world.
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