Game Control: Fontaine Arrives In Genshin Impact, VR Shifting To Hand Tracking
Console: Nintendo gave fans numerous updates on upcoming Pokémon titles on August 8, 2023, during its Pokémon Presents announcement on the company’s official YouTube channel. These updates included Detective Pikachu Returns, the classic Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Pokémon Stadium 2 games coming to Switch Online, and even new raids for Mewtwo in Scarlet and Violet. However, none of those updates were as substantial as the one on the upcoming Scarlet and Violet DLC, Pokémon Scarlet and Vilet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. The showcase spent ten minutes of its 35-minute runtime revealing new Pokémon, new areas, and a release date of September 13, 2023. Players will leave the Paldea region and explore the area around Kitakami Village. At the time of the player’s arrival, the village will be participating in the Festival of Masks, where they can experience the local culture and learn more about this mysterious legend.
THQ Nordic has announced South Park: Snow Day for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. The game is to be released sometime in 2024. South Park: Snow Day is a multiplayer game where players can participate in a four-player co-op as they fight through the streets of South Park on a snow day. The playable characters are Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. South Park: Snow Day has a 3D art style using real-time combat rather than a turn-based strategy system. Unlike the previous games developed by Ubisoft, Snow Day is being developed by Question Games. The studio's portfolio includes The Blackout Club and The Magic Circle. Fans of the television show and games are expected to participate in large numbers as this is the first South Park game in nearly seven years.
Charles Martinet, the voice of Nintendo's mascot Mario since 1996, has retired. Nintendo announced that the actor stepped down from the role and will instead act as a "Mario ambassador" in the future. Martinet’s first role was voicing Mario in Super Mario 64. Arguably the most accomplished and polished 3D title of its era, part of the game's appeal was its characterful and fun reinvention of Mario himself, with the "let's a-go" accompanying each star selection. Martinet would go on to voice Mario across a wide range of titles. Nintendo says the 67-year-old Martinet "will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!” In response to the announcement, Martinet took to social media, saying, “My new Adventure begins," adding, “You are all Numba One in my heart!" adding the hashtag "woohoo!!!!!!!" His last major contribution to the series was playing the father of Mario and Luigi in the Mario movie.
Keith David - Leon Bennett / Stringer
PC: Palia is an MMO community simulation game with aspects of an open-world adventure inspired by Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Humans are a legendary race in Palia because they vanished at the height of their power and magical expertise thousands of years ago. No one knows why humans suddenly reappeared on the planet. The player will establish a new life as one of the recently resurrected humans and work to create a bright future for all people. There are several gameplay elements, such as gardening, fishing, and cooking. On their way to leveling up, players will engage with various people, obtaining new skills and resources to succeed. The PC open beta for Palia was released on August 10, 2023. The Singularity 6 development team published a new dev blog to welcome new players to the Palia universe.
Bungie has announced that actor Keith David will assume the role of Commander Zavala in Destiny 2, taking over for Lance Reddick, who died unexpectedly earlier this year. In their announcement, Bungie stated, "Commander Zavala has been central to the story we have been telling since the original Destiny, and we have plans to continue his journey," adding, "Keith David, a prolific actor on the stage and in television, film, and games, will assume the English language voice of Zavala in The Final Shape and beyond. Separately, Lance’s existing lines in-game will remain untouched for the upcoming release." David’s credits include roles in films like The Thing and Pitch Black, and lending his voice to games like the Mass Effect series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Saints Row 4. After the announcement, David publicly stated, “I am honored to continue the great work of Lance Reddick as Zavala," adding, “Lance captured the character's sense of integrity so wonderfully. It is my intention to continue that work."
Microsoft has made a new offer to get its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard with the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA had previously blocked the deal on concerns about the nascent cloud gaming market, and the restructured deal will see all cloud rights to Activision Blizzard games signed over to Ubisoft for the next 15 years. The CMA says it will review the new offer but cautioned how it wasn’t guaranteed. The decision is expected to be delivered by October 18, 2023. This comes after the EU Commission approved the deal, joining many other global regulatory bodies, and following the US Federal Trade Commission's failure to block the deal in the courts. Microsoft's new offer will see streaming rights to all Activision Blizzard games published in the next 15 years transferred to Ubisoft, with those rights held by Ubisoft in perpetuity.
Mobile: Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, the mobile RPG retelling the FFVII saga, has recently announced its September 7, 2023, release date. Announced in February 2021, the game is a free-to-play single-player chapter-structured RPG that spans the entire FFVII timeline. Players will be able to relieve elements of the original 1997 game plus new story elements written by FFVII Remake story and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima that centers on a young Sephiroth. Gameplay includes active-time battles, and monetization takes the form of microtransactions for weapons and equipment. This announcement follows the latest trailer from Summer Game Fest in June. In January 2023, Square Enix shut down Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, its mobile battle royale, revealed alongside Ever Crisis two years ago. This is due to the less-than-stellar profit from The First Soldier, and it appears Square Enix will shift its focus to Ever Crisis until Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches in 2024.
HoYoverse released the highly anticipated Genshin Impact 4.0 update on August 16, 2023. Players can explore the new Fontaine region, spend their Primogems on the latest banners, and participate in a handful of unique events and quests. Some banners in this latest update include the new Fontaine characters Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet in Phase 1 and 2, respectively. Players can take on exciting challenges and boss battles alongside the new banners and region. The official release followed a trailer for the 4.0 update shared during the live stream event on August 4, 2023. The 5-minute clip shows footage of brand-new characters in action and a handful of the environments players can visit across the Fontaine region. The official description from HoYoverse details Fontaine as a water-surrounded region that “offers a one-of-a-kind underwater adventure in some of its areas.” An underwater traversal mechanic added to the game makes it so “players will not run out of oxygen thanks to a special blessing granted to them but instead consume Aquatic Stamina when sprinting.”
Alliance for OpenUSD
VR: On August 1, 2023, big tech companies Apple, Pixar, Adobe, Autodesk, and NVIDIA announced the formation of the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), which is dedicated to promoting the standardization and development of a 3D file protocol that Apple says will “help accelerate the next generation of AR experiences.” NVIDIA has been an early supporter of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD), stating last year it thinks Pixar’s solution could become the “HTML of the metaverse.” Much like HTML forms a sort of description of a webpage, USD can be used to describe complex virtual scenes, allowing it to be similarly retrieved and rendered on a local machine. Housed by the Linux Foundation affiliate Joint Development Foundation (JDF), the alliance aims to attract a diverse range of companies and organizations to participate in shaping the future of OpenUSD. It now counts Apple, Pixar, Adobe, Autodesk, and NVIDIA as founding members, with general members including Epic Games, Unity, Foundry, Ikea, SideFX, and Cesium.
In the wake of Apple Vision Pro's announcement earlier this year, ByteDance-owned Pico appears to be switching focus from controllers to hand tracking. Standalone headsets sold without controllers in the box would represent a dramatic shift in the VR industry. Apple's $3,500 entry in early 2024 will mark the paradigm change and breaking with the controllers which shipped with all the consumer VR headsets of the 2010s. Apple, instead, opts for a fresh start with an interface based on a breakthrough combination of eye and hand tracking. For competitors, offering an interface that seamlessly shifts from tracking an object to tracking your fingers is an engineering problem that could potentially hinder apps that aren't updated to support the new system. In a statement, ByteDance Games Operations Manager Wenyue (Vayne) Lv claimed, "We will encourage developers to use [hand tracking] wherever possible," adding, "But users will still be able to enjoy raycast controller-based content if they choose."