In The News
Microsoft news:
Xbox publishing head Shannon Loftis shared her opinion on the ongoing kerfuffle over the death or not-death of single-player games. She had this to say, in part, to GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch: “‘I don’t think that it’s dead per se,’ Loftis said about the market for exclusively single-player games. ‘I do think the economics of taking a single-player game and telling a very high fidelity multi-hour story get a little more complicated. Gamers want higher fidelity and they want higher resolution graphics.’”
Microsoft’s Mixer, formerly Beam, “is now available in 21 languages.” Venture Beat’s Paul Sawers writes that some of the languages available include “U.K. English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian [and] Korean.”
Bring out ye dead! *BongGgg* The Kinect is officially no more, as Co.Design’s Mark Wilson explains Microsoft has ceased its production. “The company will continue to support Kinect for customers on Xbox, but ongoing developer tools remain unclear.”
September’s online game sales hit “$8.3 billion across console, mobile and PC in September, up from $7.2 billion in September 2016,” AListDaily’s H.B. Duran reports. “The 15 percent growth for digital game sales was driven by a 25 percent jump in console digital revenue.”
Bungie reversed the accidental 3rd-party app bans players were experiencing.
Digital gift cards from Steam are yours for the gifting, Neowin’s Pulasthi Ariyasinghe reports. “Mimicking the retail Steam Gift Cards, the digital ones are also only purchasable in preset amounts, and existing Steam Wallet funds cannot be used to purchase them.”
Don’t be streaming Super Mario Odyssey before it has been released, kiddos, or YouTube will striketh you with the banniest of hammers. Glixel’s Stefanie Fogel reports that “A Hong Kong YouTuber just reportedly received a three-month ban for streaming Super Mario Odyssey before the game’s official launch date.”
Doors are hard. University of North Carolina basketball player Joel Berry II found this out the hard way when he punched one in anger and broke his right hand after losing a “video game to teammate Theo Pinson and a manager,” ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reports. “Pinson said Berry broke his hand while playing NBA 2K18.”
Lawbreakers. What happened? GamesIndustry.biz’s James Batchelor interviewed Boss Key Production’s Cliff Bleszinski and Ajran Busse to find out. Here’s a portion of the interview: “He [Bleszinski] points to a general pessimism when it comes to certain new releases: ‘It’s not cool to root for things’. This, he reasons, explains the emphasis on the Battleborn comparison, despite the fact that Boss Key is aiming for a slow start.”
Bundle Stars is changing its name to Fantatical and revamping its website starting Nov. 1.
Magic: The Gathering (almost typo’d this as The Fathering, now wouldn’t that be something) will start stress testing next month, according to PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk. “Ahead of the beta, stress tests and ‘play days’ will be held to ensure that the systems are up to handling the demand.”
The United Kingdom government responded to an anti-loot box gambling petition after it hit 10,000 signatures.
“‘The PEGI criteria currently make provision for games depicting simulations of traditional gambling, and such games would generally attract a minimum PEGI rating of 12. The VSC Rating Board is discussing these issues with the PEGI Council and its Experts Group to determine whether any changes to the PEGI criteria need to be made,’” Eurogamer’s Vic Hood reports the government as saying.
A happy accident, some would say. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ bulletproof frying pan is “only in the game by mistake,” Eurogamer’s Chris Bratt reports. “When the pan was first introduced during the game’s closed Alpha it was so strong that a single hit would kill any player, even if they were kitted out with the highest-level armour. It’s since been toned down a bit.”
Niantic intends to improve EX Raids with feedback from the community. “’Trainers, thank you for your feedback on EX Raid Battles,’ the studio’s official support account tweeted. ‘We’re working to improve the invitation system based on what we heard from you,’” Polygon’s Allegra Frank writes.
Call of Duty World League’s 2018 season boasts “the largest total prize pool in Call of Duty Esports history, $4.2 million,” the press release reads. The season starts with the “CWL Dallas Global Open on December 8.”