News Mash-Up - Week # 34

Top News Items

• • The “opening-night-live” Gamescom showcase last Wednesday was a 2.5-hour live stream that highlighted 30 games. Hosted by Geoff Keighley, it included CGI game trailers, music spots and interviews. Of the games shown, 14 were slated for a 2021 release.

  • Games showcased in the opening night live event included Call of Duty Vanguard (5th November), Halo Infinite (8th December), Jurassic World Evolution 2 (8th November), Far Cry 6 (7th October), Blood Hunt (7th September), Jett: The Far Shore (5th October), New World (28th September) and Age of Empires 4 (28th October).

  • Xbox had its own Gamescom showcase on Tuesday. Running in 1.5 hours, over 10 games were promoted, most coming out this year including Dying Light 2 (7th December), State of Decay's Homecoming (1st September) and Forza Horizon 5 (5th November). The remaining titles showcased were DLC or extensions for existing games or indie games such as Stray Blade and The Gunk.

  • Microsoft Flight Simulator will get a competitive multiplayer mode from this Autumn. The sixth world update covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland is due on 7th September.

  • In its Gamescom stream, Xbox announced that the xCloud streaming service will be extended to the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. Initially, 100 games will be accessible via streaming, available on the GamePass Ultimate subscription. This implies that gamers can start playing these games without the need to install them first. Cloud gaming on Xbox consoles will support up to 1080p and 60fps (the same performance that is currently attainable for app devices and the PC). Expected to roll out later in the year.

  • According to ISFE, the size of the EU video games market in 2020 which includes mobile gaming and streaming, came to more than €23 billion. This was a +22% increase over last year. 44% of this revenue came from console and 14% from PC.

  • Apple has granted iOS App Store developers the permission to reach out to their customers with “alternative” payment methods. This is provided the contact is done outside the iOS App Store, i.e., via email. So, people wishing to buy content are free to buy directly from the app maker, by-passing Apple’s 30% surcharge. The court case between Apple and Epic over commission charges is still ongoing, awaiting judgment.

  • South Korea 2011’s The Shutdown Law, also known as the Cinderella Law which forbids minors under 16 from playing online games between midnight and 6 am has now been scrapped. The South Korean government removed the law stating it contravenes the rights of young people and individual choice or choice made by families should be respected.

  • Netflix has made good on its promise of adding video games to its subscription service. A test pilot scheme in Poland has seen two Android games, Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3, available to play on app devices via the Netflix app. The two games must be downloaded from the Google Play Store, but the games will be free from any advertising and in-game purchases.

  • The new generation of Ryzen CPUs called “Raphael” may include on-board GPU capabilities. None of AMD's Ryzen desktop CPUs currently offer any form of graphics silicon on-chip, so this will be a first. Last week it was mentioned that Intel are also looking to expand its CPU chipset with GPU processing.

    
    
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Week commencing Monday 30 August 2021