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Blimey, would you Adam and Eve it? Yep, that’s another week done and dusted, and with it a whole bunch of (hopefully) exciting video game news to digest. Being an EastEnders fan, I know how important catching up on stuff is, so that’s why I’m here to guide you through the biggest gaming stories of the past week before you bugger off down the pub, play some Fortnite, fire up Netflix, or do whatever it is you do on a Friday night. But first, I’ll get the important stuff out of the way…
Justice has been served this week; Def Leppard have confirmed that they’re finally getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Considering how long it took them to give the nod to Rush and Yes, I’m not at all surprised they’ve only just got around to the venerable British rockers. Frankly, the whole institution is a load of bollocks anyway.
Meanwhile, EastEnders is dipping into its past once more, with news that the show is bringing back Lofty and Mary the Punk. The latter’s exit in 1988 was legendary. She got on the bus with her baby daughter, turned around to face the Square, and gave the two-fingered salute. Poor old Lofty, though, he was madly in love with Michelle and even tried to help raise the kid she had with Dirty Den, but left a heartbroken man.
Finally, Danny ‘I’m f***ing Danny Dyer’ Dyer revealed that he was left £125K in debt following his wedding. He blamed his wife, obviously, saying she ‘spunked the lot.’ In case you missed it, he also hosted Have I Got News For You last week, which is surely a cultural milestone.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season returns early 2019
Skybound Games confirmed during the Kinda Funny Games showcase over the weekend that The Walking Dead: The Final Season – Episode Three will be shuffling onto digital storefronts in January. That’s pretty soon considering all the problems that have affected the zombie drama series as of late, with developer Telltale Games sadly no more. Hopefully it will shape up nicely; we know a number of ex-Telltale staff are involved in the project, which bodes well for Clementine’s final adventure.
Amy Hennig receiving Lifetime Achievement Award at GDC 2019
Former Uncharted head honcho Amy Hennig will be honoured with GDC’s Lifetime Achievement Award next March, where she’ll be joining a select few, such as Warren Spector, John Carmack, and Shigeru Miyamoto. Hennig is currently heading up her own studio, although it’s still a shame that her efforts at Visceral Games will never see the light of day, as a result of EA shuttering the studio last year. Hopefully we’ll hear more about her recent exploits next year, but a hearty congratulations to her for this prestigious award.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gives the Switch its biggest UK launch to date
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has gotten off to a huge start in ‘ol Blighty. Not only did it give the series its best launch to date, but it’s also the biggest release for the Switch in the UK since the console launched in March, 2017. You really have to be pretty massive if you’re going to top the likes of Mario and Zelda, so the milestone is definitely a testament to Smash’s enduring popularity. To be fair, the game is brilliant; it’s just a shame the online mode is a bit naff at present.
Sonic the Hedgehog movie poster shows an oddly buff Sonic
Making a live-action movie about a talking blue hedgehog that runs extremely fast was never going to be an easy task, but the least you can do is not make Sonic look like a nightmare-inducing, hedgehog-human hybrid. Sadly, our first glimpse at the Blue Blur isn’t encouraging. The guy is way too muscular, especially his calves, which are enough to make a real-life man like myself jealous. Then there’s how, well, hairy he looks; his trademark spikes are gone, and his head looks oddly massive. A second teaser popped up a few days later, again demonstrating Sonic’s new-found love of dumbbell lunges.
Project Judge has English VO and is now called Judgment
Yakuza code house Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s latest outing, Judgment, has been confirmed for a summer release in the west. Interestingly, though, Sega has opted to record English voice overs for the game, something which the studio hasn’t done since the original Yakuza – it featured Mark Hamill as Goro Majima and Eliza Dushku as Yumi. Fortunately, we still have the option of picking the Japanese VO, which is just as well, as the previous Yakuza games’ efforts have been brilliant and add a palpable sense of authenticity to the drama. Even games like Shenmue were far better in Japanese than English, although I’ll admit that the campy English dub is great fun.
Soulja Boy is flogging rebranded video game consoles
A man named Soulja Boy, who Colm reliably informs me is a rapper from North America, is selling his own range of video game consoles via his website. Well, that’s what he wants you to believe. In reality, Mr. Boy is actually flogging rebranded consoles, and not very good ones at that. They’re crappy emulators that are being sold on places like Amazon, who offer them cheaper, too. Could he be starting a trend? Josh has the inside scoop….
Red Dead Redemption 2 not on Switch due to a question of ‘timing’
Switch’s third-party support has been pretty solid so far, at least in comparison to the Wii U. Still, we’ve yet to see a Rockstar title make the cut; although, in Red Dead Redemption 2’s case, it’s not a question of raw hardware prowess. Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed in a chinwag with The Hollywood Reporter that it was simply due to timing – the Switch wasn’t really a thing when development of the Wild West title begun, which makes sense. Could something happen in the future?
Happy weekend all!
