Gaming Bits: The Game Awards Results, New Consoles, New Bioshock In Development, Resident Evil 3 Remake Already Has Release Date, Ghost Of Tsushima Set To Consume Your Summer, And Trailers Galore
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Gaming Bits, a continuation on columns such as Star Wars Bits, Superhero Bits, and Theme Park Bits. Every couple of weeks, I will be highlighting intriguing industry stories and breaking news. Seeing as /Film is primarily a film website (duh), the focus here will primarily be on narrative-driven games, interactive drama, and IP tie-ins. Nevertheless, let's get into our first roundup, which is a big one considering The Game Awards took place a few days ago and provided a number of tantalizing stories.
In this first edition of Gaming Bits:
The lucky winners at The Game Awards
Below is a complete list of major winners (via CNET) from this year's Game Awards.. What stands out here is how spread around the victors are, with multiple awards going to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Death Stranding, Control, and Disco Elysium, and a smattering of other titles picking up a lone award here and there. There's nothing really to object to here. We will also not be bringing you clickbait nonsense conspiracy theorizing such as the friendship between Geoff Keighley (someone who doesn't even vote) and director Hideo Kojima meaning that the fix is in.
Game of the Year
Best Community Support
Best Score/Music
Best Narrative
Best Fighting Game
Best Audio Design
Best Strategy Game
Content Creator of the Year
Best Art Direction
Best Action Game
Games for Impact
Best Family Game
Best Sports/Racing Game
Best Mobile Game
Best Multiplayer Game
Best Ongoing Game
Best VR/AR Game
Best Performance
Player's Voice
Fresh Indie Game
Best Role Playing Game
Best Independent Game
Best Game Direction
Best Action/Adventure Game
Bioshock set to return without Ken Levine
2K has opened up another team dubbed Cloud Chamber that will be in charge of developing a new Bioshock game, per Engadget. As a matter of fact, talent from the developers of Mafia 3 was cherrypicked to begin work on this new installment, meaning that this has been a project underway in secrecy since around late 2016. But don't get too excited as this new Bioshock is said to be in development for a few more years. One disappointing and potentially worrying tidbit is that series creator Ken Levine will not be coming back (he is working on something unknown at Ghost Story Games), which already feels like a vital missing ingredient considering Bioshock 2 was only a passable experience compared to the absolute masterpieces created under his directorial eye.
The good news is that there is considerable talent behind the scenes as Civilization and XCOM's Kelley Gilmore will be steering the ship, with some notable Bioshock alumni returning (Hoagy de le Plante, Scott Sinclair, and Jonathan Pelling). Aside from Ken Levine's pointed political commentary, it's a no-brainer that location will also be a major selling point, so let's hope for something as stylistically breathtaking as Rapture and Columbia.
Resident Evil 3 Remake in development, releases April 3rd, 2020
Capcom continues their redemption arc, this time by announcing that the fan demanded Resident Evil 3 Remake is currently in development. Shockingly, the release date is April 3rd, 2020, leading me to believe that someone at the studio caught on early that they really did have something special with the Resident Evil 2 Remake and fast-tracked this project. Having played the original game, it will be interesting to see if this remake allows for a more open-world interpretation of Raccoon City, as while it was restricted by hardware limitations, it did majorly take place outside and away from confined spaces such as mansions and police departments. There also appear to be first-person chase sequences (presumably involving the indestructible killing machine Nemesis), which falls in line with developers citing the game as more action-oriented but retaining the same overall DNA as the Resident Evil 2 Remake. The character designs have also been appropriately updated. Below is the trailer and a brief developer featurette:
As an added bonus, every copy contains Resident Evil Resistance for free, a 1v4 competitive multiplayer game that will see its longevity dependent on its in-game financial success.
Xbox Series X launching holiday 2020, Hellblade II will be a first party title
Phil Spencer unveiled our first look at the new Xbox at The Game Awards, which weirdly resembles a PC but can reportedly be used sideways. Check out the announcement teaser below:
Also exciting is that Hellblade II will presumably be launching near the release of the console itself, importantly showing that Microsoft might come out swinging this generation and put an emphasis on thematically challenging story-driven titles, an area they are sorely lacking in and have been for some time (people can only take so much Halo and Gears of War before wanting something different and fresh). Check out the trailer below:
PlayStation 5 potentially has a holiday 2020 release, Godfall is first teased game
While we don't know much about the actual PlayStation 5 yet, The Game Awards did provide a trailer for its first game: Godfall. Below is the first trailer, which seems to be Gearbox going medieval fantasy and apocalyptic with the Borderlands formula. It looks exciting and is set for a holiday 2020 release, leading us to believe that the console itself will be released alongside it. Plus, it's easy to imagine Sony and Microsoft want to go head-to-head with new technology.
Another Final Fantasy VII trailed unremoved from Midgar
Square released another trailer for their upcoming remake of Final Fantasy VII, and it doesn't offer much that we don't already know. Much of it is the same footage we have already seen, but there are a few new snippets of supporting characters and the soundtrack is especially electric. It still remains unclear how long or what this first episode of the remake consists of, but the new trailer is still worth watching:
Behind the music of Cyberpunk 2077: "The soundtrack to fucking shit up"
There are many reasons to be excited for Cyberpunk 2077 beyond the perfect track record of developers CD Projekt Red and a major role for Keanu Reeves (and obviously the gameplay itself that seems to be shaping up quite nicely), as the soundtrack seems like it will have an appropriate electronic and grungy style. Check out the video below for samplings from various artists:
Telltale Games revived, working on Season 2 of The Wolf Among Us
It was a sad day when Telltale had to close their doors, but also a situation that they unfortunately somewhat brought on themselves, nabbing seemingly every popular IP under the sun to make interactive QTE based content from. Some of them were obvious choices that paid off such as Batman, while others were out of left field choices that never really panned out (Game of Thrones, Borderlands). They got ahead of themselves and took on way more than they could handle, delaying just about every project by months and months. Now they have resurfaced, but what's most exciting is they are going back to one of the series that brought them to the dance; The Wolf Among Us is one of their best and should prove to be both a success and returned to form. Check out the short teaser below:
Meet you at the Fast & Furious Crossroads?
Described as a team-based action game, Fast & Furious Crossroads likely isn't going to be a hotly anticipated narrative experience (to be fair, it's not like the movies are either) but a tie-in game is certainly interesting. Set to be released in May 2020, stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez revealed the teaser at The Game Awards, which you can check out below. The game also stars Asia Kate Dillon and Sonequa Martin-Green. It is currently being developed by Project Cars.
Ghost of Tsushima set to absorb your summer
First announced back in 2017, one of the best development studios around today, Sucker Punch, released a new trailer for their upcoming open-world feudal Japan action-adventure game Ghost of Tsushima. Consuming the footage, it looks as if Assassins' Creed and their own fantastic series Infamous conceived a baby. The environments especially look gorgeous, most notably a red flower field. It is set to arrive in summer 2020 and potentially close out PlayStation 4 first-party titles with a bang. The way things look right now, it could be the talk of the season (provided one counts Cyberpunk 2077 as a spring release). Nevertheless, check out the incredible new trailer below: