Episode 83 – Resident Evil 3 Remake Released, Last of Us Part III Delayed, Bethesda Cancels Quakecon

recorded on 4/3/2020

Headliners

Resident Evil 3 Remake launches today and is scored at an 80 as of right now (MetaCritic)

• The overall impression of this game is that it is lack luster and kind of a let down

Little Bits

The Last of Us Part II has been delayed again but this time indefinitely (Sony, Naughty Dog)

• The game is delayed indefinitely due to logistical concerns (likely due to COVID-19)
• “SIE has made the difficult decision to delay the launch of The Last of Us Part II and Marvel’s Iron Man VR until further notice. Logistically, the global crisis is preventing us from providing the launch experience our players deserve.”
• Naughty Dog also posted a statement giving more information

Bethesda will not host a digital event showcase in June as part of digital E3 (GameSpot)

• Bethesda has also cancelled Quakecon which is their own convention for their IPs

Sony has set up a relief fund of $100 million to help stop the spread of COVID-19 (psu.com)

• “The Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19 will allow the company to lend its support to three areas: assistance for frontline medical and first responder efforts, support for children and educators working remotely, and aid for creative community in the entertainment industry, which has been hugely affected by the virus.”

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is not giving full amount of promised bonuses to devs after the success of Borderlands 3 (Kotaku)

• He said the game had been more expensive than expected, the company had grown significantly larger than it had been in the past (it now operates a second studio in Quebec, Canada), and that their sales projections had been off-base.
• He did not say that this decision was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic

PUBG added a surprisingly large April Fool’s event (gamespot)

• Faster paced mode where the rings close more quickly
• There are now 4 “classes”: Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Wizard with their own loadouts
• A crafting system was implemented where instead of scavenging for weapons & equipment, you would scavenge for “magic crystals” which are used to upgrade your loadout and abilities

Rapid Fire

COD: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is out now on PS4 whereas other platforms must wait 1 month to get it; its review score is at a 65 with very few critics (Activision, MetaCritic)

Modern Warfare is offering 10 free tiers of battle pass as season 2 closes

• How to get: must own battle pass before April 5th (11 PM PT)
• There is also a double XP weekend for the close of the season

A bunch of older Mario titles are being remastered for the Switch (gamespot)

• Nintendo is doing this because this year is Mario’s 35th anniversary
• Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario World 3D, and Super Mario Galaxy
• New Paper Mario game closer to the Nintendo 64 title

Doom Eternal earned double the launch revenue than Doom 2016, 700,000 units were sold on steam alone. Making it the best selling steam game of 2020 to date (DigitalTrends)

Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirms there will not be an optical audio port on the Series X (IGN)

Minecraft Dungeons has been delayed to May 26 due to COVID-19 effects (engadget)

Sea of Thieves coming to Steam w/ cross-play support between Xbox and Windows (Twinfinte)

Upcoming Releases and Deals

PlayStation store spring sale is on now so grab those games now!  Highlights are: (PlayStation)

• DOOM (2016) = $8
• Death Stranding = $30
• Greedfall = $25
• Mortal Kombat 11 = $30
  
  
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order = $36
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition = $15

Xbox is also having a Spring Sale so go check out those games too!

NieR: Automata: Become as Gods Edition and Overcooked 2 available on GamePass Console

Ubisoft is having a sale and giving away free games to keep everyone at home (engadget)

Rumor Mill

Supposedly a Canadian retailer leaked the price of the PS5 listing it at $400