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Chimpzy

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I'd like to point out that "embrace" is also a term in many vampire stories, when an ordinary mortal has their blood sucked out and becomes a soulless undead in thrall to their master.
Still the video game biz tho, so calling it 'diablerie' is imo more appropriate.
A piece of news significant enough that The Escapist itself published an article about it:
I don't know what they're planning, and I know too little about the business to make a qualified guess. That won't stop me though:

Earlier this year Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard making it the largest acquisition in gaming history. They broke the record set just a few weeks earlier when Take Two acquired Zynga. Apparently it is financially the right time to acquire studios now, whether to gain additional income or denying the competition the same opportunity or some other reason I don't know. Maybe every major group is trying to launch their own games-as-a-subscription-service which requires a whole lot of content? Embracer seems to mostly have b-tier franchises*, so I wonder if this actually can work out for them.

I also wonder if the pandemic meant that a lot more people spent money on video games in the last few years, so gaming companies have more cash to burn and a recent history of seeing video games being a good market performer, and this is why we see these acquisitions. Either that or only 1-2 company/ies see it this way and the rest are merely responding to the first one(s).

*not meant as an insult, meant as a descriptor of how popular their titles are. They call the 2-million seller SnowRunner a notable performer; nothing to scoff at but in terms of video gaming a bit weak.
Yes, seems like everyone is looking to consolidate, but while I wouldn't call Embracer a small fish, I'm thinking they don't have the capital to buy any major dev. But the smaller ones the big boys aren't that interested in? Afaik, they've been making decent profits off of AA and niche titles, so maybe they're thinking why not corner those markets?
 
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Bedinsis

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Still the video game biz tho, so calling it 'diablerie' is imo more appropriate.
Yes, seems like everyone is looking to consolidate, but while I wouldn't call Embracer a small fish, I'm thinking they don't have the capital to buy any major dev. But the smaller ones the big boys aren't that interested in? Afaik, they've been making decent profits off of AA and niche titles, so maybe they're thinking why not corner those markets?
I agree with your overall assessment, their first major success was apparently to make We Sing after they noticed a lack of karaoke games on the Wii. A small budget title, but one which I cannot complain about existing. However: don't forgot that they acquired the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex franchises from Square Enix earlier this year.

 

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I agree with your overall assessment, their first major success was apparently to make We Sing after they noticed a lack of karaoke games on the Wii. A small budget title, but one which I cannot complain about existing. However: don't forgot that they acquired the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex franchises from Square Enix earlier this year.

And the only reason they got those two major franchises, is due to SE getting on the NFT high.
 

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Now that the full list has been revealed, I will pre-order.


  • After Burner II
  • Alien Soldier
  • Atomic Runner
  • Bonanza Bros.
  • ClayFighter
  • Crusader of Centy
  • Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
  • Earthworm Jim 2
  • Elemental Master
  • Fatal Fury 2
  • Gain Ground
  • Golden Axe II
  • Granada
  • Hellfire
  • Herzog Zwei
  • Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar
  • Midnight Resistance
  • OutRun
  • OutRunners
  • Phantasy Star II
  • Populous
  • RAINBOW ISLANDS -EXTRA-
  • Ranger-X
  • Ristar
  • ROLLING THUNDER 2
  • Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
  • Shining Force II
  • Shining in the Darkness
  • Sonic 3D Blast
  • SPLATTERHOUSE 2
  • Streets of Rage 3
  • Super Hang-On
  • SUPER STREET FIGHTER II THE NEW CHALLENGERS
  • The Ooze
  • The Revenge of Shinobi
  • ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
  • Truxton
  • VectorMan 2
  • Viewpoint
  • Virtua Racing
  • Warsong
  • Ecco the Dolphin (CD Ver.) (Sega CD)
  • Ecco: The Tides of Time (CD Ver.) (Sega CD)
  • Final Fight CD (Sega CD)
  • Mansion of Hidden Souls (Sega CD)
  • NIGHT STRIKER (Sega CD)
  • Night Trap (Sega CD)
  • Robo Aleste (Sega CD)
  • Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
  • Shining Force CD (Sega CD)
  • SILPHEED (Sega CD)
  • Sonic The Hedgehog CD (Sega CD)
  • THE NINJAWARRIORS (Sega CD)
  • Devi & Pii (Bonus Game, previously unreleased)
  • Fantasy Zone (Bonus Game, new port)
  • Space Harrier II (+Space Harrier) (Bonus Game, new ports)
  • Spatter (Bonus Game, new port)
  • Star Mobile (Bonus Game, previously unreleased)
  • Super Locomotive (Bonus Game, new port)
  • VS Puyo Puyo Sun (Bonus Game, new port)
 
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Dalisclock

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Huh, no x-men games yet. From what I can tell they are pretty good
What you see, is what's there. I highly doubt they're going to put any of the X-Men games on there. I know they worked out a deal with Disney last time, but Sega is honestly trying to save as much money as possible.
 
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It begins....
Sega is throwing everything in to the sink. All I ask is Comix Zone at least be 2D animated. SC5, I can go either way with CGI or live action.
 

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It looks like D4 will be live-service after all. I heard D3 live service wasn't too bad and this will be smiliar, but damn it does it bring down my hype
 

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I am glad the development team was able to fight back on this. But you can still see signs of this in the vanilla version. The fact that a lot of stuff that would have been bonus features or bonus moves, are held back as priced dlc. People did call Capcom out on this. At this point, it's best just to wait for a Gold Edition of new mainline Resident Evil titles.

I am happy he wants to do that, but I find it funny, he say that he didn't get to make the game he wanted. Then what was all that jazz about the first Evil Within and Ghostwire during the promotional materials, previews, and developer guides? I still like the first game, but even Shinji has more than admitted the second game is better without actually saying anything. He has my respect for trying to change game development culture and make it more positive and actually stable.


 
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On the one hand, holy shit, Gravity Rush - the little game everyone forgot - is getting an actual movie. On the other, how the hell are they gonna make a movie out of this weird, abstract, confusing setting? Also, this better be animated otherwise what's the fucking point.
 
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Specter Von Baren

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Fuck. Yeah yeah, doomsayer, blah blah, but I am not thrilled at this being done 10 years later, in our current climate, and with a director that has questionable credentials in that it's very tween, very disney channel live action show stuff. Fuck.
 

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On the one hand, holy shit, Gravity Rush - the little game everyone forgot - is getting an actual movie. On the other, how the hell are they gonna make a movie out of this weird, abstract, confusing setting? Also, this better be animated otherwise what's the fucking point.
At one point I had a little game I'd play where I'd look out over the environment and try to figure out how I would move myself from point A to point B if we imagine that my gravitational pull had flipped 90 degrees sideways or otherwise was flipped. After a while this little game turned into how I would turn this into a videogame or movie or other narrative, of what life would be like for someone having their gravitational pull at odds with the rest of physics. After doing that for a while I tried to see if there was any scientific way to justify such physics; I found none, and since I wanted the challenges not to be solved by "Ask a friend for help" the fact that the protagonist is not pulled down by gravity needed to somehow not be considered something out of the ordinary for your average person. The solution I arrived was how Terry Pratchett handles that Death is a character physically present yet people seem not alarmed by him: the mere notion of seeing the grim reaper is so utterly ridiculous that your average person convinces themselves that it is not him that they are seeing, and replaces it with something mundane. So the protagonist might be hanging from a bench into the void that is the sky above but the average person would just see it as them sitting on the bench, for instance.

At this point I realized I'd created a narrative about someone living with an invisible disability, and I thought that actually could form an interesting narrative: have someone perform the stunts associated with moving about with a flipped gravity as a selling point and as the narrative unfolds reveal that the whole thing is a physical manifestation of the challenges that come with living with an invisible disability.

Of course, in Gravity Rush, gravity isn't a challenge; gravity is a superpower. So this pitch would make a poor adaptation of that game.
 

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At one point I had a little game I'd play where I'd look out over the environment and try to figure out how I would move myself from point A to point B if we imagine that my gravitational pull had flipped 90 degrees sideways or otherwise was flipped. After a while this little game turned into how I would turn this into a videogame or movie or other narrative, of what life would be like for someone having their gravitational pull at odds with the rest of physics. After doing that for a while I tried to see if there was any scientific way to justify such physics; I found none, and since I wanted the challenges not to be solved by "Ask a friend for help" the fact that the protagonist is not pulled down by gravity needed to somehow not be considered something out of the ordinary for your average person. The solution I arrived was how Terry Pratchett handles that Death is a character physically present yet people seem not alarmed by him: the mere notion of seeing the grim reaper is so utterly ridiculous that your average person convinces themselves that it is not him that they are seeing, and replaces it with something mundane. So the protagonist might be hanging from a bench into the void that is the sky above but the average person would just see it as them sitting on the bench, for instance.

At this point I realized I'd created a narrative about someone living with an invisible disability, and I thought that actually could form an interesting narrative: have someone perform the stunts associated with moving about with a flipped gravity as a selling point and as the narrative unfolds reveal that the whole thing is a physical manifestation of the challenges that come with living with an invisible disability.

Of course, in Gravity Rush, gravity isn't a challenge; gravity is a superpower. So this pitch would make a poor adaptation of that game.
There is actually movie about "gravity disabled" people called Patema Inverted. There's also a very good visual novel with a character with an invisible disability called The Blind of the New World. I'd recommend both.
 
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Gamescom day 1 Announcements:

Calisto Protocol is looking great. It's great to see dead space rise again form the ashes. My favorite showcase so far.

Lords of the fallen "reboot". How long has it been? like 7 years?

Hogwarts Legacy looks really fun. Looks more darker and scarier than previous trailer. And then there are the pre-order bonuses

Randy Pitchford is here for Tales from Borderlands Season 2. I kinda hate the dude, but at least the game looks alright and the humor is there.

Dying light 2 "expansion". IDK, can a gauntlet arena really be considered an "expansion"?

Tortuga, a grid-based pirate strategy game. Already look better than that other pirate game from Ubisoft

Destiny 2 new expansion, "Lightfall". Don't care

Sonic Frontier. Hard to comment

Under the Waves. A Quantic dream game set in the middle of the ocean. Take that as you will

Return of Monkey Island. The art style is pretty, but will take a lot of time to get used to.

Moonbreaker. The game looks fun, but due to its collectible nature of it, it opens door to microtransactions

Lies of P got more gameplay. It looks so much better than Thymesia. It's probably my second favorite showcase so far

Stranded: Alien Dawn. Another survival co-op game. Pass.

Atlas Fallen. Action adventure? IDK,

Homeworld 3, looks alright.

Wyrdsong, a new rpg from guys who made FO3, 4, NV, Skyrim, etc. No gameplay, but strong faith for the veterans

High on Life looks hilarious

Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Yes, based on the movie. It's a multiplayer horror, so it's a pass for me

Gotham Knight still looks not that great. And why do I get a feeling you'll unlock batman in the end anyways?

AOE4 has new factions. Cool

Outlast Trials. It could be a great psychological horror, except for one problem; It's multiplayer.

And finally, dead island 2. The aesthetics certainly look different from the first trailer. I thought it was gonna hve brighter color tone, but I guess they went with the gritty colors instead. The characters look... interesting. What is up with this trend of characters with quirky personality in the middle of zombie apocalypse?

That's about all the games that caught my attention or cared to check out
 
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CriticalGaming

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And finally, dead island 2. The aesthetics certainly look different from the first trailer. I thought it was gonna hve brighter color tone, but I guess they went with the gritty colors instead. The characters look... interesting. What is up with this trend of characters with quirky personality in the middle of zombie apocalypse?
Is there any possible way this game can come out and not be as bad as Duke Nukeum Forever?