News Report for September 2018: Sony Supports Unity, and Bowsette Conquers the Internet

Following Nintendo, Sony monetizes nostalgia, Electronic Arts tries to prove to Belgian authorities that loot boxes are not gambling, and Telltale Games is just a name.

In September, Sony proved that it listens to public opinion and knows how to copy other people's ideas. In addition, Telltale Games laid off almost all employees and, it seems, is preparing to close, and a Nintendo fan came up with a new character who immediately became extremely popular.

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“Universal unity will come!” Sony proudly declared and announced that Fortnite users can play together with owners of other platforms, ranging from PC and mobile devices to Xbox One and Switch. For now, cross-play with other consoles is available on PS4 only in Fortnite in beta testing mode, but Sony plans to develop the direction related to cross-platform gaming.

PS4 owners who are subscribed to the PlayStation Now streaming service no longer have to endure problems caused by network data transfer delays. Starting in September, PlayStation Now projects can be downloaded to PS4 and launched from the console. Games for PS4 and PS2 are allowed to be downloaded. Even when playing offline, it is necessary to connect to PS Now once every few days to confirm the service subscription.

Sony saw how successfully Nintendo monetizes nostalgia, and introduced a miniature version of the first PlayStation. The console comes with 20 games, including Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3, Wild Arms, and two standard gamepads without analog sticks. It is not possible to install additional projects on PlayStation Classic, at least not officially. There is also no way to connect the device to PlayStation Network. PlayStation Classic will go on sale on December 3 this year for $100.

Sony will also stop PS Vita production in Japan in 2019 and does not intend to release a new portable console. Finally, Sony will not hold the PlayStation Experience event this year.

THQ Nordic buys rights to recognizable and not-so-recognizable franchises. Now the publisher owns the rights to the Alone in the Dark horror series, the Act of War real-time strategy series, and the role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur. However, to release an updated version of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, permission from Electronic Arts, which owns the publishing rights to the game, is required.

Electronic Arts will defend its right to sell loot boxes in FIFA 19 to users from Belgium. Earlier, the authorities of this country equated containers from video games to gambling. EA disagrees with this view of the situation and intends to sue the Belgian authorities. Meanwhile, representatives of commissions from 15 European countries and the USA stated that they plan to “investigate the possible risks that arise from the blurring of lines between video games and gambling.” The authorities are primarily concerned about sites like CS:GO Lounge with gambling on CS:GO skins, but they will also pay attention to the compliance of loot box implementation with legislation.

The seemingly successful studio Telltale Games, famous for its interactive series, laid off 90% of its employees. Currently, only 25 people work in the studio, although previously there were more than 250. The laid-off developers were not paid severance packages, and some of them joined Telltale Games a week before the news of staff reductions. One of the former employees has already filed a lawsuit demanding that the authors be paid all due compensation. According to rumors, the reason for Telltale Games' problems was that Lionsgate refused to finance the studio.

The announced Telltale Games projects, be it The Wolf Among Us 2 and an adventure based on The Stranger Things, will not see the light of day. As for the final season of The Walking Dead, “numerous potential partners” expressed a desire to help the studio finish the project “in some form.” So far, only two episodes have been released. However, sales of the final season of The Walking Dead in digital services have been suspended indefinitely.

Capcom closed its Vancouver division, responsible for the second, third, and fourth parts of the open-world zombie killer Dead Rising. 158 people lost their jobs.

The studio that developed the online role-playing game Wildstar, owned by the Korean company NCSoft, also ceased to exist. Wildstar servers will be shut down at the end of November this year.

The 21-year-old studio CCP Games, known in certain circles for EVE Online, is now owned by the South Korean company Pearl Abyss, responsible, in particular, for Black Desert Online. The purchase cost Pearl Abyss $425 million.

The 2013 global strategy game Total War: Rome II found itself at the center of a scandal. Users accused the developers of making changes to the game, resulting in too many female generals. Creative Assembly's public relations manager Ella McConnell responded with a “if you don't like it, don't play” attitude, which angered the public, who began writing negative reviews of the game on Steam. Then it turned out that it all started with a dubious screenshot. Players figured out that the situation with female generals shown in the picture is quite probable in Rome II. Creative Assembly stated in another statement that the project is working correctly and the developers do not plan to change anything.

A Nintendo fan, based on a bonus from New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for Switch, came up with a new character — Bowsette (a female version of Bowser). It took the cute villainess literally a few days to become a real internet star. The network was quickly flooded with pictures of Bowsette of varying degrees of frankness, and girls began to cosplay this version of the famous antagonist. Of course, relevant content with Bowsette is actively sought by YouPorn visitors.

Games

Battlefield V developers listened to the community (and common sense) and abandoned overly absurd elements in character customization in the game. Male and female soldiers will look more authentic.

The creators of the Yakuza crime action series presented their new project — the crime action game Project JUDGE. However, this time we are assigned the role of private detective Takayuki Yagami, and staged scenes and brawls are diluted with surveillance of important persons and activities that do not involve brutal beating of enemies. The project is being developed for PS4.

Thanks to Valve's new content filtering policy, on September 15, the uncensored erotic-pornographic anime-style game Negligee: Love Stories was released on Steam. However, users from 28 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, cannot join the legal version of the project. This is because Negligee is not for sale in these countries.

Master seducer Richard La Ruina continues to conquer the gaming industry. No sooner had he released Super Seducer 2 in September than the announcement of the third part took place. In the threequel, we are promised an open world, online, and “unexpected elements.” It seems Richard La Ruina will only stop when every player can easily seduce the most beautiful woman.