Hello everyone. Welcome to another issue of Emmen Weekly, our new twist on gaming news. 

It’s been another interesting week of twists and turns.

So let’s begin our look back by starting with Assassin’s Creed. 

Ubisoft Reportedly Developing Smaller Stealth-Focused Assassin’s Creed

According to a new Bloomberg report, Ubisoft is working on a new stealth-focused Assassin’s Creed game that will take place on a smaller scale than previous titles.

The game will reportedly involve the character of Basim from AC: Valhalla and will flesh him out. According to Eurogamer, there are rumors of the game including the city of Bagdhad.

The project is thought to have begun as part of an expansion to Valhalla but has reportedly since mutated into its own thing.

When asked directly, Ubisoft did not wish to comment on the issue, adding that it has a lineup of “solid and exciting titles” in their pipeline from new and existing IPs. 

If this report by Bloomberg does end up panning out, it could be an unexpected return to its roots for Assassin’s Creed.

The series was massively influential during the early days of the PS3 and has since gone through several eras of change which some fans love and others hate.

It remains to be seen whether this back-to-basics approach will be enough to bring back those that bounced off the franchise in the past or if it will appeal to those who prefer the newer style.

Itch.io Takes Stance Against NFTs

itch.io has officially made its stance on NFTs. 

It made its stance on its official Twitter account, stating quite simply that NFTs are a scam. 

The statement didn’t mince and works as it went on to state that NFTs aren’t useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet. 

Wow. Talk about taking a stand.

If you didn’t know what itch.io is, you might be wondering, “So what? Why does this matter?”

The reason why this stance matters is because itch.io is a website where users can host, buy, and sell indie games. 

Due to the large number of users of the website, it is considered a very good way for new developers to start making money off their games.

Over time, itch.io has come to be an important part of the indie games scene. As such, this statement is quite impactful. 

Especially since so many AAA games seem all too happy to leap headfirst into NFTs. 

Did we really expect anything less from the companies that thrived on loot boxes, microtransactions, and always-online “games as services”?

If you want to learn more about gaming’s weird love affair with NFTs, check out our feature here.

GTA Definitive Edition Trilogy Sells 10 Million Units in Two Months

If you want further proof that we are on the darkest timeline, then look no further this disheartening piece of news.

The GTA Definitive Edition trilogy has sold more than 10 million units since its release in November.

When the games were released, it was discovered that they were riddled with various graphical and gameplay bugs. Additionally, the upscaling had been done poorly and had destroyed a lot of the visual gags the original games had.

To make matters worse, Rockstar also removed the previous versions of the games from online stores so if you want to play them legally, the Definitive Edition is your only choice.

The news of GTA’s success comes from a quarterly earnings report from Take-Two. 

According to the report, the company considers the Definitive Edition to be a success and it apparently “exceeds expectations.”

If this debacle is considered a success, the future of the GTA franchise looks very uncertain.

Nintendo Switch Hacker Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison

Gary Bowser, who is the leader of a group that sold mod chips for game consoles, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Bowser was a member of Team Xecuter, a group that made hacks for the Nintendo Switch, 3DS, NES Classic, Playstation Classic, and the Xbox.

Some of their hacks allowed consoles like the Nintendo Switch to play pirated games.

He was caught in the Dominican Republic in September 2020 and deported to the US where he has been in federal custody since. 

Team Xecuter was controversial among modding communities due to the fact that they did their work for profit. 

As you may know, most people in the modding community tend to prefer open source efforts and don’t sell their products. This is because such actions could draw the attention of the law and the corporations that own the products, like what’s happened here.

While it might be tempting to look at this story as another instance of Nintendo throwing their weight around and crushing the little guy, it is important to keep in mind that Team Xecute were making money off digital piracy.

The goal clearly wasn’t to keep old games alive or to expose new fans to the classics. 

Just something to think about.

Platinum Games Calls on Phil Spencer to Revive Scalebound

Have you heard the tragic tale of Scalebound? 

It was a dream game that was not meant to be where you have the deep and satisfying character action combat of a Platinum Games game… and dragons.

Legends say that it was to be released on the Xbox One back in 2017 but it never made it. 

The project has since been canceled and aside from an apology from director Hideki Kamiya last year, that was the end of the story… until now!

Hideki Kamiya has apparently been talking about the game for a while and recently made a statement in an interview where he said, “I’d like to appeal to Phil Spencer directly! Let’s do it, Phil!”

The President of Platinum Games, Atsushi Inaba also echoed the sentiment, adding that it wasn’t like they were saying they would make it if they got the chance. 

“Both Kamiya and I are serious – we really would love to work on Scalebound again. I’d like to discuss it with Microsoft properly.” said Atsushi Inaba.

So guys… looks like Scalebound might be coming back! What?! 

Maybe this isn’t the darkest timeline after all…