Hello everyone. Welcome to another issue of Emmen Weekly, our new twist on gaming news.
This week’s issue is going to cover some interesting news from around the games industry that popped up over the last week.
So with no further ado, let’s get into this issue of Emmen Weekly.
Norman Reedus Confirms Death Stranding 2
Actor Norman Reedus has confirmed that acclaimed Japanese game director and video game auteur Hideo Kojima is working on a sequel to Death Stranding.
When asked about the game, he said, “”We just started working on the second one,” adding that, “It took me maybe two or three years to finish all the mocap sessions and everything. It takes a lot of work. And then the game came out, and it just won all these awards, and it was a huge thing, so we just started part two of that.”
This announcement, if it can even be called that and not a leak, comes as a bit of a surprise because after the sale of the game, Kojima Productions has been a bit quiet.
Kojima himself has gone on record stating that a sequel to Death Stranding would have to start “from ground zero”, indicating that there would be major differences from the original. He also teased that he was thinking of a sequel but admitted to not having more beyond fragments of new ideas.
Death Stranding was first released as a PS4 exclusive in 2019 before being ported to PC in 2020. The game also got a Director’s Cut release for the PS5 and PC in late 2021 and March 2022, which brought major quality of life improvements.
Battlefield 2042 Removes 128 Player Breakthrough Multiplayer
EA has removed Battlefield 2042’s 128 player Breakthrough multiplayer mode and permanently replaced it with a 64 player count version.
This change was rolled out as part of Update 4.1 which was released on May 19.
Ea stated that this change was brought about due to the belief that 128 player modes are better suited for Conquest, which sports larger gameplay spaces with more options for sandbox gameplay.
Ea went onto state that it believed that 64 players have a better opportunity to work together and will bring back the pacing the series is known for.
The update also improves other parts of the game such as improving the base recoil and Specialist adjustments.
Battlefield 2042 was a game that was released to a largely upset fanbase who decried the lack of essential features such as a Scoreboard and voice chat functionality. It resulted in the game having a lower power count than previous games of the franchise.
Syphon Filter to Get Trophies When it Comes to New PSPlus
The PlayStation classic Syphon Filter is not only coming to PlayStation Plus, but it is also getting trophy support.
Bend Studio made the announcement via a tweet where it released an announcement with a bit of flavor text stating that the game would come onto the new PlayStation Plus service with trophies.
One of the trophies has been revealed to be a silver trophy called “An Explosive Start”. Have fun figuring out which explosion that’s in reference to, Syphon Filter fans. (We have our theories.)
One question on a lot of speculators’ minds is whether this is a sign that every original PlayStation title in the Premium tier of PSPlus will receive trophy support or not.
Bend Studio is one of Sony’s first party development studios so this might not be indicative of the average release of these kinds of legacy titles.
Fall Guys Goes Free-to-Play
The popular party game and viral sensation from some time back, Fall Guys is going to become a free-to-play game.
The game will be making this change on July 21, 2022.
Additionally, the game will also be made available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store on PC.
The game will also be cross platform and can track your progress across different platforms.
The developers are also promising a legacy pack and pre-registration awards.
The legacy pack is for the players who bought the game and will contain a nickname, a nameplate, the Regal costume, the Veggie Dog costume, the Feisty Dwarf costume, and a free season pass for season 1 of the game. Not a bad deal, perhaps?
As for the specifications of the games on the different consoles, the PS5 version is aiming for 60 FPS and 4K, while the Switch will aim for 30 FPS and 720p when handheld and 30 FPS and 1080p when docked.
As for the Xbox, you can check out this graphic below to see what’s being targeted:
Whether this move will bring the game back into the mainstream consciousness remains to be seen.
Saudi Arabia Now Owns 5% of Nintendo
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now owns 5.01% of Nintendo as part of the activities of its Public Investment Fund (PIF).
This investment comes after the nation’s previous investment into video games by investing in Capcom back in February.
According to analysts, this makes Saudi Arabia Nintendo’s fifth largest shareholder. However, it should be noted that official documentation states that this investment was made only for investment purposes.
It is unlikely that an investment of this degree could give the nation any major influence over operations of the company.
This is all likely part of the country’s push to create its own content industry.
The Saudi PIF previously invested in Capcom and Maple Story publisher Nexon. Both times, they claimed a state of over 5% from each company.
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