MLB 9 Innings Rivals is now available on iOS and Android devices

Com2uS, official license of MLB video games, has released its next generation of mobile baseball games with MLB 9 Innings Rivals, available today on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and Google Play for Android devices. MLB 9 Innings Rivals combines two decades of baseball game development and production expertise to help feature advanced game engine technology that brings an entirely new experience with vibrant graphics and diverse content to mobile devices worldwide. Fans can choose from a roster of 30 teams and take out the competition at some of the most iconic stadiums in the world with some of the best players to grace the diamond. “MLB 9 Innings Rivals marks the next generation of Com2uS’ official licensed MLB mobile games that feature real-life player animations and extraordinary depth and variety in gameplay,” commented Jihoon Han, Head of Game Business Group, “Launch is just the beginning for this brand new mobile baseball game and we aim to continue to update and expand the experience with its unique game characteristics for years to come, similar to the legacy of the MLB 9 Innings series.” MLB 9 Inning Rivals features single and multiplayer modes, including League, Live Match, Ranked Slugger and a lot more. Fans can switch between portrait and landscape modes and decide if they want to line up and hit a home run on-base themselves or spectate and cheer their team in action from the stands. Rookies can take advantage of several growth systems, including potential, skill changes, and more to bring the excitement of MLB on the go. You can download MLB 9 Innings Rivals on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Original Banjo-Kazooie Developers Share Sentiment That There Is No Demand For A New Game, Interview Reveals

Right now, Rare Ltd. continues to keep itself occupied with Xbox hit Sea of Thieves. With more than 25 million players that entered the uncharted waters, the live-service continues to receive new content periodically. Additionally, the U.K. team is also working on the long-awaited Everwild. Previously, it was reported that the game with no sturdy foundation found itself restarting development in summer 2021. However, there is a longing cry for more Banjo-Kazooie. And whilst Microsoft has answered the hunger with legacy support via Rare Replay, there has been little spared on a new game. But, that’s not to say there has been no sighting of the titular characters. In fact, the duo was welcomed to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster a couple years ago. Not to mention the original Nintendo 64 game also playable on Nintendo Switch Online too. So, is there a demand for a new game truly? Well, according to the original composer, not really. When speaking to Video Game Chronicles, it is said there’s little certainty an audience is present for another Banjo-Kazooie title. I feel like you’d have to get a team with the humour that we had back then, and that’s hard to replicate. I think Rare would be open to somebody if they found the right team, but I don’t feel like that team exists. Also, I’m not convinced the audience is there either… I don’t feel like there are that many Banjo fans out there. The whole Smash Bros. thing was spectacular… it really was. I think all the team that worked on that game had a tear in their eye when Banjo turned up in Smash Bros… it was just an unbelievable release of emotion. Seeing all those [fans] crying on videos was heart-warming, and we all felt it. That was a once-in-a-lifetime event when that happened. But I still feel like, is there that multimillion-dollar thing within Banjo-Kazooie? I’m not convinced there is. I do sometimes feel that we exist in a kind of Banjo-Kazooie bubble, where it sounds like a great big noise, but how big that bubble is, I don’t know… outside of that bubble, how big is that audience? Grant Kirkland, Banjo-Kazooie Composer Furthermore, lead programmer Chris Sutherland expressed a similar tune in terms of the demand for new Banjo-Kazooie content. “For a long time, there was doubt whether there was any audience for that type of game. Of course, there’s some audience, but is there enough to justify the kind of scale of game you would need now [for a first-party title]?” He continues: “Obviously, Nintendo does well with their platformers, but that’s Nintendo, and they’re often the exception to the rule. That’s the big question. The characters themselves, like we’ve seen with Smash Bros., people have a love for them. But do they love that game? “And if you made a different kind of game, would you be back to a Nuts ‘n’ Bolts thing, where it wasn’t what they were expecting? I’m still hopeful that something will appear, and we’ll all be proved wrong.” Howbeit, character designer Steve Mayles views the best opportunity to bring this to a reality would be a remaster so resources aren’t wasted on the isolated endeavor. I’ve said before, that would be the way to do it… because obviously, it takes so much money to create a brand new, top-end game that the sensible thing to do would be some kind of remaster to test the water and see if the audience is there. But importantly, I think it would have to come out on a Nintendo platform as well. Adding to this comment, Kirkland shares: “I have to say, having worked with Ubisoft Milan on the two Mario Rabbids games, I believe that they would make a great Banjo game. I’ve said it to them a couple of times. I really feel like they’ve got that passion that we had back in the day at Rare. I didn’t think I’d meet anybody that had that passion, but I really feel they have.” And that could very well be the best option. From our review for Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, we commended Ubisoft for its faithful approach to the artstyle most tied to Super Mario. “This game has great looking cutscenes that I felt were more iconic. Ubisoft definitely deserves credit with how the game looks and its art style. I don’t have much complaints about it.” You can read the full piece by heading here. What is your thoughts on the statements from the former Rare developers? Source: Video Game Chronicles

James Wan, Jason Blum Shares Interest To Bring More Video Game Horror Films

Already, Blumhouse Productions has become a namesake when considering horror. Whether it being indie level pictures or now with big properties such as Halloween or even the upcoming Exorcist film, you can’t get away from the firm. And even now, video games are becoming a larger presence and Blumhouse Productions is sinking its fingers into that too. Currently, many are aware that Five Nights at Freddy’s is being adapted into a live-action film set for this October. Additionally, Blumhouse Productions with James Wan’s Atomic Monsters is also tackling a Dead by Daylight picture with Behaviour Interactive. However, the firm will not stop there. The company is also making games too. Founding Blumhouse Games, this new division is said to focus on properties owned by the firm with budgets less than $10 million, it was reported. When speaking to Discussing Film, it was revealed that Jason Blum – founder of Blumhouse Productions – is preparing to search for more video game properties to adapt. Blum even mentions Wan being a fan of the medium as well that will likely play a role in finding new candidates. Well, I think the right video games make great source material for movies. I mean, you saw that even with [The Super Mario Bros. Movie]. It’s a different genre, but it was an amazingly successful movie. And I certainly hope that’s the case [with Five Nights at Freddy’s]. James is actually a big gamer and we have a games division of our company that we’ve been working on. I’m definitely looking forward to finding more games that are popular and that we could turn into horror movies. And Blum is correct, The Super Mario Bros. Movie certainly brings things into perspective about video game films. The first installment generated more than $1 billion globally and will likely break into a larger franchise. Similarly, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 when in theaters last year received similar praise and was the most successful opening for Jim Carrey’s career as well. As for other video game films on the horizon, next month is to welcome Gran Turismo. Part of the PlayStation Productions initiative, it offers a true story tale of one lucky player that won his place to race in a real competition. The cast include Stranger Things’ star David Harbour. You can read the full report by heading here. What video game do you hope becomes a horror film next? Source: Discussing Film

Grand Theft Auto V, Exoprimal, McPixel 3, And More Come In July 2023 Update For Xbox Game Pass

Over the course of a week or two, Xbox Game Pass has faced more adversaries in new developments. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment president & CEO Jim Ryan, most publishers dislike the service he said during the FTC hearing. Additionally, the service is also facing new pricing in the nearing future after promises that the subscription would keep its cost leveled. Howbeit, the service has remained consistent with new titles. In late June, the library grew with games such as The Bookwalker, Arcade Paradise, F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch, and more. Previously, Microsoft & Capcom confirmed Exoprimal shipping in July is prepped to launch for Xbox Game Pass as well. Now, the new batch of Xbox Game Pass titles is revealed.  On Wednesday, Microsoft revealed that Grand Theft Auto V is returning to Xbox Game Pass. This time, it is available for both Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S owners. You can read the full list below: Console Grand Theft Auto V – 7/5 Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – 7/5 McPixel 3 – 7/6 Common’hood – 7/11 Exoprimal – 7/14 Techtonica – 7/18 The Cave – 7/18 PC Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – 7/5 McPixel 3 – 7/6 Common’hood – 7/11 Insurgency: Sandstorm – 7/11 Exoprimal – 7/14 Techtonica – 7/18 Cloud Grand Theft Auto V – 7/5 Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – 7/5 McPixel 3 – 7/6 Common’hood – 7/11 Exoprimal – 7/14 Techtonica – 7/18 The Cave – 7/18 This month, the first wave of departing titles is kept short for Xbox Game Pass. In that, only Exo One (Cloud; Console; PC), PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls (Cloud; Console; PC), and Spelunky 2 (Cloud; Console; PC) are planning to exit on July 15th later on this month. Recently, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard expanded on Xbox Game Pass. When speaking to IGN on Xbox Game Pass, Howard explains that the service enables developers – either of AAA or indie – to be ambitious than traditional retail releases. You can read the full report by heading here. What game has you most excited for Xbox Game Pass so far for July? Source: Xbox Wire

Google Is Reportedly Testing To Launch Games Through YouTube With New ‘Playables’ Project

This past fall was a momentous yet anticipated event for Google – the official confirmation on Stadia’s demise. While there was an avid user base for the cloud streaming platform, Google put a cork in operations in total and announced the service would close for good this January. Part of the shuttering included purchase refunds and also rolled out native support for the Stadia controller as well. What was not a surprise is how Google would continue to iterate on this technology to create a new platform to succeed Stadia. Previously, Business Insider reported that Google ahead of the Stadia closure  announcement would refocus its resources on a new streaming initiative. Additionally, the team began rolling out Google Play Games for PC as well during the fallout of Stadia. In a new report from The Wall Street Journal, an internal email at Google confirms that the tech giant is launching a new ‘Playables’ project which enables YouTube users to launch games via desktop or mobile to play select titles. Currently, there is no confirmation on the scale of which titles will be supported nor how much of Stadia’s infrastructure will be refocused for the new Playable initiative. Already, Stadia did offer this feature for YouTube in the past. Via the Crowd Play feature for the service, users who were watching a livestream could queue into an online game for the stream. Not only will it launch the game, but also queue you to play with the person in-stream. More likely for this project will prompt viewers to launch select games categorized in videos directly through YouTube; not feature the same queue feature from Stadia. Similarly, Netflix has already jumped ahead on this approach with its mobile app already. Although the streaming service does not offer desktop support for Netflix Games, users via Android & iOS can launch a library of games from the gaming tab – and it is free too. You can read the full report by heading here. What has you interested for the new ‘Playables’ feature for YouTube? Source: The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft Forms New ‘Xbox Games Technology Group’ With The Coalition To Offer Widespread Support Across The Entire First-Party Division

Although developer The Coalition is still busy working on its next project, the team remains adamant on pushing innovation forward for Xbox Game Studios. Recently, it was reported that the team will be focusing on Gears as massive layoff waves at Microsoft offset and effectively shuttered efforts on two other projects at the Vancouver game studio – one reported to being a new IP for the developer too. In the past, The Coalition has been noted for its efforts in pushing hardware and just standards for AAA titles with its release. For instance, Gears 5 with its expertise of Unreal Engine 4 remains a marvel for Xbox Series X running at 120hz unphased. Which explains as much since the team is an outcast chapter of Epic Games developers when the team was founded roughly a decade ago. Even more, The Coalition is doing even more with Unreal Engine 5 from its previous ‘Alpha Point’ demonstration for the new game making suite already. Now, the developer appears to be part of a new ‘Xbox Games Technology Group’ to help shape the overall first-party division according to a new job listing. For Senior Online Engineer, the overview mentions: “At The Coalition Studio, through our work on the acclaimed Gears of War franchise, we are tackling these problems head-on by leading engine innovation, developing technical showcase technologies, and delivering world class workflows, tools and features that are adopted across the wider Xbox Game Studios organization.” This does appear to fit well as more Xbox Game Studios teams are utilizing Unreal Engine 5. In that, developers such as Ninja Theory, InXile Entertainment, Obsidian Entertainment, and Undead Labs already adopted the proprietary engine for its upcoming projects. And with how proficient the developer is with the technology, it answers to why The Coalition is now spearheading ‘Xbox Games Technology Group. In the past, The Coalition has also led other in-house initiatives for Xbox. In that, the developer actual made its own homebrew touch screen controls for Project xCloud previously to demonstrate how it would be established for the platform. Now, more than 100+ titles support the feature. You can read the full report by heading here. What has you most interested for ‘Xbox Games Technology Group? Source: Microsoft

Alan Wake II Developer Says Digital-only Release Enables The Team “More Time To Polish” Ahead Of Release

Like a skipping record, the resurfacing mentioning that Alan Wake II is in development never gets old hearing. After a decade of waiting, a proper sequel is in development over at Remedy Entertainment. In an earlier statement from the Finnish game studio, it was confirmed that Alan Wake II was already in a fully playable state to meet its 2023 release window, CEO Tero Virtala shared. Additionally, Alan Wake voice actor Matthew Porretta went onto share that Alan Wake II is expected to release later this October; very fitting. And by the time the PlayStation Showcase arrived in late May, it was confirmed that the game ships on October 17th. However, there is a caveat: there is only a digital version of the game. Remedy Entertainment for a couple weeks went without elaborating on the decision. But according to Eurogamer who spoke with Remedy Entertainment in June has revealed that the decision was joint with publisher Epic Games to be the best outcome for the team to work without any hurdles. “Yeah, it is digital only, and kind of coming to this idea, both from Remedy and Epic’s perspective, that’s our current thinking. It just felt it makes sense for this, and the timing felt right,” creative director Sam Lake shared. “As creatives obviously, by going digital-only it does allow us more time to polish the game. Like, a significant amount of weeks actually. Because otherwise, the game that goes on the disc, obviously it has to be playable without a patch,” game director Kyle Rowley adds, “We didn’t want to release something that we weren’t proud of basically, and that we didn’t want players to play. So hopefully this way we can give you a better version of the game.” “We did not want to ship a disc product and have it require a download for the game – we do not think this would make for a great experience either,” Rowley continued with. The official FAQ for Alan Wake II also argued that the decision would also reduce cost for the game. In that, it would only cost users the familiar $59.99/€59.99 rather than the new $69.99/€69.99 the latest console hardware pioneered. What is your response to Remedy Entertainment’s explanation for skipping on physical media? Alan Wake II launches on October 17, 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Source: Eurogamer

Bloober Team Confirms Its Moving Beyond Horror Projects For Future Titles

In its regard for becoming one of the most expressive developers in recent years, Polish game studio Bloober Team is most noted for its in-depth storytelling with atmosphere & setting with games such as Layers of Fear, Blair Witch, and the latest Layers of Fear release last month. Currently, the developer is currently working away at a remake with Konami on the classic Silent Hill 2 game. However, the team is planning to move beyond horror to new genres & pastures moving forward. Although the developer will not be outright abandoning what got Bloober Team on the map, it told Engadget that the game studio is exploring more options to tell new stories for forthcoming projects. “This year is like closing the era of making psychological horror games. Right now we are going into Bloober Team 3.0, making mass-market horror,” co-founder Piotr Babieno said to Engadget. “We focused on the story, we focused on the mood, we focused on the quality of graphics and music, but we didn’t put a lot of attention on the gameplay mechanics. It wasn’t our target. But we decided that there was a ceiling that we couldn’t break if we did not deliver something fresh, something new, Babieno adds. “We decided that our next titles should be much more mass-market oriented. We’d like to talk with more people. We’d like to deliver our ideas, with our DNA, not by environment or storytelling, but by action. So all of our future titles will have a lot of gameplay mechanics. They will be much bigger.” You read that right, ‘action’ is on the menu for Bloober Team moving forward. Recently, Bloober Team continued to expand its reach for its titles with The Medium on Nintendo Switch. Howbeit, unlike a native version, instead there is a Cloud Version now available on the Nintendo eShop. You can read the full report by heading here. What has you interested in the direction Bloober Team is heading? Source: Engadget

Xbox and Bethesda are returning to Gamescom this August

Xbox is making a return to Europe’s most popular video game event, Gamescom. The company announced they are returning to the showfloor along with Bethesda. Details regarding what games will be there to play have yet to be announced. Gamescom 2023 takes place August 23-27 and you can purchase your tickets here. Every year Gamescom takes place in Köln, Germany and usually you can expect some new game announcements from company’s like Microsoft or Sony. More importantly, it’s about what games can you get your hands on early before they release during the Holiday season. This event takes place only a few weeks before the official release of Starfield on Xbox Series XlS and PC, so there could be a chance that makes it to the event. You can see the official announcement tweet below: 🚨 BREAKING 🚨 @‌Xbox and @‌bethesda will join us on the showfloor for #gamescom2023! More details soon. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/epzkwnZye9#XboxGC pic.twitter.com/ylcK23Bti5 — gamescom (@gamescom) July 5, 2023