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Stadia launched in November of 2019 and pioneered the cloud gaming platform change. Companies like Microsoft and Amazon followed suit with their own cloud gaming services. Since the service’s inception, however, there has always been one major hurdle and that’s Internet speeds and availability.

High-speed, reliable Internet in the US is still a commodity, despite recent plans by the Federal government to improve infrastructure. The argument for cloud gaming is the ability to play games without buying expensive hardware. However, some of these same customers may not be able to afford, or even have access, to the Internet needed for a seamless gaming experience.

Leading up to this announcement, there was conflicting information on the health of the service. On one hand, Google had announced continued support and development for the service. On the other, they also closed down their gaming studio which would have bolstered their gaming library. The latter indicated to the industry that Stadia was in big trouble.

In their blog post, Google has signaled that the technology developed for Stadia will be incorporated into other products. Additionally, many Stadia employees will be reassigned into other segments of the company. At the same time, Google still plans to be a part of the gaming sphere through YouTube, supporting creators.

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• Halo Infinite Co-op Flight – 343 Industries had a 2 week public beta for the long awaited co-op feature for the Halo Infinite campaign. By now most people should have beaten the campaign but fans were upset from the lack of co-op at launch. Additionally, this test only covers co-op over the network and not split-screen. A separate flight is planned to test split screen capabilities but can roll out sometime in 2023. The online feature will release sometime this year (fingers crossed) but will it actually bring fans back to the game?
• God of War Ragnarok Pre-order and Scalping – Pre-orders for the sequel to God of War went live and featured different editions of the game. The highest tier, called Jotnar’s Edition, brings many cool pieces but none cooler than Thor’s hammer. Unfortunately, as the pre-orders went live the scalping began. Now, some of these pieces are going for up to twice the retail value. If you’re looking to buy this edition, you’re options are limited as many retailers have also sold out.
• Price increase on Meta Quest 2 – Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a price increase of $100 on their popular VR headset. Scheduled to take effect August 1st, this is the first price bump for a gaming console. Historically, gaming consoles get discounted as newer iterations come out. However, gamers may see it as gaming hardware but Meta, instead, sees it as a tool for the Metaverse. It seems they did not consider the headset’s current use (a tool to play Beat Saber) as a need to follow gaming norms. In fact, they said this increase will help them achieve their goals.
• Bungie is officially part of Sony – After clearing regulatory hurdles, Sony’s purchase of Bungie is now complete. No new information has been released now that the deal is finalized but Bungie CEO Pete Parsons had stated in January that they will continue to publish games independently. At the same time, Sony claims that they do not intend to make future Bungie games exclusive to their platform. Instead, they are going to rely on Bungie’s expertise in the live gaming service space and multi platform development.

Game Updates and Info

• GTA 6 Information released – Credible news about the next installment of the franchise has surfaced. Although details are sparse, the game is set to take place in Vice City and feature a playable female protagonist. Story details have not come out, but some speculation suggests we could see a riff on Bonnie and Clyde. While it has been confirmed to be in development, a release date has not been formally announced.
• Best selling game of June – The game to take this title is none other than Elden Ring. Releasing in February of this year the game is on track to become the best selling game of 2022.
• Skull and Bones Update – The game from Ubisoft Singapore will finally be released this November. Additionally, a trailer revealing the campaign was also released showing some details of the game. My interest in the game piqued after playing AC: Black Flag, however, that was some time ago. It will be interesting to see how receptive gamers are when it releases.
• Doom creator making a new game – John Romero had announced he is developing a new FPS through his gaming studio, Romero Games. This new game is an original IP and the studio was looking for developers familiar with the Unreal 5 engine. No further details have been released and it will be some time before we get an update.
• Polish Developers Create New Game Studio – Former developers of Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 create Rebel Wolves studio. These developers want to promote a team first environment stating “Happy people make great games – games players want and deserve.” We’ve all heard about crunch and it seems this new studio will do whatever it takes to avoid overworking their employees. Currently, the primary focus of the new studio is on a dark fantasy, RPG game.

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Games Played

Games from last month

Check out more thoughts on these games from my previous post here!

• Jurassic World Evolution 2: I’m at it again with these dinosaurs, exploring the other modes in the game. Currently going through the Chaos Theory mode which sort of follows the stories of the movies. This style of game just calls to me though and I see myself continuing to play, sinking many more hours into it.
• Hollow Knight: Quickly becoming one of my favorite games, Hollow Knight has a lot going for it. I’m roughly half way through it and sometimes playing it off stream to move the story along a little quicker. I’m looking to beat it soon though to move on to the next game!
• Cyberpunk 2077: Speaking of the next game, I managed to get through the first act of this game but have since put it aside to focus on Hollow Knight. I do plan on picking it up again once I have more time. However, I am having mixed feelings about the game with regards to the story. The other parts of the game, customization and environment for example, are still holding me in.
• Ghost of Tsushima: I’ve said it once I’ll say it again; this is a great game. I’ve just recently completed an important part of the story that involved a rescue and an unexpected betrayal. I cannot wait to see how this game ends.

“New Games” for the month

I have played these games before but recently have had a renewed interest in them. Check them out.

• Fall Guys: After becoming free to play, I wanted to dive back in. Now, I play this game regularly as part of my Twitch streams! There are plenty of modes that keep this game feeling fresh and the challenges are worthwhile enough to complete them. Of course, this game has cosmetic items that can be bought with real money but that’s just the trend we’re seeing these days. For the most part, this game does in-game purchases right.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator: I recently bought a flight stick just for this game because the experience on a mouse and keyboard or controller was not cutting it. It still is a bit cut and dry as it is a simulator, however the challenge mode puts the game back in this video game. One of the newer challenges is a collaboration with the movie Top Gun: Maverick and lets you pilot the F/A-18 Hornet. This is easily one of the best parts of this game.

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Game Announcements

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Announced and Teaser Trailer – News of the next installment of the Star Wars Jedi series came out this month. A teaser trailer was also provided but provided scant details. Based on the description from EA, the story picks up 5 years after the first game. In the first game we see Cal Kestis journey after surviving Order 66. I was a big fan of the first game having enjoyed the story and the combat I look forward to this next game. With this game, the developers mentioned a focus on newer console hardware. This will surely improve upon graphical performance, something the first game had issues with. Slated to release in 2023, there is plenty of time to catch up on the original game, which I recommend. Check out my review of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on YouTube.
• Games Showcases – Gaming events were plentiful this month in spite of the notable absence of E3. All the major players had announcements over the span of a few weeks. At State of Play, PlayStation showed a focus on VR gaming, updates to Horizon Forbidden West, and more! The Xbox and Bethesda Showcase had just as many games announced as well as updates to Starfield and Redfall. Lastly, just before the month was over, Nintendo dropped a “Mini Direct” featuring a new open-world Sonic the Hedgehog. I do recommend checking out everything that was announced as it is too much to cover in this post (sorry Summer Game Fest).

Other News

• Xbox Cloud Gaming on TVs – Microsoft is taking the next step with their cloud gaming platform. They recently announced their Xbox app will be available on 2022 Samsung TVs. While the access is limited, this will provide valuable data to Microsoft about the performance of the service. Many in the industry were expecting a streaming stick of sorts. However, if this approach is successful then extra hardware won’t be necessary. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has made it clear that cloud gaming is the way forward for the company.
• New Sony Gaming Hardware and Rumored PS5 Pro Controller – Sony has officially announced new hardware, and it’s not just headsets. Sony has made two monitors that can be paired with their console or a PC. One monitor will have a resolution at 4K while the other tops out at 1080p. However, the lower resolution monitor will see higher frame rates and will be priced lower as well. Along side will be three new headsets, from wired to wireless. Yet, although rumored to be in the works, no official word on a pro controller from Sony. There are already 3rd party “Pro” controllers available for the PS5 but having a proprietary controller will certainly elevate the user experience. Lastly, it was also announced that the second generation of PSVR is in the works with a drop date for the 2022 holiday season.
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Reveal Trailer – A teaser was released in May and now the official reveal trailer has come out. I already talked about my hype for this game in my last monthly post, so I won’t retread the same ground. However, the game is also available for preorder now, which also gives early access during their beta period.

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Jurassic World Evolution 2: The second entry of the series lets players design new parks and relive moments from the movie franchise. I personally enjoyed the time I spent playing it and I would highly recommend it to others who like park management sims. For more info on the game check out my review here!

Games Played

The theme for this month’s games was playing new games. No, they didn’t just come out but they’re new for me.

• Fall Guys: The battle royale game was made free to play recently and I have been playing on both the Xbox and PlayStation. I did own this game prior but had not put much hours into it at the time. However, with all the updates, this game has become a lot more fun!

On Xbox

• Cyberpunk 2077: After being turned off by all the reported bugs, I held out on playing this game. After more that a year of collecting dust (yes I have a physical copy) I gave it a spin. Admittedly, the game starts off pretty slow and I almost put it down. However, I kept going and the story has definitely picked up and I will hopefully finish it soon. I am still getting used to the controls but the game play feels really good. I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of trait customization that’s available, and that’s not including weapons. With so little time under my belt, I feel I can’t say much more about the game at this time.

• Hollow Knight: This game reminds me a lot of the Ori and the Blind Forest series. It has similar 2D game play, platforming and fighting across the world. The art styles between the two games are different, however, with Ori being a lot more vibrant. While I am digging Hollow Knight, there are frustrating moments figuring out where you’re supposed to go next. There are no markers telling you where to go. The best part of the game however is the fighting. There are plenty of low level bad guys to contend with, but the highlights are the bosses. These fights force you to approach the situation critically, with reckless slashing often resulting in defeat. The story is slowly being fleshed out as progress is made but is definitely interesting story telling.

On PS5

• Ghost of Tsushima: After picking up the PS5, this game was on my wish list but it wasn’t until recently that I began playing it. I am a huge fan of the world this game is set in and kept it authentic by playing with subtitles. After the opening moments of the game, the world opens up significantly allowing for tons of exploration and different ways to approach battles. Story wise, I love what is happening with the protagonist as a new reality sets in for him. There are plenty of harrowing moments as well as emotional ones. And that’s only with a handful of hours under my belt. I look forward to seeing how the story shakes out at the end.

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• Trek to Yomi – Not many games these days can deliver a great story in a short amount of time. Trek to Yomi proves it can be done. All in all, total time to completion for me was a hair under 7 hours with most items collected. The overall style and gameplay are fairly simple, creating a beautiful environment without the use of colors. However, combat becomes more complex as the game progresses requiring patience and a liberal use of the parry function. I do recommend, searching for items as they will increase both health and stamina. As far as sword fighters go, Trek to Yomi is definitely a must play.

Games Played

• NBA 2K22 – Another year, another entry in the NBA 2K series. I always look forward to playing the MyCareer portion of the game as it lets you climb the ranks of the draft and the league. Yet the developers somehow felt it necessary to make the environment open world, which I despise. Having to travel to objectives by foot is a total waste of time, especially without a fast travel function. Additionally, this game includes the option to join the G league, the minor league of the NBA, on top of going to college. In terms of gameplay not much has changed. This is common across multiple sports games where mechanics stay the same and player rosters are the only real updates.
• Battlefield 2042 – After a short hiatus, I am back playing this once anticipated game. Since its launch, it has done some good by fixing a lot of bugs to include server issues, tanks falling through maps and no voice chat. With that said, there still continues to be no new maps added and the only game mode worth its stuff is Conquest. The other modes, Hazard Zone and Portal, have failed quite spectacularly.
• The Crew – A game that feels as old as it actually is but still has good stuff. This is the first time I’ve played a game from this series. Off the bat, I was not a huge fan of the driving controls, which feel arcade-y. I would compare it to the style of Need for Speed in that sense. However, I do like the prospect of driving across a large map, as it handles in world events with almost zero loading interruptions. As far as story goes, I am not as interested so far, and the voice acting is a bit overdramatized. Yet my son loves to watch me play racing games and therefore will continue to throw it on at his request.

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