TWIG - Oct 11: Sony sues seller of jailbroken PS4s, Nintendo patents Game Boy case for touchscreens
Industry News
Microsoft to reportedly buy out Obsidian Entertainment
Insider sources claim that the classic-RPG developer, Obsidian Entertainment, known for developing certain titles like Fallout: New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity is to be bought out by Microsoft. The report is certain that the buyout will occur, just that it hasn't yet happened at the time of writing. If this is true, then Obsidian, known for crowdfunding their games, would have more money to work with for their development team, though perhaps less freedom to do what they wish. This follows Microsoft's sudden urge to purchase smaller developers, which was first revealed at E3, with the acquisition of five indie developers.
Source
Square Enix claims the Dragon Quest games on 3DS didn't sell well in the west
A Dragon Quest related event, the Super Dragon Quest X TV Fall Festival Special took place a few days ago. During it, former Dragon Quest producer Yosuke Saito discussed Dragon Quest X, and its lack of a western release, spurring Yu Miyake to talk about the reception of Dragon Quest titles in North America and Europe, citing that the 3DS ports did not sell very well in Square Enix's eyes, while players didn't seem to mind jumping right to playing Dragon Quest XI, seemingly showing conflict for localizing other titles.
Source
Nintendo's latest mobile game made $3 million in five days of release
The latest mobile title from Granblue creator, Cygames, and Nintendo has been available since the start of October. Nintendo mobile games tend to do very well within the first week of launch thanks to in-app purchases. The first five days of data for Dragalia Lost are now in, with the information showing that players spent a total of $3 million on the game. This is the lowest performing of Nintendo's phone games, but it's also important to note that Dragalia Lost is a new IP, and isn't established like Mario, Animal Crossing, or Fire Emblem.
Source
Nintendo patents a touchscreen device case with a Game Boy design
A patent from earlier this year was discovered for something made by Nintendo, which shows a touchscreen device, or more likely, a phone, being inserted into a special case. The design of the case is like the original Game Boy, and would allow you to press raised buttons in order to input controls on the device. It's not exactly known what exactly this could function for just yet, or if Nintendo has some future ideas waiting to be announced.
Source
Emulation, Fangames, and Hacking News
Seller sued for intentionally selling hacked PS4s
A California man is facing the heat from Sony, after knowingly selling "jailbroken" PlayStation 4 consoles. In his item listings, he had touted the phrase "stop buying games!", making it absolutely certain that he had intent to sell pirated games on a hacked system. It seems that these listings got Sony's attention, as the company actually bought some of them, in order to make sure they weren't legally obtained games, and now is in the process of suing the seller for damages. He'll be going to court over DMCA infractions.
Source
RPCS3 makes more progress in emulating PS3 exclusive titles
Another month means another major update for the PlayStation 3 emulator, RPCS3. New improvements include being able to go ingame for The Last of Us and Uncharted 3. The Yakuza games on the platform also run far better, with actual texture support for cutscenes. Minor crashes for certain games were fixed, as well as solving issues with character animations in games like GTA: SA, The Darkness, and Spider-Man 3.
Source
After five years, a major mod pack for Fallout 3 gets released
If you're still waiting for some of the other Fallout modpacks you've seen featured in the news here, you'll be able to bide your time waiting by playing another huge mod, this time, for Fallout 3. Washington's Malevolence is a newly released mod for the game that adds in a large new area and quests to complete. It features voice acting, and other story-related quest additions that took five years to create, thanks to the work of a small development team.
Source
Digital Foundry tackles some of the SAGE Sonic fangames
This year's Sonic Amateur Games Expo has come to an end, and with it, were the reveal of many new fan-made romhacks and games to experience. Some of the selection that stood out the most was a remake of the cancelled Sonic X-treme, and a re-done version of the GameGear game Sonic Chaos. The former took what little information that existed about the failed game, and used it to create a new engine. A remixed version of Sonic Advance called Sonic Advance Revamped adds some fixes to the game, and making it more viable. Sonic Chaos 2018 also plans to take the 8-bot version of the game and modernize it with new graphics and changes. You can see some footage and analysis below.
Source
General News
Suikoden website goes back up after 4 years of inactivity
Konami has done something intriguing with one of its IP's websites. The online portal site for the Suikoden series has been inactive since the re-release of Suikoden digitally on PSN. Now, if you visit the page, you can see a new list of all the current Suikoden games. There hasn't been a mainline console entry in the series since 2006, which makes this change in relaunching the site stand out all the more.
Source
Microsoft joins the OIN to open source some of its creations to prevent lawsuits
Despite normally having a strong stance on patent infringements, Microsoft has caused a bit of a stir when they announced that they would be joining the Open Invention Network, a group that tries to make sure Linux related software don't get into legal troubles. What this means, is that Microsoft has open-sourced a multitude of its patents--60,000 to be exact--which will allow for software developers to have the freedom to use certain licenses without paying royalties to Microsoft.
Source
PS+ games lineup leaked for November
It seems Sony let slip the next batch of PlayStation Plus games for the month of November. If you subscribe to the service, you'll be getting Yakuza Kiwami and Bulletstorm for the PlayStation 4 next month. Since then, the site has been fixed to show the October games, but the surprise for November has already been revealed.
Horizon Zero Dawn and Killzone devs hire on Rainbow Six: Siege devs for unannounced game
Guerrilla Games has recruited six new game developers from Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege team. The purpose of these newly hired members is to develop a new working game, which hasn't been announced yet. Whatever they're currently working on will certainly be a PlayStation exclusive game, as Guerrilla is a developer for Sony.
Source
YouTube Gaming shuts down its site and app
While Google+ has found itself at the end of its life, YouTube Gaming will also be joining it in the pile of obsolete apps. Anything notable about YouTube Gaming, such as the ability to livestream, or YouTube's way of "subbing" to channels will be incorporated into regular YouTube from here on out. YouTube Gaming was created three years ago, as a way to compete with Twitch, but never managed to find its footing. If you want to see video game related content from YouTube, you can now visit youtube.com/gaming.
Trailers
Review Recap
Official
ZeroLemon Switch Charger Case
Mega Man 11
PowerA Switch Controller
FFXV Pocket Edition HD
SwitchPack
Death's Gambit
User
Garry's Mod
Release Calendar
October 10
MapleStory 2 (PC)
October 11
Child of Light (NS)
October 12
Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII (PC, PS4, XB1)
Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
The World Ends With You: Final Remix (NS)
October 16
Lego DC Super Villains (Multiplatform)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (PS4, XB1, NS)
Warriors Orochi 4 (Multiplatform)
Valkyria Chronicles 1 (NS)
For Honor: Marching Fire (PC, PS4, XB1)
October 18
Resonance of Fate (PC)
October 19
Dark Souls Remastered (NS)
Soul Calibur VI (PC, PS4, XB1)
October is a heavy month. For fans of ports, you'll be able to get your hands on Luigi's Mansion, Dark Souls (NS), The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles 1, and Resonance of Fate. If you haven't tried the latter three, they're all quite good JRPGs. Valkyria Chronicles is a standout strategy RPG, while Resonance of Fate and The World Ends With You both became beloved cult classics that did new things with the genre. If you enjoy fighting games, you'll be excited for the launch of Soul Calibur VI, which promises to be a return to form for the series. MMO players will no doubt enjoy the launch of MapleStory 2, which brings about brand new content and PvP. Which games are you excited for?