New Final Fantasy XV environment trailer is bloody gorgeous

New beginnings for former Lab Zero Games developers.

Future Club, “an employee-owned cooperative game development studio”, marks a fresh start for former Skullgirls and Indivisible developers after two months of turmoil at Lab Zero Games.

Last month the creative director Mariel Cartwright, senior animator Jonathan Kim, and artist Brian Jun publicly resigned from Lab Zero Games in protest of the alleged abusive and sexual behaviours of its owner, Mike Zaimont, and his subsequent refusal to leave.

It all started with unsavoury comments Zaimont made on stream about the killing of George Floyd. This led to a flurry of accusations of similarly inappropriate and sexual comments and behaviour within the fighting community. The studio then conducted an internal investigation that exposed the systemic nature of that behaviour.

More departures followed. A week later, Lab Zero Games laid off most of the remaining eleven employees with Zaimont telling Kotaku the studio was “…no longer able to meet our payroll obligations.”

It’s understandable given the lack of power in their former situation, then, that the former employees are opting for a flat structure with their new studio. This new chapter was explained in interviews with Kotaku.

“We really want to make sure that everyone at the company has an equal say,” Future Club CEO Francesca Esquenazi told Kotaku. “There isn’t one person at the top who can unilaterally make decisions for everyone else, because that model didn’t work out very well for us [at Lab Zero]. We really want to embrace a model where everyone is an equal owner and has an equal voice.”

The co-op studio model has been similarly adopted by the developers of Night in the Woods, Tonight We Riot, and Dead Cells. Although, Dead Cells’ new studio has now shifted away from this structure as they seek to expand. (And the new studio was given a perhaps too on-the-nose name, Evil Empire, to accompany the change.)

Future Club might differ from the former Dead Cells studio in establishing equal ownership for all workers but with a tiered payment structure. As well as a flatter structure, at Future Club they’re now looking at conflict resolution processes ahead of time.

“There are going to be problems, and you have to know how to deal with it,” said former creative director Mariel Cartwright. “I’ve learned it’s too late to figure out your conflict-resolution process when there’s already conflict. Figuring it out now while we’re still getting along is really, really important and hopefully we can come up with a plan that can carry us through years of working together.”

The new studio is also dedicated to battling crunch.

“I personally have had a lot of crunch in my life and I’m a little over it,” said Cartwright. “What I’ve learned is that the time I can get away from doing the work is where I get inspiration. I can’t become inspired and come up with new ideas when my head is down at the desk working. For everyone’s health but also for our long-term creativity at the studio, it’s important to achieve a good balance for everyone.”

The new studio has “a few pitches nearing a point where they’re ready to be sent to publishers.” Here’s hoping the new structure provides much happier days for the veteran devs.

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Rebel Galaxy Outlaw and Lost Ember are among the new video games coming to the Nintendo Switch eShop this week.

This week’s crop of new Nintendo Switch releases features some promising new indie games and a bunch of mobile ports. Let’s focus on the cool indie games.

Sci-fi sequel Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a trading and combat simulation from Double Damage Games. The first game was an ambitious, if flawed, homage to classics like Freelancer. Outlaw continues the space-Western vibe with a kicking country soundtrack, dusty trading posts, odd-ball characters, and improved dogfights. If the port is decent, this could be a little gem in the Switch’s library.

Another new release we’re keen to see running on Nintendo Switch is Lost Ember from Mooneye Studios. The game had some performance issues on other platforms, but if it runs well, we recommend this touching journey through a majestic and vibrant animal kingdom.

This week’s final pick is CastleStorm II from Zen Studios, the developer best known for its pinball games. Like its predecessor, Castlestorm II is a personality-packed blend of real-time action and tower defence.

Other new Nintendo Switch releases include Unrailed!, Going Under, and the Definitive Edition of fighting platformer Rivals of Aether. A new crop of games have also been added to the Nintendo Switch Online NES and SNES libraries.

We’ll update this article throughout the week with any late additions.

New Nintendo Switch releases: September 21-25, 2020

Monday, September 21, 2020

• Worm Jazz

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

• CastleStorm II
• Dungreed
• Orbt XL
• Unrailed!
• Perky Little Things
• Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure
• Vigor
• NSO: S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team
• NSO: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
• NSO: Mario’s Super Picross
• NSO: The Peace Keepers

Thursday, September 24, 2020

• Arcade Archives Burnin’ Rubber
• Alluris
• BIG-Bobby-Car – The Big Race
• Breakpoint
• Great Conqueror: Rome
• Kirby Fighters 2
• Lost Ember
• Micro Pico Racers
• Going Under
• Gothic Murder: Adventure That Changes Destiny
• Rivals of Aether Definitive Edition
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition
• Secrets of Me
• Sega Ages: Herzog Zwei
• Selfy Collection: The dream fashion stylist!
• This Is The Zodiac Speaking
• Wartile

Friday, September 25, 2020

• Jet Set Knights
• Trollhunters Defenders of Arcadia

Catch up with this week’s new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases.

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PS4 games from Japan receive big discounts in this week’s big new PlayStation Store sale.

A new PlayStation Store sale is now live across Europe and North America that discounts a slew of games from Japanese studios and publishers.

Highlights include half-price reductions on Capcom’s superb remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3, as well as the high-definition update to the franchise’s sublime fourth entry. The Yakuza Remastered Collection is also reduced by 50%, and there’s a massive 58% saving on its acclaimed detective spin-off, Judgment.

Other recommendations from the Thumbsticks team include Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session!, the Zero Escape: The Nonary Games collection, and Persona 5 Royal.

The PSN Big in Japan promotion ends on October 7, 2020. Head over to the PlayStation Store in your country for the full list of discounted games. Here are some more picks from titles on sale in Europe.

PlayStation Store Big in Japan Sale Highlights

• Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle – 40% off
• Catherine: Full Body Deluxe Edition – 44% off
• Code Vein – 50% off
• Final Fantasy XV – 50% off
• God Eater 3 – 67% off
• Gravity Rush 2 – 63% off
• Judgment – 58% off
• Kingdom Hearts III – 70% off
• The Lost Child – 60% off
• NieR: Automata Game of the YoRHa Edition – 50% off
• Nioh 2 – 43% off
• Persona 5 Royal – 25% off
• Resident Evil 2 – 50% off
• Resident Evil 3 – 50% off
• Resident Evil 4 – 56% off
• Sakura Wars Digital Deluxe Edition – 40% off
• Soulcalibur VI – 75% off
• Star Ocean First Departure R – 33% off
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection – 50% off
• Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session! – 80% off
• Tales of Berseria – 80% off
• Tekken 7 – 80% off
• The Yakuza Remastered Collection – 50% off
• Zero Escape: The Nonary Games – 70% off

Check out this week’s new PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch releases.

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The Nintendo website mistakenly outs a new Kirby game for the Switch.

Nintendo’s often ad-hoc method of announcing new games has reached new heights today with the seemingly inadvertent reveal of Kirby Fighters 2 for the Nintendo Switch.

The listing appears on the Play Nintendo website, under the Gamer Finder section. A click on the Switch filter reveals the following game title and description.

Kirby Fighters 2

“Choose from a cast of Kirby’s most iconic copy abilities—including the brand-new Wrestler ability—and duke it out to be the last Kirby standing. Familiar friends and foes like Bandana Waddle Dee and King Dedede also make an appearance as playable characters in the Kirby Fighters 2 game, available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch™ system.”

And just in case the listing is removed, here’s a screengrab for our big scrapbook of video game leaks.

Kirby Fighters 2 is priced at USD 19.99 and looks to be a follow-up to the Nintendo 3DS eShop exclusive Kirby Fighters Deluxe, which was itself spun-off from a bonus mode in the excellent 2014 platformer Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

Hal Laboratory developed the first game, which includes a single-player boss rush campaign and various multiplayer team-battle modes. It’s reminiscent of Super Smash Bros., for obvious reasons, but no worse for it. It will be interesting to see how the format might be fleshed out in the move to Switch. If indeed the game actually exists.

Thanks to Wario64 for the eagle-eyed spot.

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The upgrade path for the Marvel’s Spider-Man remaster on PlayStation 5 is nearly as messy as Control’s.

Next-gen remasters like the PS5 Remaster of Marvel’s Spider-Man are becoming a complicated business. We’ve already seen controversy spring up over limited eligibility in accessing the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 “free upgrade” of Remedy’s Control.

After a session responding to queries on Twitter, Insomniac has confirmed some of the limitations of the PS5 version of their acclaimed game.

On free upgrades to the original for PS4 players…

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered likely has no free upgrade for PS4 owners, since physical media for the former version will play the original via backwards compatibility and it has its own trophy list.

You will play the PS4 game via backwards compatibility.

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 21, 2020

On cross-generational saves…

Insomniac confirmed that there will be no cross-gen saves for the remaster.

Saves won’t transfer from the original game to the Remaster

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 20, 2020

On a physical release for the Miles Morales: Ultimate Edition…

The remaster will be digital-only and currently the only way to get your hands on it will be to get the pricier PS5-only Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales: Ultimate Edition for £70. No other route or upgrade for now.

no plans to release physically

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 20, 2020

Where you will get a free upgrade…

The yet to be released Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales will allow for a free upgrade to a PS5 version. However, since the Ultimate Edition isn’t available for PS4, there’s currently no way to access Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered without (re)purchasing Spider-Man Miles Morales on PS5.

If you purchase #MilesMoralesPS4 you can take advantage of the free upgrade to the PS5 version (though if you buy the physical version, you'll need a disc-drive PS5)

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) September 21, 2020

It’s a fair number of caveats, then, but unlike the Control next-gen version – which will be replicating the existing PC version – the Spider-Man remaster is a more significant endeavour.

“The remaster for the PS5 is no simple up-res,” details the Playstation Blog. “Many of the game’s art assets have been completely updated to take advantage of the PS5 console’s horsepower. You’ll see better-looking characters with improved skin, eyes, hair, and facial animation (including our new, next-generation Peter Parker).”

“You’ll also see ray-traced reflections and ambient shadows, improved lighting, more pedestrians and vehicles stretching further into the distance, and the same optional performance mode offered on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, allowing you to finally play the game at a targeted 60FPS frame rate. We’ll be supporting near-instant loading, 3D audio, and the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. Lastly, we’re adding three amazing new Spider-Man suits, new photo mode features, and even new trophies for those of you looking to Platinum the game all over again.”

That kind of overhaul does help to justify the lack of a free upgrade. Still, it’s hard to see how Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered isn’t going to spark something similar to Control’s controversy with limited access and the above limitations. It’s just another chapter in the increasingly confusing saga of next-gen upgrade announcements.

Ray-traced reflections, though? That should make for some pretty puddles.

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