Hey, listen!

Good Morning. It’s been 125 years to the day since Henry Ford left his position as Chief Engineer of Edison Illuminating Company to focus on building a new venture.

We don’t really need to tell you what happened next. What may interest you is that Ford boasts several successful crossovers in the gaming world, highlighted by the Mustang and Bronco’s appearances in Rocket League, and of course the 1987 classic, The Ford Simulator.

Suffice to say it was a good career switch… but maybe Ford should stay away from solo-publishing anymore games.

— Jason Liu, Tim Rhyne, Derek Neville

HEADLINES

Custom voices for your AI NPCs. A recently released mod for GTA 5 combines AI NPCs (interactions and scripts) and AI voices (audio) to create distinct and life-like personalities. The mod, called Sentient Streets, combines the AI NPC features from Inworld and AI voice training from ElevenLabs. With ElevenLabs, users are able to submit voice clips to train a custom voice model. This new and highly accessible technology certainly raises some ethics debates and gives a new meaning to “voice-over I.P.”

Netflix launches gaming beta. You may be in luck if you’re a Netflix customer in Canada or the UK — the streaming service’s new gaming beta has started to roll out to select subscribers. The test includes 2 titles: Oxenfree and Molehew’s Mining Adventure. Both games make use of Netflix’s new controller app that was released last week.

Pikachu lends a hand. The Pokemon Company International donated $200,000 to GlobalGiving’s Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund. The donation came the same day that the destination for 2024 Pokemon Worlds was announced as Honolulu. The Pokemon Company has a history of donating to social and global causes, having recently donated to the Turkey and Syria earthquake relief funds earlier this year.

HUD

• 🥷‍ Assassin's Creed Mirage has a new release date, now scheduled to arrive October 5th, one week earlier than originally announced.

• 🚀 Can’t wait for Starfield? Bethesda has released a timeline of the events leading up to the main story, covering major events starting with humans first arriving on Mars in 2050 up to the year 2328.

• 🐢 Every generation’s starter Pokémon will be available with Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming winter DLC.

THIS DAY IN GAMING HISTORY

• 🦾 Dust: An Elysian Tail released for Xbox 360 (2012) — IGN was impressed by the “product of one man’s hard work.”

• ⌛️ Chrono Cross was released to PlayStation (2000) — Unfortunately, this beloved classic’s 2022 re-release had NintendoLife’s Lowell Bell feeling underwhelmed.

PATCH NOTES

• 😈 Diablo 4 Patch 1.1.2 releases today, fixing several bugs as well as bringing quality of life updates to trading and Malignant monster spawns.

• 🌈 Rainbox Six Siege’s Y8S3 will bring back initial damage to GU mines; however, mines are no longer cloaked.

• 🐭 Disney’s Dreamlight Valley’s DreamSnaps expansion was released back in July, and the August 14 hotfix patch fixes several bugs that were introduced with the expansion.

INDIE CORNER

Slay the Spire is a deck-building roguelike that leaves even the most logical of gamers questioning their decision-making as they climb the Spire. Players must think about each card's strengths and weaknesses, the reward or cost of each relic they loot, and how to defeat the creatures they face... or they’ll meet death's sweet embrace and have to try again.

This video game has a mean cult following (Tim included) and unlike most modern titles, it is only single-player. Perhaps one of the most exciting updates for the diehard community of Slayers is that the cooperative board game has started production prototyping and the expected delivery has been updated for February.

It will be interesting to see how successful the medium of physical table game works alongside the cooperative mechanics introduced. Seeing how this game continues to be one of the top 20 most played on the Steam Deck, we can only expect positive things to come.

HIVE MIND

Relevant

• Tera type teased in upcoming Pokemon DLC — marks the 19th Pokemon Type.

• Pokemon Legends starter predictions if set in Johto region.

MAJOR W

• 🐶 Jimmy Neutron move-set includes Goddard in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

• 👿 Diablo 3’s Public Test Realm begins testing their new Solo-Self Found mode among other upcoming season 29 changes.

• 💇‍♂️ Baldur’s Gate 3 players may finally be able to give their character a makeover.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🏎 Forza Motorsport drops split-screen support. No more couch co-op for this racing title.

• 👋 Warzone’s DMZ mode rumored to be getting the backseat treatment with the release of Modern Warfare 3.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Epic Games v. Apple — Protecting Customers or Bottom Line?

The US Supreme Court gives Apple a reprieve from the 9th Circuit ruling to allow Apple time to file for a full appeal later this year. This allows Apple to maintain its current App Store policy that prevents developers from allowing 3rd party payment methods, which bypass Apple’s 30% commission.

Apple’s primary argument for maintaining the policy is that it significantly increases the risk of harm to customers and developers alike. If the justices refuse to hear the case, the ruling will stand and Apple will be required to update its policies, potentially leading to billions in lost revenue.

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