Vanishing act

Booting up. Have you been taking notes on this week’s editions of Loading Screen? We hope so! Today we’re launching a new segment — The Weekly Checkpoint. This 5 question quiz will test your knowledge on the biggest headlines from this past week, giving you a chance to show off all those saved game files in your brain.

For this week, everyone will have access to The Weekly Checkpoint. Starting next week this segment will be exclusive to those who have referred 3 or more friends, so make sure your squad is subscribed!

— Jason Liu, Derek Neville, Tim Rhyne

HEADLINES

Saint’s Row developer shut down. Volition, the studio behind Saint’s Row announced their sudden closure yesterday. The decision to shutdown came from parent company, Embracer, who has had their financial troubles aired out over the past few months. Embracer was looking forward to closing a $2bn contract that fell through with the Saudi-backed Savvy Group. Time will tell what other Embracer assets may be on the chopping block.

Starfield embargo lifted. Yes, we’ve seen a lot of Starfield leaks leading up to the embargo being lifted yesterday. We now have our first batch of critical reviews… and they’re pretty spicy. IGN and PCGamer gave it a 70 and 75 respectively. Meanwhile, Gamesradar and Destructoid both gave it a perfect score. The current consensus score is 88. Why are the scores so divergent and will we see it land safely above 90?

Mario returns to 2D. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is set to release on October 20th, and yesterday’s Nintendo Direct gave us our first in-depth look at the upcoming platform game. Wonder returns Mario to the classic scrolling platform format as he works to stop Bowser in the Flower Kingdom. But this time there are some elephant-sized twists: one of them is the elephant form, which turns your character into an actual elephant. Nintendo will also release a Mario Red Edition Switch OLED (even the dock is Mario Red — can you find the hidden coins?).

HUD

• 📹 PAX West kicks off today. If you weren’t able to make it in person, they have several Twitch channels streaming content from the main stage.

• 📆 Last week, Sony gave us big updates on their upcoming remote-play device, the PlayStation Portal. Yesterday they announced November 15th as the release date, with preorders now open in select countries.

• ⚙ Phantom Library will be the only expansion for Cyberpunk2077. In a recent Q&A session, CD Projekt’s SVP Michał Nowakowski explained it was a “technological choice” as opposed to being sales-driven. “This is the last time we’re working on the Red Engine for the time being…” — no surprise as they shift fully to Unreal Engine with their 15-year partnership with Epic.

• 🎁 All previous Borderlands games and DLCs will be available in the newly announced Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box. The bundle launches today with a special launch discount.

MAJOR W

• 🏈 NFL running back Antonio Gibson hosted an Apex Legends tournament in partnership with HOF Gaming and Z League.

• 🏴‍☠️ Netflix released its live-action adaption of the hit manga and anime, One Piece, to generally favorable reviews.

•  🚁 AI drone racers are now beating their human counterparts.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🙄 FaZe Swagg donated $50 to a smaller Warzone streamer, only to have the guy’s cheats pop up on screen after a few minutes.

• 😭 Multiple industry layoffs and developer closures this week — Bioware, Blackbird Interactive, Mimimi Games, and Volition.

THIS DAY IN GAMING HISTORY

• 🍄 Super Mario Kart was released on the SNES in 1992. Does anyone remember needing to collect coins for speed boosts?!

• ⌛️ Duke Nukem: Zero Hour for the Nintendo 64 was released in 1999. Fans of Terminator might enjoy this one, as aliens time travel to try and take over the world before Duke was born.

Weekly Checkpoint

Have you been keeping up with this week’s headlines? Welcome to the weekly checkpoint, where we test your knowledge of the biggest gaming stories from the past week. Do you have what it takes to ace this quiz?

(Remember, starting next week you’ll need to unlock The Weekly Checkpoint by referring at least 3 friends!)

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