Changing the narrative

Good 💩. A million people watched Basically Homeless turn his toilet into a functioning gaming PC last year. Soon, Sony will be re-joining the handheld market, meaning your bathroom break doesn’t need to interrupt your Spider-Man 2 play-through.

Just please pause your (live) stream.

— Jason Liu, Derek Neville, Tim Rhyne

HEADLINES

Sony announces new kind of handheld. PlayStation Portal, a new handheld device from Sony, streams gaming content directly to your hands. It’s not a standalone device and requires you to own a PS5 and be connected to stable Wi-Fi. So, what we’re hearing is PS5: bathroom edition.

Head of Xbox refocuses acquisition thesis on mobile gaming. Much of the conversation around Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard King has been centered around title exclusivity anti-competition (e.g. Sony’s worry around CoD), but Phil Spencer refocused the discussion around mobile capabilities and Microsoft’s lack thereof. Telling truths or trying to change the narrative?

Epic to offer 100% revenue for exclusivity. Epic Games announced “Epic First Run” yesterday, where developers would receive 100% of revenue for six months of exclusive store distribution. Developers will still be able to conduct direct sales from their own stores. Outside of the program, the baseline revenue split is 88/12. Is 100% revenue enough to persuade developers and take a discoverability penalty compared to Steam?

HUD

• 📼 Destiny 2 announced new live-service model: “Episodes” instead of seasons. Most notable is that players can jump into episodes out of sequence, combatting the FOMO that we’ve become so accustomed to with traditional seasonal content.

• 📺 Amazon Luna, the cloud gaming platform from Amazon, is now available on select LG TVs via a native app. This will allow gamers to play supported streaming games directly on their TV without a console or PC.

• 🎧 Along with the PlayStation Portal, Sony also released pricing for the Pulse Explore — their first wireless earbuds offering. While these earbuds are being marketed as a premium audio experience with lossless audio and AI-enhanced noise rejection, they also come at a premium price of $199.

MAJOR W

• 🪦 Lara Croft is coming to Call of Duty. Has to be akimbo pistols, right?

• 🥷 Smoke’s MK3 Fatality returns in Mortal Kombat 1. Does anyone really win after this one?

• 📛 Chris Charla revealed they changed the name of the Independent Developers at Xbox program multiple times in the 3 days before the first Gamescom. ”It’s just too important to leave to an acronym.”

• 🎮 Gulikit revealed a new docking station that looks like a Super Nintendo. The docking station will support the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Switch.

F IN THE CHAT

• 💢 Worst era of gaming? Players discuss in lively Reddit post. Sounds like the mobile gaming boom made toxic monetization front-and-center across the board.

• 😢 BioWare, makers of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, laid off around 50 employees.

• ☢ Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl delayed to Q1 2024.

THIS DAY IN GAMING HISTORY

• ⚔ Almost 100 people attended the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention at Lake Geneva’s Horticultural Hall. (1968) This would later be known as Gen Con 1. Gen Con 2023 had a record-breaking 70k attendees.

• 🌌 Microsoft Windows 95 was released, giving the world of personal computing an upgraded operating system, but more importantly, giving office breaks everywhere 3D Pinball - Space Cadet. What’s your high score?

• 📖 Nintendo unveils the GameCube (2000) — The Pikmin series debut was on the GameCube. Nintendo recently started publishing short comic strips.

PATCH NOTES

• 🔥 Town of Salem II added Arsonist kill cinematic music in one quick patch before its official release date tomorrow.

• ⚾ MLB The Show 23 Update 1.15 only had one major change: Fixing Dino Island props.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Apex Legends is bringing gaming to the kitchen…kind of.

Apex Legends announced they will be releasing a cookbook, aptly titled Apex Legends: The Official Cookbook.

The cookbook, set to release mid-October, will feature over 65 recipes either straight from the legends themselves, such as Pathfinder’s Positively Perfect Pancakes, or inspired by the in-game action, such as the Supply Box Sandwich.

Listed at $34.99, you can pre-order today at the Apex Shop.

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