Lurking around the corner like a wild beast made of purest games is Gamescom. This creature is vast, vaster than you can even imagine, and it’s coming soon – packed full of gaming goodness and announcements. Before Gamescom body slams us, let’s catch up on the last two weeks in gaming and the biggest news announcements you might’ve missed.
Quake Enhanced Edition Released
QuakeCon 2021 saw the venerable Quake hit 25. To celebrate, Bethesda announced a brand new version of Quake that adds a tonne of new features like widescreen support, mouselook without having to hold down a button, and loads of fixes and tweaks. Not only does this remastered version sport new graphics options, but the Trent Reznor soundtrack finally makes a reappearance and all expansion packs are included as well. If that wasn’t enough for you, there’s a new expansion included too by Wolfenstein: The New Order developers MachineGames. If that still wasn’t enough, if you already own the game on Steam you’ll get all this for free. Now that’s a 25th birthday celebration.
EA Opens up Five Patents for Other Developers
This week in ‘news that’s going to be good for everyone’, EA have opened their doors just a little and let some patents sneak out. As part of their Patent Pledge for Increasing Accessibility, EA will let developers use five of their patents and copy accessibility features they’ve invented into games, with no licence or fees required. These includes colourblindness solutions, better audio for those with hearing deficiencies, and even Apex Legends’ marvellous ping system. This is frankly a great move for anyone looking to add accessibility to their game and something that should be roundly applauded.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition Announced
Skyrim turns ten this year and to celebrate, Bethesda have announced a brand new Anniversary Edition of the game. Anyone with Skyrim Special Edition will get the upgrade on November the 11th, and it’ll include a tonne of content from the Content Creation Club which should expand the game in new and surprising ways. 48 Creations will be included along with 26 that have yet to be released. So if you ever wanted a mechanical Dwemer mudcrab, November will be your chance to grab one.
Fallout: London Mod Writer Gets Hired by Bethesda
It’s a Bethesda-heavy week this week with the news that one of the writers behind up-and-coming Fallout 4 total conversion Fallout: London has been hired by Bethesda. This total conversion relocates the action to London, is set in 2237, and features a surprising amount of care and attention to the series’ lore. For example, the FEV virus was never released in the UK so there’ll be no Super Mutants, and Vault-Tec is firmly an American company so you’ll not be seeing Vault Boy any time soon. The total conversion looks great and with its Head Writer being hired by Bethesda, according to an announcement from the developers of the mod, it gives everything that extra hint of promise that this might be something very special indeed.
Stardew Valley Esports? More Likely Than You Think
Esports continue to slowly take over the world with ever-larger prize pools and competitions, and the latest game to dive into the esports fray is of course…Stardew Valley. Developer ConcernedApe announced on Twitter that the first official Stardew Valley Cup will kick off on the 4th of September with a prize pool of over $40,000. Teams will compete to score the most points, showing off their skill and knowledge of the game as they fight to be the best farmers, miners, monster slayers, and anglers they can be.
James McAvoy Burned Oblivion Disc After Becoming Hooked
Finally this week we return to Bethesda for a brief moment and the heady days of Oblivion way back in 2007. X-Men, His Dark Materials, and Gnomeo & Juliet actor James McAvoy has spoken to Forbes about the time he got so hooked on Oblivion that it began to interfere with his work. Apparently the game took over his life somewhat, culminating in a lengthy session starting at 8pm at night, ending at 5:35am, just ten minutes before his car arrived to take him to work. Deciding enough was enough, the 12 Minutes actor put the disc into the oven and turned it on. “I just put the disc on it and just watched it sort of, like, singe and melt a little bit. And I was like, ‘Right, we’re done, we’re over, never again!’” So let that be a lesson to everyone; Oblivion has a strong siren song.
On that hot note we’re heading off into the sunset to prepare for the slew of gaming news from Gamescom. Until the next time, why not head on over to our Community Forum and get chatting – we’d love to hear from you.
