Video Game Tango Andrew Mayfield

Chris Metzen is back at the helm, writing for Blizzard! EVE Online is making another shooter! Counter Strike 2 got hot-dropped today by our lord Gaben! More strikes are picking up steam in the entertainment industry, and Tomb Raider and Devil May Cry are coming to Netflix….What other video game adaptations are on the Horizon….Zero Dawn?
Blizzard Announces New Creative Director for World of Warcraft - Article by GameRant
Counter-Strike 2 Surprise Releases, Out Now For Free - Article by Gamespot
Counter-Strike 2 - For over two decades, Counter-Strike has offered an elite competitive experience, one shaped by millions of players from across the globe. And now the next chapter in the CS story is about to begin. This is Counter-Strike 2. - Valve (Steam, available now)
The FTC is moving forward with its in-house challenge to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal - Article by Video Games Chronicle
SAG-AFTRA Members Vote in Favor of Video Game Strike Authorization - Article by Variety
Video Game Adaptations Coming to Netflix in 2023 & Beyond - Article by What’s on Netflix
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft | First Look | Netflix
Devil May Cry | Official Announcement | DROP 01 | Netflix
 

This week Phil Spencer has a massive leak on his hands, and thy name is XBOX. Unity is trying their best to climb out of the hole they dug themselves. Sony’s State of Play happened this week and we took our first look at the release trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Then we talk about the recently released God of Weapons, a little more on Blasphemous 2, and then we talk about the revival of a beloved shooter franchise…Titanfall.
Details on the XBOX leak
Axios
Engadget
iPhone 15 plays modern titles natively with ray-tracing
GameRant.
Unity follow-up and their apology
Kotaku
Everything that happened at Sony State of Play September 2023
Digital Trends
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer, and invite-only demo
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Release Trailer
A Detailed Look at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's Gameplay Demos (Story, Combat, World & More)
God of Weapons - Embark on a thrilling journey in God of Weapons, an action roguelike where you must ascend the tower of Zhor to reclaim the last light for the world. To survive the monster onslaught on each tower's level, you'll need to obtain and carefully organize weapons and accessories in your inventory. - Archmage Labs (Steam, available now)
Blasphemous 2 - The Penitent One awakens as Blasphemous 2 joins him once again in an endless struggle against The Miracle. Dive into a perilous new world filled with mysteries and secrets to discover, and tear your way through monstrous foes that stand between you and your quest to end the cycle once and for all. - The Game Kitchen (Steam, available now)
They fixed Titanfall 2 and it's AMAZING!
 

Unity has unified gamers, developers, and stock owners against them! The Sag Aftra strike might hit the video games industry! XDefiant is such a buggy mess that it failed it’s certifications for both Playstation and Xbox! We dredge up baby’s first C’Thulu story! Valve has some surprises and cheap games up it’s sleeves, and maybe a new VR headset! Then things get Blasphemous….2
Unity plan pricing and packaging updates - Unity Blog (edited after the podcast)
Unity are in EXTREME Trouble - Deep dive by Bellular
Unity rushes to clarify price increase plan, as game developers fume - article by Axios
 
Video Game Workers Are Now Voting Whether to Strike Over AI, Wages - article by Vice
Are Hollywood-Style “AI Strikes” Coming For The Video Game Industry? - article by Techopedia
 
Ubisoft’s XDefiant Gets Hit With a Delay After Failing Xbox and PlayStation Certification - article by GameRant
 
Dredge Review - video review by IGN’s Gabriel Moss
Dredge - DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten. - Black Salt Games (Steam, available now)
 
Leaked Valve Device Is Likely Not the Steam Deck 2 - article by GameRant
Steam Kicks Off Big Sale to Celebrate 20th Anniversary - article by GameRant
 
A Story Analysis of Blasphemous 2 - video by Gingy
Blasphemous 2 - The Penitent One awakens as Blasphemous 2 joins him once again in an endless struggle against The Miracle. Dive into a perilous new world filled with mysteries and secrets to discover, and tear your way through monstrous foes that stand between you and your quest to end the cycle once and for all. - The Game Kitchen (Steam, available now)

This time on Video Game Tango the guys share their final thoughts on Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Then it's all Starfield!

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is here and so are a bunch of other games that are on sale on Steam right now! CD Projekt Red is going to be hard at work with a new Witcher game in the very near future! We’ve got 3 demos we’ve featured in previous podcasts to talk about, and now we’ve played them, and we have…thoughts. Also Derren Harrison.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - A new action game based on the concept of the ARMORED CORE series that uses the knowledge gained from FromSoftware's recent action game development. -FromSoftware (Steam, Available Now)
Arctic Awakening - A first-person narrative adventure set in the unforgiving Arctic. Your plane crashed in a storm, leaving only your court-mandated therapy bot for company as you journey to find your co-pilot and uncover the mysteries buried beneath the ice. - GoldFire Studios (Steam, Demo Available, 2023)
Soulslinger: Envoy of Death - You are a gunslinger in limbo, involved in a gritty war against "The Cartel", a ruthless organization harvesting souls to break free of the shackles of the afterlife. Grow stronger with each new run, gather the essence of lost souls to take on the biggest threats in this rogue-lite FPS! - Elder Games (Steam, Demo Available, TBA)
Black Skylands - Become the captain of an airship and explore the world of the skies, gather resources and build powerful weapons, uncover ancient secrets and fight beneath your ship's sails. - Hungry Couch Games (Steam, Available Now)
Tempest Rising - Command one of three distinct factions in a desperate struggle for power and resources in Tempest Rising - a classic RTS set on Earth after a nuclear war. -  SlipGate IronWorks, 3D Realms (Steam, Demo Available, Coming Soon)
Steam’s “Steam Strategy Fest” is on NOW from August 28th to September 4th! Get some new strategy games, or download that DLC you’ve been putting off while it’s cheap!

We were told this weeks GamesCom was going to be a weak sauce, and sure enough, Opening Night Live was a bit of re-hash of the same old Triple-A trailers we’ve come to expect this year! But don’t fret because we’re still going to talk about Starfield and CyberPunk, but make sure you stick around for the second half of the show where we highlight some of our favorite less-than-triple A games from The Future Games Show.
Starfield - Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. - Bethesda Game Studios (Steam, September 6th 2023)
Crimson Desert - Enter a war-torn realm of medieval fantasy, where allegiances are tested and heroes are made. - Pearl Abyss
Lords of the Fallen - A vast world awaits in all-new, dark fantasy action-RPG, Lords of the Fallen. As one of the fabled Dark Crusaders, embark on an epic quest to overthrow Adyr, the demon God. - HEXWORKS (Steam, October 13th 2023)
Fort Solis - Fort Solis a riveting story-driven thriller on the Red Planet. - Fallen Leaf, Black Drakkar Games (Steam, Available Now)
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Cyberpunk 2077 DLC - CD PROJEKT RED (Steam, September 25th 2023)
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon - A new action game based on the concept of the ARMORED CORE series that uses the knowledge gained from FromSoftware's recent action game development. - FromSoftware (Steam, Available Now)
Alan Wake 2 - Alan Wake went missing in 2010. He was a bestselling writer based in New York City. On a vacation in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Alice Wake, he came face to face with a force of supernatural darkness. It brought Wake’s writing, a horror story, to life. He fought this dark presence and managed to banish it back to where it came from, a nightmarish dark place hidden under a caldera lake outside the small town of Bright Falls. Wake wrote an ending to his horror story and with that freed his wife from the darkness under the lake but became trapped there himself. Alan Wake is not dead, although he has wished he was many times. For 13 years he’s been a prisoner in the Dark Place, where his nightmares, his fears, and his stories manifest as reality around him. For 13 years, he has been fighting to stay sane and write a story that would change reality around him in order for him to escape. So far, he has failed. - Remedy (Epic, October 27th 2023)
Stop Dead - A rogue AI is hell-bent on destroying its creators and has swept you up in its plans. Use your superhuman abilities to run, jump, slide, and pull hundreds of objects as projectile weapons to blast everything in your path in this funny and chaotic first-person telekinetic brawler, STOP DEAD. - Gridsnap Games LLC (Steam, Demo Available, October 5th 2023)
Streets of Rogue 2 - Streets of Rogue 2 is a crazy, immersive RPG sandbox set in a vast randomly generated open world where freedom and fun are dialed up to 11. Fight, sneak, hack, farm, build, steal, or talk your way to power as you try to topple a corrupt president in countless possible ways – solo or with friends. - Matt Dabrowski (Steam, 2024)
Soulslinger Envoy of Death - You are a gunslinger in limbo, involved in a gritty war against "The Cartel", a ruthless organization harvesting souls to break free of the shackles of the afterlife. Grow stronger with each new run, gather the essence of lost souls to take on the biggest threats in this rogue-lite FPS! - Elder Games (Steam, Demo Available, TBA)
Blasphemous 2 - The Penitent One awakens as Blasphemous 2 joins him once again in an endless struggle against The Miracle. Dive into a perilous new world filled with mysteries and secrets to discover, and tear your way through monstrous foes that stand between you and your quest to end the cycle once and for all. - The Game Kitchen (Steam, Available Now)
Star Trucker - Haul cargo, trade salvage and keep your space suit close as you search for fame and fortune among th