Curious what you missed in the world of gaming this week? Here’s a helpful rundown of all the stories that your nerdier compatriots will be chatting about this weekend.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Netflix is currently in early development on a live-action TV series based on The Legend of Zelda. Details are currently scarse, but word is that Netflix is aiming for a more family-friendly version of Game of Thrones. The project appears to still be in the process of courting writers – so don’t expect to see the show hitting your queue for a few years – if at all. Nintendo has historically been very close-to-the-chest with thier creative IP, after the failed silver screen adaptation of Super Mario Bros in 1993. The Legend of Zelda property has reached this stage of development before – two years ago, leaked footage appeared online of a failed pitch for an animated film, handled by Imagi studios (known for Astro Boy and TMNT).
Sony Online Entertainment, the development company who effectively invented he modern MMO with Everquest in 1999, have announced that it is parting ways with its parent company, Sony. SOE – now known as Daybreak Game Company – will remain in control of all its current games (including zombie survival sim H1Z1, a massively mulitplayer online shooter Planetside 2, and the upcoming Everquest Next). These games may find their way onto other platforms in the near future. On the SOE forums, the company stated: “It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation. … It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.”
Last weekend saw the biggest Super Smash Bros. tournament in history come to fruition in the form of Apex 2015. After a last-minute crisis that caused the original venue to be condemned just hours into the first day of competition, the community rallied together to reorganize the full tournament in a new venue. While the gameplay on display was of the highest caliber, it unfortunately came to highlight the growing rift between competitive players of the series’ most recent entry Super Smash Bros for WiiU, and the crowd-preferred Super Smash Bros Melee. The peak of this ugliness popped up at the climax of the WiiU finals when the crowd rewarded victorious player Zero with negative chants, and general disgust. Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez was on the scene for the tournament, and wrote an excellent rundown of the schism.
Techland’s recent release Dying Light has been no stranger to controversy within the gaming community, having already come under fire for cutting content to offer as pre-order DLC, and preventing early reviews (shortly after promising they would do no such thing). The latest in this chain of bad PR came this week as it updated the PC version of the game to prevent the modding of weapon ability. In addition, they filed DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) orders against creators of more detailed modifications, including one that simply removed the film-grain effect that is layered over the game’s visuals. As the PC gaming community is wont to do, the reaction was swift and harshly negative. Techland quickly put out a statement that the update wasn’t intended to block mods: “Creating obstacles for modders has never been our intention, and we are sorry for the inconvenience. We are now working on a quick patch that will re-enable common tweaks while stopping cheating in the game’s multiplayer mode.” The company has also stated their intention to release official modding tools.
Finally, beloved Rooster Teeth contributor Month Oum passed away this past Monday after an allergic reaction from a simple surgical procedure. Best known for his work on the online series Red vs. Blue and RWBY, Monty was a inspirational figure within the animation community who left behind many friends and a body of work that will hopefully inspire many more to carry on in his legacy.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25