Game Informer

In 2009, From Software released Demon’s Souls, a game that would go on to be a precursor to a new subgenre of games. Since then, From Software and visionary game director Hidetaka Miyazaki have produced gem after gem, serving up dense atmospheric worlds, brutal challenges, enthralling environments, and incredible triumphs for players to experience. From the horrific nightmares of Bloodborne to the tranquil cherry blossoms of Sekiro, From Software has masterfully applied its core framework of systems to a variety of compelling adventures.

In Elden Ring, From Software’s creation culminates with an absolutely huge open world to explore, with design decisions and features learned from over a decade of honing dark fantasy action/RPG fare. With around 10 hours of hands-on gameplay with Elden Ring and a one-hour interview with Miyazaki, join us on a journey through the early portions of this grandiose epic. After this incredible experience with the full game, I can honestly say I have never been as excited for a release as I am for Elden Ring. Luckily, we don’t have to wait long, as Elden Ring is scheduled to arrive on February 25.

Who isn’t excited for Elden Ring? I mean, the Soulsborne enthusiast himself, Dan Tack, claimed that FromSoftware’s upcoming fantastical RPG will likely be 2022’s GOTY – and that’s just based on the various trailers and his experience with hands-on preview builds! But how long will players be exploring this alleged possible-GOTY sandbox? Well, according to a PCGamesN report, Elden Ring’s mainline story will take around 30 hours to beat, with side content adding in dozens more. Of course, it’s probably safe to throw another ten to twenty hours of “you died” overlays to that runtime, too. 

At the Taipei Game Show, Elden Ring producer Yasuhiro Kitao stated, “This will differ significantly by player, but in terms of the targets set during development, the idea is that the main route should be able to be completed within around 30 hours.” Kitao would later go on to say, “The game as a whole is quite massive, and contains many dozens more hours worth of gameplay, but if we are talking about the main route only, it shouldn’t take much longer than that.” 

At Gamescom in August, Paradox Interactive announced its popular PC strategy series Crusader Kings would finally be making its console debut. Today, the publisher announced Crusader Kings III will be playable from your couch on March 29.

Paradox is calling this release an adaptation, rather than a port, because of all of the changes that have been made to, well, adapt the game for console play. UI, text, menus, and more have been overhauled to provide a more comfortable experience while playing this immersive strategy title with a controller. "The all-new control map lets players quickly and easily navigate the game’s menus via triggers, bumpers, and quick flicks of the analog stick," reads a press release sent to Game Informer. To utilize the console experience to its fullest, Crusader Kings III will sport faster loading on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and controller features like haptics and adaptive triggers on the DualSense are supported as well.

Resident Evil 4 is arguably the best entry in Capcom’s iconic horror franchise. The game’s staying power is particularly noteworthy as several re-releases and a (leaked) remake continue to bring Leon’s action-packed journey through the plagued Spanish countryside to newcomers and old school players. Moreover, a Resident Evil 4 fan-made Remaster that’s been eight years in the making is slated to finally launch next month, as reported by Eurogamer. And based on the extensive trailer (seen below), it was well worth the wait.

Catching as many Pokémon as you can, learning more about them, and training them to be stronger in battle are the very foundations of Game Freak’s iconic RPG series, but few titles exemplify those core concepts as powerfully as this latest outing. Pokémon Legends: Arceus tasks you with exploring a bygone era of the Sinnoh region, then known as Hisui, and gives you more ways than ever to complete your Pokédex. While some elements don’t feel like their final forms, I love where this new direction takes the Pokémon series.

Crysis is a series best known for being a great FPS and a trilogy of games capable of melting graphics cards. Constantly pushing the envelope of FPS visuals with each release, it seems Crytek is ready to melt some more cards because it has officially announced Crysis 4 in a new teaser released today. 

The teaser doesn’t reveal too much – it shows the Sun, a crumbling city, and more, but it ends with a giant “4” and the words, “join the journey [and] become the hero.” You can watch the teaser below for yourself: 

It's time to join the journey and be the hero.

A Crytek Announcement. pic.twitter.com/Ohbux0w0s5

— Crytek (@Crytek) January 26, 2022

Then, in a reply tweet to that teaser, Crytek says “we’re excited to announce we’re working on the 4th installment in the Crysis series” and that it wants “you to join us on our journey and become the hero you were destined to be.” That tweet links to a blog post with more information about the new sequel. 

Thirty-four quality assurance employees formed a new union at Raven Software called the Game Workers Alliance Union. It became the first union at a publicly-traded video game publisher (and the first within Activision Blizzard). The union asked Activision Blizzard for voluntary recognition, but the publisher has revealed that it won’t do that. 

Raven asked Activision Blizzard for the recognition by January 25, and hours after the deadline, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson sent the following statement to Game Informer: 

With Microsoft's impending purchase of Activision Blizzard announced last week, little has been said about which currently planned multiplatform games like Diablo or the immensely popular Call of Duty will see the light of day on non-Xbox consoles in the future. Now might be the time to breathe a sigh of relief for fans of the prolific shooter franchise who own PlayStation hardware. According to a report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, PlayStation will still be a place to play at least three more Call of Duty titles.

We got our first real look at the upcoming Halo TV series The Game Awards in December, and we’re set to get a presumably bigger sample this week. Paramount has announced that a new trailer for the show will premiere this Sunday during the halftime show of the NFL’s AFC Championship.

If you’re planning to catch it live, the AFC Championship Game, which pits the Cinncinati Bengals against the Kansas City Chiefs, begins at 3:05 p.m. Eastern on CBS. 

Suit up Spartans, the wait is almost over. The official trailer for @HaloTheSeries lands this Sunday during halftime of the AFC Championship Game on @CBS and @ParamountPlus. #HaloTheSeries pic.twitter.com/8He8fqUjQN

For Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, it’s about drive and it’s about power. He stays hungry and he devours, and today, it’s been revealed that he’s putting in the work (and the hours) to create another video game movie.

Johnson is no stranger to the silver screen, which is where his career resides these days following a great run in professional wrestling. In fact, he’s not even a stranger to being the star of video game adaptations on the silver screen, having starred in the 2005 Doom movie and 2018’s Rampage. In a new interview with Men’s Journal, Johnson said a video game adaptation he’s in will be announced this year, as reported by GamesRadar. 

“I can’t tell you which game in particular we’re doing, but there will be an announcement this year,” he said. “We’re going to bring one of the biggest, most badass games to the screen – one that I’ve played for years.” 

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out later this week, and in honor of its release, we've collected this list of Pokemon confirmed to be roaming the wilds in the Hisui region. This list does not include any leaked information and is based on Pokémon shown in official art, screenshots, or footage for Pokémon Legends: Arceus. However, there are quite a few Pokémon we can assume are in the game if their final evolution has been revealed or there is enough evidence for us to say we strongly think they will be included like the Sinnoh Gen 1 evolution cycle (Magmortar, Tangrowth, etc.). While we haven't laid eyes on them, we've included their names along with an asterisk. We will try to update this list as more information becomes officially available.

Without further ado, here are the Pokémon we've confirmed are in Legends: Arceus in order of generation they were introduced: 

Generation 1:

Blizzard Entertainment has announced a survival game set in an “all-new universe” and it announced it in a very odd way: a job posting. 

The official Blizzard Twitter account posted a job listing, asking would-be applicants to join the team in writing its next chapter. That “next chapter” is a survival game set in an all-new universe and if the art posted with it is any indication, it’s definitely set in a fantasy world. While it’s clearly not a World of Warcraft-related game (since it’s in a new universe and not an existing one), it definitely feels at home for the developer of those games. 

Palworld made us do multiple double-takes when it first came to our attention last summer. At first, it looks like any other Pokémon-inspired title. Cute, colorful, plenty of monster catching. And then the main character busts out a realistic assault rifle and starts wasting enemies alongside his adorable companions. In short, it looks amazing, and a new trailer reminds us of that fact.

The game comes from Japanese developer Pocketpair and is a multiplayer open-world survival game where players befriend creatures called Pals. You can journey together as equals or use them as transportation. You can also eat them, exploit them for labor, or force them to enact your destructive agendas. Pals can be captured and traded with other players, and you can breed them too. 

Palworld is harsher than it looks, sporting unforgiving weather conditions, scarce resources, not to mention illegal poachers. There’s also plenty of farming, crafting, and construction, with players able to build houses or even rocket ships. In a dark twist, you can even build factories and put your adorable critters to work assembling guns and other tools. Palworld’s combat features over-the-shoulder style shooting where you’ll mow down poachers as well as hostile Pals. Yes, this is a real video game. Check out the latest look at the game below.

Strategy games have been around longer than most, but they still remain niche to most audiences. Some can be pretty intimidating to jump into as a new strategy player. There are resources to manage, armies to control, big decisions to make, many hours of gameplay, and more. However, once you dig into this genre, you’ll find some of the most rewarding gameplay the hobby has to offer. Every victory feels hard-earned. Every loss feels fair (okay, they don’t always feel fair). And failing becomes a chance to learn how you might play better next time. 

This year is fantastic for strategy fans and those looking to finally dive into the expansive genre for the first time. That’s because nearly a dozen great entries we’re excited about are on the way. Of course, there are more, but the following 11 are the ones we’re raring to play most. Here are Game Informer’s most anticipated strategy games of 2022, listed chronologically by release date.

I've been playing video games and reading comic books for as long as I can remember. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I never stop talking about them, which is why I started From Panel to Podcast, a new weekly show that discusses all things comic book.

This podcast will tell you which comic books you should be reading each week, and also dives into the latest developments for comics in video games, movies, and television shows. We'll even discuss comic book collectibles and anything we think you should know about that pertains to this entertainment medium.

I'm joined each week by my dear friend Philip Hoff, who knows comic books better than anyone and has been collecting them with me for over two decades. We often go on comic hunts together, looking to complete runs and discover the next big series to gush about.

We found one such series recently and share our findings in this debut episode. We also dive deep into Insomniac Games' upcoming Wolverine game, and share thoughts on our favorite video games of all time.

You can listen to the first episode below. In the weeks ahead, new episodes will debut every Tuesday and will appear everywhere where podcasts are available.

Overwatch’s annual Lunar New Year event, inspired by the Chinese celebration of the day, kicks off today. From now until February 15, you can enjoy a pair of event brawls and unique weekly challenges to unlock some spiffy new skins.

Azetch Forgotten Gods, the third-person action game that blends Mesoamerican culture with sci-fi trappings, arrives on March 10. Nintendo fans may remember the game’s debut during last April’s Indie World showcase, and it comes from the team behind Mulaka.

Aztech unfolds in a technologically advanced Tenochtitlan. Instead of lying in ruin as it does in real-life, Aztech’s version of the Aztec city never came into contact with Europeans, allowing it to flourish. That doesn’t mean it’s safe from harm, however; an ancient and divine threat looms, ready to strike. It’s up to Achtli, a cybernetically enhanced warrior wielding a giant mechanical fist called the Lightbringer, to protect Tenochtitlan. In addition to pummeling foes with the Lightbringer, the rocket-powered glove also lets you propel Achtili across environments meaning Azetch is as much about mobility as it is action. Check out the latest trailer below. 

You can play Aztech Forgotten Gods on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Switch, and PC.

It’s no surprise when a video game developer says they want to make a Marvel game. Marvel is chock full of exciting super villains and heroes to explore in video games, and the different abilities and powers of each make for some exciting gameplay. One only needs to look at titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man to see that. 

However, No More Heroes creator Suda51 recently told Japanese publication Automaton that he’s met with Marvel to talk about working on a game, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. Of course, this doesn’t mean Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture, which NetEase recently acquired, are working on a Marvel game, so don’t get too excited just yet. 

When asked about Grasshopper Manufacture’s plans to release three original IP games over the next ten years, Suda51 reiterated this desire but also mentioned the idea of maybe making a Marvel game. 

The release of Valve's highly-anticipated handheld device, the Steam Deck, is right around the corner. Slated to be a formidable rival to the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck boasts powerful technology, including an AMD processor, LCD screen, and a dock that allows it to connect to monitors, controllers, and mouse and keyboards. Moreover, Valve is adding a "Dynamic Cloud Sync" – a component that enables seamless save transfers.

According to Eurogamer, the Dynamic Cloud Sync means that players won't necessarily need to exit their favorite PC game on the Steam Deck to play it on other devices. An official blog post elaborates on this with more detail:

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out in just a few days, and Nintendo has released yet another trailer, this time revealing some interesting information about the three starters we’ll be using come Friday. 

More specifically, each starter has a final Hisuian evolutionary form. Don’t worry – we’re not going to spoil what they look like here because, well, we can’t. Nintendo didn’t reveal the appearance of these new evolutionary forms, instead opting to tease this new information in today’s trailer. 

“You may have met Dartrix, Quilava, and Dewott in your other adventures,” the trailer’s description reads. “But you’ve never encountered their Hisui region Evolutions.” 

If you watch the two-minute trailer, you won’t be seeing these Hisui region evolutions either. Instead, Nintendo teases their appearances by showing the second evolutionary lines begin to evolve, only to obscure their final form images with smoke and a cheeky fade to black. You can briefly (and only kinda) see a silhouette of each form but rest assured, the full look of each is not revealed in the trailer. 

The developer behind the Titanfall franchise, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is looking to expand upon the galaxy far, far away once again. EA and Lucasfilm Games dropped a press release this morning that announced Respawn Entertainment’s upcoming Star Wars IPs. Multiple titles are in the works, including the next chapter in the Jedi: Fallen Order universe, an FPS with Peter Hirschmann (executive producer on the original Battlefronts), and a strategy game via a publishing collaboration with Bit Reactor. 

The press release reads as follows:

There really is nothing better than pizza, and Epic Games has made it clear that this is true with a new Pizza Party box item that’s been scattered around the Fortnite island. 

Added with today’s v19.10 hotfix, Pizza Party boxes consist of eight “surprisingly nutritious” slices of hot and fresh Slurpshroom Pizza. These pizzas come courtesy of the new Pizza Pit in Tilted Towers, although who knows how their pizza ended up scattered across the entire island. 

“Find Pizza Party boxes scattered throughout the island, then throw one down for an instant feast with the squad – literally throw a party. These boxes of Slurpshroom Pizza contain eight surprisingly nutritious slices – eat them to restore Health and Shield simultaneously until you get 100 Health and 50 Shield.” 

You can also eat slices right from the boxes or save some to use later. This could be especially helpful for squadmates who are on their own or lone wolves ignoring the team play aspect of certain Fortnite modes. Pizza Party boxes can be found in chests, supply drops, loot llamas, and on the ground. You can also purchase some from Tomatohead using Bars.

Epic Games says these items are not currently in competitive playlists but could be after being subjected to an evaluation period, like most items introduced to the battle royale. 

It's been a busy week for Activision Blizzard studios, but even more so for the workers at Raven Software. Quality Assurance members of the studio who have been on strike for several weeks following the termination of employment of contracted workers have decided to cease striking following a successful vote for unionization on Friday. 

Jack Garland and his conquest to destroy Chaos has had us talking since we learned of it last June. We're less than two months from release, and after two betas and multiple trailers, I still don't know what is going on in Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.

There's plenty of action shown off in the latest and apparently last trailer for the game, with Jack and Co. using various classes in battle to destroy hordes of enemies, including the multi-headed Tiamat, which apparently gets crystallized and shattered in the footage. We're also introduced to more big baddies like Lich and Kraken and the Final Fantasy 1 boss known as Marilith brandishing some fiery blades. 

We catch glimpses at Jack dressed in regal garb, speaking with Sarah, and gifting her a pitch-black egg-like object, while promising not to forget. Memory is brought up a few times, with one early mention from Jack expressing the opinion that "it's a mercy to forget." The trailer clocks in at almost five minutes and goes all over the place. From dark castles to bright virtual-looking rooms, and camera sweeps over golden fields set to Frank Sinatra's "My Way". I never thought I'd be hearing Ol' Blue Eyes on a Final Fantasy soundtrack alongside Limp Bizkit, but here we are. 

Behaviour Interactive has announced that in collaboration with Lionsgate Films, it is bringing more Saw content to the Dead by Daylight universe, including Jigsaw. 

This news comes by way of IGN, which revealed that Jigsaw will be featured in Dead by Daylight’s new Archives Tome 10: Saw event. This Tome will go live on all platforms where you can play Dead by Daylight on January 26. 

According to IGN, players will explore the memories of Amanda Young and Detective Tapp from Lionsgate’s Saw movies to unlock the “Book of Saw Collection.” Plus, players will be able to unlock new rewards in the form of outfits for Young and Tapp, and 60 new cosmetics for their own character. 

“Over and above our primary objective of providing our fans with fun and continuously renewed content, one of our goals when integrating a powerful movie franchise such as Saw is to invite a larger community into the Dead by Daylight universe,” director Mathieu Côté told IGN. “We’re truly grateful to our partner Lionsgate for offering us this opportunity.” 

What’s interesting about this is that Saw-related content has already been featured in the multiplayer horror game by way of the Pig killer. Perhaps this means Behaviour Interactive is going to double-dip into other horror franchises it’s collaborated with in the past. 

Respawn Entertainment released another Apex Legends: Stories from the Outlands short today called Judgement, and it’s all about Mad Maggie, who also happens to be the new Legend joining the battle royale. 

The story begins with what appears to be a court case for Mad Maggie. Of course, she wasn’t really doing anything too wrong – she just did some things the Syndicate is not happy about, like getting food to the starving and more.

We then see Maggie outside, cuffed and surrounded by security. Seconds away from death by way of a firing squad, Maggie is spared by the Apex Games, which is where she’ll be competing as a form of punishment. Maggie is quite alright with this, though, and it’ll be up to players to determine how she plays in the battle royale. 

The official launch trailer for Mad Maggie and the Defiance season that kicks off with her joining the game will go live on January 27. Respawn also revealed a new limited-time mode called Control that will launch with the start of the Defiance season. 

“For the first three weeks of Defiance, see whether you can handle the madness in the new Control mode,” the Apex Legends website reads. “Select your loadout and drop into a 9v9 experience where teams battle to hold control points with infinite respawn.” 

A Memoir Blue seized our attention during last summer’s Annapurna Showcase thanks to its dazzling visuals and emotional storytelling. Today, we found out that March 24 will be the day we can dive into this surreal aquatic adventure. 

The game stars Miriam, a champion swimmer who embarks on a dream-like journey through her rocky childhood, reflecting on her complicated relationship with her mother. Developer Cloisters Interactive bills A Memoir Blue as an interactive poem that unfolds through a series of vignettes that come to life through a blend of traditional 3D art and 2D animated visuals. It’s one of those games that’s best seen in motion, which you can do by watching the latest trailer below. 

A Memoir Blue will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. It’s also coming to Xbox Game Pass.

On this week's monumental episode of The Game Informer Show, we're breaking down the latest news from Xbox's acquisition of Activision. We're also diving into our hands-on time with Rainbow Six Extraction, Nobody Saves The World, Windjammers 2, and so much more. As always, we wrap up the show with another serving of Listener Questions and reveal who won last week's inaugural fantasy video game draft. Strap in folks, this one is wild. 

Follow the crew on Twitter: Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76), Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), John Carson, (@John_Carson), Jill Grodt (@Finruin), and Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7)

Skydance Interactive has announced The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, the sequel to the 2020 VR game. 

The game’s reveal came via a small teaser video of the logo on Twitter. Skydance states that Retribution is a full-fledged sequel that continues the story of the Tourist from the first game. However, Skydance also bills this as a standalone tale that newcomers can jump right into. Unfortunately, no gameplay details, release window, or platforms are known at this time.

It wouldn’t be our second anniversary without a surprise. Hold on to your heads, tourists, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution is coming. 😈 #TWDSS #secondanniversary #Chapter2 #Retribution pic.twitter.com/ajibDagmKP

Watch Dogs: Legion has seen its fair share of content rollouts. From an Aiden Pearce-focused DLC expansion to a zombie-based “Legion of the Dead” game mode, Ubisoft’s experimental player-controls-all adventure romp has seen a steady influx of exciting modes and missions since its Fall 2020 launch. However, a recent blog post on the official Ubisoft website has announced that there will be no more content updates. Additionally, the development team penned a thank you letter to the DedSec operatives around the world that continue to roam London's sleek, futuristic streets.

Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchise essentially serves as the publisher’s version of Illumination's Minions. The weird bunnies are equal parts cute and zany and have a tendency to screw up everything they touch, despite their best intentions. Now they have a chance to take their antics off-world in a new animated film coming to Netflix next month. 

Rabbids Invasion: Mission to Mars is a new movie that stars Beardie, a misunderstood Rabbid possessing genius intellect who dreams of traveling to Mars. Thankfully, his smarts land him a seat aboard a mission to Mars. The bad news: his sillier brethren also tag along. But when a sinister plot causes the mission to go awry, leading to the Rabbids being stranded on the red planet, Beardie will have to rely on his wits, his fellow Rabbids, and even aliens to save the day.

Platinum Games, the studio behind Nier Automata and Astral Chain, revealed back in August that it was resurrecting a 30-year-old series with Sol Cresta. It was initially set to release back in December, but in November, Platinum’s chief game designer, Hideki Kamiya, revealed in a “Very Sorry Stream” that Sol Cresta had been delayed. At the time, a new release date was not announced, but now we know when we’ll be able to play this arcade-style shoot-em-up: February 22. 

Platinum confirmed the new release date in a “Sol Cresta Release Date Forum Live Stream” held over this past weekend, as reported by Eurogamer. Platinum said Sol Cresta will hit PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC next month on February 22. The game is priced at $40. 

Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi announced last October that he was departing from Sega, and today, his new NetEase studio, aptly called Nagoshi Studio, has been revealed. 

Twitter user Nibellion (perhaps more well-known as Nibel) posted a link to the Nagoshi Studio website, where they learned that Nagoshi is its CEO. It’s also where Nibel discovered that eight of the founding Nagoshi Studio members previously worked at Sega or Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. This is where Nagoshi previously worked before taking an executive role within Sega. 

Nibel notes that in an interview with Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Nagoshi explains that he left Sega because he didn’t want to do the same thing repeatedly. At NetEase, there are fewer creative constraints on him. Plus, it allows him to be closer to actual game development again. 

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we examine 343 Industries' first stab at the series with Halo 4.

Halo 4 was released on the Xbox 360 on November 6, 2012, and was a big return for Master Chief, who hadn't been seen since 2007's Halo 3. Development of the game wasn't perfectly smooth as Ryan Payton, of Metal Gear Solid 4 fame, initially pushed the team to experiment with Halo's sandbox. However, the game was still a massive hit. Join us as we talk about Halo 4's powerful story, the new Prometheans enemy types, Halo's obsession with the number seven, and what made the Spartan Ops multiplayer mode so disappointing.  

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves) and Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7) and IGN executive editor Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) as we unpack the history and impact of the first Halo game from 343 Industries. And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga got an April 5 release date this week after spending years in development limbo. For a while, it seemed like the project was in peril, and, according to a new report by Polygon, those fears appear to have merit. The outlet talked to 30 current and former employees of TT Games (speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation) who revealed TT’s lifetime history of crunch, a negative workplace atmosphere, and how The Skywalker Saga’s development suffered from it. 

Resident Evil is a classic video game franchise that’s been around for decades. And for good reason, too – whether you prefer the more hardened survival horror seen in the first few Resident Evil games (and the recent ones) or the more over-the-top action camp seen in later entries, the series has you covered. That’s probably what makes it such a beloved series: there’s a little something for everyone in it. 

You might be wondering what has us pondering the Resident Evil series today. Well, 24 years ago, Resident Evil 2 hit PlayStation 1 on January 21, 1998. You read that right: the classic Resident Evil 2 is 24 years old! One year short of being old enough to rent a car!

Happy 24th anniversary to Resident Evil 2, that shambled its way onto PlayStation 1 in January 21st, 1998.

What are your fondest memories of the game? pic.twitter.com/tWI8A5MO8e

It's a slow week in the world of Nintendo, so we're taking the opportunity to stop and smell the honeycombs. This episode, we're using Banjo-Kazooie coming to the Switch Online Expansion Pack as our excuse to talk about everyone's favorite 64-bit bear-and-bird adventure. Joining Brian this week is Game Informer web designer and programmer Kristin Williams!

If you'd like to follow the people from this episode on Twitter, hit the following links: Brian Shea (@brianpshea), Kristin Williams (@kistasaurus)

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Be sure to subscribe to All Things Nintendo on your favorite podcast platform. The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Talk of NFTs, blockchain gaming, and play-to-earn models seem nigh unescapable these days, but it seems developers are still largely against them. 

That’s because in a newly-released 2022 State of the Industry report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC), 70% of developers surveyed said they and their studio are not interested in NFTs. Seventy-two percent of those that answered said they and their studio aren’t interested in cryptocurrencies either, which are often used to purchase NFTs. 

However 28% said they “are at least somewhat interested in cryptocurrency at their studio and 28% are at least somewhat interested in NFTs.” Only 1% of those surveyed said that their studio already uses cryptocurrency or NFTs in their development and game models. None of this is especially surprising, doubly so if you follow conversations of blockchain gaming and the like in industry spaces. NFTs and blockchain games are largely viewed negatively due to their part in ongoing environmental damage. 

Nearly three dozen Raven Software employees have agreed to form a union. 

Announced in a press release, this union is called the Game Workers Alliance Union and is a part of the larger Communications Workers of America collective. This new union is asking Activision Blizzard, which will be acquired by Microsoft by the end of fiscal year 2023, to voluntarily recognize the union without hesitation. 

"Today, I am proud to join with a supermajority of my fellow workers to build our union Game Workers Alliance (CWA)," Raven QA functional tester II, Becka Aigner, writes in a press release. "In the video game industry, specifically Raven QA, people are passionate about their jobs and the content they are creating. We want to make sure that the passion from these workers is accurately reflected in our workplace and the content we make. Our union is how our collective voices can be heard by leadership." 

Bloomberg reports that 34 quality assurance testers have agreed to form the union. 

Activision Blizzard told Bloomberg that it is “carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from the CWA, which seeks to organize around three dozen of the company’s nearly 10,000 employees.”