A Whole Mess of Video Game Related News Thoughts

There have been a few fun gaming related announcements and news this week...plus, I'm not playing anything new at the moment (but that's likely to change since SteamWorld Build released yesterday--yay!), so I thought I would highlight a few pieces of interest.

Gaming News #1:  CyberPunk is getting even Punkier

CD Projekt clearly stated that with the 2.0 update & the "Phantom Liberty" DLC that there wouldn't be any more "big" updates to the game.  Just this week they announced (*just in time for holiday shopping!) that they are releasing an "ultimate edition" that includes the whole she-bang--CyberPunk in its 2.0 glory and the "Phantom Liberty" DLC.  Apparently though, 2.0 is not the end of new content.  With the release of the ultimate edition on December 5th, there will also be a 2.1 update that promises to add several (apparently) hotly requested additions.  One that stood out to me is the addition of a fully functioning metro system that allows players to ride a train throughout Night City--and we're talking actually ride the train, not just fast travel--you can look out the window and enjoy all the sights (or, just skip the ride...ya know).  If I remember correctly, the NCART system was supposed to be implemented in the original release, but ended up on the cutting room floor.

Of course, the addition of a rideable metro system isn't the only improvement--here are a few other highlights:

--a whole host of new accessibility features.

--the ability to re-play races and a new race organizer NPC who will offer up races beyond Claire's missions.

--new vehicles.  Several new motorcyles and at least one new car (another Porsche).

--"car chases."  Gangs will now chase players who make certain choices or get caught stealing cars.  (Maybe the lackluster vehicle combat system from 2.0 will actually offer something up?)

--the ability to listen to the radio while on foot.

--improvements to the Adam Smasher fight (it has definitely changed, but I guess it's still not hard enough)

--"romance hangouts" with your main squeeze.  There aren't a lot of details about this feature yet and they've promised to offer up more info at a Twitch event.

I was a bit underwhelmed with some of the "major" 2.0 improvements to CyberPunk, but I do have to admit that CD Projekt keeps on adding many player requested features.  Maybe they do deserve the "redemption arc" narrative that seems to pop up in many articles.  You can read about the 2.1 update here and here.

Gaming News #2:  Fallout streaming series releases a trailer.

There's one eternal question whose answer we all seem to already know--do all video game inspired TV/streaming shows suck?  The answer:  mostly.  I watched seasons one and two of Netflix's The Witcher and found it to be pretty okay.  It started off very slowly, but then managed to pick up to a manageable pace and get more interesting.  It's not the best thing I've ever watched and it definitely doesn't compare to the games, but it wasn't absolutely horrible.  I liked the way they gave Yennefer a backstory and we all know that Henry Cavill is king of the nerds (although he has moved on from the series).  I'm not an anime watcher, but Netflix's Edgerunners seems to be very loved and one of the possible exceptions to the "sucky" quotient.

News broke sometime in the recent past that Amazon Studios was producing a Fallout inspired series.  I didn't pay much attention to the news about it but just today saw a new trailer for the series pop up on my socials.  If you haven't watched it already, give it a gander:

I've gotta admit, it's got all the things we love about Fallout in it--the vault, vault suits, radroaches, Dogmeat, Power Armor, the Brotherhood of Steel, a Mr. Handy, a ghoul (although, I wish he was a bit...ghoulier), human bones, the wastes...but alas, no deathclaws (maybe if they make it to season two).  There's also a pretty strong undercurrent of the entire "research" aspect related to the vaults hinted at throughout the trailer.  Overall, it's got some nice vibes.  But basically any trailer can make anything look good...soooo, yeah.

Am I going to watch it?  Maybe.  Do I think it'll break the sucky video game adaptation trend?  Probably not.  Although not a video game adaptation, I wasn't terribly impressed with Amazon's Lord of the Rings spinoff series--it also ranks in the "pretty okay" category.  The credits rolled out Todd Howard's name as a producer and I think some of his ideas about what gamers want/find fun have been a bit misguided (I'm talking about the whole "empty planets are soooo much fun" type of comments related to Starfield), so I wonder about his input on this project.  Here's to hoping that it breaks the trend.

Happy weekend and happy gaming!