Sunday Sips #5

Hey there! Welcome to Sunday Sips!

This is where you can come for a weekly 500-words-or-less run down of the most important things that have happened in the video game industry over the last week.

• Rumors are circulating that Microsoft has two major unannounced exclusive AAA games set to release this year in hopes to combat PlayStation’s ever-expanding list of high profile exclusive franchises.
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons released their Carnival Festivale update this last week bringing along a flurry of new content. The franchise has also hinted at Hello Kitty and Mario themed collaborations in the near future.
• The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been delayed until 2022.
• The PlayStation Plus games for the upcoming month have been announced: Destruction AllStars, Concrete Genie, and Control: Ultimate Edition (PS4 and PS5).
• EPIC Games Store’s free game for the first week of February will be For The King.
• The heavily rumored (but not confirmed) upgraded Nintendo Switch console, previously referred to as the Nintendo Switch Pro, has now been alleged to take on the official name as the Super Switch, or Super Nintendo Switch.
• Recent concept art from the BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development heavily suggests that Dragon Age 4 will be set in Tevinter.
• Among the many features highlighted at Tesla’s announcement for its redesigned Model S this past week, the company boasted a 10-teraflop gaming computer with wireless controller compatibility and screens in both the front and back seats. The game title featured in their pictures on their website? The Witcher 3.
• Among the slew of leaks from Resident Evil Village, making its rounds last week was actual gameplay footage of a boss fight.
• Cyberpunk update: CD Projekt Red’s update handled a lot of problems but unfortunately created new bugs, among them is a game-breaker (meaning one that does not have a workaround and will stop progress) for the mission “Down on the Street.”
• Cyberpunk has also added the first official modding support tools to the game.

I want to take a moment to mention that obviously none of these lists are exhaustive and there’s no way to fit all the news of the fast-paced video game industry into a mere 500 words. These are the exciting bits of news I have noticed being covered across multiple sites or are possibly not being covered enough. If you feel like I missed something really important, or you’ve found something particularly exciting that I didn’t include, drop them in the comments and share it with the world!

Virginia Marion Bullard