Overwatch 2 was one of the major announcements of BlizzCon 2019, and the big surprise news was that all new characters, maps, and modes coming to the sequel would also be added to the first Overwatch. Series director Jeff Kaplan has said that this was a difficult decision to make and convince people on, but that it was ultimately the best choice for players. But it has also meant, in the short term, that the Overwatch experience has perhaps been less fresh than it could have been.

Speaking with Kotaku, Kaplan opened up about why the original game has seen fewer new seasonal events over time. “Overwatch 2 was 100 percent the reason,” Kaplan said, stating that the team was pained because it could not craft interesting new seasonal events. “Like, I sit right next to one of the designers of Junkenstein’s Revenge–this brilliant guy named Mike Heiberg–and he’s like, ‘I have all these ideas I want to do for Halloween this year.’ And I’m like, ‘I understand, Mike, but we’re focused on this other thing right now.'”

Kaplan says that, once Overwatch 2 is done (and it’s not clear when that will be), the original game will benefit too. “The fact that we can pick up again with that live service cadence, where we’re 100 per cent focused, is really exciting to me.”

Hopefully Overwatch 2 will be worth the wait. We’ve gone hands-on with the game’s new campaign at BlizzCon, and collected together all the details we know so far.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-2-slowed-down-development-of-the-first-g/1100-6471249/

Deep Down was first announced in 2013 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, but we haven’t seen or heard much from it since. The last news we heard was all the way back in 2015, when producer Yoshinori Ono said that the game would look “completely different” from the initial trailer the next time we saw it, and that the game was aiming for a very realistic experience.

But the game has not been seen since, beyond a trademark renewal in 2017 that got fans’ hopes up. Now, Ono has spoken about the game for the first time in years, and it sounds like the game is not being worked on, but could theoretically still happen.

In an interview with Eurogamer that primarily focuses on Street Fighter V (which he is also executive producer on), Ono briefly discussed the long-dormant dragon hunting game, admitting that he still has some hope that the game will be completed one day.

“The original team is clearly no longer together at this point, but people might have noticed that we’ve kept the trademark registered, and it’s not been completely given up on,” he told Eurogamer. “Every year we examine titles we’re doing in future, and we bring up projects to approve and move forward. There’s not much I can say about it, but if you’ve noticed we’ve kept the trademark it means we haven’t given up on the title completely.”

When asked about the TGS trailer from 2014, Ono said that the team had “the concept developed a bit further than that.”

This isn’t confirmation that Deep Down will still happen, but it suggests that the game’s eventual release remains a possibility. It certainly wouldn’t be the first major PlayStation title to take its time releasing: The Last Guardian was first revealed seven years before its eventual release, while Until Dawn was announced as a PlayStation 3 title five years before its eventual PS4 release. Then there’s Shenmue III, which will release on November 19, a full 18 years after Shenmue II.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/deep-down-producer-says-it-isnt-dead/1100-6471244/

Rocket League will change how upgrades and rewards work next month when Crates are replaced by Blueprints. Paid Crates are on their way out, and Blueprints will use a new premium currency, Credits (which are replacing Keys). Blueprints will let you see exactly what they’re going to build, so it’s always clear what you’re getting for your money. This will take some of the randomness out of the loot game in Rocket League.

Developer Psyonix has further detailed how Blueprints will work in a new post on the official Rocket League website. Once the update hits, online matches will begin to reward players with “revealed” Blueprints. You can build the items on these Blueprints by spending Credits, hold onto them for a while, or trade them with another player. Any existing Crates that you have in your inventory when this update occurs will change to “unrevealed” Blueprints, which you can then change to revealed Blueprints at no extra cost.

Players will be able to trade Blueprints with one another, just as they’re currently able to trade items (which will remain the case going forward). You’ll be able to trade revealed Blueprints, as well as items that have been built from Blueprints, as well as Credits (although you cannot trade Credits for other Credits or give them away, only for items and Blueprints). You will not be able to trade Unrevealed Blueprints.

Any Decryptors you have in your inventory will be turned into “Bonus Gifts” after the update. These will contain items from the Vindicator Crate series and the first Blueprint Series, which is called the Revival Series. The Revival Series will “bring back some fan-favorite items throughout Rocket League’s history.”

2019 has been a big year for Rocket League, despite the game being over four years old now. Earlier this year, Psyonix was bought by Epic Games, which saw Rocket League moving over to the Epic Games Store (although it’s also still available on Steam). Paid Crates were also removed from the game in both Belgium and the Netherlands; soon the rest of the world will follow.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/rocket-league-heres-how-blueprints-will-work-and-h/1100-6471242/

Indie platformer Gris was celebrated at launch for its beautiful art (among other things), and plenty of folks took notice of its gorgeous sense of style. Now, it seems that one designer took too much notice and copied many elements of the game’s style in their own work for wellness app ‘The Fabulous’.

Gris publisher Digital Devolver publicly accused the app makers of ripping off Gris’ artwork in a tweet, which includes a side-by-side video of the app running alongside Gris. In the tweet, they warn other developers to be careful of “big companies and brands stealing creative work” from them.

The Fabulous took notice, and took the video down. Speaking with Gamasutra, Fabulous’ CEO Sami Ben stated that the team’s wrongdoing was “unintentional,” and that the team has been inspired by several other games in their work, including Journey and Monument Valley. “We have a team of two artists and freelancers, and that video was created a few months ago,” Ben said. “We’re still investigating this as all of this has been sudden, but any wrongdoing from our side is not intentional. It might be that one of our artists or freelancers got inspired by a game that they liked.”

Fabulous also followed up on Twitter, directly tweeting at Devolver Digital about the situation.

Following this, The Fabulous conducted an investigation, and ultimately made a post on Medium with a direct explanation from the designer who made the video in question. “When I was about to start the animation, I told our design lead that I was gonna get inspired from a game called ‘Gris’ for the animation,” they wrote. He never played the game, so he gave me the OK for ‘getting inspired’. I took the word ‘inspired’ way too far.”

“I took things way too far and what I thought I was managing got slipped out of my control without me even noticing. Our lead designer had no idea about that since he, like I said, didn’t play the game. I am the only person responsible for this catastrophe. As a content creator, I am ashamed that I ended up copying someone else’s hard work, and believe me this is the first time that I know of this has happened to me.”

Gris launched on PC and Switch late last year, and also came to iOS in September 2019.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wellness-app-dev-apologizes-for-plagarizing-indie-/1100-6471238/