Plus Nexus Mods changes hands after 24 years and Moshi Monsters is coming back
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Cat Jahne is Social Producer, Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER.
TRANSCRIPT
FIONA: Hi I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
KYLE: and I’m Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
KYLE: We smash into the week with a massive Donkey Kong Bananza first look, Nexus Mods owner sells out citing personal toll of running site, and Moshi Monsters is back but not without some crowdfunding drama.
Here is the news for Sunday 22nd of June. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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KYLE: This week we got a closer look at the new Donkey Kong Bananza game and it looks pretty fun.
In this game, DK gets sent deep underground thanks to a tempest, where he meets a younger version of Pauline.
She’s trying to get back home and he’s trying to get back to the surface of the isle so together they team up and go further underground to the core where they can have their wish granted.
Every level down they go, the world and scenery changes from beaches, to forests, you know classic mining environments. I’m from Western Australia so I can guarantee this is true.
The game is giving massive Mario Odyssey, where you can explore almost everything, you can punch your way through mountains and dig downwards and get heaps of power ups.
Lots of destructible terrain and opportunities to play with systems here smashing your way through with giant boulders.
FIONA: Those powerups come from the Giant Elders and you go around learning their Bananza powers and then with Pauline’s singing, Donkey Kong can transform into forms such as Zebra Bananza and Ostrich Bananza.
There’s also a skill tree of sorts, so you collect skill points and then use them to either upgrades your health or each of the different abilities you unlock. Honestly never thought we’d see a skill tree in a Donkey Kong game.
They’ve put a lot into this game including challenge levels, side scrolling stages, mine carts and so much more.
Plus Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Dixie Kong and Rambi will all appear at some point in the game.
I wasn’t planning on buying a Switch 2 just yet but this game looks great so now I'm tempted. That’s out July 17.
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FIONA: Nexus Mods, the site that hosts thousands of mods for games like Skyrim and Elden Ring has just been sold after 24 years.
Created by Robin ‘Dark0ne’ Scott in 2001 it evolved to become the largest user-made mod site on the internet.
Although over those years the site has been caught up in many gaming cultural wars, have had to block political mods, and have even been caught up in its own controversies around deleting mods and rules around hateful content.
Scott posted on the site this week that selling Nexus Mods was something he had been thinking about for some time but didn’t want to make that decision until he found the right owners.
KYLE: He said that for the last two decades he’s essentially been on call, fixing issues, reading feedback, pushing updates or getting involved with community drama.
He said the journey had been rewarding but the strain of being responsible had taken its toll and the stress had caused some health issues, so it’s time to bring new leadership in to keep it going.
Scott said while he won’t be running it he’ll still advise on the overall direction of the site.
There are a few concerns however as the new owners are a company called Chosen, that focuses on profit and scaling business, which as we all know leads to the enshittification of everything.
They are knocking away concerns at the moment, but I guess time will tell.
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KYLE: Now here's a throwback, a fan-funded kickstarter has launched to return smash hit Moshi Monsters to our computers in time for the 20th anniversary of the original flash game launching.
Developers Mind Candy said "we're excited to bring back the iconic game - not only for our loyal fans, but for a whole new generation of children."
The game will pick up after the world of Moshi has been destroyed by a 'flash-teroid', a cute nod to the death of Adobe Flash that stole it from us.
Fans who take the pledge will unlock exclusive rewards and in game badges, with the higher pledge tiers including designing stores, new moshlings, and even getting a citizen named after you.
FIONA: But it hasn’t been without some drama, the Kickstarter campaign quickly hit its funding goal within the first 24 hours but it turned out something was a little bit off.
A number of fake pledges knocked it over its £250,000 (approximately AU$519,000) goal very early, but they’ve since been removed.
It’s still on track to hit that goal according to crowdfunding site Kicktraq but the team posted over on instagram a statement saying they were heartbroken but not deterred.
The game is set to launch in 2027. We’ll put a link in our shownotes to the kickstarter and the statement.
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KYLE: That’s it for the headlines, here are the games coming out this week.
FIONA: One of our longtime mates here at SIFTER Oscar Brittain is launching a new digimon like game called Nanomon! Collect your virtual pets, feed them, train them, battle them and evolve them. If you’re looking for an excellent Australian made game and love to collect freaky little guys check it out when it launches on PC on Wednesday 25th.
KYLE: This is the big one this week, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach releasing this Thursday. The follow up to Kojima surreal walking simulator has more movie stars, more walking, and a new Australian setting. It’s going to be a phenomenon for sure. Grab it on PlayStation 5 on the 26th.
FIONA: Also out on the 26 is one that’s sure to make you feel old, it’s the System Shock 2 25th Anniversary Remaster. Back in 1999 this was a game changer for the industry, not that I’d know obviously, I’m young and hip. Grab it on PC, Switch, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series S and X this Thursday.
KYLE: And lastly, The latest title in the Tamagotchi Connection series is coming out Friday, Tamagotchi Plaza. Run 15 different businesses from dentistry to tea shops, utilizing some of the Switch 2’s new tech. That’s coming to both the original Switch and the Switch 2 on the 27th.
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PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
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KYLE: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Kyle Pauletto.
FIONA: And my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus, thank you so much for listening.
KYLE: Gianni usually gets me to read out some absolutely depraved lunacy at this point but today he’s being nice because he just wants me to tell you to check out SIFTER on YouTube! Search for sifterHQ you’ll see our bright shiny logo and make sure you hit subscribe and notifications so you don’t miss anything. We’ve just posted an interview with Austin Wintory the composer of Journey, Hades 2 and Banner Saga ahead of his performance in Melbourne at Indie Symphony 2. Find that on youtube.com/sifterHQ right now
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by myself, Kyle Pauletto, Cat Jahne, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and video editor, and Gianni Di Giovanni is SIFTER’s Executive Producer, and script editor.
KYLE: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
FIONA: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday, see you then.
