Plus Fortnite simplifies it's battle passes and Nintendo launches it's own soundtrack streaming app.
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.
GIANNI: Hi I’m Gianni Di Giovanni
GIANNI: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
GIANNI: This week Ubisoft is way to late to the party and launches an NFT game, ew, Nintendo Music is a new way to listen to your favourite soundtracks, and the studio behind Sony flop Concord is closed and the game is done.
Here is the news for Sunday 3rd of November. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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GIANNI: In one of the wildest cases of being late to the party the industry has ever seen, Ubisoft has launched its first NFT game.
That’s right, in November 2024, an NFT game has been released by one of the biggest names in the business.
And I know what you’re thinking, “hey, this is dumb, but hey at least it’ll have a completely normal name right?”
WRONG!
Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles is a tactical RPG that is built around collecting and battling NFT versions of fantasy figurines.
You upgrade your figurines and then sell them for real-life money on Ubisoft's own blockchain marketplace.
Honestly, I feel like I’ve gone back in time.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles up until now, it’s because Ubisoft is clearly embarrassed about it, and released it incredibly quietly.
As they should be too, as the marketplace for these digital figurines has already lost the plot, with the most expensive NFT currently on the market having an asking price of $63K USD.
What an incredible waste of time, money, and resources.
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GIANNI: Nintendo has launched it’s own music streaming app, Nintendo Music for iOS and Android.
It’s a bit like Spotify, with themed playlists and multiple different versions, you can in a clever move by nintendo play an infinite version of the Wii Shop Channel theme.
You need to be a paying subscriber for Nintendo Switch online to get in, no offline downloads it seems you have to be connected to give this one a go.
Part of me is suspicious about this move, so Nintendo’s lawyers can start going after the myriad of YouTube channels hosting soundtracks…
Well not part of me, all of me. This is almost certainly why they’ve done this.
For a chill company in so many respects Nintendo really loves to sue people.
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GIANNI: Well that didn’t take long, Sony has confirmed that Firewalk Studios the makers of Concord are fully done, and the game won’t be coming back.
Firewalk was purchase by Sony after early impressions for the game showed a lot of promise, but it landed with an incredible silence, and less than two weeks after launch it was pulled from sales.
Reporting suggests that this game cost around $200m US to make so it’s shocking to me that no one was able to work out where this FPS sat in the busy world of multiplayer hero shooters.
Sad to hear that its over for the developers at Firewalk, Concord will go down as one of those moments in the gaming industry where everyone is just left wondering why..
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GIANNI: Fortnite will streamline the way it handles it’s battle passes in the new season, after it became pretty bloody complicated.
Here is how it worked: there are three passes, one for Battle Royale, one for Lego Fortnite and one for Fortnite Festival.
Each had their own currency that was earned by playing the modes. Stars, Notes and Studs.
From the next season it’s just XP, that’s all you’ll need to progress through each of the different passes.
Hopefully that means they give out stacks more of it now it’s shared across three different tracks.
In other fortnite news, Epic rolls back the nostalgia wheel to Chapter 2 Remix, which will recreate some of the moments from that era which ran between 2019 and 2021.
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GIANNI: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week
GIANNI: Nostalgia meets modern gameplay in Metal Slug Tactics, the new turn-based tactical action game in classic Metal Slug styling. That's out on PC, Switch, PlatStation and Xbox on the 5th.
GIANNI: For all you construction sim and elaborate mass murder fans, Planet Coaster 2 is here. With improved mechanics and water park building being added to the mix, the death parks are about to get even weirder when this comes to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X this Wednesday.
GIANNI: One of the most interesting looking games of the year, Empire of Ants, is out this Thursday. Command an army of ants, attack enemy nests, and expand your empire in this photorealistic RTS. Grab is on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X on the 7th
GIANNI: Also out on the 7th is a brand new Mario & Luigi game, Brothership. It’s the first fully 3D entry in the Mario & Luigi series, but features the same gameplay and combat that you’ll be familiar with. That’ll be available this Thursday.
GIANNI: And finally on the 8th we have a new survival horror IP, Slitterhead. Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City is being overrun with terrifying insect-like monsters, and it’s your job to stop them. Out on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox this Friday
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GIANNI: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Gianni Di Giovanni, thank you so much for listening.
GIANNI: Checking out Bluesky, Threads or Mastodon? SIFTER is there, we have been regularly posting to those little microblogging sites for yonks and we’d love to see you. It’s easy. Search for sifterHQ on all those platforms and you’ll find us. That address is sifterHQ on Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon. We'd love to chat to you there!!
GIANNI: SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Chris Button. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Executive Producer Gianni Di Giovanni, who is also Walkthrough’s script editor.
GIANNI: 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.
GIANNI: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday. See you then.
