This week in gaming: Sony finally opens up to cross-play, former Telltale employees get litigious, Xbox One gets mouse and keyboard support, and more!
In the spirit of keeping our readers up to date with what’s happening in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories from the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Sunday night, and head on into the archive for news from weeks gone by!
From Doublejump:
- Damon put on his gridiron gear to review Madden NFL 19 and found it to be “a solid entry” in the American football series.
- Before delving into Life Is Strange 2, John took a look back at the original game and its spirited follow-up.
Major news:
Sony relents and finally opens up cross-play with other consoles:
Sony Interactive Entertainment President & CEO John Kodera took to the European PlayStation Blog to confirm that the company is finally going to allow cross-play between the PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One starting with an “open beta” for Fortnite: Battle Royale.
“Following a comprehensive evaluation process, SIE has identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content,” he wrote. “We recogni[s]e that PS4 players have been eagerly awaiting an update, and we appreciate the community’s continued patience as we have navigated through this issue to find a solution.”
As of this writing, Epic Games’s popular shooter is the only title to support multi-platform cross-play, but the David Hague, CEO of Rocket League developer Psyonix and vocal cross-play advocate, has confirmed that his team is working on cross-play between the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One to create “a truly unified Rocket League community”.
Former Telltale employee files class action suit against company:
According to Polygon, former employee Vernie Roberts Jr. has filed a class action suit for himself and fellow recently-fired staff members against the shuttering studio claiming over alleged breaches of the California state and federal WARN employment acts.
In the filing, Roberts alleges that Telltale Games did not provide the 60 days of termination notice that is required during mass layoffs (as was the case last week) and also let the employees go “without cause”. Telltale has not responded to this suit as of this writing.
Microsoft reveals mouse and keyboard support for Xbox One:
Xbox’s Jason Ronald took to Xbox Wire to announce that the company has worked with Razer to bring mouse and keyboard support to the Xbox Insider program “in the coming weeks”.
“We’ve been working closely with studios of all sizes to ensure mouse and keyboard experiences on console are fun, fair and correctly balanced, and look forward to introducing more games with support for mouse and keyboard input in the future,” he wrote. “Tune into the November 10 edition of Inside Xbox for more details about additional titles supporting mouse and keyboard, and to learn more about our partnership with Razer.”
In additional exciting Xbox news, Phil Spencer announced that Microsoft will host this year’s Xbox fan festival, X018, in Mexico City on Saturday November 10.
Nintendo clarifies stance on Switch cloud saves:
Shortly after revealing initial details regarding the Nintendo Switch Online service, the Japanese gaming giant told IGN that subscribers whose memberships lapse will actually have 180 days to renew before their cloud saves are wiped from Nintendo servers.
Oculus VR announces all-in-one wireless headset system:
Priced at US$399, the Oculus Quest is designed to provide an accessible way to play virtual reality games without connecting a headset to a phone or computer. While it will not be as powerful as an Oculus Rift, the new headset contains all the hardware needed to play games from the Oculus Store, including a pair of Oculus Touch controllers, and also features head tracking.
Notable game releases:
- FIFA 19 (PC, PS4, and Xbox One)
- Forza Horizon 4 (PC and Xbox One)
Videos and trailer releases:
Minecraft: Dungeons – Announce Trailer:
It’s block-building meets dungeon-crawling!
DiRT Rally 2.0 – The Announcement Trailer:
Codemasters is working on a sequel to its much-loved sim rally title.
Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood – Announcement Trailer:
Two classic Castlevania titles on the PS4? Yes, please!
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Launch Trailer:
You too will get to look into an old man’s eyes this week.
Other news:
- Friday the 13th: The Game and Laser League are this month’s free PlayStation Plus games: EU PS Blog
- Overcooked! and Hitman: Blood Money lead October’s Games With Gold offering: Xbox Wire
- Pokémon Go has passed $2 billion in global revenue: GamesIndustry.biz
- Here’s what Playground Games has in-store for Forza Horizon 4: IGN
- Club Penguin Island is shutting down: Kotaku
- Nintendo has won a lawsuit against an unofficial Mario Kart tour operator: Eurogamer
- Surprise! Red Dead Redemption 2 will need 105GB of space for its 4K-goodness: GameSpot
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