This Week in Games

Takin' a Break

It's July! Boy those first six months of the year sure, uh… went… um… were… something. Yeah!

It's a holiday weekend here in the USA, so maybe everyone just collectively decided to try and chillax a little. That's certainly not a bad thing! It's a little hard to go to neighborhood barbeques and set off roman candles in your buddy's backyard this cursed 2020, but June was downright stressful for everybody, so maybe taking a brief break from everything can help just a little.

News this week is a bit on the slow side, but there are a few interesting stories worth commenting on.

TALES OF ARISE IS SLEEPING IN

It's a bit of a mess for game development right now. Two consoles are, somehow, still slated to launch in 2020, and publishers are rushing to release the last wave of games for the previous console generation out alongside developing launch-window titles for the new platforms. Even with this immense pressure many developers are still struggling to cope with the realities of COVID-19 remote working, particularly in Japan. That's making the release dates for many games get moved back and delaying announcements of others. Cyberpunk 2077 was hit with yet another delay into November (and franchise.

Tales of Arise was going to be playable this year, Microsoft's introducing a program where you can buy a game on Xbox One and have the purchase carry over to the next-gen hardware, and an end-of-generation game like Tales of Arise feels like a good candidate for that.

In any case, I don't mind this one being pushed back at all. Even with all the delays, there's just so much to play in 2020 that I'm happy to wait and give it more time for a proper polish.

INTI CREATES HAS MORE OLD-SCHOOL ACTION IN STORE

Oh wow, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 was just announced last week… and it's coming out this week?! Ahhhh crap, it's out the same day as Deadly Premonition 2, even! Better make sure there's plenty of funds in my Nintendo eShop wallet.

But that's not all! Inti Creates also has Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 coming to Switch. Details are sparse since it's only just started development, but we do know it has a new leading lady in the form of Kirin, who you can see in the trailer below. But, uh, Keiji Inafune is involved? Wait, I thought he went over to Level-5 to lay low until everything with Mighty No. 9 was forgotten? And he may have been involved with the series the whole time but never publicized it??? The plot thickens! Maybe if Gunvolt 3 does well, we'll somehow figure out what happened to Red Ash!

Anyhow, here's the trailer for you all:

Those might not be the only announcements, as Inti Creates has a Japanese-language Inti Creates Live event happening on July 7^th. Rumor has it that the main announcement will be a port of Dragon: Marked for Death to the PS4, but we'll see if there's anything more. I'm glad to see this company continuing to do well, as they consistently provide some of the best 2D action games out there. Well, except for that one massive fluke we already mentioned…

I HEARD YOU LIKE GAMING ANNOUNCEMENTS, SO I'VE GOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF MORE GAMING ANNOUNCEMENTS, SO WE CAN ANNOUNCE OUR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Oh, you thought we got all of the piping-hot game news in June? Hahaha, nope!!! There's plenty more to come yet this month!

It kind of feels like The World Ends with You now that an anime adaptation is confirmed? Fans can certainly hope!

We might not be getting Tales of Arise in 2020, but Bandai-Namco still had plenty of licensed, anime-themed games set for release soon. In fact, the publisher will be holding a live Play Anime! streaming event on July 22^nd at 4 PM PST. This event will be focused primarily on licensed anime and manga titles, though you might see something otaku-coded along the lines of a Code Vein or God Eater in the mix, too.

Meanwhile, over in the indie gaming space, the always-entertaining indie publisher Devolver Digital is prepping a “Devolver Direct” presentation for July 11^th. If you've seen previous Devolver presentations from around E3 time, you'll know that their streams are… incredibly special (and rather unsettling) indeed. They've spent the last 3 years of streaming presentations unabashedly taking the piss out of big E3 press conferences, so it'll be quite interesting to see what they do for a year without E3. (, they're the guys who gleefully broke the news of E3's cancellation, so they almost certainly want to see everything burn.)

Finally, there's Microsoft. That initial reveal of Xbox Series X titles didn't go over all that well, mainly because there wasn't a whole lot of actual gameplay shown… though, to be fair, the PS5 announcement stream didn't show too much on that front either. According to rumors, Microsoft will have another showcase on July 23^rd to highlight Xbox Series X titles. Halo Infinite being showcased is a given, and recently-formed studio The Initiative will also be presenting their first project at the event – heavily rumored to be a revival of Perfect Dark. Will we learn more about the incredibly badly kept secret of the Xbox Series S too? Perhaps!

Yeah, if you thought everything cool happened in June… well, there you go, more streams! Anything in particular you want to see announced from these publishers? Are there any July releases you are particularly excited about? (I suggest checking out Mr Driller: Drill Land!) Or are you just going to go nuts with that Animal Crosdate that drops later today? your gaming buddies for a virtual yard party to chat about all the cool stuff you're currently playing and will be playing soon in our forums below! See you again next week, and have a safe holiday (or a safe regular weekend for all of our non-US readers). Laters!