How Xbox is Gearing Up For Next-Gen
Xbox has been making the media rounds to discuss the Xbox Series X and its plans for Next-Gen
Over the past few weeks, Xbox’s Phil Spencer has been the king of the headlines. He’s covered everything from Xbox Series X and Microsoft’s bigger plans for next-gen to how Xbox is handling success during a pandemic.
This press is putting Xbox front and center for gamers who are ready for next-gen. Meanwhile, the team at PlayStation is staying quiet. It’s hard to look at this situation and think that PlayStation isn’t losing the marketing war. In the end, it will come down to the games and the value that each competitor can offer their customers. I can’t wait to see what happens.
Outside of next-gen, this week had some great articles about the current state of gaming and how we can make games for accessible for everyone, even your parents. Keep scrolling to read more.
Thanks for taking the time to check out Load Save and I hope you enjoy the read!
INDUSTRY
Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest is his latest push to rally the industry
You’re going to want to keep on eye on Geoff Keighley’s newly announced Summer Game Fest, a four month long gaming event. It won’t be a super long E3, instead, it will be more like a calendar that gives a bigger space for companies to announce new games or release more info about upcoming games. I’m incredibly excited about it and I have a feeling this summer is going to be full of a lot of great announcements.
This article isn’t just an announcement about the Game Fest, it’s a full-blown interview with Keighley about everything leading up to his decision for SGF and how he feels about its future.
Check out its website here to see its upcoming list of activities.
Why Gears Tactics is an important release for modern Xbox
Gears Tactics came out this week. It’s a top-down turn-based game, very similar to the popular XCOM series. It’s been receiving great reviews, with most people being shocked that this great game wasn’t a half-assed attempt to get a popular Xbox IP a “PC-first” title. But this article isn’t a review about the game, it’s a look at Microsoft’s attempt to cater to their PC audience, an area that hasn’t received a lot of love for the past few years. It’s a great look at the possible future of Microsoft and PC games.
Xbox will hold an “Inside Xbox” livestream next week to show off some next-gen third party titles. With the push for PC gaming being so prevalent in the launch of Gears Tactics, I think we’ll see a good amount of PC representation.
What’s one Xbox IP you would love to see a PC-First title of?
Xbox leader Phil Spencer reflects on gaming’s huge wins during a global crisis
I was recently putting together a report about an app that I work for. I mentioned how a lot of the features that the app has are a lot more valuable because people are working from home, but that thought made me reconsider. Was I exploiting this awful pandemic in order to get more money for this app? I decided that it’s all about motive. There’s a very real opportunity that companies are exploiting this situation and trying to market themselves as a “solution” in this pandemic in order to turn a profit while everyone else is suffering. But on the other hand, there’s the companies who are standing alongside those who are being affected by COVID-19 and saying, “we’re in this together.”
This is the route that Xbox is taking, as well as other gaming companies. They want to provide a way to escape from the terrible things going on in the world, but they want to do it in a respectable way. This is a tough position for Xbox executives, one that I don’t envy. I applaud their efforts so far and I look forward to what they have in store for the future.
DEVELOPMENT
How big is too big for a popular game? | Opinion
This article really hits home for me because I frequently find myself wanting to get into a big MMO, like World of Warcraft, only to find that the game is too big and I don’t have the time to commit to it. In fact, this is the way it is with most MMOs. I love the idea of joining a guild for brutal, hours-long raids, but I can never execute on it. I can never commit myself to leveling my character or becoming involved with a team to face those raids. so I skip them and end up dropping the MMO a few weeks later.
This issue doesn’t have a “right” answer, and that’s why it’s a great topic for discussion. What about you? Do you consider yourself a hardcore player of a huge MMO or do you fall on the casual side, looking for the thrill of raids but not having the time for it? Respond to this email and let me know!
COMMUNITY
We Speak To The Man Behind The Initiative That’s Giving Free Games To UK Health Workers
If you’ve been on gaming Twitter recently, you’ve seen people talking about this great initiative to give free video games to those who are putting their lives on the line to help others during this pandemic. As it turns out, the man behind this idea has worked with Nintendo Life (a great website about all things Nintendo) before, so they were able to ask him about his inspiration to start this awesome program.
It’s a quick read but it will make you feel better about the world!
Predator, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Fallout 76 make April a good month for accessibility
I was unaware of this monthly article series before this week. It looks at releases from the past month, from AAA releases to smaller indies, and their accessibility options.
The month of April had a good turnout! Unfortunately, there’s still a few AAA games that have little to no accessibility options, which I feel like shouldn’t be happening anymore. I’m still holding onto hope that next-gen will really be the generation of accessibility.
Riot vow to fight back against sexual harassment in Valorant
Reading incidents like this makes me cringe, but it’s another important situation that we need to call out. It’s always been weird for people to blatantly hit on other people when someone involved isn’t feeling it. It’s even more weird when it’s over mics on a game that is based around teamwork.
It’s the same motivations that inspire people to become keyboard warriors. it’s the fact that they can’t physically be held accountable for what they’re saying. So if they’re fine with rejection and some harsh words, nothing will stop them from harassing people over comms.
Riot says that they’re trying to implement ways to cut back on this, but it will be challenging to do so. I’m interested to see what their plan is and how effective it’s going to be.
Getting parents into games with Netflix-style lists
This is one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in awhile. There’s been countless times that I’ve tried to explain or recommend a game to somebody only to receive blank stares because I can’t explain it without using video gamey terms like RPG or FPS.
Plus, it’s a great time to recommend this website to people who have a lot of spare time on their hands and are interested in gaming.
If you want to skip the article about the inspiration of this site’s development and head straight to the site, here it is!
BEFORE YOU GO
Thanks for taking a minute to check out this week’s Load Save! This curated list o’ links was originally sent out in the Load Save newsletter, a weekly newsletter focused on gaming industry, community, and development. If you like what you’re reading, why not subscribe to get it in your inbox every Saturday?
If you have any feedback or thoughts about Load Save, feel free to drop a comment, tweet me, or send me a message on Facebook! I would love to hear any way that I could improve this publication.
Thanks again and I’ll see you next time!
