Not to continue beating a dead horse, this article is really about mainstream media's relationship with video games, or the lack thereof. For the first time in my life, I pay for a subscription to news, because the same problems that crop up from getting news from reddit happen just as easily here in the fediverse. There are actually really great pieces written about video games and their creators in the New York Times, but they've only got a couple of bylines between them, and a frequency that matches how many people they've got working on it. Meanwhile, they do have a section under Arts dedicated to Dance, which I somehow doubt has anywhere near as many readers interested in the subject.

Now if only they could more clearly communicate when games are playable offline.

Neon Koi was developing a mobile action game. Firewalk Studios recently launched and quickly delisted Concord.

This sucks.

Lots of changes in here that will take a trained eye to see, and there are plenty that I couldn't spot.

• Sol's Heavy Mob Cemetary looks like you can combo into it now, perhaps finally making it useful 3 years after launch.
• Faust can launch an afro at you with the golf club.
• Asuka can change decks during mulligan super.
• Zato can combo into command grab (presumably to allow him agency to rebuild Eddie meter).
• I can't tell if they reworked Baiken parry or if this is only on clash, but it now puts the enemy into a punishable crush state.
• Ramlethal gets diagonal sword throws for some reason? Did she need that?
• Goldlewis can cancel Behemoths into other Behemoths?! I play this character, but did he need that?! It does not appear to be any more scaled, lol.
• Potemkin Buster has armor on it now, yikes!
• Johnny's Mist Finer destroys projectiles.
• I think Jack-O' now has a dash cancel off of soccer kick.
• Slayer can cancel his Dandy Step mixups now. Sure, he needed that... /s
• Nago can convert off of popping blood rage in the corner.
• Anji can cancel spin followups into a new spin.
• I-No can kill her music note after it's been set and cancel the recovery.

Information originally from MinnMax's Ben Hanson. There is an existing game used to describe this new game to Hanson as a point of reference, and all we know is that that game is not Hitman.

Tencent would be capped at a 10% stake. The Guillemot family would remain in control, just the way they want it.

The Prompt

Anecdotally, I've seen a lot of people jaded with modern gaming. I understand why. If you only see the games that have the most marketing, which are the ones you're most likely to see for obvious reasons, then you're primarily seeing the likes of AAA games with second-job-esque battle pass FOMO tactics, loot box gambling, pay to win, and constant reminders that you're missing out on the full experience of the game like coming across fan favorite characters in the DLC of an already-expensive Star Wars game. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", but it could be this fatigue with the games that the average person is aware of that has led to a drop in spending and the crash that the industry is currently facing (but let's not sugar coat it; there are surely other factors, too). I sympathize with these people, but respectfully, there's a whole wide world out there of great games that never ask for a dime after it's in your possession, so let's call out those games and spread the word.

The Rules

1. One game per top level comment, with the game name behind a "#" symbol so that it forms a heading, and platforms it's available on in parentheses. Leave a brief synopsis with no spoilers and a brief critique. I'll be starting us off with a number of examples. Upvote the ones you agree with, and leave a comment on the top level one for discussion.
2. The game should have no paid DLC, no announced paid DLC, and feel like a complete product as it stands right now. I actually don't mind the most common types of DLC, like what you would find in the Paradox model, but I know there's a large enough contingent of folks who really do mind, so any DLC whatsoever is a deal-breaker for this thread. I'm making an exception for soundtrack and artbook DLC since, as far as I know, the existence of this stuff doesn't bother anyone and just allows for avenues for certain artists to get a better cut for their work from super fans. I'm not making an exception for cosmetic DLC like you'd find in V Rising, as innocuous as I personally find it to be.
3. The game's first release must have been in 2024. By this, I mean that if it came out on PS5 two years ago but launched on PC this year, it doesn't count, so no God of War: Ragnarok. No collections of old games like Marvel vs. Capcom.
4. No early access games, except for games that were in early access and hit v1.0 this year. So no Palworld, but Satisfactory is on the table if you'd like to recommend it. I personally didn't care for it, but if you did, feel free to list it!
5. Only games you've played thoroughly enough to be sure you'd recommend it. If you only started playing the early chapters or levels, maybe let someone else recommend it, just in case the quality nosedives later on. I'm personally only recommending games I've finished or beaten, though that definition admittedly becomes challenging with the likes of UFO 50.

If you don't retain some kind of actual ownership, they will not be allowed to use terms like "buy" or "purchase" on the store page button. I hope there aren't huge holes in this that allow bad actors to get around it, but I certainly loathe the fact that there's no real way to buy a movie or TV show digitally. Not really.

EDIT: On re-reading it, there may be huge holes in it. Like if they just "clearly tell you" how little you're getting when you buy it, they can still say "buy" and "purchase".

They seem to be very caught off guard by Star Wars: Outlaws' underperformance, and after investor pressure, are trying to massively course correct. This is what happens when you vote with your dollars!