A bigger backlog for 2023.
Update : There’s not much longer left in the New Year Sale on the European eShop! You’ve got until tomorrow, 8th January, to snap up some bargains for your Switch library.
Those of you in North America, don’t fret — you’ve still got a bit longer with your eShop sale. And of course, if you’ve got a NA eShop account, you can have a cheeky look at some of the deals over there…
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Update: Pre-orders for Spidersaurs now live.
Update : Here’s a friendly reminder that pre-orders have now gone live for Spidersaurs.
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It’s time to clean up your neighbourhood.
Washing things might not necessarily sound like fun, but PowerWash Simulator has managed to make a name for itself over the past year.
It was announced for the Nintendo Switch last September, and now in the latest update, it seems the game could be splashing onto the hybrid platform at the end of this month. A tweet by the PlayStation Europe Twitter account has seemingly confirmed a 30th January 2023 release.
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The tabletop industry looks to be undergoing a seismic shift based on leaked documents showing that Wizards of the Coast intends to implement a more restricted Open Gaming License (OGL) agreement.
According to a recent Gizmodo report, Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast is poised to revoke its longstanding OGL, which allows for third-party publishers and fans to create D&D content using their game rules. For over 20 years, this license has empowered countless creators to make and distribute their own D&D content using tools like Kickstarter, and has allowed large publishers like Paizo, creators of Pathfinder, to become titans of the tabletop space in their own right.
Reportedly, the new license, called OGL 1.1, makes numerous revisions to the D&D policy, including adding a requirement that all creators register any products they’re selling with Wizards of the Coast. The new agreement also introduces a new 20-25% royalty to be paid to Wizards by license-users making an excess of $750,000 in a year while giving Wizards a “non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license” to use content created using OGL for any purpose. The new agreement would force all creators to adopt OGL 1.1 despite the current version’s explicit language that a move like that could never be forced upon creators.
After rumors regarding these changes began appearing online last month, Wizards of the Coast responded to online backlash from fans by issuing a statement on their D&D forum.
“The OGL is not going away,” Wizards of the Coast wrote. “You will still be able to create new D&D content, publish it anywhere, and game with your friends and followers in all the ways that make this game and community so great. The thousands of creators publishing across Kickstarter, DMsGuild, and more are a critical part of the D&D experience, and we will continue to support and encourage them to do that through One D&D and beyond.”
But the leaked draft of OGL 1.1 seems to tell a very different story – one aimed at obstructing competitors like Green Ronin Games, which sells numerous products that utilize OGL.
In OGL 1.1, Wizards states “the Open Game License was always intended to allow the community to help grow D&D and expand it creatively. It wasn’t intended to subsidize major competitors, especially now that PDF is by far the most common form of distribution.” With D&D alternatives like Pathfinder enjoying enormous popularity in recent years, Wizards is increasingly interested in reigning in the OGL.
The changes to WOTC’s OGL come amid increased pressure to increase revenue from parent company Hasbro. Just last month, CEO Cynthia Williams described D&D as being “really under monetized” during a digital event with investors, and expressed an interest in unlocking “the type of recurring spending you see in digital games.” These statements came immediately following a dip in Hasbro stock after analysts criticized their handling of Magic: The Gathering.
The leaked document gained additional credibility when Kickstarter Director of Games Jon Ritter, tweeted, “Kickstarter was contacted after WoTC decided to make OGL changes, so we felt the best move was to advocate for creators, which we did. Managed to get lower % plus more being discussed. No hidden benefits / no financial kickbacks for KS. This is their license, not ours, obviously.”
The lower percentage Ritter refers to is the perplexing 5% reduction in royalty payments offered to projects funded through the crowdsourcing platform, all but confirming the rumored OGL 1.1 changes.
Reached for comment by IGN, Wizards of the Coast declined to comment further and pointed toward its statement on D&D Beyond.
Kickstarter was contacted after WoTC decided to make OGL changes, so we felt the best move was to advocate for creators, which we did. Managed to get lower % plus more being discussed. No hidden benefits / no financial kickbacks for KS. This is their license, not ours, obviously. https://t.co/jHwX1JQKXM
— Jon Ritter (@jonritter) January 5, 2023
Now, with details of the draft of OGL 1.1 out in the open, fans and creators alike are sounding the alarm. Pat Mooney, the Lead Designer at Flagbearer Games told IGN, “The most painful part of the new OGL is the clause that gives WotC the right to use any of my content, in perpetuity, royalty-free. I’m planning to Kickstart a sourcebook on the American Revolution in the spring.”
He went on to write, “More than half of my book will be “fluff,” or worldbuilding, history, and other narrative content that has nothing to do with rolling a die. Yet if I publish under the OGL 1.1, by the letter of the agreement, WotC could republish all my writing at their discretion. It’s not right.”
Nerd Immersion, a YouTuber and creator of D&D content through use of OGL, told IGN, “If this continues I could see a rise in popularity of other non-D&D and non-OGL RPGs. I also wouldn’t be surprised if several of the creators who are frustrated by these changes end up designing a new, replacement RPG system…similar to how 4e and the Game System License lead to the creation of Pathfinder using the original OGL.”
Some publishers, like publisher MCDM which makes supplements for D&D, remain optimistic, saying to fans via Twitter, “Regarding the OGL 1.1, MCDM has taken advice from counsel and we don’t think it affects the development of Flee, Mortals! If/when other products are affected, we’ll let the community know.”
Tyler A. Thompson, an attorney who represents games publishers Sad Fishe Games and Prudence Holdings (both of which rely on OGL), wrote in a letter to Wizards that “creators are not going to be bullied,” and that if Wizards would not clarify the planned changes in OGL 1.1, his clients “will be forced to begin preparation for litigation to the fullest extent allowable by law, including to contact major and minor publishers to join in a potential claim against Wizards for anticipatory breach and other claims.”
Time will tell if the leaked draft of OGL 1.1 will see the light of day, as Wizards is apparently “open to being convinced we made a wrong decision.” After all, it wouldn’t be D&D without a DM asking “Are you sure?” before making a choice that completely upends the game.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.
Slay The Spire are a little rarer, though, so I also like that Luck Be A Landlord just left Steam Early Access.It’s about adding symbols to a slot machine, rather than removing monsters from a dungeon. You emerge from each run with sentences less like ‘damn, if only I’d picked more block cards’ and more like ‘damn, if only I hadn’t invested so much in coal and instead focused on feeding milk to my cats’.
Overwatch 2 Kiriko bug that let her teleport while holding the flag in Capture the Flag mode. Bad news! In doing so they seem to have broken the cleanse effect attached to her Swift Step ability, meaning she can no longer purge debuffs. The bug appeared after yesterday’s update and isn’t mentioned in the patch notes, so yep, it’s a bug rather than a balance change. Hopefully she’ll get back to cleansing soon.Jojo Pose.
Anime! Who doesn’t love anime? No one who’s clicking on this list, hopefully, because all these games are anime as heck.
We’ve compiled a list of the very best anime video games on the Nintendo Switch — the games which take the action, charm, and/or personality of popular and beloved anime and manga series and squish it into a video game.
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Hey there — I’m Scott, Design Director at Heart Shaped Games, and I’ve been given the opportunity to share a bit about the unique design process behind our new sci-fi grand strategy RPG, We Are The Caretakers. A lot went into creating the game over its 4+ years in development, but I’d like to focus on how our design team discovered fun and novel new strategy gameplay mechanics from a very unlikely source: the poaching of endangered animals and real-world animal conservation work.
Inspirations and Ideation
I’ve always wanted to make a grand strategy game with a large roster of characters to organize and upgrade, similar to games like Xcom, Darkest Dungeon, or my personal all-time favorite, the classic Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. I had worked on concepts and prototypes in the grand strategy genre for many years prior, but finally found the right time to revisit those designs after our team was approached about making a game about the tracking and management of wildlife poachers.
At first this seemed like an odd topic to build a game around, but after spending time with actual researchers and rangers working in the field to protect endangered animals, we came away inspired. Their incredible work led us down a path of discovery about the realities of human-animal conflicts and animal conservation. Rangers work in small teams, with limited resources, tracking animals and poachers that move in unpredictable patterns across gigantic spaces. That unique management challenge translated into interesting gameplay decisions, and mapped perfectly to the squad-building and large roster management RPGs we loved. We quickly realized we had something innovative and special on our hands and got to work.
Bending Genres and Creating New Gameplay
Our solution to translating that research into a game was to blend a variety of game genres that each emulated an important aspect of protecting wildlife. We designed a Caretaker headquarters where you organize your hundreds of recruited characters into squads, deal with detained poachers, and upgrade your technology before heading out into the field. We created a real-time-with-pause map exploration system, where you deploy your squads to search for poacher activity. And we created a turn-based combat system to resolve meetings between your squads and poacher teams, giving you diplomatic options in addition to traditional JRPG-like abilities.
By giving players actions to take at the macro and micro levels over the course of our 30+ mission campaign, they get to experience what it is like piecing together an organization and that can fight back.
Building a World
While the gameplay design was a long discovery process, we put an equal amount of effort into creating an exciting world and style that matched the gameplay. Art Director Anthony “robotpencil” Jones found inspiration in Afrofuturist works such as Black Panther for the environment and character designs; Composer Jon Parra infused a striking orchestral score with inspirations from rap beats; and Narrative designer Xalavier Nelson, Jr. heightened the real-world stories with the addition of alien close-encounters and a post-apocalyptic planetary redemption story.
Lessons Learned
The biggest lesson learned making We Are The Caretakers was that looking outside of traditional genres and gameplay tropes is the path to new and original ideas. By bringing in collaborators from outside of the games industry and building a diverse development team, we ensured we had a variety of perspectives that could find the right solution and create something exciting and fresh for our players. Working with the team at Heart Shaped Games on We Are The Caretakers has been one of my greatest professional joys, and I hope it shows in the final game you’ll get to play.
We hope you enjoy We Are The Caretakers as much as we do. It’s available for pre-order today and launches on Friday, January 6th! Your purchase also supports the folks that inspired the game, with 10% of net revenue from the game being given to Wildlife Conservation Network’s Rhino Recovery Fund.
Heart Shaped Games LLC
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Anyone in the market for a wireless VR headset should look first at the Meta Quest 2. It hits a nice sweet spot in terms of price, quality, and the availability of games and apps. For a limited time, between now and January 19, if you buy a Meta Quest 2, you’ll get an Elite Strap thrown in for free (see it at Amazon). Those usually cost $59.99, so it’s a nice value proposition.
The Elite Strap is an add-on that helps make using the Meta Quest 2 more comfortable. The standard Quest 2 uses fabric straps, so the headset feels a little front-weighted and possibly looser. The Elite Strap has plastic straps to hold it in place, plus a flexible rear brace that makes it stay more securely in place. It offers better balance for the device as well, and it has a wheel you can twist to tighten the headset on your head.
As for the current VR market, I’d say the Meta Quest 2 is still the best bet for most people. It’s cheaper than the upcoming PSVR 2, and you don’t need to connect it to a PS5 to run it. It’s way cheaper than the upcoming HTC Vive XR Elite. If you want to run more impressive games than the Quest 2’s hardware allows, like Half Life: Alyx, you can connect it to a gaming PC and use it like a regular VR headset. It’s super versatile, comfortable, and priced a lot lower than most of its competition. You can check out our initial Meta Quest 2 review for more details.
The only real bummer is that the previous Meta Quest 2 promotions have ended. Over the holiday season, you could pick one up for $349.99 and it came with Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4. That promo is over, so there’s no longer a pack-in game. But getting a free Elite Strap is a good deal for anyone who missed out on the previous promo.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
Team Fortress 2 voice actors, who continue to enrich the internet with their nonsense. We’ve seen them lark about on a ferry. We’ve seen them confuse bakery staff, and amuse the guy behind a counter at a convenience store. Now, we get to see them perform an ABBA parody celebrating sandwiches. The Sniper plays banjo, and the Pyro’s contributions are soul warming. Enjoy.
