It's beginning. The dam is starting to break and the holiday game releases are either coming or getting pushed back to 2022. Welcome back to the WIRED Games newsletter, by the way! I'm drowning in games I need to play (for critical reasons, of course!)—if there's anything you'd like us to take a look at particularly or you have any questions about the fall's biggest releases, let us know at games@wired.com and we'll try to answer them for you! So let's get started, shall we? First out of the gate, let's talk about FIFA. For many gamers, FIFA games exist, but they don't know anything about them, much less anyone who buys them. But the franchise brings in a ton of money for publisher Electronic Arts, and by "a ton" I mean it's a $20 billion (with a b) franchise. Essentially, EA and FIFA (the international soccer association) are at odds with each other over the license for "FIFA" on their soccer games. Cecilia D'Anastasio has the whole story and explains that EA says they're ready to leave the table and make a more generic soccer game without FIFA's approval. It's a great story of how even in a world of big budget military shooters and open-world exploration games, there's an entire side of the games industry that often isn't discussed. Speaking of games that have their fans, let's talk about an old-school classic: SSX. The PS2-era snowboarding game is a bit of a cult classic, and this week Paige Lyman is asking the question: With all the remakes we've been getting, why not a remake of SSX? Fans have been waiting a long time for a return to what made the franchise fun, and now's a great time to pick it back up. Riders Republic has managed to capture some of that joy, I'll have to admit, so until we get the SSX remake we all want, consider picking that up. Since we're already back in time, let's turn to Michael Seidlinger's feature this week, all about a truly legendary game developer, Kenji Eno, who passed away in 2013. But the story is a little less about his life, exactly, although it's definitely about how his visionary approach to cinematic storytelling and game design made him a forerunner in his time and an artist whose impact is still seen in game design today. If you've ever bought a game and gotten something for free or jumped in line to grab a limited edition, Eno's the man you should thank. Let's swing back to the present a bit and talk about one of my favorite topics: video game music! It shouldn't be a surprise that today's composers and musicians grew up playing video games and the music they heard in those games has influenced their sensibilities, but it might be a surprise that the influence I'm talking about has extended to classical music, traditionally considered very stodgy and conservative by musical standards. But, as Mat Ombler explains, the opposite is true. Game music is bringing in a whole new generation of classical music fans, and classical music fans are learning to appreciate the beauty of game soundtracks and scores. I love this for all of us. Next up, in his first piece for WIRED Games, writer Daniel Dockery explores why it's been so hard to get good video games based on popular anime series, movies, or manga—that is, until Dragon Ball FighterZ. So many anime-based games seem to lose the elements that made their source material so engaging and fun, but it just made sense to make a fun, cinematic-but-also-cartoonish fighting game based on the classic anime about superpowered characters fighting each other. Developer Bandai Namco leaned in and turned out a wonderful game. Finally, from my pal and colleague Eric Ravenscraft, a fun story for those of us looking for more co-op in our lives. If you're looking for a game you can play on the couch while your friend sits at her PC to game, or maybe you're the PC gamer in the squad and all of your friends are console gamers, here are the best crossplay games for console and PC. Now there's no excuse not to squad up with your pal that scored a PS5. You just have to deal with listening to him talk about how awesome his PS5 is, and uh ... can't help you there. Now then, remember operators are standing by at games@wired.com if you want to reach out, offer feedback, or just want to say hi. We'll see you over on our Twitch channel, and I'll see you next week. |
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