It’s Friday. Finally! There’s a ton of stuff going on right now, both in the world and in the gaming industry. And the ongoing Steam Summer Sale has so much stuff on my wishlist discounted that I’m actually at a loss at what to get. First world problems.

Square Enix to announce new games in July and August

At E3 2020 Square Enix was expected to announce…stuff. Unfortunately, COVID-19 happened, E3 was cancelled and it turned into this haphazard list of random online announcement streams.

Still, it’s not like we didn’t get our dose of Squeenix: they did manage to announce Project Athia (bleh) and a new Kingdom Hearts rhythm game.

IGN mentions possible announcements being FFXVI and the next entry in FFVII Remake. I think we’re still a bit early for FFXVI though (try again in five years) – how about the next Deus Ex?

Source: IGN

Disco Elysium to become a TV series? In the works, reports Variety

I read Variety’s headline with some trepidation: ‘Disco Elysium’ TV Series Adaptation in the Works From ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Producer (EXCLUSIVE)

Okay, first off: Disco Elysium is a fantastic game if you liked the non-combat parts of Fallout 1 and 2. It’s one of few games I’ve played where you can completely tune your character’s personality and world-view to a microscopic level. It’s role-playing at its finest.

But while Disco Elysium is well-known for extensive dialogue and world-building – let’s be honest, the game is basically a pool that’s thirty feet deep and five feet wide. There’s just not enough meaty elements.

And the guy in charge of Sonic the Hedgehog is the producer? What’s next, let’s hire M. Night Shyamalan to write the story?

Anyway, the official news is that Disco Elysium’s developers ZA/UM partnered with dj2 Entertainment, a company who seems to be dead-set on bringing games to the big screen (or at least a TV screen). Along with Disco Elysium, they’ve got adaptations of Life is Strange (noooooo), Vampyr, We Happy Few and Sleeping Dogs in the pipeline.

Museum of Other Realities VR immersive art showcase free during the Steam Summer Sale

As if the Steam Summer Sale wasn’t already keeping you busy deciding what to buy, VR owners currently have free access to the Museum of Other Realities, “an immersive art showcase” that’s curated by Cannes XR Virtual. There are some real wild ‘n wacky art installations here, and best of all, the museum supports online multiplayer and the Valve Index controllers.

Two Ubisoft executives suspended following an investigation into misconduct

There’s been some dirty laundry being aired in the past couple of days on Twitter, with allegations of misconduct being thrown around some big companies such as Ubisoft and Twitch.

A few days ago, Ubisoft launched an internal investigation that resulted today in the suspension of two execs (Tommy François, Maxime Béland) and several other employees. François and Béland “faced at least three claims of misconduct among a flurry of Twitter posts from named and anonymous accusers”.

Just two days ago, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla director Ashraf Ismail stepped away from the company to focus on “personal issues” following allegations of impropriety.

Source: Bloomberg

How Hideo Kojima is currently designing a new game with Yoji Shinkawa

I thought this was a fun tweet from Hideo Kojima, describing his game design process with fellow Kojima Productions character designer Yoji Shinkawa:

Here’s my way of designing new title w/Yoji. 1st we discuss the setting for each character, the background, the world, the color, the characteristics, the roles, the images, ideas and keyword going back&forth via E-mail. WFH & 20 mins direct discussion. Mostly texting via iPhone. pic.twitter.com/XCYpFwsQ6U

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 26, 2020