There have been rumours circulating for some time now about Crash Bandicoot getting a new multiplayer game, and it seems a reveal might finally be on the way.
Activision has been sending out pizza box-shaped packages to influencers such as YouTuber “Canadian Guy Eh” to announce the release of Crash Bandicoot 4 It’s About Time on Steam this month and there’s the following line attached at the bottom of a fake receipt:
“Hungry for more? Try out our new Wumpa Pizza for $12.08!”
Image: via “Canadian Guy Eh” on YouTube
As you might recall, “Wumpa League” is the game that has been previously rumoured, and has also been described by some sources as something similar to a “four-player brawler almost, but Crash orientated”. As for the price on the pizza box, those numbers match up with the date of The Game Awards, which will be taking place on 8th December.
Do you think we might finally be getting a new Crash Bandicoot game? Leave a comment below.
Yesterday, the studio behind the Nintendo Switch port of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lordsannounced that it’s finally fixed a game-breaking bug that had previously rendered the game impossible to finish.
Previously, those who bought the port of the Obsidian Star Wars RPG were forced to cheat their way past game-crashing cutscenes. This was resolved via an in-game cheat menu, but it was still a band-aid solution at best. Kotaku attempted to use this method to skip past a game-breaking cutscene at the end of a late game questline, but boarding the ship would just cause the game to crash again. But rejoice: the buggy cutscenes have finally been fixed. Sort of.
After updating the game, I was finally able to play the previously problematic cutscenes without being ejected to my Switch home screen. There’s one caveat though. KOTOR 2 has a special ability that increases your movement speed, and it’s indispensable for a game that forces you to traverse quite a bit of empty space. The trade off is that the game forces a blurry filter over your screen while the skill is active. The new patch may have fixed the cutscenes, but it makes it so that these blurry filters carry over to said cutscenes. So you get gross looking screenshots like this:
Screenshot: Aspyr / Obsidian / Kotaku
KOTOR 2 has a lot of cinematic scenes that automatically play when you cross an invisible boundary, so you can’t really turn off the filter manually when they start playing. The blurriness stops after the skill duration has elapsed, but it has arguably made my experience a little bit worse. But hey, at least I can get around to other planets now!
Did Aspyr knowingly release an unfinishable game? Yes. Am I annoyed? Also yes. But I recognize that the vanilla version of KOTOR 2 was also released in a broken and buggy state. Maybe it’s one of those games that’s always doomed to imperfection. In any case, I recommend keeping multiple save backups just in case more horrible bugs await you at the very end of the game.
Stolar pictured during the Dreamcast’s launchPhoto: Associated Press (AP)
Bernie Stolar, one of the most important video game executives of the 1990s, has passed away at the age of 75, GamesBeatreports.
Stolar began working in the video game business in 1980, first founding a coin-op company before moving to Atari, where he did everything from working on their arcade games to their later home console efforts to, of all things, leading development on the Lynx, Atari’s infamously enormous handheld device.
He then moved to Sony where he helped found the American division of the company’s PlayStation brand, serving as the company’s first executive vice president. While at Sony his biggest achievement was lining up a number of studios and properties for the PlayStation’s early library of games—forming relationships that in many cases endure in 2022—including Ridge Racer, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro.
After the PlayStation’s launch Stolar moved to rivals Sega, where he did not mess around. As GamesBeatremembers:
“When I got to Sega I immediately said, ‘We have to kill Saturn. We have to stop Saturn and start building the new technology.’ That’s what I did. I brought in a new team of people and cleaned house. There were 300-some-odd employees and I took the company down to 90 employees to start rebuilding,” Stolar said.
While with Sega Stolar made another visionary long-term signing, buying a studio called Visual Concepts who would go on to become 2K Sports, and who continue to release the NBA 2K series to this day.
Stolar’s post-90s career was marked by spells at Mattel (where he pushed the company to double down on the production of Barbie video games) and Google, where he served as the company’s first ever “Games Evangelist”, a position he tried to use to champion the idea of a streaming game service, something the company waved off at the time and then…would revisit a decade later, long after Stolar had left, before completely screwing it up.
The Call of Duty machine can never stop. It must endlessly push forward, through lawsuits, controversies, and layoffs. To stop would mean…well, we don’t know, because it never has. And to help keep the machine going, Activision now has over 3,000 human souls working tirelessly on the publisher’s biggest and most successful video game franchise.
As spotted by TweakTown in Activision’s annual report to investors, the publisher explains that more than 3,000 people are now working on the popular military shooter franchise. This represents about 31% of its total currently employed staff of approximately 9,800. Even wilder, this means that close to half of the roughly 6,800 devs currently working for Activision are being used to keep the Call of Duty machine running. So many bodies sacrificed to the altar of hit markers and gun skins.
It’s not surprising to hear Activision is throwing this many people at Call of Duty. The franchise has remained one of its few reliably successful games, regularly selling millions of copies every year and bringing in billions of dollars. Last year, the publisher even moved its Toys For Bob studio away from developing Crash Bandicoot games to turn it into yet another support studio for Call of Duty Warzone. As of that change, seemingly every studio owned by Activision is, in some capacity, developing Call of Duty content or supporting Warzone-related projects.
In the same annual report, Activision says it’s “working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history” and that it hopes a return to the super-popular Modern Warfare series will help it recover from last year’s slump with Call of Duty Vanguard. That entry underperformed according to Activision, a rare example of the machine stalling. Activision blamed the WW2 setting of Vanguard for its less-than-stellar sales, which is an odd excuse that seems to ignore the other big incident that happened last year.
Kotaku reached out to Activision but didn’t hear back before publication.
Read More:Now New York City Is Suing Activision Blizzard
Last July, allegations of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at the company became public following an investigation and lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Call of Duty: Vanguard wasn’t officially revealed until August, much later in the year than usual for the series, and the response from players and critics was more subdued than in the past, in large part because many weren’t sure how to respond to the next big promotional campaign and video game released by a company accused of years of worker mistreatment.
Then, late last year, shortly after Vanguard was released, The Wall Street Journal published a report directly implicating a Call of Duty executive in alleged misconduct at the company. All of this did enough damage to the company to hurt its value and allow Microsoft to swoop in and begin the process of buying up the publisher.
So it seems more than ever, Activision needs the Call of Duty machine to keep on running, even if it has to throw everyone and their family at the machine to do it. Call of Duty can’t stop.
Like many other video game icons this year, Crash Bandicoot is also celebrating a major anniversary. Believe it or not, but the former PlayStation mascot has now been around for 25 years.
If you’ve been interested in some of his newer releases recently, but haven’t been willing to fork out the higher prices for these offerings, now might be the perfect time to jump into the universe of Crash and co.
Activision is offering a special anniversary bundle including Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (featuring the first three Crash Bandicoot games) and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
This bundle is available on the North American eShop for the sale price of $59.99 (normally $99.99) and in the UK it’s going for £57.59 instead of £95.99. Those are some huge savings compared to buying all three games separately.
There’s also a special Quadrilogy bundle containing Crash 4 and the N. Sane Trilogy for $41.99 / £41.99 (normally $69.99 / £69.99). This sale ends on 27th July, so be sure to make use of this offer while you can. Will you celebrate the Crash Bandicoot anniversary with this special bundle offer? Leave a comment down below.
A new Monster Hunter game is out this week on Switch and PC. What is Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin? I have no idea. But it’s out this week!
I’m almost positive I’ve written these words before, but here we go (again). I’d like to get into Monster Hunter, it looks cool and fun. People seem to enjoy it a lot and I know folks who have a blast playing it. But I’ve tried like three times now to play a Monster Hunter game and I bounce off them so fast it gives me whiplash. So I will continue to sit on the sidelines, watching, taking some notes and trying to wrap my head around all this MonHun stuff.
Besides Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, other stuff is coming out this week too. Check out the full list below:
Monday, July 5
Rubix Roller | Switch
My Little Fruit Juice Booth | Switch
Tuesday, July 6
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox | Switch, PC
A Plague Tale: Innocence | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
The Silver Case 2425| Switch
The Sisters – Party of the Year | Switch
Wednesday, July 7
Out of Line | Switch
Walden, A Game | Xbox One
Blitz Breaker | Switch
Marbles Rush | Switch
Ruvato: Original Complex | Switch
Thursday, July 8
Crash Drive 3 | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Monster Harvest | PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Heart of the Woods | Switch
Boomerang X | Switch, PC
Woodcutter | Switch
Indigo 7 Quest for Love | Switch
ARIA CHRONICLE | Switch
My Maite | Switch
Infinite Golf 2 | Switch
Masagoro | Switch
Monument | Switch
Beauty Bounce | Switch
Friday, July 9
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin | Switch, PC
Gonna tell my kids this was Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash.”Screenshot: King.com
Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, out today for iOS and Android, is a game in which Crash Bandicoot runs through narrow corridors breaking boxes and collecting Wumpa Fruit, just like every other Crash Bandicoot game. As mobile spin-offs go, it’s pretty on the nose.
Looking at the landscape screenshots developer King.com of Candy Crush fame provided for the game’s launch despite my phone only playing it in portrait mode, one could easily mistake On The Run for a Crash console joint. The game looks great. Crash does his signature spin move to bash enemies and break things. The difference is this game is a three-lane auto-runner, so you don’t have to tell Crash or his sister Coco to go forward. They just do it.
Crash Bandicoot: On The Run is not, however, an endless runner. Crash and Coco run through finite levels to take out a boss at the end, generally by dodging the obstacles they throw while getting close enough to douse them with various crafted concoctions. Clearing four sub-bosses allows the bandicoot siblings to take on a mildly tougher boss, after which a new set of baddies unlocks.
He’s so happy. Screenshot: King.com
The free-to-play catch in Crash Bandicoot: On The Run is that battling bosses requires the aforementioned concoctions be crafted. Crafting takes materials, which are harvested through special gathering levels. Once materials are gathered you can craft the potions and whatnot needed to fight bosses, but there’s a timer (boo) that can be sped-up with in-game currency. You can gather all you want, but to progress through the game you’ll need to craft the random things. In-game currency can also be used to purchase skins, buy potion reagents, or buy extra tickets to participate in the game’s asynchronous multiplayer, which pits you against a pair of AI-controlled opponents to see who survives the longest.
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Missions, groups, and microtransactions. Screenshot: King.com / Kotaku
There’s a lot of mobile free-to-play fluff going on, but Crash Bandicoot: On The Run balances all of that nonsense with a sense of fun and silliness that’s signature Crash. Once I’m deeper into the game I can imagine those timers getting pretty damn annoying, but for now it’s nice to have that wacky bandicoot in my pocket.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s next DLC character could be a fan-favorite, or at least that’s what a somewhat convincing fan theory suggests. If you ask any Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite what character they want to see added to the platform fighter next, there’s a good chance you’ll hear names like Sora, Geno, Waluigi, Lloyd, Master Chief, Doomguy, Jonesy, and Crash Bandicoot, who, other than maybe Sora, is the most in-demand DLC character. That said, according to a new theory, the former PlayStation icon is coming to the game next.
The theory begins with the announcement that Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is coming to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite — and other platforms — next month on March 12. From here, the theory merges with the long-running “Amiibo Theory,” a well-established Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC theory.
According to the Amiibo Theory, at least currently, the next fighter will be out by the end of March as the next wave of amiibo is scheduled to release towards the end of the month. In other words, the Amiibo Theory and the release of Crash 4 on Switch and Switch Lite seems to lineup too nicely, at least for some Nintendo fans.
However, the theory doesn’t end there. It also digs up an old Activision leak, which made note of plans to revive Crash Bandicoot. And the cap to this was to bring Crash to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Making this part even more interesting is a new report that claims Activision may be done with the franchise for a little bit. Again, the timing of this, the Activision leak, and everything above is certainly interesting.
>March 12 >Amiibo theory puts that another Fighter will be out by the end of March >Activision “leak” specifies cross collaboration with Smash is the final step with the Crash revival 🤔🤔🤔 could it finally be happening boys?
— handsome dan (@handsomeddan) February 9, 2021
All of that said, right now, this is just a theory. Further, while it makes a convincing case, so have many other Super Smash Bros. Ultimate theories over the years, almost all of which didn’t come true. In other words, take everything here with a grain of salt.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available via the Switch and the Switch Lite. For more coverage on the best-selling and critically-acclaimed platform fighter, click here.
