Game Bytes: Capcom, Pokémon, Elden Ring, And Devs Aiding Ukraine
This week is starting with a big win for gamers as many beloved franchises got surprise announcements. Street Fighter and Pokémon dominated the news this week, and Elden Ring had a great opening week.
Capcom launched a mysterious website with a countdown timer and not much more information, and we finally know what that countdown was for — Street Fighter 6. A teaser trailer shows a very shredded-looking Ryu preparing to fight Luke, the last DLC character from Street Fighter V who seems to be also sporting a bigger physique. As of yet, Capcom has not announced platforms or a release date, but we did get a new logo for the franchise and more news is expected in summer. Capcom also announced a new collection of retro games that will be released on June 24th on all consoles, entitled Capcom Fighting Collection. That collection includes five Darkstalkers games, some of which have never been released outside Japan.
Elden Ring was released this week and has been getting 10/10 ratings from many game review sites and fans alike. Many already are declaring it a game of the year contender but we still have some time before the Game Awards. Developer From Software’s new open world action-adventure RPG has peaked at 672,351 active players on just its first day, according to Steam.
The Pokémon Company celebrated its 25th anniversary this Sunday and did so with a week’s worth of game news and a Pokémon Presents event. The biggest news came Sunday at the end of the event with a look into the next generation of Pokémon, Gen 9 which will be called Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. We got a look at the three starter pokémon as well, Sprigatito (grass cat), Fuecoco (fire croc), and Quaxly (water duckling). The trailer started with a live-action segment, showing a security guard getting spooked by a strange glowing light. It then transitioned to in-game footage of the new region, which is based off Spain and Portugal, with lots of overhead shots of the world and wild pokémon roaming about. The region looks like it has a variety of environments, from grassy plains to villages with palm trees. The official announcement notes that this new region has various towns without borders for a truly open world game. The Pokémon Presents celebrating Pokémon Day also showed off new updates for Pokémon GO with the inclusion of Alolan pokémon; a Pokémon Legends: Arceus update that adds more story; Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl DLC, Pokémon Unite welcoming the new character Hoopa; and even Pokémon Masters EX getting new gameplay.
On a different note, due to the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, many game developers are raising donations to help fund Ukrainian support and relief efforts. Polish This War of Mine developer 11 bit studios is donating all proceeds from sales of the anti-war game over the next week to the Ukrainian Red Cross. Joining in and also donating themselves is Poland-based developer CD Projekt Red, creators of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, and Destiny developer Bungie whose studio pledged to donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the first 48 hours of its Game2Give charity drive to humanitarian aid organizations helping Ukraine.
This week we have a few games releasing. March is going to be much more stocked with games at the end of the month then at the beginning. On the first of the month a few games are releasing, including Elex II (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), Far: Changing Tides (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC), Puzzle Quest 3 (PC, iOS, Android) and Shadow Warrior 3 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC). On the 3rd we have Babylon’s Fall (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC) and Gran Turismo 7 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4) both releasing with, Triangle Strategy (Switch) closing out our week of game releases on the 4th.
Let us know what games you are looking forward to in the comments below and remember to follow us on YouTube and Twitch and all other social platforms for up to the minute news on all things nerdy.
