Hello and welcome, fellow viewers and readers new and old. This is me again, your Kakuchopurei content director Jonathan “Mr Toffee” Leo with this week’s video game and pop culture recap.
This week, we had a ton of updates and news coming in at the last second. The recent PlayStation State of Play really brought in the heavy hitters and a number of noteworthy indie classics. The week of 28th May to 3rd June also brought in some major esports news and updates.
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Video Games: What We’ve Done
PlayStation’s State of Play June 2022 livestream dropped major news for two big titles: Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy 16. We have videos talking about the two games in great detail below.
Speaking of fighting games, we also have the full roster list of the upcoming Street Fighter 6, including characters who weren’t announced yet. These include past characters like Cammy and Rashid, as well as new fighters like MMA juggernaut Mary Za, French martial artist Mimi, and tiny New Mexico Native American girl Lily who bears two war clubs. The game will be out for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as for PC.
We talked about the new Blizzard mobile action RPG title Diablo Immortal and whether its free-to-play microtransaction systems are fair or not.
We also teamed up with Malaysian radio station BFM to talk about May’s big video game news, ranging from Blizzard’s race tier algorithm tool to our playtesting of the upcoming Two Point Campus.
Games Workshop has announced a slew of Warhammer 40K titles. These range from an old-school 90s-style shooter called Warhammer 40K Boltgun to a computer RPG title named Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. It’s truly a happy day for fans of the old-school scifi franchise that’s obviously influenced by James Cameron’s past works.
The latest Genshin Impact update, dubbed 2.7, adds in a new story quest for the new character Yelan and a new event quest involving the mysterious Chasm. We have a couple of videos and a big guide to help you out if you’re stuck.
Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto has retired from the company after 27 years of service. He started out as an artist for the company in the early 90s for Final Fantasy VII and other projects, but his talent has always been being the frontman for the company. He’s usually the first on the frontlines when promoting Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts, Front Mission, and all other manners of Square Enix titles.
Making games is tough, but promoting it before its major release and being out there talking to the media while using your people skills to the fullest is equally difficult and taxing. Props to Shinji Hashimoto for his hard work being out there for his company.
Nintendo also revealed new information about its upcoming RPG Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, featuring new gameplay, two new professors who can mentor you, and some new Pokemon to add to your future collection. The game will be out on Nintendo Switch on 18th November. With this game, Splatoon 3, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 coming out this year, Nintendo may take home the trophy for “Best Big Blockbuster Releases From First Party Game Company Of 2022”.
Mobile Legends creators Moonton Games are working together and partnering with Malaysia’s Ministry of Youth and Esports (KBS) and Esports Integrated (ESI) to further developer esports in the region. This is leading up to the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup 2022 (MSC 2022) which is slated for 15th to 19th June in Malaysia’s MITEC expo building.
It’s a great month to be a MOBA fan, in other words.
Pop Culture: What We’ve Done
Our own Comicslord interviewed Bisha K. Ali, the showrunner for the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show Ms. Marvel. The show is about a Muslim American teenager who grew up in Jersey City and somehow got cosmic superpowers.
The comic book series it’s based on is pretty neat and showcases a cool and cute side of superheroes in the Marvel universe; this TV show will stick true to its roots.
Stuff We’ve Read & Watched
GQ just published a video feature about Seth MacFarlane, who is mostly known for the Family Guy series and sci-fi show The Orville. But many people did not know that he was instrumental in working on many, many Cartoon Network/Hanna-Barbera shows like Johnny Bravo and Cow & Chicken. It goes to show that you’ll go far in stardom if you still keep touch with your roots and occasionally poke fun at yourself for the joy of others.
An ex-colleague of mine back at GameSpot, Brendan Sinclair, has written a Games Industry.biz retrospective about the 38 Studios fiasco 10 years ago involving major baseball player Curt Schilling, his hubris, and Rhode Island. It’s quite a read about how mismanagement and big promises can lead to a huge debt and a company dying under its own ambition. The sad part about this is that the studio’s sole game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, is a really fun action RPG that still holds up to this day.
What We’ve Been Playing
I’ve played a pretty awesome indie game that’s sure to be one of 2022’s dark horse titles: Souldiers from Retro Forge and Dear Villagers.
Souldiers is a 2D search action game featuring 3 classes with different playstyles, awesome pixel artwork, about 30 hours or so of gameplay, and a ton of challenging levels and boss fights that will test your skills. I’m not sure who said 2022 is lacking in new games, because with this and Anno: Mutationem, as well as a few upcoming 2D indie titles, the space is ripe for a plethora of 2D action games this year.
If you want the kind of game that makes you suffer and enjoy it, all the while making you a better player over time from constant deaths in a 2D world, consider enlisting Souldiers and its fantasy trappings.
We’ve also played about 10 hours of Diablo Immortal. Like we said above, the game’s microtransactions may seem like it’s on the sketchy side. However, Diablo Immortal is a fun mobile action RPG title where you play any one of the 5 classes and just explore tons of dungeons with monsters, demons, and giant devil bosses that match the bloody Diablo-style that’s set since 1996.
All in all, good short-burst fun that you can bring out in public and you don’t need to pay a cent unless you want special costumes or better drop rates for the game’s endgame challenges.
That’s all for this week of our gaming news recap feature and what we’ve been up to for the week of 28 May-3 July 2022. Catch you next time, readers new and old. As always, do check out our awesome content on kakuchopurei.com and on our YouTube website. We post new content every day and every week!
