Elden Ring Sells 12 Million Units, EA Cancels EA Play Live, Xbox's The Initiative studio loses more core staff, and Resident Evil Returns on Netflix!

A action packed week as EA announces changes to their Play Live events, FromSoftware shocks the global video game industry with Elden Ring's success, Square Enix seems be preparing for an old ground-breaking franchise, and bad news for Xbox's The Initiative Studio.

🕹️ The Console War Rages On

1. Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Concert to be held on 11th August, 2022. It will be a free concert and will be lived streamed at Kirby's YouTube channel. (Source)
2. Square Enix has pushed a patch for Chrono Trigger on PC. It is the first patch since August 2018, for this game. Rumors have begun floating around that this could indicate ports to other systems or even additional Chrono games, as Chrono Cross is set for release soon. (Source)
3. Monster Hunter: Rise announces their new expansion "Sunbreak", due out 30th June, 2022. They also showed off a physical Collectors Edition, which includes a steel-book case, a sticker pack, and an Amiibo. The expansion sees new cosmetics, more quests, and three new lords to battle. (Digital Event VOD)
4. VGC reported that as much as half of the core development team from Xbox's The Initiative studio has quit during the last year. This is the team responsible for the upcoming Perfect Dark Reboot. The past year saw Dan Neuburger (Game Director), Drew Murray (Design Director), Chris O'Neill (Lead Level Designer), Jolyon Myers (Principal World Builder), multiple system designers, and a collection of former God of War designers. It has since come to light that the game's two senior most writers also quit, as did the technical director, art director, game play engineer, lead animator, and much more. (Source)
5. EA has cancelled its "EA Play Live" event. A representative for EA clarified stating that they would reveal more projects when the time is right for each. The representative indicated that this will occur throughout the year instead of at one event. (Source)
6. FromSoftware has issued a press release detailing the number of units of Elden Ring sold. It stands at 1 million units in Japan, and 12 million units across the globe. The press release also includes a couple messages from the CEO of FromSoftware, Inc. Hidetaka Miyazaki, and CEO of BANDAI NAMCO Yasuo Miyakawa. (Press Release)
7. The Resident Evil Netflix series now has its official release date of 14th July, 2022. Production is being handled by the same group who produced Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil films. (Source)
8. The saga of Grand Turismo 7 continues as a recent patch (1.07) was released reducing much of the payouts for winning races. The game already was considered to be very grind intensive as some cars costed up to and over 2,000,000 million in-game credits to purchase. The game launched with micro-transactions where 2,000,000 million credits were available to buy from the cash shop for 19.99 USD. With some special event cars costing 4,000,000 million credits - which would be 40 USD. On a game which already costs 70 USD to purchase. (Source)

✨ Going to Events Spiritually

1. Xbox had their ID@Xbox Indie showcase this week on 16th March, 2022. (VOD)
2. The first wave of the Mario Kart 8 Booster Course Pass is out now. Featuring eight new tracks across Tour, GBA, 3DS, DS, and Wii games. (Source)
3. Nintendo Switch Online gets an update with new Sega Genesis games - Light Crusader, Super Fantasy Zone, and Alien Solider. The Update is live.
4. Sony showed off Hogwarts Legacy at their State of Play this week. (VOD)

🎮 Where's My Controller?

1. I did manage to get up to 10 hours completed in Monster Hunter Rise, and wow, easily one of the best games I've played in a while, but unfortunately I don't have the money to buy the game. So for now I'll return to my backlog.

🎵 Turn it up to 11!

1. Tim Follin delivered an absolute gut-puncher with the soundtrack for the 1990 release, Solstice. Here is the title theme song which is amazing. (YouTube)

📝I don't know what a pen looks like.

1. Not only did I release the River City Girls written review, which you can read here, but I also managed to finish the thirty-two minute long video essay, which you view here on my YouTube Channel. Please take a look at it and enjoy it.
2. I've begun written my Cyberpunk 2077 piece, which should hopefully go up at some point.

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