It’s been a busy old week in the Video Game Reviews world. Many headlines over the past seven days have been dominated by games that are technically 30 years old as Sega finally revealed more information about Sonic Origins. The creators of the blue spot have already hit us with a healthy dose of nostalgia even before the release of the trailer, and also showed that this will be the revival of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.
Elsewhere
Elsewhere, Square Enix has revealed that it is still a long way from making Marvel’s Avengers a success, and the upcoming game’s release date has actually been pushed back rather than rescheduled. What a novelty. More on all of this and some of the other biggest stories from the world of video games below.
My guess is that most gamer parents have been yelling at their kids to stop playing games and go to the people. Their children seem completely isolated, sitting all alone staring blankly at the screen for hours.
Children need to talk to each other, have conversations, go out into the world. This is how friends are made, parents say. They fondly remember long phone calls, learning a job together, participating in sports, or playing Monopoly together during a sleepover.urbanlymodern.com/
For well-meaning parents, video games often seem like a waste of time; waste of childhood. The games they grew up with didn’t have controllers, keyboards, screens, or headphones.
In this case, the key is the headset. Although the players are physically isolated, they spend time with friends in the same way that people talk to each other on the phone. 77% of boys play online video games with friends at least once a month.
I often hear parents say that video games are not considered healthy communication; their kids don’t talk about anything real when they play, they just talk about the game or yell at each other.
What are gamers talking about?
Two researchers studied this precisely in 2006. They studied over 5,800 messages sent during an online multiplayer game and tested whether those messages were social-emotional or task-oriented.
Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio Reboot
Sega isn’t just about Sonic, but you’d be forgiven for thinking the hedgehog is by far the company’s most popular creation. There’s also no doubt that Sonic is at his best when Sega returns to its roots, hence the Origins hype. It looks like the studio wants to capitalize on that nostalgia, as Bloomberg reported this week that it’s working on reboots of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. A revival of Crazy Taxi was reportedly in development last year. It’s been eight years since the last Crazy Taxi game came out and over 20 years since Sega gave us the Jet Set Radio name.
Skate 4 testing has begun
Skate 4 is really happening and development is in full swing. This was confirmed this week when playtesting was leaked online followed by actual alpha footage. This naturally pissed off EA a bit, as those who are working on the game definitely don’t want the world to see it at such an incredibly early stage. Despite EA’s best efforts to wipe the footage from the face of the earth, it was too late, and now almost everyone who wants to see it has seen it. The footage is clearly very rough and none of it should be taken as how the game will look when it’s finished. However, it’s good to know that there is progress in the game and it will be here in the near or distant future.
God Of War Ragnarok Still Getting Ready For 2022
After an incredibly busy start to the year, we have officially reached the 2022 dry season. The gap between the active start and the beginning of the holiday season, when video game launches are very rare. That said, there’s still a lot to look forward to in 2022, and despite the worrying lack of updates, we’ll apparently still get more God of War before 2023. Ragnarok director Corey Barlog provided an update on the sequel to mark its fourth anniversary. the launch of the first game, showing that the developers are hard at work, and once something is ready, it will be revealed. Promising, but until the game is in my hands, be it digital or physical, I’m skeptical about it coming before the end of the year.
