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Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II of England. 96-years-old is a heckuva run. Just to give some context, the Magnavox Odyssey came out when she was 46 years old. She’d already been queen for 20 years. The entire industry that props up both my professional and personal life was still in its pre-adolescence when Queen Elizabeth became a grandmother. That timeline just . . . boggles the mind.
I’m actually not in the office today, but I felt that the above bit of trivia was worth coming in for a Kaser Focus. Since I’m here, I’ll tell you all what I’ve been up to during my day off. I played a bit more of Saints Row, and I’m honestly not getting a taste for it. The main supporting cast, if not the Boss themself, are whiners. I failed to warm up to them because it felt like all they did from the start was complain. And the potential for satire of the modern millennial/zoomer experience is lost because the writing rings inauthentic. It feels — and this might not seem harsh, but it’s a death knell for a Saints Row game — a little basic.
In terms of news, PlayStation and Xbox seem to be taking their spat over Call of Duty public. After Phil Spencer said last week that Microsoft had gone out of its way to keep the series available to PlayStation gamers, now Jim Ryan is firing back. He says Microsoft’s actual offer was “inadequate on many levels” and cast some shade with, “I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum.” I’m curious to see how this resolves, if only to hear a bit more back-and-forth between these two.
For those of you who don’t know this, I’m a big (if a embittered) Assassin’s Creed fan, so I’ll be around for the Ubisoft show tomorrow. I’ll be curious to see how much they show of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the next title in the series. I’ll probably dip into Splatoon 3 a little bit, and maybe even that new Disney Dreamlight Valley game, if there’s time.
What to play this week
What’s new:
- Splatoon 3
- NBA 2K23
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
- Train Sim World 3
- Steelrising
- Shatterline
- Gloomwood
New on subscription services:
- Opus Magnum (Xbox Game Pass)
- Need for Speed Heat (PlayStation Plus Essential)
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus (PlayStation Plus Essential)
- Toem (PlayStation Plus Essential)
- Realm Royale Reforged (GeForce Now)
- Broken Pieces (GeForce Now)
- Horizon Chase 2 (Apple Arcade)
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