Welcome to the Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind for November 14, 2020 where we cover stories and events that we missed over the past week.
This past week console gamers saw the release of the Xbox Series X and S along with the PlayStation 5, if they could get their hands on one of these next-gen beasts. With these new consoles comes new game releases. The Falconeer, or what was almost The Dragoneer, soared onto the Xbox Series X. Shark infested waters are everywhere as Maneater, already out on PC, is now out for both console releases. Lastly, Epic Games hits Apple with a one-two punch as two counterclaims are tossed.
Here is a quick recap of a few stories Nano Gaming News covered over the previous week. This coming new week will see the release of RefresherTowel’s gravity based puzzle game Spaceslingers. The cyberpunk 2D platformer, Blade Assault, launched its Kickstarter campaign. The Sacrifices series had its third entry, The Change Architect, released on Itch.io. Viking warriors can take action against Loki with the RUNE II Decapitation Edition release on Steam.
The Falconeer Was Almost The Dragoneer
Tomas Sala and Wired Productions have taken to the skies with the release of The Falconeer on the latest Xbox consoles. The game is playable in glorious 60fps at 4K resolution on the Xbox Series X thanks to the Xbox Smart Delivery system. Previously the game had already been released on PC and the Xbox One.
For Xbox players on the Series X and Series S they will find the install size to be roughly 1.6GB with a 13 second load time. On the Series X the game can also run at 120fps at 1800p + HDR while the Series S can do 60fps at 1800p and 120fps at 1080p.
According to Sala, the game that features huge warbirds would have featured an entirely different flying companion. In an exclusive interview with Fanatical, Sala went on to talk about how mythical dragons almost made game be The Dragoneer. Ultimately it was Game of Thrones that made the developer rethink and change to the giant birds.
I tried dragons, and there are some still in the game as an enemy or as a ridable mount for allies, but at that time when I was still working on that part and making those decisions, Game of Thrones had just come up – I thought ‘everyone’s doing dragons’ so let’s try something else, it was that simple. I put a bird in and it just clicked.
Tomas Sala, Creator of the FalconeerThe Falconeer is available on Steam for PC and the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S for $29.99 USD. A Digital Deluxe version is available for PC that includes the soundtrack and game guide is also available on Steam. Day One Edition’s of the game for the Xbox family of devices are available for $39.99 USD. More information about The Falconeer can be found on the game’s website at thefalconeer.com or follow @TheFalconeer on Twitter.
Maneater Swims Onto Next-Gen Consoles
Tripwire Interactive and their retail partner Deep Silver are chuming the waters of this past week’s console releases for Maneater. In the first open-world single player action-RPG or the self-described ShARkPG, players are the shark and any-fin is possible.
The full glory of these apex predators can be seen in native 4K HDR at 60fps on the newest hardware. New lighting effects help bring the underwater world to life with Ray-Tracing coming soon in a post-release patch. Xbox Series S owners will see increased graphical fidelity and frame rates too. For PC players they will see these next-gen updates in the first half of 2020. Current Xbox One or PS4 players have access to a full free upgrade so their console evolves, Maneater does too.
Maneater is an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC and is available at the price of $39.99 USD. Players pick-up Maneater on the Humble Bundle platform that provides an Epic Games key. Maneater is also available on the Xbox One, Series X and Series S consoles and the PS4 and PS5 consoles. For more information on Maneater visit the game’s site at maneatergame.com.
Apple Has Two Counterclaims Tossed
Week 14 of the Epic Games versus Apple story continues with US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers tossing out two counterclaims from Apple. In response to Epic’s lawsuit, Apple had filed a set of counterclaims this past September. Apple had specifically argued that the introduction of the Epic Direct Payments system was “intentional interference” with legitimate business of Apple. The company then went on to seek punitive damages for what they had described as “little more than theft” of the 30% commission that Epic in theory was robbing from them.
Judge Rogers tossed out both claims this past Tuesday. Apple had argued Epic has funds that should be in their possession and the judge noted that only 30% of those funds could arguably be Apple’s funds with that 30% percent at the heart of the dispute in this case. In addition, the judge was not convinced by Apple’s argument of “intentional interference” was separate from the contract breach issue and then went on to say “you can’t just say it’s independently wrongful” and “you actually have to have facts.”
As mean as that previous statement from the judge may sound, Judge Rodgers is full aware of the weight of this case. In fact in her own words, “This is a high-stakes breach of contract case and an antitrust case and that’s all in my view.”
Regardless of Apple’s counterclaim failure this case is still moving forward with court dates set for 2021 one can place a bet on lawyers for both parties being busy. According to a court filling from this past October confirms that the case is heading to a bench trial rather than a jury trial as requested by both parties with the date set for May 3, 2021. A pretrial conference will be held on April 21, 2021. Continued development on this story is expected as next year’s court date approaches.
Thank you for reading the November 14, 2020 Edition of the Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind. This feature will be taking the next weekend off so don’t forget to check back with us on Saturday, November 28 for the next edition of Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind and until then, keep on gaming.
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