TGO Daily | June 7, 2021 | Ark's Final DLC
Ark: Survival Evolved releases final DLC, SGDQ is coming (yay!), CS:GO makes ranked-play P2P, Koch Media makes a fool out of me, and No More Heroes 1 & 2 coming to PC.
TGO Daily | Monday June 7, 2021
This is the big week! E3 will kick off this weekend with its weird ‘is E3, but isn’t, but also is, but also isn’t’ schedule. For the big news, we’ll be starting off Thursday with the Summer Games Fest show. Over the course of this week we’ll get some more leaks and hints at some of the stuff we can expect to see during E3, so keep a close eye on the newsletters for those. I’m interested to hear what you’re most excited for, so check out the “Say Hello” section at the bottom of the email to get in touch and let me know!
Personally, there’s quite a bit I’m excited about. I talked about it some in Friday’s newsletter, but the indie titles are always great to see. It can be hard to follow all the stuff indie devs put out, so seeing it front and center can be really great. I’m looking forward to the Wholesome Direct show as well, looks like it should be a fun watch. I’m also really hoping to see some big news drops that we weren’t expecting too! I’d like to see something crazy like GTA 6 or Metroid Prime 4. Can you imagine if Gearbox dropped info on Borderlands 4? All very unlikely, but it’d be an epic surprise!
Until next time,
Brandon
Ark’s Final DLC (Ark: Genesis Part 2) is Released
Ark: Genesis Part 2 will be the final expansion on Studio Wildcard’s big hit, Ark: Survival Evolved. The DLC is out now and you can grab it for $30 USD.
The expansion is filled with a whole lot, from space travel to canoes, from a mind controlling bug to a flying giant platypus - there’s plenty to grab your attention. The expansion also is enlisting the voice talents of David Tennant (Dr. Who, Jessica Jones) and Vin Diesel (Fast and Furious series, Guardians of the Galaxy). The DLC reportedly features the largest map in the games history, with new missions and creatures. It also brings the conclusion of the story, leading into the beginning of the sequel game currently in development.
Brandon’s Thoughts: The last time I played Ark was in in 2015. After watching the trailer, I don’t think I would have ever guessed this was the same game. It seems to have completely changed, for better or worse I certainly can’t say. It looks interesting and has a whole bunch of things going on in it. If you’re a fan of survival games in general, I’d recommend checking out the jam-packed trailer:
Summer Games Done Quick Releases Full Schedule
Summer Games Done Quick has announced the official full schedule for the upcoming event. SGDQ will be online only, same as last year, due to the pandemic. The show will be be starting Sunday, July 4th and will end with their finale on Sunday, July 11th.
For those of you unaware, Games Done Quick run two events annually: Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick. It is an event where many different players come together and attempt speedruns of many different games. The events are always for charity. The charity for this year’s event will be for Doctors Without Borders, which they raised over $2.3 million USD for last year.
The schedule features well over 100 different games, so there’s very likely to be games you’re familiar with. I highly recommend you watch the show, whether you’ve seen a bunch of speedruns or never seen a single one! It’s for a great cause and the skill, commentary, and atmosphere are total spectacle.
Counter Strike Goes P2P for Ranked Games
In a surprising move, Valve announces free-to-play changes to Counter Strike: Global Offensive. For over two years CS:GO has been free-to-play, but now Valve has changed the requirements for ranked play to pay-to-play. To be able to play ranked games, receive item drops, skill groups, and XP, players will now have to purchase the Prime upgrade for $15 USD.
Valve stated on their CS:GO blog that the change was implemented to deter cheaters from ruining the experiences of new and veteran players alike. Originally, anyone reaching level 21 and attaching a phone number to their account would get a free upgrade to Prime status. With the same-day announcement and update, all free-to-play players will have to purchase the upgrade if they did not reach that level in time.
Valve also introduced the much-requested ‘Unranked’ mode in the update. This is accessible to all players regardless of Prime status. This mode allows skill-based matchmaking outside of the Prime ranked gameplay. For players wanting to retain their current Skill Group and XP progress, they will need to purchase the Prime upgrade in the next two weeks for it to carry over.
Koch Media Confirms What We Won’t See at E3
You may remember in my big Friday newsletter that I theorized several titles we were likely to see during Koch Media’s upcoming event on June 11th. While it seemed likely Koch was going to show more info on some of their biggest titles - Saints Row, Dead Island 2, Metro, and TimeSplitters - it turns out instead they won’t be showing any of those aforementioned games.
Deep Silver confirmed in a tweet:
The question now becomes: What are they going to show us?! A new Shenmue? A new Kingdom Come? A brand new AAA IP? We’ll have to wait until the event on June 11th to know for sure!
No More Heroes 1 & 2 Coming to PC
Thirteen years after the first game released on the Wii, No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle are now coming to the PC. Both games will release on June 9th, each costing $20 USD.
The hack-and-slash action game became a cult-classic due to its odd and dirty humor. It tells the story of Travis, an “otaku” (someone who is a big fan of anime/manga), who is the 11th best assassin in his organization. It was remade for Switch release in 2020 and is sitting at a score of 82/100 from critics and an 8.7/10 from users on Metacritic.
Brandon’s Thoughts: Have you ever played this? I remember I had been interested in it when it released, but I didn’t have the Wii at the time. If you’d recommend it let me know and I’ll give it a try!
Miscellanea
Among Us look-alike chicken nugget sells on eBay for $100,00 USD
Sonic co-creator, Yuji Naka, leaves Square Enix, might retire
Black Desert Online creator opens new studios in Europe and NA
Say Hello!
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Thanks for the read <3