Plus The Sims is the next game to get a movie and Nintendo sues Palworld developer
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.
KYLE: Hi I’m Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: and I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
KYLE: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
FIONA: This week loot boxes get a mature rating in Australia, we get the first look at rumoured Switch 2 mockups, and Nintendo sues the Palworld developer.
Here is the news for Sunday 22nd of September. Let’s go!
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FIONA: Australia has joined the good fight against predatory games practices, with new classification laws coming into effect this week.
Late last year, the Australian Classification Board announced it would be changing the way video games are classified.
Now, after a year-long grace period for businesses to wrap their heads around the changes, the new classifications are here.
KYLE: Here’s how it will work.
As of Monday the 22nd, all games containing loot boxes will receive an automatic M classification, which in Australia means it’s not recommended for anyone under the age of 15.
And any games that contain simulated gambling will be slapped with an R18+ rating, which as I’m sure you can guess means it can only be sold to adults.
FIONA: It’s a clear message to parents, and it is all in hopes of protecting kids from early exposure to gambling, which studies show could make young people more likely to pursue gambling later in life.
How effective it’ll be is hard to say. Lord knows kids have always managed to get their hands on age restricted games in one way or another.
But hey, it can’t hurt to have one more barrier between young gamers and these god forsaken loot boxes that we’ve all grown numb to.
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KYLE: New leaked photos of the Switch 2 are doing the rounds, and as we guessed it, it looks pretty similar to the original switch.
The photos, which originated on a Chinese social media site, showed a larger 8-inch screen, magnetic Joy-Cons and USB-C ports on the top and bottom.
I’m really curious to see how the magnetic Joy Cons will work but most importantly, will they finally have fixed the drift issue?
FIONA: The photos haven’t been verified so take from it what you will but the images also suggest that it’ll have 12GB of RAM, support for HDMI 2.1, and 256GB of internal storage.
For comparison, the original Switch had 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
The specs do match with an alleged shipping leak earlier this year and the pics are in-line with earlier reports on the Switch 2’s design.
Nintendo plans to announce the console during its current fiscal year which runs until end of March next year, so I guess we’ll find out more soon enough.
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FIONA: Earlier this year we saw the game Palworld go viral for essentially being Pokemon with guns, and now Nintendo is going after them, several months later.
In a press release this week, Nintendo in collaboration with The Pokemon Company is suing Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld claiming the game infringes on multiple patents.
However no specific patents were listed in the release.
KYLE: The statement said the suit was filed in order to protect the IP that Nintendo and the Pokemon Company have built and worked on for many years.
Nintendo is notorious for cracking down on copyright and IP infringement so it was only a matter of time that they came for Palworld especially when people refer to it as ‘Pokemon with guns’.
You have to admit some of the Pals do look similar to Pokemon but there is also a lot of creativity there too.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see who wins this battle.
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KYLE: The next game on the list to become a movie is the Sims.
There have been rumours for a while but EA has now officially announced a screen adaptation was in the works.
FIONA: In a blog post they revealed that it will be co-written by Briony Redman and Kate Herron, with Herron also directing.
There aren’t any details about the plot but the project is being co produced by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap so there are theories that it could have a similar feel to Barbie.
I still feel like there are other gaming franchises that would be better than The Sims.
KYLE: In other Sims news, it looks like after the Sims 4 the numbered sequels might be over, with EA confirming they were moving to a more live service constantly updated model.
Good or bad? Time will tell!
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KYLE: Horizon Zero Dawn remastered has been rated by the ESRB confirming the rumour that the 2017 hit will get a fresh coat of paint.
It’s already been released on PC, so if you’re looking for those fancy graphics, you could pick it up there now.
FIONA: Sony has recently been remastering a bunch of completely playable last generation games for PlayStation 5, so this probably is for those people who’ve never picked it up at all.
But we’re talking about a game that is still accessible, still looks and plays great so maybe pick it up for like $10 next time it’s on sale for PS4.
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KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week
FIONA: Chill garden builder Tiny Glade has no objectives, no time limits, just good vibes. Build a lovely little castle ruins and fill it with sheep, grass, and flowers. Find that on PC on the 23rd.
KYLE: Out Tuesday is Disney’s Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, a remake of the 2010 hit 3D platformer. If this was your jam back in the day, be sure to check this out when it comes to all platforms on the 24th.
FIONA: Also out Thursday is Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. It’s the second instalment of the voxel-art spinoff of the Earth Defense series. So if you like killing bugs, but prefer to do it as a little cube guy, this one's for you. It’s out on PlayStation 4 and 5, PC, and Switch on the 26th.
KYLE: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is here. It’s time to save Hyrule once again, this time primarily playing as Zelda herself. That’s out exclusive to Switch this coming Thursday.
FIONA: Just like pulling on an old pair of boots, EA FC25 mixes up the roundball game with Soccer battle royale, where each goal means the opposing team is taken out of the game forever. Obviously not, it’s just the next batch of players and some snazzy graphics out on Friday on everything.
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KYLE: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Kyle Pauletto.
FIONA: And my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus, thank you so much for listening.
KYLE: This week I made a grave error Fiona. I came at the king. That’s right I claimed that this little forgettable game Elden Ring was bigger than the cultural phenomenon Fortnite. It was a slice of humble pie for old Kylie. I was buried in a pile of battle stars that represented my hubris, having lost my own battle royale. Speaking of stars, why not give Walkthrough a five star rating on Pocket Casts? They’ve just launched the ability to give a rating and we’d love your support. So head to podcast player Pocket Casts, find Walkthrough and give us five shiny battle stars.
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by myself, Kyle Pauletto, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Chris Button. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Executive Producer Gianni Di Giovanni, who is also Walkthrough’s script editor.
KYLE: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
FIONA: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday. See you then.
