Plus Cult Of The Lamb Weddings at PAX AUS and Visions Of Mana studio to close a week after launch
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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, the finalists for the Australia Game Developer Awards are announced, Concord the new PlayStation shooter fails to make a splash and Annapurna and Remedy team up for Control 2.
Here is the news for Sunday 1st of September. Let’s go!
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FIONA: The finalists for the Australian Game Developer Awards have been announced, ahead of the awards in October during Melbourne International Games Week.
Conscript by Jordan Mochi, the retro styled horror game set in the trenches of World War 1 leads the pack with six nominations, with Diets and Deities by Larrikin Interactive and PlaySide’s KILL KNIGHT both picking up four apiece.
These three will all vie for the coveted Game of the Year when they take to the stage on the 9th of October.
If you want a list of good aussie games to buy, basically just work your way through all the categories, we’ll chuck that link in the show notes.
KYLE: Speaking of Games Week, the announcements keep on coming with Yoshi P himself Naoki Yoshida, Creative Director of Final Fantasy XIV, hosting a talk at ACMI.
Weta Workshop will be out from Aotearoa New Zealand to share the making of the cosy hobbit themed Tales Of The Shire, and will be giving a couple of talks at PAX Australia.
And I know those funny kids at Massive Monster love a stunt, but apparently they are hosting a couple of legit Cult of the Lamb themed weddings at PAX Aus too? Like legal weddings??
You love to see it…
It’s turning out to be quite a fun week in October so make sure you keep an eye on SIFTER for more details.
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FIONA: Nintendo was back this week with another Direct, this time a joint Partner and Indie World showcase, and there are a couple of games I’m hyped for.
Coffee Talk is back with a new instalment Coffee Talk Tokyo. Set in Japan you’ll get to chat and learn more about your customers, both human and yokai, and try to nail your brewing and coffee art skills. We live streamed the first game of the series and had a great time. It’s expected to release next year.
And my favourite announcement has got to be MySims: Cozy Bundle, a game I never thought would make an reappearance. It’s super chill and fun, you get to build houses for your new residents, fix up and decorate the town, create new outfits with different patterns and so much more. I loved this game as a kid and can’t wait to get back into it. It’s out in November.
KYLE: My favourite announcement was the release date for Silksong.
Just kidding, I know it’s a lie to keep us complacent and consuming.
The promise of a Silksong release date is just a capitalist tool to ensure I continue going to work, continue paying my taxes, and continue to have hope in a cruel and unjust world.
The Patrick Star Game looked alright too.
There are heaps more games to check out so make sure you check the shownotes for the full list.
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KYLE: Concord has landed with a deafening thud after failing to reach more than 700 concurrent PC players at launch.
Sony’s newest live-service shooter and Overwatch killing hopeful didn’t have the best run in the lead up to launch, with a lot of hate being sent its way after a lacklustre couple of trailers earlier this year.
Unfortunately for Sony, that negativity has translated to some appalling player numbers at launch, with a peak of just 697 concurrent players on opening weekend.
FIONA: For context, Helldivers 2 managed to hit over 150,000 players on it’s opening weekend, and even Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League managed to get over 10,000, and that game was doomed from the start.
And the numbers just keep dropping, sitting at just over 143 players on PC at time of recording what a shame.
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FIONA: Remedy Entertainment, the team behind Control and Alan Wake, is joining forces with Annapurna Pictures for its upcoming game.
It had already been announced that a sequel to the action adventure game was on the way but in a recent press release it was announced that Annapurna would be funding half of the development budget for the game.
KYLE: The collaboration with Annapurna Pictures also means there is a potential for film and TV adaptations of both Control and Alan Wake.
Nothing has officially been confirmed but with Remedy's games influenced very heavily by film and TV and the popularity of Alan Wake 2, we’ve got our fingers crossed.
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KYLE: And in some late breaking news at the time of recording it looks like the studio behind this week’s Visions Of Mana, might be shutting down already.
Tencent and Netease Japan launched their first mainline Mana game developed by Ouka Studios, and it was gaining some really nice reviews.
Most of the developers have been sacked, and apparently the rest of the studio is not far behind.
FIONA: The Chinese companies according to reporting from Bloomberg are reportedly moving away from their Japanese based studios entirely so maybe this will be the last Mana game in a long while.
The hits just keep on coming for game development this year.
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KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week and there are a fair few to look forward to.
FIONA: Out Tuesday is Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Harry Potter fans have been waiting 20 years for another standalone Quidditch game, and I hope this can live up to the hype. Pick it up on all platforms on the 3rd, except for the Switch which is coming later in the year.
KYLE: Also out on the third is Sumerian Six, a real-time tactical stealth game set in World War II. Control a team of experimental scientist soldiers to infiltrate enemy lines and take down the Nazis using a fantastic blend of magic and technology. It’s out exclusively on PC this Tuesday.
FIONA: Age of Mythology: Retold is a remaster of the 2002 hit, and brings modern graphics and design features, and a newly recorded symphonic version of the classic soundtrack. Grab it on PC and Xbox Series S and X on the 4th
KYLE: Basket boys and Basket girls get ready for Basketball the video game two thousand and twenty five. NBA 2K25 brings more of the sweet hoops action and you too can enjoy spending millions of dollars on your favourite team by sampling the DLC. Find that on all platforms on the 4th of September.
FIONA: Out Friday we are getting the Ace Attorney Investigations collection, which contains full HD remasters of both the Investigations games, find it on PC, Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
KYLE: Also out Friday is the hotly anticipated Astrobot. What started off as a free tech demo that came with the PS5 has turned into a full-blown game, and it looks fantastic. Astrobot is out exclusive to the PS5 on the 6th.
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PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
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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: Guess what? If you want to show your support for Walkthrough you can give us a rating and review right in the Pocket Casts app! Jump into the show in your library and hit that satisfying five star rating. Mmm five juicy stars for your favourite video game news podcast Walkthrough. Head to Pocket Casts now to show the love and give Walkthrough a five star review.
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, myself, 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.
