This week, all sorts of news comes from the ongoing and expected Blizzcon weekend, as well as a surprising Nintendo Direct providing new Switch announcements. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
As for this week’s roundup ofgaming news, a slew of announcements stem from both Blizzard and Nintendo this week. The ongoing digital Blizzcon event this week has already announced a ton of heavy hitters likeDiablo 2:Resurrected. As for Nintendo, a surprise Nintendo Direct announcement after over a year brought newSmash,Mario, andZeldaannouncements. Xbox announces a new feature set coming to Xbox Series X/S that will make backwards compatibility even better. More rumors aboutSilent Hillhave resurfaced regarding several different titles. Among a few other tidbits, here’s all the biggest news from the gaming industry this week.
BlizzCon Opening Night Game Announcements
While the event is still ongoing, this weekend marks the return of Blizzard’s yearly celebration: BlizzCon 2021. While the pandemic has forced this year’s convention to go entirely digital, that hasn’t stopped the show from announcing a slew of new games and updates coming soon. Here are all the major announcements from the show thus far, but keep in mind BlizzCon could have even more updates with the various Q&A sessions and other programs scheduled throughout this weekend:
These announcements were just made during BlizzCon’s opening night, but again, any additional details will likely come from the Q&A sessions later today.
Surprise Nintendo Direct Drops a Ton of News
On the other side of the industry, Nintendo provided a wonderful surprise for fans eager for more information. After over a year without a major event, the company showcased a ton of new announcements in a surprise Nintendo Direct this past week. From things as specific as the nextSmashcharacter, to surprising new game announcements from partners like Square Enix, here’s the highlights from the Nintendo Direct this week:
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This will likely be the last major update for Nintendo Switch for a while, since it was nearly a year-long wait since the last major direct.
Backwards Compatible Games See a Boost On Xbox Series X/S
On the Microsoft side of things, Xbox has a pretty big announcement for backwards compatibility. Both the Xbox Series S and Series X consoles will bereceiving new compatibility known as “FPS Boost,“which will improve the performance of several legacy Xbox games. FPS Boost can be turned on/off at the player’s will, and can help provide solid improvements to framerate in older games.
At the moment, the feature is beta-testing on a few Xbox One titles:Watch Dogs 2,Far Cry 4,Super Lucky’s Tale,UFC 4, andSniper Elite 4. As the program moves forward,more games will become compatible with FPS Boostover time.
Silent Hill Sequel(s) May Be In the Works
The rumor mill regarding Konami andSilent Hillcontinues to churn, as the most recent example hints at more than one title currently in development. This rumors stems froman interview with Bloober Team, the developer behind Xbox Series X horror gameThe Medium. According to comments made by a Bloober Team developer, the studio is working on an already-established horror game franchise.
Many have taken that as a hint that the development team’s next endeavor may be related to theSilent Hillfranchise. However, paired with otherSilent Hillrumors related to Kojima Productions, an internal Sony studio, as well as the development team behindGravity Rush, theremay be multiple incomingSilent Hillprojects.
