This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about the new Mortal Kombat game, the Bomb Pop campaign in Roblox, new games including First Descendant, Scorn, and Pacific Drive, the EZQuest 10-in-1 USB hub, and the Wi-Fi World Congress in Toronto next month.
Mortal Kombat reboot is on the horizon, Bomb Pops appear in Roblox, news about Destiny 2 updates, and details about South Park: Snow Day, the First Descendent, Scorn, Pacific Drive, and the Pirate Queen.
New Mortal Kombat game reinvents while honouring its legacy
On September 19, the twelfth game in the Mortal Kombat fighting franchise will be released for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It’s called, simply, Mortal Kombat 1.
Developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, while it’s a sequel to the 2019 game, Mortal Kombat 11, it’s also effectively a reboot of the franchise.
These games might seem to be only one player fighting another player, but this series is built on an intricate world that features elder gods and mere mortals transforming into supernatural martial arts fighters. There’s a story behind every battle, and to describe the plot of the eleven games as complex is an understatement.
Characters like Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero have been “reimagined” and the premium and “Kollector’s” editions of the game include a Jean-Claude Van Damme skin for Johnny Cage, which is a nod to the original game.
Michael McWhertor’s interview with Ed Boon, one of the game’s creators, revealed that they wanted Van Damme to be a character in the original game, and when he passed that character transformed into Johnny Cage.
Boon is now the chief creative officer at NetherRealm and has been guiding Mortal Kombat for more than 30 years.
Rocket-shaped frozen treat brand finds success in Roblox
Bomb Pop, which makes the three-tiered frozen deserts that are shaped like rockets, have been selling virtual versions in Roblox since last week.
In that time, more than 20 million Bomb Pops have been sold in the Restaurant Tycoon 2 world of the popular massively multiplayer online game.
Players can get a Bomp Pop in one of the participating restaurants created by other players until September 5.
Games recently announced and updated
Gamescom took place in Germany last week, so there were a number of games announced and other games that we learned more about. And while Bungie and THQ Nordic weren’t part of the official program, they’ve also shared news about their games recently.
There’s a deck-building aspect to this season, when you complete activities you collect cards that can be used as currency to get random drops of upgrades, resources, and even quests. Collect a deck of five cards and you can get enhancements when playing through the seasonal activities.
The Season of the Witch runs through November 28.
We also learned a bit more about the Final Shape, the next expansion coming to Destiny 2 on February 27, 2024. It looks like we’ll be going into the Traveler.
South Park: Snow Day!
The kids get rendered in full three dimensions in this new game, which looks to be an online multiplayer battle, coming to Nintendo Switch, PS5, Windows, and Xbox X/S in 2024.
Coming from Nexon, this “looter shooter” – like Destiny or the Division – is coming to PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. An open. cross-play beta runs for a week starting on September 19. Register to paricipate.
Obviously inspired by Geiger and his alien, with a bit of Cronenberg body horror mixed in, this shooter horror game comes from Maximum Games and Kepler Interactive on October 3. Available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
With echoes of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, this driving game has you exploring the Olympic Exclusion Zone in your car. It’s a game that has you doing runs and getting as far as you can, upgrading your station wagon with perks as you go. It’s coming to PS5 and Windows next year.
This VR game, coming to Oculus Quest 2 and Steam VR tells the true story of Cheng Shih, who becomes one of the most dominant pirates of the 1800s. Lucy Liu is an executive producer and narrator of the game.
This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Immortals of Aveum, the Xbox Series X console wraps, Playstation Portal, and the Playstation Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore audio devices.
A new twist on the shooter in Immortals of Aveum, making your Xbox Series X even cooler, details on the Playstation Portal.
Immortals of Aveum puts an interesting new spin on the shooter genre
There’s a new genre in town. Well, it feels new.
Immortals of Aveum is a first-person shooter (FPS) but without any guns.
Instead, you’ve got magic.
Published by Electronic Arts, this genre twist comes from Ascendent Studios, which was cofounded by Bret Robbins, a veteran who has worked on Call of Duty and was the creative director for Dead Space.
While there may not be any guns in Aveum, the spells that you throw around have the same feel, and they are varied in the same way. Your blue spells are long-range, your green spells are rapid-fire, and your red spells are for bigger area-effect attacks.
And you can “reload” your spells with the touch of one button and swap out your spell colours with the touch of another. If you need to heal, you crunch a health crystal in your hand.
If you’ve played a FPS, this is all very familiar. And that’s great, because it makes Aveum easy to slip into.
But the package here is different. This is a unique world with a medieval steampunk vibe. You begin the game by moving through a ramshackle community that’s been built underneath a bridge – I’m sure William Gibson was an inspiration – and the contrast between the dark backgrounds and the bright, effervescent spellcasting is amazing.
You play as Jak, who starts out as a cheeky teenager and after the introduction tutorial section has grown into a bold young adult. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s got both something to prove and some vengeance to wreak.
Along the way you are rewarded for exploring the environment, looking into nooks and crannies for currency you can use to upgrade your skills and your gear. You’ll add power and buffs and you’ll find a rhythm to the combat that becomes joyful. The firefights, with colourful bolts flying around, are chaotic but wonderful.
It may be a FPS, but it’s not like other FPS you’ve played.
Immortals of Aveum is available now for PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Rated mature.
Decorate your Xbox Series X console with new wraps from Microsoft
I think the Xbox Series X systems are handsome devices, but with the new console wraps announced this week they are going to look even better.
The covers encase the Series X hardware and hold together with a velcro strip and they give the box a unique look while keeping all the ports and buttons accessible.
There are three wraps available for preorder, two camouflage designs ($60 CAD, coming in November) and one design inspired by Starfield ($65, availalble on October 18), the highly-anticipated space adventure role-playing game from Bethesda.
Put me down for a Starfield wrap, please. It makes the console look like it’s a component of one of the ships that you’ll be piloting in the game, and it pairs nicely with the Starfield-themed controller ($90 CAD) and headset ($155 CAD) that are already available.
While we’re on the topic, here’s a live action promotional spot for Starfield, which launches on September 6.
Playstation Portal portable gaming device is coming this fall
Previously teased as Project Q, the Portal will cost $199 USD when it releases sometime before the end of the year.
The 8-inch screen delivers 1080p resolution at 60 fps and it’s designed to stream games across a Wi-Fi network from a PS5 console. This is not something you’re taking on the bus, but something you’ll use at home when someone else is using the television set. You can use it on the other side of the country if you want, but you need to have strong Wi-Fi, and your PS5 needs to not be used by someone else.
Built into the Portal is a new proprietary wireless audio technology called Playstation Link, and Sony also announced the Pulse Elite (headset; $150 USD) and Pulse Explore (earbuds; $200 USD) devices that will automatically connect to the Portal.
The advantage of the Link technology is, Sony’s says, “low latency, lossless audio”.
Both the Elite and the Explore will come with a USB adapter that can plug into and connect to a PS5 or a computer and they can also simultaneously connect to a Bluetooth devices like a mobile phone so you can take a call while playing.
The Elite headset comes with a charging stand and the Explore earbuds come with a charging case.
The latest model 10-in-1 USB hub from EZQuest proves its worth, Wi-Fi World Congress is being held in Toronto in September.
EZQuest USB hubs make it easier to work on the go
One of the compromises that manufacturers have to make in making laptops smaller –particularly thinner – is less tech inside the case. That’s one reason why there are fewer ports on modern laptops (power management is another).
That’s why the USB hub has become such an essential device for any toolkit. It’s as important as your power brick.
EZQuest has a new 10-in-1 hub ($80 USD) that I just used for a week-long trip that had me working from five different locations, and it’s earned a permanent place in my gear bag because from one USB-C port on my computer I can plug in anything I might need to.
That includes an HDMI port that can deliver 4K resolution, a high-speed ethernet connection, an SD card reader, a headphone connection, and four USB ports, two USB-C and two USB-A.
There’s an additional USB-C port that can serve 100W of high-speed charging to your laptop.
And this hub has a braided nylon cable that is just long enough to not clutter the space around your laptop, but not so long that it’s a burden when you put the hub away at the end of a work session.
Wi-Fi World Congress event lands in Toronto next month
Programming for the three-day event includes a “training day” with workshops teaching some of the practicalities of Wi-Fi technologies and applications, and two days of conference sessions with the first day dedicated to smart homes and day two set aside for discussions about enterprise Wi-Fi.
Among the topics to be discussed are:
Designing Wi-Fi networks for different contexts, including homes, offices, hotels, stadiums, and more.
New Wi-Fi standards.
The 6 GHz spectrum and how it can be used.
The three-day conference is open to anyone (although a one-day ticket is $600, so it’s not priced for drop-ins).
The Mind Control Division is the intelligence arm of Blaine Kyllo's Solo Corps Creative Incorporated. This department conducts investigations and experiments into media and technology culture.
