The Game Awards 2022 is just days away — maybe less depending on when you’re reading this — but we’ve been hard-pressed to hold down our excitement as a slew of news has been pouring in over the past week. Being broadcast live from Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. PT on Thursday, Players’ Voice voting for what has been called the Oscars of vdeo games is still open at the time of this writing, so if you haven’t made your final picks, you still have a chance.
A ton of presenters, entertainers, and special announcements have already been telegraphed ahead of time, including what is likely to be breaking news from Final Fantasy franchise Producer Naoki Yoshida and Death Stranding 2 lead Hideo Kojima, as well as some sort of announcement on Tekken 8. Irish singer-songwriter Hozier will entertain us with a live performance of Blood Upon The Snow from God of War Ragnarok, and even The Muppets’ Animal will get in on the action, albeit as an award presenter.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t already signed up, you’ve missed your shot at rewards for co-streaming the live event, but you could still win yourself a Steam Deck, as the gaming platform will offer up one every minute during the broadcast to viewers watching through Steam. And if you’re streaming because you can’t get out to LA, fear not, because the show’s founder has been tossing around the idea of moving it around the world annually.
The Games Awards aren’t the only game awards, though, and this week Genshin Impact and Elden Ring took home top prizes during the PlayStation Partner Awards.
What’s New?
Even with all that awards show hype, we’ve still had time to bring you the latest in game releases, and all eyes have been on The Callisto Protocol, which released on December 2. It hasn’t been a flawless release, as performance issues have marred its early user reviews, but Striking Distance has been quick to release a patch to try to clear issues up. Anticipation for the game wasn’t really helped along, though, as an entire Twitch stream playthrough had leaked ahead of the launch. Players can at least look forward to future content, as the developer’s roadmap for the game has two new game modes coming in February and more surprises on the way.
Also out this past week, to much less troubled — but also less publicized — debuts were Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, released November 30, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, released December 2.
We Like Fortnite! We Like Fortnite!
Memes aside, a lot of people like Fortnite, and after some server downtime with the end of Chapter 3, December 4 saw the start of Season 4 with great fanfare, including the new map (which of course leaked ahead of release), new reality augment perks, and graphical upgrades as the game has graduated to run on Unreal Engine 5.1. And while it may not have as many humorous Internet videos of flossing children, fellow battle royale mega hit Overwatch 2 is getting its own set of upgrades for Season 2 on December 6, including new hero Rammatra, the Shambali Monastery map, and the limited time Battle For Olympus mode.
The End Of A Smashing Era
Turning now to the world of esports, one of the biggest Smash Bros. competitions in the world has shut its doors, presumable for good, as Smash World Tour and Nintendo couldn’t seem to come to terms ahead of the Smash World Tour 2022 Finals. Details are still a bit murky, though, as Nintendo issued a rebuttal over the weekend denying the claim that it had not forced the tournament to shut down despite not granting licensing to the organizers.
