Gaming Ramble Weekly

Hello you, it feels like it’s been a while since I last wrote one of these!  I hope you’re keeping well and enjoying the vast amount of gaming news that’s been coming out over these past couple of weeks.  My aim is to recap some of the biggest pieces of news that I enjoyed, while filling you in on some of my gaming highlights from the last two weeks!  So strap yourself in, for a whistle stop tour of the last couple of weeks.

First off, that Xbox news was a little bit anticlimactic wasn’t it?  The rumour mill had us all believing that the death of Microsoft’s gaming brand was close-by, and that PlayStation were going to begin their quest of world domination.  Instead, Xbox announced that four Xbox Games Studios Games were on their way to multiple platforms, which have been revealed to be Grounded, Pentament, Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush, the first two are heading to both Nintendo Switch and PlayStation, while the other two are heading to PlayStation only.  None of these titles are going to change the dynamics of the industry by moving to these other platforms, and from an Xbox point of view, it feels like a very safe way to test the waters.  

On the PlayStation side, it looks like February is turning into a hugely successful month for the blue brand.  The titular topic of this blog is about their most recent release, Helldivers 2, which has released to huge success.  When I wrote the blog two weeks ago, it had peaked at around 130,000 players on Steam.  Now, this number has almost quadrupled, with Helldivers 2 reaching a peak concurrent player count of 458,709.  This, of course, does not include the player counts for PlayStation 5 players, which will likely increase this number to close to 700,000.  

The success of Helldivers 2 has not been met with a full level of praise though, as developer Arrowhead scrambled to improve server capacity to meet the ever increasing number of players.  Initially, server capacity was capped at 400,000, which led to many players not being able to enter the game.  Refreshingly, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has been extremely transparent on X, keeping players updated with improvements being made to meet the demand.  Over the weekend, Arrowhead were able to improve server capacity to 700,000, which significantly reduced waiting times and improved player experience overall.

I myself have jumped in to join the fight, and I have to say, Helldivers 2 is a lot of fun.  This is absolutely designed to be enjoyed as a co-op experience, and the mission structure and gameplay loop means that before you know it, three hours have passed and you still want to jump in and keep shooting bugs.  Level progression really does make you feel more powerful as you unlock new strategims and support weapons, and the generous medal system means that unlocking new cosmetics and premium cosmetics can easily be done without spending a penny.  Sony have stumbled upon a gem here, and with its success on PC pushing this game into the mainstream (you only need to spend a couple of minutes on TikTok before seeing a meme about spreading democracy), it could be only a matter of time before we see Sony push more first party titles onto PC Day One.

Elden Ring is BACK

Not content with the gaming community having an Xbox Developer Direct, a PlayStation State of Play, and a Nintendo Partner Showcase, FromSoftware decided enough was enough and released the trailer for the hotly anticipated DLC titled, Shadow of the Erdtree.  Well, they call it a DLC, but whenever the trailer is enough to showcase a full sequel for other games, it feels slightly reductive to call this merely DLC, and priced at £35, it says to me that we can expect a full 30 hours or so of additional GOODNESS from this masterpiece.

The biggest announcement from this trailer was the release date, which is slated for 21st June, much to the relief of potentially every single developer and games journalist.  The announcement has also led to an increase of the game’s player count on Steam, where the game peaked at over 100,000 players for the first time since January 2023, as players dive back into the Lands Between to prep for Shadow of the Erdtree.

I have also succumbed to this, and have gone back and started a new playthrough, focusing on a strength build, after doing my first playthrough as a samurai.  Going back reminds of how fantastic this game really is, and captures that feeling of endless discovery.  I’ve been using a great app, called ER Companion, which shows all the Points of interest on the map, so that I can tick off every boss on the map, to make my character as strong as physically possible before heading into the DLC.  Roll on June, I can’t wait!

A Dead Year for Nintendo?

Last week, Nintendo aired a Partner Showcase, showing off some upcoming titles from 3rd Party Studios.  For me, nothing really hit, and that was OK, thankfully my expectations were low, but I came away feeling that Nintendo are going to have a really dry year while they wait to release the successor to the Switch.  Reports last week indicated that plans for the release of the “Switch 2” have been delayed until March 2025, and with that news, it seems that Nintendo are unlikely to release any major first party titles until that time.

Well that does it from me for this week, apologies if I haven’t covered something you would have liked to have read about, but I am just one man, and these blogs do take a significant amount of time to write.  Thank you for once again taking the time to read this, I appreciate you for sticking with it!  I hope you have a great week, and if you’re a Final Fantasy fanatic, I hope you enjoy the release of Rebirth!