The Rundown #9 - End of a Universe

EA killed Bioware because of Star Wars, no more Assassin’s Creed Remakes, Rockstar worker union vote news and The Duskbloods got delayed to 2027. Hey welcome back to Gaming News!

Knoebel

Knoebel

— 9 min read
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The Rundown #9 - End of a Universe

Hey!

Welcome back! Sorry, it's been a while but I had to take a break for health reasons. I'm still not healthy enough to return to my daily life but I will in the coming weeks!

I must admit I'm a bit afraid and ashamed to return to //CounterCulture. I said so much stuff about what I have planned only to collapse (for various reasons not only //CC) under my own weight and words but I've learned a lot in the recent weeks and hope I can get better in the future.

In the last several weeks I have spent a lot of time with myself and my own thoughts. Where is my place? Do I like the stuff I do? Do I represent the things I believe? Do some people around me really have my best interests in mind etc. I still have not found every answer and probably never will but one thing I learned or reminded myself of is: life is good and not everything is that serious or important.

Anyways! I've played a lot of videogames! And I have some thoughts.

'Onimusha Way of the Sword' - 6

I enjoyed the biggest part of the game. I believe the whole Kyoto part is basically useless. Incredible facial animations and banger boss design. Traversal was kind of annoying and I miss the series’ puzzles.

'Onimusha Warlords Remastered' - 8

I love Samurai Resident Evil. Tank controls are nice and I love the back dash. The whole demon space kinda sucks especially with the invisible enemies. I rly rly love the puzzles. The english voice over is a nightmare.

'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky' - 8

One of the best games ever made but I still believe Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team Red/Blue are better games. They are more difficult, a bit clunkier but I love the overall vibe and friend areas add so much to the game.
Explorers of Sky has the narrative, it works and I believe it really can be transformative at a specific age but as a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon veteran I appreciate the first games and their weird tactics a bit more.

'Toem 2' - 7

Like the first game Toem 2 is a small photography adventure where you have to solve small tasks for people on your journey. It's a short sweet game which does nothing wrong but also doesn’t do anything to make it stand out in comparison to its predecessor. I still enjoyed every second and it's a perfect game for a stormy fall sunday morning.

'Castlevania Symphony of the Night' - ?

Can't say anything right now since I played it for the podcast but for its status and reputation the game has way too many bosses that you can easily beat with crouch attacks.

Anyway, that's everything from me. Enjoy the rundown!

Story of the week:

Why Electronic Arts Shut Down BioWare

According to Jason Schreier, EA had two big and expensive Sci-Fi games in development 'Star Wars Battlefront 3' and 'Mass Effect Universe'. They decided in favor of Battlefront 3 and cancelled 'Mass Effect Universe' and shut down Bioware.

Why Electronic Arts Shut Down BioWare
Facing financial pressure, the video-game publisher chose ‘Star Wars’ over ‘Mass Effect’
BloombergJason Schreier

'WORLD OF HORROR' v1.2

'WORLD OF HORROR' v1.2 is available now on PC. Coming to consoles in 2027. Update includes three new playable characters, scenario mode and more.

No more Assassin’s Creed remakes

Ubisoft says no more 'Assassin’s Creed' remakes are currently in active development. They got positive feedback for the PVP Assassin's Creed multiplayer spin-off codenamed Invictus. More infos about 'Assassin’s Creed Hexe' next year.

🔗
Read Chris Scullion news article.

Gaming News Recap

Week 44 | October 23 - 30, 2026 | Edition 194

This week's news categories: Xbox [08], PlayStation [04], Nintendo [01], Other News [23], Numbers [02], Cross-Media [03], Releases Infos [34].

Xbox

  1. New visual for Hideo Kojima's 'OD - Knock' as been released
  2. Blizzard says controller support for 'World of Warcraft Forever' is the first step towards making the game playable on more than just PC.Source
  3. Microsoft Xbox Q1 FY 2027
    • Content and Service revenue down by 2% yoy
    • Hardware revenue down by 14% yoy
    Source
  4. According to The Verge, Bethesda will reportedly re-announce 'The Elder Scrolls VI' which is titled Sentinel next month.Source
  5. Starting November Xbox Game Pass is coming to eligible T-Mobile customers in the US.Source
  6. Microsoft extends the consultation period for Arkane Lyon by one month. So the new deadline to find a new owner for Arkane is now December 13th.Source
  7. Turn 10 got renamed into Playground Games Redmond and is now working on 'Forza Horizon' and 'Fable'. Turn 10 head Dan Greenawalt has left the company after 27 years.Source
  8. According to a The Verge source, 'Gears of War: E-Day' has sold over 400K copies across Xbox Series and PC.Source

PlayStation

  1. PlayStation Plus games for November 2026.
    • 'Dead Island 2'
    • 'Tomb Raider IV - VI Remastered'
    • 'Monster Train 2'
    Source
  2. PlayStation players are getting a special Astro Bot skin for 'Rayman Legends Retold'.Trailer
  3. Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt says they're currently not working on 'Helldivers 3' because 'Helldivers 2' would be its biggest competitor.Source
  4. 26 people have reportedly been laid off at 'Ghost of Yotei' developer Sucker Punch. Source

Nintendo

  1. 'Pokémon Legends Z-A' OST now available on Nintendo Music. Source

Other News

  1. 'Meccha Chameleon' Update 4.2.0 now available: Team Battle Mode, 2 new maps: Chaotic Kitchen and Paper Island, and new body types: Macho, Octopus and Polygon. Source
  2. Death Stranding Odradek has been trademarked by Kojima Productions.
  3. Several Capcom console classics including 'Mega Man Soccer', 'Breath of Fire', 'Street Fighter Alpha 2', 'Ghosts 'n Goblins', 'Saturday Night Slam Masters' and more has been rated in Korea.Source
  4. Kotaro Uchikoshi thinks the industry shouldn't outright reject and that he is not against gen AI. He explained that Crash Keys now cancelled project could’ve been salvaged if the developers were given the option to utilize AI.Source
  5. Konami deliberately kept the developers working on its 'Silent Hill' projects apart. The devs found out about the other 'Silent Hill' projects at the same time everyone else did.Source
  6. Valve adressed Steam's AI game cloning problem and suggested that devs should make their games less copyable like not relying on a single mechanic.Source
  7. Justice 'GTA VI' orignal score drops December 11th.Source
  8. A new small gameplay clip of 'GTA VI' surfaced on the newest South Park episode.
  9. Runic Forge rebrands as Pythia Games.Source
  10. Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick says if you acquire a studio and change its core identity consistently it will always end in doom.Source
  11. Starting December some public Discord servers will be searchable on the web. So people can see messages from servers via a search engine unless you opt out yourself in your privacy settings.Source
  12. Rockstar Games workers to vote on unionization on November 12th and will have until November 26th to decide if they want to form a union or not.Source
  13. Hipster Whale co-founder and 'Crossy Road' creator Matt Hall has been appointmented to Vice President of Atari's Mobile Division.Source
  14. Current and former EA employees speak about corporate greed and mismanagment.
    • EA does not disclose who exactly has been cut
    • Morale is terrible
    • Suites pushing for gen AI
    • Dumb decision like a new expensive office
    • EA executives cannot fail, only be failed
    Source
  15. Golden Joystick Award nominees are out. Here is the GotY category:
    • 007 First Light
    • Big Walk
    • CONTROL Resonant
    • Crimson Desert
    • Dispatch
    • Forza Horizon 6
    • Phantom Blade Zero
    • Pokémon Pokopia
    • PRAGMATA
    • Resident Evil Requiem
    • STAR WARS Galactic Racer
    • The Blood of Dawnwalker
    Source
  16. Retrovibe and GoG are teaming up to bring indie games to consoles and PC.Trailer Source
  17. John Romero confirmed that his new game which was dropped by Xbox has found a new publisher.Source
  18. Top Hat Studios Showcase set for November 2nd, at 9am PT / 12pm ET.
  19. Warhorse Studios has been hit by cyberattack.
  20. 'Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2' and 'Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2' developer Auroch Digital lays off 25% of its staff.
  21. Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees.Source
  22. VA Eric Bauza has sadly passed away at 46.Source
  23. Newly merged Skydance mandates staff return to office five days a week and offers voluntary buyout program. As we bring our teams together, we recognise that not everyone will see their future here and we respect that Source

Numbers

  1. 'Phantom Blade Zero' surpassed 731K concurrent players on Steam.Source
  2. 'Sonic x Shadow Generations' has sold over 3M copies.Source

Cross-Media

  1. A 'PUBG' live action series is in the works for Netflix with Donald Glover as director, writer, executive producer, and star in the series.Source
  2. Sony has acquired the film rights for 'Mouthwashing'.Source
  3. 'DEATH STRANDING ISOLATIONS' - teaser trailer. Coming to Disney+ in 2027. Trailer

Release Infos

  1. 'No Man's Sky' Forsaken update now available!Source
  2. 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl' - The Zone Lookout Update 2.1 now available. Source
  3. The fast food chain Wendy's announced its own RPG 'WendyQuest: Legend of the Four Corner Stones' from 81monkeys for PC.Source
  4. 'AYAKASHI Fishing Folktails' for Nintendo Switch 1&2 is coming to the West in 2027.Source
  5. 'The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster' launches May 13th on PS5, Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC. Trailer
  6. Yakuza Blocks: Like a Dragon is now live on 'Roblox'.Source
  7. 'Dokapon Kingdom: Connect 2' launches in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC. Source
  8. A 'Resonance of Fate' 4K/ HD Remaster DLC with a October 30th release date popped up on Steam.Source
  9. 'Super Battle Golf' is coming to Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. Already on PC. Source
  10. 'RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition' is coming to Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 on November 10th! Already on PC. Trailer
  11. 'Sword of the Sea' is coming to Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 29th. Already on PS5 and PC.Trailer
  12. 'Cronos' DLC Lazarus launches December 3rd!Trailer
  13. 'City of None' launches in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC.Trailer
  14. 'Petal Runner' launches on March 8th 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Trailer
  15. 'MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM GUNDAM BATTLE OPERATION 3' announced for PS5 and PC.Trailer
  16. 'TANUKI: Pon's Summer' launches November 10th on Xbox One/Series, Game Pass, PS4/5, Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC.Source
  17. 'Dumpster Gang' launches December 3rd on Game Pass and PC. Coming Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 in March 2027.Trailer
  18. 'Witchbrook' launches January 28th on Xbox Series, Game Pass, PS5, Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC. Trailer
  19. 'Everything is Crab' is coming to Android and iOS on November 24th. Coming to Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 1&2 on January 26th. Already on PC. Source
  20. 'Smalland 2: Lost Realms' delayed to 2027. Trailer
  21. 'Tenjutsu' launches in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.Trailer
  22. Shift Up’s Destiny Child to return as idle RPG 'Destiny Child: Assemble' from Com2uS.Source
  23. 'Aloft' is coming to PS5 in early 2027.Trailer
  24. 'Drawquarium' launches November 13th on PC.Trailer
  25. 'Moonlight Peaks' is coming to PS5 on November 17th. Already on Nintendo Switch 1&2 and PC. Source
  26. The Onion released 'The Onion Voting Simulator 3D' on Steam for free.Source
  27. 'Dig! Dig! Dino!' is coming to PC on November 18th! Already on Playdate!Source
  28. 'The Dark Queen of Mortholme' is coming Xbox Series, PS5 and Nintendo Switch on December 3rd. Already on PC.Source
  29. 'Are You Smarter Than a Troll?' launches next year on PC.Source Trailer
  30. 'Petit Planet' launches December 4th on Mobile and PC. Trailer
  31. 'The Duskbloods' delayed to 2027.Source
  32. 'Emberville' Early Access delayed to January 7th 2027.
  33. 'Pokémon UNITE' will end its service on Tuesday, March 23rd 2027, at 00:00 UTC.Source
  34. 'Shenmue 3 Enhanced Edition' delayed to early 2027.
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If you want to hang out with us or want to share the gaming news posts to your own Discord server, feel free to join the //CounterCulture server!

ᴊᴏɪɴ ⁄⁄⋐ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏʀᴅ ꜱᴇʀᴠᴇʀ

Game of the Week:

Penguin Colony

Penguin Colony game key art

Cosmic horror, through the eyes of a penguin. Rival human factions have come to your home in the Antarctic, seeking an ancient and inconceivable being. Observe their descent into insanity in this faithful re-imagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, and other stories.

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That's all for this week!
Thank you so much for joining in every week!

We had a pretty long streak of weekly rundowns and I can't wait to be fully back!

As always this thing here only works with word of mouth, so if you know someone who would be interested in this kind of content please share it with them!

We also have a pretty chill community on Discord without the loud social media noice!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and until next week.

Written by Knoebel & edited by viaz