This week has included a lot of first looks at new games, whether they be from official sources or otherwise. The biggest stories of the week include the chance to play Niantic's new Pokemon Go-style Pikmin game, a deep dive into Halo Infinite's campaign, and endless discussion about Warner Bros. multiverse fighting game. Yes, that's apparently a thing.
The Warner Bros. Multiverse Game Is Real, Or Is It?
Now that Nickelodeon has launched All-Star Brawl, it would appear pitting characters from universes that would never usually punch each other is all the rage. According to a leak, Warner Bros. is working on a game that will finally allow you to discover who's stronger: Batman or Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. The leak has been backed up by industry insiders, but nothing official from Warner Bros. just yet. The initial news was followed up with an alleged roster which also includes the likes of Gandalf and Rick & Morty.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Takes A Pay Cut
The issues and allegations surrounding Activision Blizzard aren't going to just go away, no matter how much its board of directors might want them to. Almost every action the studio has taken to try and remedy the heinous things it has been accused of just seems to make things worse. This week, CEO Bobby Kotick revealed he would be taking a pay cut until Activision's problems are resolved. Earlier this year, Kotick's annual paycheque was cut in half, although that still left him taking home $155 million. This latest reduction means he will take home $62,500 for the year, which is reportedly the minimum the state of California will allow a salaried employee to earn. With a net worth of at least $600 million, we think he'll probably be okay.
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Skyrim TikTok Star JinnKid Arrested And Charged With Murder
Ali Nassar Abulaban, better known to his fans as Skyrim IRL TikTokker JinnKid, was arrested last week. The TikTok star has been charged with the alleged murder of his wife Ana and her friend Rayburn Barron. Abulaban and Ana were said to have separated shortly before her death. The victims were found with gunshot wounds to the head, and video footage shows Abulaban leaving the apartment shortly after the killings would have allegedly occurred. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will remain in custody while he awaits his trial.
Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack Arrives To Mixed Reviews
One month on from revealing Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games would be coming to Nintendo Switch Online, the service's Expansion Pack officially arrived this week. The previous reveal that it would cost twice as much as a regular NSO subscription meant its launch needed to go off without a hitch, but that hasn't happened. In the hours that followed the Expansion Pack's arrival, its first players reported a number of issues, largely with the quality and performance of the N64 games. It's off to a bad start, but let's hope that things improve as Nintendo irons out the issues and adds more games.
The First Proper Look At Halo Infinite's Campaign
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There are still a number of big titles to launch 2021, but it seems highly likely Halo Infinite will be the game that steals most people's attention this holiday season. 343 already announced a couple of Infinite's modes won't be ready until 2022, which might have had some worried about the lack of information regarding its campaign. Well, worry no more as an overview shown off earlier this week revealed more details about Infinite's campaign than you can shake an energy sword at.
Niantic Rolls Out Pokemon Go-Inspired Pikmin Bloom
25 years of Pokemon during which more games than we can tally up have been released, and it could be argued that a free-to-play mobile one has been the most successful. Pokemon Go has performed so well for its developer Niantic that it has launched an all-new game featuring a completely different Nintendo IP, Pikmin. Pikmin Bloom's rollout started earlier this week and is available to download on iOS and Android right now. Bloom is a lot more easygoing than Pokemon Go but shares a lot of the same mechanics.