This is not a drill! The Triple-I Initiative kickstarted with a major reveal from Mega Crit - Slay the Spire 2. STS is an alltimer and genre definer, so I cannot wait. Early access starts 2025, so got a while to go yet, but wooo!

Massive and Ubisoft have dropped a Star Wars Outlaws story trailer, including a release date of August 30th. Personally, you get a lot of enjoyment for free just by virtue of being in the Star Wars universe, but yet another story going to Tatooine is getting kinda old… as are these AAA prices! $189AUD for the Ultimate Edition - oof, that’s like 20 Balatros!

Windblown, the new one from Motion Twin (of Dead Cells fame) finally has a gameplay trailer. Windblown promises a co-op (or solo) action roguelite experience. Playing as a ‘Leaper’, you’ll protect the Ark against a raging Vortex across ever-changing sky-islands. Looks cool!

The newly announced Triple-i Initiative seems to be carving out space as an independent response to AAA games, which otherwise would have been considered “lesser” AA titles.

The Triple-i Initiative is a new collaborative effort to highlight fan-favourite games and hype up established indie classics as well as new IPs. The Initiative is backed by strong independent studios such as Evil Empire, Red Hook, Mega Crit Games, Poncle, Stunlock Studios, Thunder Lotus, Re- Logic, Ghostship Games, Extremely OK Games, Heart Machine and more.

Their first showcase is on April 10th. Major announcements and reveals are promised from studios like Mega Crit, Red Hook Studios, and Evil Empire. Catch it on YouTube, Twitch, bilibili, IGN or Steam.

Embracer Group has sold Gearbox to Take-Two for $460M USD. Randy Pitchford, Founder of Gearbox, says:

Joining forces with Take-Two Interactive/2K will help Gearbox ascend to our next level. Take-Two and 2K have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to our engine of generating creativity, happiness, and profit. We set the bar for interactive entertainment and achieved remarkable results with groundbreaking, record-setting games when we worked together at arm’s length as partners. I’m incredibly excited about what we can accomplish now that we’re fully aligned as one.

The deal includes Borderlands and Homeworld franchises, and is expected to close by Q1 FY24/25.

From the Ghost Story Games office, Ken Levine showcased his latest project, Judas, to IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey and Geoff Keighley. He emphasises narrative depth in a familiar FPS format - clearly echoing BioShock - invoking the “narrative LEGOs” concept he’s been talking about for ten years. If you’re just after the gameplay, IGN has a tweet for that.

Screen Australia has announced $1.6 million in funding for 27 Australian games and creators, supporting a range of projects that showcase diverse genres and innovative gameplay. This initiative aims to boost the local industry and highlight Australian talent in gamedev. Check out the full list here - very excited to see Winnie’s Hole get up!

The upcoming action roguelite prequel to Hyper Light Drifter is looking super cool in its first hands-on gameplay preview! Huge fan of these folks, and very keen to see where this one goes.

Four days out from the highly anticipated release of Dragon’s Dogma 2, we get a really good look at the game by way of a new official trailer, voiced by Ian McShane. Honestly, the game looks insane - can’t wait.

A week after Nintendo sued its devs for “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale”, Yuzu has agreed to a $2.4M settlement and the shutdown of the Yuzu and Citra emulators. They’ll also cease all related activities and hand over domain, tools, and modified hardware to Nintendo. Read the final judgement here, and Yuzu’s statement here. While Nintendo are definitely setting an example here, the settlement means no legal precedent is being set.