Weekly News Wrap Up (8/03 - 8/07)

Welcome back to another Weekly News Wrap Up! There was a bit of an unintentional hiatus on this due to life being on fire. I would express my hope that things are finally looking up and being less on fire, but I fear that would jinx both myself and my household, and I would rather avoid that. Suffice to say, Weekly News Wrap Up is back once more!

There is some news as we begin August and have the best time of the year looming on the horizon. So if you haven't had a chance to catch up on what has been going on in the industry, here are a few highlights worthy of your attention.

XBOX's Next Console and Backwards Compatibility

While there has been no official source as of yet, there have been some leaks that indicate that the next XBOX console (Helix) will support games from all previous generations. It is unclear if this means physical media support or not, but it is certainly a smart move on XBOX's part.

This hasn't been fully confirmed yet, and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, I wouldn't be surprised if XBOX leaned hard on this kind of support for their next console. With all the ire that Sony is drawing from consumers, this is the kind of move that might give XBOX an edge in the next generation. That is, of course, if console prices don't alienate would-be buyers.

EA Officially Bought by Saudi Arabia

This has been in the works since late last year, but it finally happened. Saudi Arabia is now the proud owner of EA. The company was acquired for $55 billion and has officially gone private as of a few days ago. Without getting too into the nitty-gritty of the finances, all shares have been bought up.

It sounds like there are already plans for cuts and a lot of layoffs as well. Unfortunately, I am not surprised to hear this, considering the state the industry is in. Regardless of whatever Saudi Arabia's intentions are for buying Electronic Arts (and let's face it, they won't be good and will likely have a very severe impact on the games created/published by EA), it is another nail in the coffin of the AAA industry.

Constantly laying off developers is only going to hurt the industry even more in the long run. But unfortunately, speed running the destruction of the industry is par for the course with late-stage capitalism, and it will likely get significantly worse before it gets better.

Ocarina of Time Remake Still Coming Out in 2026

One of the big surprises that came from Nintendo this summer was the reveal of a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This came completely out of the blue, and with how little we actually saw, it feels like one of those announcements for a game that is another year or two out.

Yet in spite of that, the trailer says the game is coming out this year. In a recent financial report, Nintendo reiterated that the remake is still coming out this year, but we don't have a release date yet. I wouldn't be surprised if that means that there will be a Nintendo Direct announced in the near future where we will actually get more details and gameplay footage.

Personally? My prediction is that the remake will release in November, as that was the month that Ocarina of Time first came out back in 1998. I have no evidence or insider information to back this gut feeling of mine, but it would be a great callback to such a classic and beloved game.