No More Snow Please

January has come and gone, let’s look back at what happened.

Monster Hunter Wilds To Have Second Beta Test

Before the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds this month, Capcom has announced that the game will have two more open beta test windows on the first and second weekends of February.

One new monster has been added to the testing as well as all previous content that was in game for the last beta. No performance updates have been added to this test, but have been added to the final build. Character progress will not carry over to the final build.

Those who participate will receive a few small in game bonuses in the full version of the game that launches on February 28, 2025.

Xbox Held Their First Developer Direct Of The Year

Xbox’s next Developer_Direct will give us an inside look at DOOM: The Dark Ages from id Software, South of Midnight from Compulsion, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive.

In addition to those three games, which will all got release dates, we got to see a surprise look at the newest entry in the Ninja Gaiden series along with a shadow drop of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Ninja Gaiden 4 is currently slated for release later this year.

Our Interview With Dr. Mick

Ryan Earl, better known online as “Dr. Mick”, is a Twitch streamer and content creator, while also a licensed marriage and family therapist with a PhD in Human Development.

In December of last year, I was able to interview with Dr. Mick about creating content as a licensed therapist, to working with and talking to game developers, and the ethics behind creating content online.

The full interview can be read on here.

Nintendo Finally Unveiled The Switch 2

After a long wait, Nintendo has officially shown off the Switch 2 and a quick glimpse at the newest Mario Kart. The larger device features snap on joy-cons, a new “mouse” mode, and an additional button.

While we still don’t know what this button does but, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 we will most likely find out during Nintendo’s latest Direct. As for Mario Kart, the newest entry doesn’t have a title yet, but looks to feature up to a series first 24 racers.

Switch 2 does not have a price yet, but is currently slated to release later this year and will have pop up events to demo the handheld around the world

Earthblade Canceled Following Developer Fallout

Celeste developer Extremely OK Games has canceled their next game, Earthblade. In a blog post about the cancellation, EXOK developer Maddy Thorson talked about the reasons the game was shelved.

From an IP dispute, to a rift between some of the team members, trying to follow up the success of Celeste, and the lack of enthusiasm of working on the title without the full original team all ultimately lead to the canceling of Earthblade.

EXOK has begun the process of starting over and prototyping their next “smaller-scale” project while returning to their roots.

People Can Fly Joins The Coalition On Gears E-Day

Polish developer People Can Fly has announced they will be joining The Coalition to work on Gears of War: E-day. The team has previously worked on Gears 1-3 and led development on Gears of War: Judgement.

Gears of War: E-Day was shown off for the first time last summer at the Xbox 2024 Showcase. The game is a prequel entry to the original title featuring Marcus and Dom as the lead characters again. No release date has been given yet.

People Can Fly have also worked on Painkiller (2004), Bulletstorm (2011), and Outriders (2021) in addition to their work on Gears of War.

Sims 1 & 2 Brought Back For 25th Anniversary

For the 25th anniversary of the Sims 1, EA has brought Sims 1 and 2 to Steam for individual purchase or together as a bundle for $40. The titles launch with all the DLC and expansions that had been created for each game including some additional content for Sims 4.

Both titles currently sit at a “Mixed” Steam review score with players stating how the games currently are filled with bugs and often times are crashing upon start up.