In this week's roundup we're looking at some Summer Games Fest news, the Upload VR showcase, and simulator games all the way from F1 to Bears running B&Bs... Enjoy!
Hot Bear Summer
This week of NO E3 has already had some stellar events and showcases, with many more to come - but I don't think there is anything I can be as excited about as the release of Bear and Breakfast, a wonderfully charming B&B simulator that has taken the indie gaming fandom by storm.
Finally, finally we know when the game is coming out, and it's soon. REALLY SOON! Next Month - July the 28th!
Gummy Cat and Armor Games Studios announced the release date with a really lovely trailer at the Day of the Devs showcase last night, which you can watch below.
I've played the demo, I've readied my Switch, I've got my holiday booked - this is going to be a Hot Bear Summer 🐻
Taya
Bear and Breakfast is launching July 28th for PC and Switch!! Build and run a B+B in the woods, but you're a bear! Watch our new animated trailer to get ready for Hot Bear Summer™! ☀️🐻⛱️
— Bear and Breakfast 🐻 (@BearBreakfast) June 9, 2022
If you like what we're doing, consider wishlisting! https://t.co/waPNhz6KGC pic.twitter.com/zIiGPBMte5
Summer Speeding with F1 Manager
The first officially licensed F1 sports management sim in more than 20 years is coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
Frontier Developments, the studio behind Jurassic World and Planet Coaster, is launching F1 Manager 2022 on 30th August.
Players must manage personnel, decide where to focus their team resources (whilst staying under the cost cap), coach drivers and craft race strategies.
The stats screens, whilst throwing lots of information at you, look slick and won’t be daunting to fans of games like the Football Manager series. The race visuals are also good and Formula 1 fans will hear the familiar voices of David Croft and Karun Chandhok peppered throughout.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on F1 Manager 2022 and could be tempted to pick up a copy at launch.
Ben G
Upload VR Showcase
This week was the Upload VR Showcase, which had plenty of announcements for upcoming games to whet the appetite of VR fans. The trailer that caught my eye is the game that blew up in 2020, Among Us. Fans of the game can expect all the great stuff from the original game but with a VR twist. The trailer does a great job of showing how the game completely changes with the VR aspect, bringing a lot more immersion and fear as you're performing tasks and then potentially being stabbed in the back. Additionally the meeting aspect looks awesome with all the players actually being round a table that will make for some amusing moments I can imagine. Among Us VR is during to be coming to Meta Quest and PC VR devices in the holidays later this year.
Pete
Gotham Knights character profiles
Last night was the Summer Games Fest where there was a whole host of announcements, be that of brand new games or updates on games we're waiting on. One (of the many) that I was excited to see was an update on Gotham Knights. WB Games Montreal are doing a character series of videos to give a closer look at the Knights. In this first video the have released we get a look at Nightwing. I love the idea of this series, as a chance to get invested in the characters before the game releases really extends the experience. There are some complaints that we still aren't seeing much gameplay yet, but hopefully that will come soon!
You can see a full breakdown of everything that was announced at the Summer Games Fest here.
Ben J
The Last of Us: Part 1 coming to PC and PS5
In the frenzy of news this week, something that made me smile was the reveal that The Last Of Us: Part 1 is being remade from the ground up for PC and PS5. Having played the already remastered version on PS4 I'm still excited by this, especially as this is another Sony exclusive franchise coming to PC.
Sony's slow but sure strategy of bringing their beloved IPs to PC is great, purely to widen the audience. Also this is a nice beat from a marketing perspective to align with the hype that's building around the in development TV adaptation that's coming AND a standalone multiplayer TLOU experience. PS5 version of Part 1 will be coming this September and the PC version sometime after.
Dan
More Etch Play
You can find Etch Play on all the usual social networks you might imagine. In particular, we hang out on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
We also have a live show every Thursday, where we recap the latest games industry news in video podcast form. It's a lot of fun. If you'd like to check it out, why not follow us on Twitch?
