Sequel To the Moon, xCloud Touch Control, Employee Lawsuit Against Blizzard - Gaming News Digest # 1.08. Part two (Topic)

Also read: Blasphemous DLC, Doom mod with video game museum, Baldur's Gate 3 early access start.

Impostor Factory is the next game from the creators of To the Moon

Freebird Games has released a trailer for its next game, set in the To the Moon universe. This is the fourth project in it.

The story focuses on Quincy, who is invited to visit a mysterious mansion. In it, he accidentally finds a time machine, after which people begin to die. Doctors Watts and Rosalyn are also featured in the plot. They will give people the opportunity to live their lives from the beginning.

Lovecraft themes appear in this story, but they only take up a third of the game. In general, Impostor Factory combines elements of adventure and RPG. The creators assure us that the story will make us curse in front of the monitor.

Xbox showed touch controls on phone when playing through xCloud

Cloud service Project xCloud embodies the idea of streaming a game from its catalog on any platform, including on the phone screen. The question arises, how then will the gamepad controls on the screen be adapted? Microsoft answered this question on the Microsoft Game Stack by streaming Gears 5 on the phone.

According to Jerrett Bradley of The Coalition, the service adjusts the management to a specific situation. For example, when you navigate with the sail, the game removes all buttons that are not needed during the process. And the stick itself turns into a slider and you can rotate it in different directions, controlling the sail.

As for the main layout, it has been unloaded and now there are fewer buttons on the screen. For example, to select a weapon, you need to hold down the special icon for calling the cross. Plus, you can even aim with the gyroscope.

Another of the many nuances is the cinematic mode. When the scene is turned on, all control buttons disappear so as not to interfere with the scene.

But in any case, you can just connect your gamepad to your smartphone. Microsoft also says it is asking the studios it partners with to come up with a custom layout for their games that will appear on xCloud. For example, Hellblade has a similar adaptive control.

The Stir of Dawn - Free Blasphemous Expansion Trailer

Blasphemous Metroidvania has received a DLC this week that will offer players new content.

By launching the "New Game +" mode in a new playthrough, you retain the abilities and things from the previous playthrough, but the game as a whole becomes more difficult. The test you choose is through a system of penances, each of which is different. So, one repentance takes away one health ball from you when you receive damage, and returns opponents to the location after you leave it, while another generally makes you vulnerable to any damage.

The Stir of Dawn storyline itself also opens in New Game +. It will feature new NPCs, finishing moves, moving between altars and cutscenes.

The add-on is now available for download on Steam and the PS4 store.

Blizzard employees are going to sue the company for small salaries

Earlier this week, Bloomberg employee Jason Schreyer released information that at Blizzard, ordinary employees have very low salaries, and they are struggling to make ends meet. He became aware of this after he conducted an anonymous survey of employees. The story received a logical continuation, and according to the same Schreier, the publishing house employees are preparing a class action lawsuit against 870 people.

All of them put forward their demands on the corporate messenger Slack, which includes salary increases for the customer service and quality assurance departments. They also require Blizzard to extend vacation and sick leave periods.

Company spokesman Dustin Blackwell said they will be looking at pay increases to create an adaptive compensation system to support their workforce.

Since there are no unions of people from the gaming industry in the United States, the class action lawsuit of Blizzard employees could be the largest in the history of the industry to date, writes Schreyer.

As former Blizzard employees told him, competitors pay more in the same positions, and after moving to an identical position in other studios / publishers, they began to receive twice as much.

Some employees report that their annual income in California, where Blizzard is headquartered, is $ 40,000 a year, which is less than the average salary. Also, according to them, such conditions have a negative impact on staff retention.

Well, never the phrase "Need more gold" in the context of Blizzard was not as relevant as it is now.

Baldur's Gate 3 Coming to Early Access in September

It was originally planned that Baldur's Gate 3 will go into Early Access in August, but Larian Studios made a reservation even then that plans could change - and it happened. The game will now go into Early Access in September.

According to the studio, the early version is almost ready, but they are not keeping up with the deadlines. The specific release date will be announced on August 18 on a special panel dedicated to the game. It will take place at 20:00 Moscow time on Twitch and YouTube.

A mod with the National Video Game Museum has appeared in Doom. Added to the National Video Game Museum

The National Video Game Museum in the United States in Texas is dedicated to preserving the history of interactive entertainment. An unusual exhibit should appear in it - a special mod for Doom 2 - NVMDoom, where this very museum has been recreated.

Developed by Chris Barakani, a developer at DevHouse Geme and also a tour guide in the video game museum. Since the time he got a job there in 2016, his boss asked him to create this mod. The developer agreed

According to Barakani, he created it for about a year and as a result, the mod completely copies the museum, and also has several secret locations, for example, the Atari office. You can choose the difficulty Tourist, where there are no enemies, or play a full-fledged shooter.

You can download it on ModDB right now for Doom 2.

That was all the big news this week. Keep calm and keep playing and we'll see you next week ... in the next digests ...

The Topic of Article: Sequel To the Moon, xCloud Touch Control, Employee Lawsuit Against Blizzard - Gaming News Digest # 1.08. Part two.
Author: Jake Pinkman