News Picks/Weekly Round-up from Auryn Cox @Ciaran’s Customs

Cyberpunk2077 lead gameplay designer leaves CD Projekt Red after 8 years with the studio

Cybperunk2077’s lead gameplay designer Andrzej Zawadzki, has announced that he will be leaving CD Projekt Red.

Zawadzki made the announcement on Twitter telling his followers, “After almost 8 years, my time at CDPR has come to an end. It's time for the new adventure. To every person I've met on the way – thank you :) It was an honor and pleasure. See you around :)".

Zawadzki joined the studio as a QA tester and worked on The Witcher 3 and its DLC. In 2016 he became a junior gameplay designer and began working on Cyberpunk2077. Then in March 2020 he became the game’s senior gameplay designer.

Zawadzki has yet to give a reason for his departure.

Sony are allegedly shutting down PS3, Vita, and PSP Stores this Summer

According to a report from Thegamer.com, Sony is to shut down its PS3,Vita and PSP stores this Summer.

PSP’s and PS3’s stores are to be closed on July 2, while the PS Vita store will stay open until August 27. After these dates, users will not be able to download any digital games or DLC on these consoles.

Sony has yet to comment but the report mentions that an official announcement is due to be made by the end of this month.

It Takes Two launched this week

It Takes Two, the latest Co-op game from Hazelight Studios launched earlier this week.

The game is unlike many of the other new releases coming out on the market due to the fact that It Takes Two is a game where co-op play is fundamental to the gameplay experience rather than a bonus feature.

Critics have been praising the games mechanics and many are even taking to calling it the best co-op experience in recent years. The only real criticism of the game is its predictable story.

It Takes Two is out now on Steam and Origin for £35/€40/$40. Like the studios last co-op title A Way Out, only you or your friend needs to own a copy of the game in order to play together.

Hades wins GOTY at the Bafta Game Awards

Hades the Greek mythological roguelike won game of the year at the 2021 Bafta Game Awards.

Developer Supergiant Games' Hades managed to beat off The Last of Us part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima for the prestigious game of the year award.

Hades won four awards from twelve nominations while The Last of us part 2 managed to win two awards from a record breaking thirteen nominations. Ghost of Tsushima grabbed only one award from its ten nominations.

The award ceremony was hosted digitally again this year with Elle Osili-Wood acting as presenter.

Xbox Party chat will no longer require Xbox Live Gold

Microsoft is set to make Xbox party chat free as part of its Xbox Live free-to-play changes.

As part of the changes Microsoft are also allowing free to play games such as Fortnite and Rocket League to be playable without an Xbox Live Gold membership.

The changes are currently being tested ahead of a full public rollout in the near future.

Global chip shortage has reached a crisis point

Graphics card prices may rise again as tech analysts warn that the global chip shortage has reached a crisis point.

Neil Campling, media and tech analyst at Mirabaud doesn’t believe that supply is catching up or that demand for hardware is decreasing.

“There is a perfect storm of supply and demand factors going on here. But basically, there is a new level of demand that can’t be kept up with, everyone is in crisis and it is getting worse,” he said.

It seems ridiculous that hardware prices could continue to rise much higher than their current exaggerated price tags.

GameStop to start selling PC Hardware including Graphics cards

GameStop plans to begin selling PC hardware on a dedicated web page.

GameStop CEO George Sherman made the announcement that the company would be expanding its product catalogue during an earnings call earlier this week.

“This includes growing our product offerings across PC gaming, computers, monitors, game tables, mobile gaming, and gaming TVs to name only a few,” he said.

A new weekly AD also showed that GameStop intends to stock RTX 3000 graphics cards, motherboards, power supplies, and PC desktop cases.

While the graphics cards can already be found on the companies website they all currently read “not available”.

About the Author

Auryn is a student journalist and an avid gamer. He enjoys strategy games as well as all the new releases from 10 years ago. He also has a few hours on Overwatch.

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