Welcome to The RoundUp! This is our monthly news post summarising the past month in PC gaming, PC tech and new Thermaltake products. On today’s RoundUp for December 2020: a quick wrap up of the Game Awards, NVIDIA releases their 3060 Ti’s, and Sony removes Cyberpunk 2077 from their store! All that and more in this RoundUp for December 2020.
GAMES RELEASED
December was lining up to be a busy month, but one certain game scared a lot of others off making it somewhat quieter than planned. So, incase you missed them, here are the biggest PC games that released in December 2020.
The strategy role playing game Empire of Sin, released on December 1, followed by the remastered edition of Sam and Max Save the World on December 2.
The latest in the Madden series, Madden NFL 21 released on December 4, while the Lovecraftian inspired Call of the Sea dropped on December 8.
Next came the BIG boy, Cyberpunk 2077 released on December 10.
Also, on December 10 saw the release of stylized indie game Shady Part of Me. And finally, throwing it back, Super Meat Boy Forever rounded out the month releasing on December 23.
GENERAL GAMES NEWS
Announcements
While there were a ton of announcements at the Game Awards, this section will cover the games announced separately.
First, a spin-off of the popular Persona series is coming to PC. Persona 5 Strikers will land on PC on February 23. Sadly, there’s still no word on whether the main Persona 5 game will make it too.
There looks like a new Disco Elysium project might be on the way. The game’s website is now displaying a red screen with a logo reading, “Soon” underneath.
The Scott Pilgrim vs The World game returns to digital fronts, with the game releasing on January 14, 2021. The game includes a remastered edition of the base game itself as well as all DLCs. It will be available on the Epic Store, Ubisoft store and streaming services Stadia and Luna.
There’s a Space Jam game on the way! It will be based on the upcoming film Space Jam: A New Legacy, and released as a perk for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members.
Delays
Sorry Halo fans, but it’s looking like Infinite is still a while off. The game is now scheduled for a Fall 2021 release, an entire year after it was initially meant to.
The Prince of Persia remake will not be releasing this January. The game is now due to release on March 18. This is due to 2020 being a difficult year for many game developers, and so they are needing extra time to polish it off.
Conan Chop Chop is also delayed, aiming now for a 2021 release. The game which started as an April Fools joke, was initially looking at an early 2020 release, but is now aiming for release in the first quarter of 2021.
And finally, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is also still a while off. The game is looking like it might come out towards the second half of 2021. Paradox Interactive’s CEO stated that this was due to a combination of lack of development kits for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as the pandemic.
The Game Awards
If you somehow missed all the news of The Game Awards, here’s some of the biggest announcements and winners for the night.
The biggest winner of the night by far was The Last of Us 2, getting Game of the Year and Best Game Direction, as well as best performance for Laura Bailey as Abby. Hades took out best indie and action game, while best VR went to Half-Life: Alyx. Finally, best family game went to Animal Crossing and best multiplayer, of course, went to Among Us. Check out the Game Awards site for the full list of winners and nominees.
On top of the actual awards, there was a TON of games announcement.
A new Perfect Dark game is on the way, bringing the series back after a substantial hiatus. Additionally, Bioware dropped a new trailer for their upcoming Dragon Age game. Neither of these trailers came with a release date.
We also saw a second trailer from Bioware, announcing that a new Mass Effect game is on the way. Bioware fans truly rejoiced this Game Awards.
A trailer dropped for the sequel to popular, Ark. Randomly starring Vin Diesel, Ark 2 looks all sorts of cool. Additionally, a new game titled, Returnal, got a wicked looking game play trailer and is due for release in March 2021. There was also a trailer showcasing some kick ass dragons in Century: Age of Ashes, a free to play multiplayer game coming to steam in February 2021.
We also saw trailers for some gorgeous looking story games including: the creepy The Calisto Protocol, the stunning Crimson Desert, and the PvPvE fantasy Hood: Outlasts & Legends.
Lastly, fans of Zombies finally have a new thing to sink their teeth into. From the creators of Left 4 Dead, comes Back 4 Blood. This is a 4-player zombie shoot ‘em up style game to satisfy all your Zombie cravings.
And those are just the beginning! Check out this site here for the full list of trailers.
Everything Else
Rumours circulated in early December that there would be a battle royale mode in the upcoming Halo Infinite. Halo’s community manager somewhat responded to the rumours on Twitter. Brian Jarrad tweeted that the rumours are ‘unfounded’. That isn’t quite a no though, so we will have to wait and see.
If you’re still taking to the seas in 2021, take note! Sea of Thieves is implementing a battle pass style going forward, similar to Fortnite and other games. This also means the game will be rolling out updates in the form of seasons, and no longer monthly.
Bioware heads Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah have stepped down. The two well known heads of the company have overseen many of their most well-known games including the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series’. This leaves the company currently without a general manager.
Call of Duty has reportedly sold $3 billion worth of products in 2020. The franchise seems to be going stronger than ever, this number covering all game sales, DLC and merch. Looks like COD isn’t dead quite yet.
After years of complaints, The Sims 4 has finally updated their skin tones. This comes after numerous players and content creators spoke up against the limited range of skin tones, especially darker shades, demanding for The Sims 4 to provide more options to ensure their players can accurately create themselves. They also introduced a number of new hairstyles as well as overhauling the makeup to suit a wider variety of skin tones.
Telltale has confirmed that The Wolf Among Us 2 is still on the way. Just hours before the 2020 Game Awards, Telltale stated that they are still working on it, and are developing the whole season at once instead of episode by episode like they did under prior management.
Despite its mixed response after release, Cyberpunk 2077 had over a million concurrent players on Steam on its release day. This overtook the previous record holder Fallout 4 back in 2015. On top of this, the game managed to make back its entire 8-year development costs from pre-orders alone.
TECH NEWS
The NVIDIA 3060 Ti released in early December. The next installament of the popular RTX 30 Series GPU finally hit the market, averaging well over 60fps at 1440P. So, if you are after 4K, this is your card… well, if you can find one.
NVIDIA are taking their time with the release of their 3080 Ti. This comes after AMD’s recent RX 6900 XT release, with NVIDIA confident in their card securing the high-end market still. The card is rumoured to drop around February 2021.
In further NVIDIA news, the company has signed a multi-million-dollar deal for more 30 Series GPUs. Their new deal with Samsung will further aid in production of 20 Series cards, as well as possibly new items on the horizon. However, due to NVIDIA taking a slower release approach, it could be some time until we know more.
Intel’s upcoming Rocket Lake CPU is reportedly 11% slower than AMD’s top Ryzen 5000 chip. Some leaked benchmarks show that the new CPU’s will clock in at a 3.41 GHz base frequency, with a boost frequency of 4.98GHz. This does seem a tad bit alarming considering it’s not a huge difference from their previous gen CPUs. But of course, you should always take leaks with a grain of salt, and waiting for more official testing results is always advised.
Finally, Computex is going to try for a physical event in 2021. The show organizers are still planning the June 1, 2021 event to be hosted in Taiwan due to the city’s low COVID-19 numbers. They are still looking into an online model as well for those who can’t make it in person.
CONTROVERSIAL NEWS
Monster Hunter: World on Steam is the latest victim of review bombing. Chinese audience members were unhappy with the recent film, which seemingly referenced a rhyming phrase deemed quite offensive. The film has edited out the joke and the director and actor who said the line apologised. They stated that the line was not meant to cause offense and denied an intentional link to the rhyme.
Activision is suing Netflix for poaching their CFO. Spencer Neumann was let go from Activision in 2019 under mysterious circumstances. But it turns out Neumann was headed to Netflix. Activision claims that Netflix knowingly made Neumann break his contact, as he was signed to be with them for at least 3 years.
The FTC has filed a lawsuit to break up Facebook. The US Federal Trade Commission alleges that Facebook has engaged in a systematic strategically to keep its place at the top. This is basically in reference to how when Facebook sees a worthy competitor (i.e., Instagram, WhatsApp), their solution is merely to purchase it, so as not to lose out to other companies. While it’s unlikely Facebook will have to separate its subsidiaries, other long-term effects could come in to effect such as stricter regulation of the social media giant.
Sony has removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the Play Station store. This came after the game was borderline unplayable for some on console, and CD Projekt Red offered full refunds. Sony, who don’t tend to like refunds, then opted to remove the game entirely so they wouldn’t have to issue out any more than they already have.
Last year a US congressman pled guilty to spending campaign funds on Steam games. Well, current President Trump has pardoned him. The congressman who spent more than $1300 of campaign funds on Steam as well as upwards of $250000 worth of funds on other expenses, will face no jail time like he had been sentenced to. The reason for the pardon was said to be at the request of many members of congress and suggested that the case against the congressman was mishandled.
THERMALTAKE NEWS
December was a pretty quiet month for us product wise here at Thermaltake, due to winding down for the year. The biggest main releases we had was a white edition of our gorgeous CyberChair for those of you who are looking for a new office desk. We also released the white edition of our stunning TH All-on-one coolers.
Over on our YouTube channel we released a few videos this past month, however due to it being the end of year, it was a little slower. Jono showed you how to install a TH All-in-one cooler, before rounding out the year with a Real Time Install, showing you how to install a new SSD.
Posts you may have missed here on the blog include a breakdown of 5 great Thermaltake Power supplies and a countdown my favourite PC Tech releases of the 2020. We also listed some festive games to play if you’re still feeling Christmassy, as well as some great games on the horizon to upgrade your rig for.
Currently our podcast Thermal Talk is on a bit of a break until February. But there is a back back catalogue to check out if you’ve missed out on anything. Check out all our episodes on your podcast platform of choice: Spotify, SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
SOURCES: https://www.pcgamer.com/au/persona-spin-off-persona-5-strikers-is-coming-to-pc-in-february/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/a-new-disco-elysium-project-is-coming-looks-like-a-prequel/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-returns-on-january-14-with-four-way-multiplayer/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/a-new-space-jam-game-is-coming-from-a-very-familiar-face/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/halo-infinite-delay-fall-2021/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-prince-of-persia-remakes-been-delayed-because-2020-is-a-year-like-no-other/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/youre-not-going-to-believe-this-but-conan-chop-chop-is-delayed-again/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/dont-expect-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-until-the-second-half-of-2021/ https://press-start.com.au/features/2020/12/11/everything-announced-the-game-awards-2020/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/halo-community-manager-says-battle-royale-rumor-is-unfounded/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/sea-of-thieves-is-switching-to-seasonal-updates-and-a-battle-pass/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/mass-effect-and-dragon-age-heads-casey-hudson-and-mark-darrah-have-resigned-from-bioware/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/call-of-dutys-sold-dollar3-billion-worth-of-product-to-over-200-million-people-in-the-last-year/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-sims-4-adds-over-100-new-skin-tones-and-sliders-to-customize-them/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/telltale-confirms-the-wolf-among-us-2-is-still-happening-but-its-going-to-be-awhile/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/cyberpunk-2077-has-over-a-million-concurrent-players-on-steam/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/after-eight-years-of-development-cyberpunk-2077-made-a-profit-in-one-day/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-nvidia-rtx-3060-ti-to-hit-stores-tomorrow/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/news/live/where-to-buy-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-graphics-card/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/intel-rocket-lake-cpu-slower-than-the-amd-ryzen-9-5950x/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/amds-rx-6900-xt-lacklustre-launch-means-nvidia-doesnt-need-the-rtx-3080-ti-anytime-soon/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/nvidia-just-signed-a-multi-million-dollar-deal-to-create-a-whole-load-more-rtx-30-series-gpus/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/computex-organisers-promise-2021s-show-will-be-an-actual-physical-event-remember-those/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/monster-hunter-world-review-bombed-after-a-controversial-joke-from-the-movie-hits-chinese-social-media/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/monster-hunter-movie-removes-controversial-joke-director-and-star-apologise/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/activision-is-suing-netflix-for-poaching-its-chief-financial-officer/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-ftc-files-a-lawsuit-to-break-up-facebook/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/sony-has-removed-cyberpunk-2077-from-the-playstation-store/ https://www.pcgamer.com/au/the-us-congressman-caught-using-campaign-funds-on-steam-has-been-pardoned-by-trump/
