In this week's roundup, events like the DC FanDome and the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct brought some significant updates for games like New Horizons and Gotham Knights. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
For this week's gaming news, the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct unveiled New Horizons' upcoming Version 2.0, as well as major paid DLC. The DC FanDome brought big story updates and dedicated trailers for both Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Activision officially unveiled the Treyarch-developed Zombies mode coming to Call of Duty: Vanguard later this year. A majority of fans were not too excited when Nintendo announced the official pricing for the Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack subscription. All that and more in this week's breakdown of the biggest news in the video game industry.
AC Direct Reveals Big Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update, Paid DLC
In a dedicated Direct this week, Nintendo finally revealed the major 2.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, alongside the new premium Happy Home Paradise DLC. On November 5, New Horizons players will receive the free update full of quality of life changes and new features, alongside the $24.99 paid DLC. Nintendo is also presenting an option for players interested in the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription, including access to the Happy Home Paradise alongside the new subscription tier.
In the Happy Home Paradise DLC, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players will be able to design and build vacation homes of all kinds, expanding on the existing house building with new furniture and customization options. Players can attain a new job as a dream home designer, helping various Animal Crossing characters create their "ideal vacation homes." Interior and exterior design, landscaping, as well as changing the season and weather are all main features of the new DLC. Any player designs are saved in the "Happy Home Network," which players can take with them to design their own homes, as well as use new currency to buy rare furniture and items.
DC FanDome Game Announcements: Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Among other exciting DC announcements like The Batman trailer, Batwoman, and HBO Max's Peacemaker, several DC games received a few updates as well. Both Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League received two additional trailers; a story trailer with in-game cutscenes for Kill the Justice League (still set to release at some point in 2022), as well as Gotham Knights receiving its own story trailer (slated for 2022 as well).
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's trailer finally gave fans a glimpse at several additional members of the corrupted justice league, as well as the titular anti-heroes themselves. While the game's initial trailer gave hints of what to expect from the narrative, players now have a better idea of the sheer task ahead of them. Similarly with Gotham Knights, taking on the Court of Owls will be a daunting task, but this latest trailer has finally shown the dreadful and dangerous Talons in action.
Activision Reveals Treyarch-Developed Zombies for Call of Duty: Vanguard
Fans of the Treyarch Zombies modes from Call of Duty are in luck this year. While Sledgehammer Games is developing the campaign and multiplayer modes for Call of Duty: Vanguard, Treyarch is jumping back in specifically to develop the Zombies co-op mode coming with this year's Call of Duty entry. Past entries not entirely developed by Treyarch have typically experimented with co-op modes (or eschewed them entirely), but Treyarch is dedicating development time specifically for Vanguard's Zombies.
More recently, Call of Duty: Vanguard's Zombies just received its first official trailer, showcasing tidbits of gameplay alongside a continuation of the "Dark Aether" storyline. Characters from the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign are seemingly taking certain stage as the main characters in this new Nazi Zombies conflict, and are also seen imbuing themselves with some kind of Aether artifacts that grants them new abilities. An Ice AoE attack, as well as some crowd-busting energy attacks, were shown utilizing these new objects that players can presumably find/equip in Zombies as well.
Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Pricing Revealed
Separate from the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct, the company also detailed the pricing for the new Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, coming on October 25. Bringing a selection of Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games to the service like NES/SNES Online, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is available as a yearly subscription. Unlike standard Nintendo Switch Online, NSO + Expansion Pack is will cost $49.99/year for individuals, and $79.99 for a family plan, which left a lot of Nintendo fans disappointed for the hiked up price point. Nintendo fans flooded the video with dislikes, arguing the value proposition doesn't match the price asked.
Valve Prohibits NFTs, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency-related Games From Steam
On Steam, Valve has recently opted to remove and prohibit any games/software that utilize blockchain technology on Steam, as well as anything that involves cryptocurrency exchange. Additionally any software that engages in the buying or selling of NFTs is also now prohibited on the PC platform, all updated on the Steamworks documentation surrounding publishing criteria for games. This is in direct contrast to Epic Games, which is open to any games that utilize NFTs or cryptocurrency.
DICE Unveiled 'Hazard Zone' For Battlefield 2042
After this weekend's open beta, DICE has officially revealed the previously leaked Hazard Zone mode for Battlefield 2042. Taking a page out of multiplayer games like Escape from Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown, Hazard Zone is an objective-based mode all about extracting data drives from downed satellites. Multiple squads of four, as well as bots (PvPvE), will all compete for control of said drives, agathering as many as possible before extracting from the "zone" of a Battlefield multiplayer map.
Minecraft 'The Wild' Update Coming in 2022
The long-running sandbox adventure game, Minecraft, is receiving a brand new expansion next year. Titled "The Wild," this update brings some big changes to new and existing biomes in the Minecraft overworld, including a reformed Birch forest biome, changes to the upcoming Deep Dark biomes, as well as the new Mangrove Swamp biome. After the second portion of Caves and Cliffs was delayed, The Wild will now include that portion of Minecraft's upcoming expansion, coming sometimes in 2022.