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I’ve spent some time playing Diablo IV, initially with the intention of giving it a full review. But to be honest, I’m having too much fun muddling through it at a leisurely pace. By the time I’m review-ready, it’ll be time to get stuck into Baldur’s Gate 3 (and speaking of, having Final Fantasy XVI on my PS5 doesn’t do wonders for my attention span either). Instead, I’ve been following the ongoing saga of Diablo IV’s latest patch — and it’s been a wild journey.
First patch 1.1.0 came out and obliterated any sense of oomph players had, and then came several days of Blizzard apologies and promises of a fix. Blizzard finally announced patch 1.1.1 today, which launches on August 8. I doubt that will be an end to the drama, but it’s at least been fun watching the journey to get to this point.
In other news, Sony has announced that PlayStation 5 has sold over 40 million units, which is pretty impressive when you consider the pandemic-era supply chain issues it had during the pandemic. I’d be interested in seeing how the software sales shake out in the next financial report, as the previous one showed that those were a little cool compared with the hardware side of things. It seems Xbox is having an inverted problem, where its hardware sales are down but its games and Game Pass numbers are up.
I’m still playing catch-up with Final Fantasy XVI, but I’m hoping to take a crack at Disney Illusion Island this weekend. This year has been an embarrassment of riches, honestly. I’m having to confront the possibility that I cannot play all the new games that I want to play, as I lack both the time and monetary resources to get to everything. But I promise to at least give the big RPGs — Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XVI and Baldur’s Gate 3, to name the most recent ones — enough time to get the full experience.
What to play this week
What’s new:
- Remnant II
- Disney Illusion Island
- The Expanse: A Telltale Series
- Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
- Mr. Run and Jump
- Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Arcadian Atlas
- Let’s School
- Grand Emprise: Time Travel Survival
- The Queen’s Gambit Chess
New on subscription services:
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (Xbox Game Pass)
- Lunar Axe (Prime Gaming)
- MotoGP23 (GeForce Now)
- OCTOPATH TRAVELER (GeForce Now)
- Pro Cycling Manager 2023 (GeForce Now)
- Riders Republic (GeForce Now)
- Starship Troopers: Extermination (GeForce Now)
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Nintendo Switch Online)
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Nintendo Switch Online)
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