With Twitter in turmoil and users worried the platform is in danger of imploding altogether, this week gamers (and non-gamers) rushed en mass to a previously almost-unheard of social media platform. People have been looking for a new online hangout to call home for a while now, and after a few false dawns, Hive seems to be the most promising and most likely to take hold so far. Or at least, it seems the most like Twitter.

The rate at which people have adopted the platform is quite astonishing, with a huge number of the accounts I spend most of my time interacting with on Twitter jumping ship in the space of 48 hours. It’s been a genuine pleasure finding familiar faces popping up there this week, or receiving a notification to say one has found me.

Indeed, the biggest draw of Hive at the moment - at least in the corner of the app that I reside in - is that it already feels so familiar and welcoming.

Twitter’s gaming community has been a joy to be a part of over the last few years, but the platform's increasing insistence on chucking 'suggested' and 'you might like' content into your feed - alongside everyone else’s likes and replies - is so aggressive and often so wildly inaccurate that your experience is littered with posts and people you simply don’t wish to see, regardless of who or what you follow.

What a relief it is to see only the content you’ve chosen to see. It sounds simple, but it shows how bloated and unwieldly Twitter has become that Hive feels so remarkably and refreshingly clean in comparison. It feels like what Twitter should be.

Now I’m not ready to abandon Twitter quite yet. The vast majority of that community is still there after all, and the platform has been the biggest driver of support for this newsletter by a distance. I owe Twitter and the people I’ve met there a lot of gratitude - plus, I like them - and I don’t plan on turning my back on either any time soon.

It never hurts to have a plan b, though, and with so many people seemingly in agreement, it seems that Hive could very well be it. Recommending something so new (especially when social media is concerned) is always a risky game - controversy of some kind is usually lurking just around the corner - but right now, the gaming side of Hive simply feels exciting.

I'm seeing game captures and screenshots, discussions about new and old favourites, pictures of people's prized collections and very little else. It's lovely.

From early memories of a youth spent in schoolyards, all most gamers want is a place to share and discuss their hobby with likeminded people. Currently, Hive feels like that. Only a schoolyard mostly free of bullies, spoilsports and, um, aggressive algorithms and relentless advertising campaigns.

There’s a good chance this’ll change in time, of course, but right now it actually feels like a genuinely nice place to bee.

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If you're already on the platform and have the Hive app installed, you can find The Week in Games here. Or me here.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the newsletter!

See you next week!

Jeff

If you enjoy The Week in Games and would like to support it, please consider a paid membership from only £1 a month. A huge thank you to those who already do.

THE WEEK IN GAMES

The best news, deals and gaming content of the week!

NEWS

• Predictably enough, Elden Ring won big at this year's Golden Joystick awards. You can see all of the nominations and winners in each category here.

• PlayStation 6 won't release until at least 2027, according to a published Sony document.

• Microsoft admits "many" PlayStation exclusives are "better quality" than those on Xbox.

• Legendary Sonic designer and Balan Wonderworld director Yuji Naka has been arrested in Tokyo in connection to an insider trading investigation.

• Amouranth is the only female streamer in Twitch's top 100 most-watched list.

• God of War Ragnarök sells 5.1m copies in first week, becoming the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation game to date.

• God Of War Ragnarok's director says he'd love to make a Castlevania game.

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been rated in Korea.

• Elon Musk hires PS3 hacker George Hotz to help fix Twitter.

• Sony has claimed Microsoft "wants PlayStation to become like Nintendo."

• BBC will release a Splinter Cell audio adaptation for Radio 4 next month.

• UK regulator CMA launches an investigation into Apple's cloud gaming restrictions.

• A triple-A Alien game inspired by Dead Space and Resident Evil is reportedly launching in 2023.

• Xbox is taking back Forza Horizon games it accidentally sold for 61p.

• Star Citizen is now free to play until the end of November.

• Here's how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's next DLC tracks compare visually to the originals.

• A new job listing at IO Interactive hints that its next game will be a multiplayer title with microtransactions.

• The Witcher 3’s next-gen upgrade brings photo mode, cross-save, and more.

• Hideki Kamiya has teased that Bayonetta 4 is already in the works.

• A new Fire Emblem Engage trailer gives a first glimpse of gameplay.

• Buzz Lightyear and Woody are coming to Disney's Dreamlight Valley.

• Sony and Honda are joining forces on new electric vehicles that could incorporate PlayStation 5 consoles.

• Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai might have hinted that 3DS cult classic Kid Icarus: Uprising will be getting some kind of remaster.

DEALS

• PlayStation's Black Friday sale is now on, with up to 70% off a pretty comprehensive selection of games both big and small.

• You can also save 25% on 12 month PlayStation Plus subscriptions and there's also a Games Under £20 sale running.

• Over on Xbox there's also a Black Friday sale, with up to 67% off games.

• You can also grab an Xbox Series S for just £189 from Amazon, or grab a selection of discounted Xbox controllers from Microsoft.

• Predictably enough, Nintendo are also getting in on the Black Friday action, with up to 75% off games including Metroid Dread and Super Mario Odyssey.

• Evil Dead: The Game and Star Wars: Squadrons are currently free on the Epic Games Store.

• Over on Steam, the big Autumn Sale has begun, with a frankly ridiculous number of games reduced.

• For more Black Friday deals, Eurogamer has a comprehensive and constantly updated page full of deals and offers that's worth keeping an eye on.

• All of Amazon's Black Friday video game deals can be found here.

MORE!

• Keynote Lecture: Mental Health in the games industry

Keen-eyed readers may have noticed a Safe In Our World logo has creeped onto the bottom of the newsletter over the last few issues. Safe In Our World is a wonderful gaming-focused mental health charity that aims "to create and foster worldwide mental health awareness within the video game industry", and The Week in Games is a proud supporter of their cause.

There will plenty more on this subject in an upcoming issue, but for now I'd just like to highlight Keynote Lecture: Mental Health in the Games Industry from Mind Fitness and Safe In Our World. It's a free two-hour online course which takes place on Thursday December 1st and is set to cover a number of mental health topics.

You can find all the details about the lecture here and check out the Safe In Our World website here.

• A Profound Waste of Time: Issue 3

The Kickstarter campaign for Issue 3 of A Profound Waste of Time is now live. The previous two issues have been huge, incredibly well-written and wonderfully produced gaming journals and are an absolute must if you're even remotely interested in that kind of thing.

The campaign ends on Saturday December 10. You can back it here.

NEW RELEASES

All the major releases arriving this week and next!

THIS WEEK:

• Evil West (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – November 22

• Gungrave G.O.R.E. (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – November 22

• Just Dance 2023 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch) – November 22

• Ship of Fools (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) – November 22

NEXT WEEK:

• Last Days of Lazarus (PlayStation 5) – November 29

• Sable (PlayStation 5) – November 29  – Read review

• Soccer Story (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – November 29

• The Knight Witch (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – November 29

• Front Mission 1st: Remake (Switch) – November 30

• Gundam Evolution (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) – November 30

• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC) – November 30

• Inscryption (Switch) – December 1  – Read review

• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution (Quest, PlayStation VR) – December 1

• Marvel's Midnight Suns (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – December 2

• Need For Speed Unbound (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – December 2

• Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion (Switch) – December 2

• The Callisto Protocol (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – December 2

RECOMMENDED READS

Hand-picked gaming articles from around the web!

My Quest To Keep Video Game Magazines Alive Might Break Me

By Paul Murphy - Time Extension

"If you love what someone does, please support them however you can"

25 years on, Tomb Raider 2 is still as good as it gets

By Christian Donlan - Eurogamer

Happy 25th birthday, Tomb Raider 2. Here's a little piece to celebrate its quarter century.

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• The Friendly Mind* - Get tips, tools, and resources to improve your emotional health and wellbeing.

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SUPPORT US

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The Week in Games remains possible thanks to the ongoing support of valued members BitBloggist, johnXprinter & SeánLynch. If you enjoy it, please consider a paid membership from only £1 a month.

Alternatively, please simply forward this email to someone you think might like it, or give it a share on social media using the links at the top of the email. Thank you!

…and that’s it for this week!

I really hope you enjoyed the issue. I’m always looking at ways to improve this newsletter, so if you have any comments, suggestions or enquiries, please reply to this email directly or catch me over on Twitter or Hive!

Thanks again, and see you next week!

Jeff