By Ronald Gordon 

Hello and welcome back to the Roundup! It’s our series dedicated to gathering the stories of interns and members alike to give them a shoutout. Summer Game Fest was a blast for a lot of people, and that means much more news to cover. Featured are stories about Osaze’s time in an epic history simulator, Aeth’s 70+ hours within Pokémon Champions, Khloe’s colorful experience with the enthralling People of Note, Shannon’s thoughts on Xbox’s game showcase, Harold’s roundup of Nintendo Switch 2 games, Totilo’s roundup of over 20 games to try out soon, and so much more!

We received some amazing reviews from our most recent 10-week course at Lab School, but one stood out as the most extraordinary. Osaze Okungbowa, who previously won our Rockstar Games scholarship, wrote an compelling piece on Ultimate General: Civil War, and the trials of warfare. As a realistic reimagining of a historical battle, Ultimate General: Civil War did a lot to challenge Osaze, who had only played first person shooters in his lifetime. He laments his first loss as he writes, “When I first loaded the game, I was given three options: Campaign, Battle, and Custom Battle. I chose the Campaign because I didn’t see a tutorial button, and usually that mode teaches you how to play the game. I was wrong. I had to become the general: choosing my education level, my role in the Mexican-American War, my further career. Then, I was given the objective, and placed on a dirt path and told to command my troops. I accidentally speed ran myself to the defeat screen, as I would never back down from any rebel units.” Despite being defeated on his first ever attempt, Osaze would only become emboldened by the challenge, going on to fight battles and win skirmishes he never thought he could. His writing is impactful and heartfelt, definitely worth the read as his first piece as our newest Circle Intern!

Aeth Finch is a Pokémon fan through and through. That’s no secret, especially after he sunk 70+ hours into the new Pokémon Champions! In an absolutely massive 2,000 word essay, Aeth gives the reader a glimpse of his journey through the competitive Pokémon battler, detailing important mechanics and sharing his thoughts on how it feels to play Pokémon Competitively. Time spent with the game, knowing its ins and outs, is the reason why his essay is so long, which he details as he writes, “I really like the game. This review would’ve been done way faster if I didn’t get addicted to the game. Despite this, my first impressions are a mixed bag. While I like the game, it definitely has some notable flaws that need to change over time.” If you’re interested in what it’s like to lose yourself within Pokémon Champions, definitely give Aeth’s essay a read.

Khloe Wilkerson dipped into the music-filled world of People of Note, where the soundtrack matters most. She starts her thoughts with reverence as she writes, “There’s a moment early in People of Note where the screen fades into a fully choreographed musical performance, lights explode across the stage, and it clicks: this isn’t a game that simply uses music as background noise. Developed by Iridium Studios, People of Note is built around the idea that music can shape an entire world: its cultures, its politics, its combat, and even its emotional identity.” People of Note is all about the power of music, both metaphorically and physically, as every part of the game is steeped in the various genres of music out there. This drew Khloe in even more than she realized, which she admits as she writes, “People of Note succeeds because it understands that music isn’t just entertainment. It’s how people express themselves, connect with others, and define who they are. I enjoyed getting to go through the show as someone who is trying to put a new world perspective because I believe that everything can be applied to real life. Fighting through these characters, even when it’s hard, taught me some valuable lessons.”

Founder Harold Goldberg had a blast with Nintendo’s latest games, enough to put together a roundup of three games he enjoyed the most. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book starts his list with a nostalgic blast of classic gameplay with a familiar green tinted face to play as. Harold hints at his enjoyment as he writes, “The white-mustachioed Mister Encyclopedia (Mr. E), an anthropomorphic tome wearing a rainbow-hued monocle, asks you to solve the many mysteries within this fascinating 2-D sidescroller. The first chapter, featuring an animated map, places the friendly dinosaur in Wildwoods. It’s full of that staple of Nintendo games, a giant tree and a walking flower that looks as though it needs your help.” There’s so much more content to peruse, such as his experience with Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, and the strangely uplifting moments that came with it. His thoughts end with a wholesome statement as he writes, “It’s not easy overseeing so many virtual lives. When they tripped and fell, I had to pick them up. That made sense. Their affable natures often picked up my spirit, too.”

It’s no secret that there are a ton of games coming out soon; worry not, however, as Stephen Totilo of Game File gathered 26 that might pique your interest.  From Pico Park with a quilled twist, to big showcases like Valor Mortis, Stephen shares his firsthand experiences with games from MIX and Summer Game Fest in a lengthy article. One such game he covers is a particularly amusing puzzler titled Slap Out of It, which he explains as he writes, “The personal detail I most enjoy sharing with people is that I don’t like comedy, after which I explain that I don’t have time to laugh and then they wonder if I’m joking. I can report that I was laughing on the inside while playing Slap Out Of It, one of the most enjoyable demos of the weekend. This is a first-person “slap-and-solve” game which starts with a tutorial in which you must solve a bunch of cartoony people’s problems and/or slap these people.”

Shannon Liao brings news from her Substack Updater, speaking on Xbox’s return to console focus. After getting a first hand look at the sights of Summer Game Fest in LA, Shannon walked away with a sentiment a lot of console fans have been sharing: Xbox is making a hard pivot back to appreciating its console users. Shannon references one big shift in attention as she writes, “Now let’s talk Xbox. Xbox pulled a number of neat tricks on Sunday, from bringing back console exclusives, which it did away with a few years ago, to dropping an extended look at the next Gears game, followed by giving away consoles to fans in attendance. No consoles for the general public, nor media or influencers, but for fans who had been invited.” As an industry leader, Xbox has had a lot of moments where it’s changed focus toward making the brand bigger and more profitable, but fans never truly cared for this. Now Xbox is once again shifting its gaze towards the people that actually use their consoles, celebrating the consumer rather than the investor even in the smallest form. If you want to know more about Xbox’s gear shift towards consoles, check out Updater!! 

“It’s all too clean.” The second paragraph of Ashley Bardhan’s thoughts on Silent Hill: Townfall’s demonstration, hints at her reservations about the upcoming game. She asks herself many questions, such as, can it really live up to the Silent Hill brand? Or more importantly, should that even be its main goal? Ashley brings her thoughts to light with a comparison of puzzle structure, as she writes, “Less tantalizing to me, someone whose favorite aspect of the best Silent Hill games is the poetry of their strangeness, is that Silent Hill: Townfall also employs realism in its puzzles. Rather than adding names to the Grim Reaper’s list, as you do in the original Silent Hill, or burning pork liver to reveal a path in Silent Hill 3, the Townfall demo I saw has Simon searching for a prepaid electric card common in ’90s Scotland to get the house’s lights working.” While she can agree that Silent Hill: Townfall looks amazing and eerie, something about this new and realistic twist isn’t cutting it. It just doesn’t feel like Silent Hill. 

Beyond the Circle

Despite the big news, it seems many publishers under the Xbox umbrella are under threat of closure, with Ninja Theory, Double Fine, and many other studios all entering into talks of spinning off to avoid being shut down. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg covers this, mentioning in his article how studios are looking to buy themselves back from Xbox and become independent. This news came soon after Xbox’s change in leadership, which Schreier mentions as he writes “The potential closures are part of a broader reorganization being overseen by Asha Sharma, who took over as Xbox’s new chief executive officer in February. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that the gaming division is planning significant layoffs. Sharma sent out a memo to staff lamenting the bleak state of the business, which has seen revenue and margins plummet in recent years. ‘Going forward, this cannot continue,’ she wrote.” There’s still hope for many of the studios currently at risk, but it seems like layoffs within the industry sadly aren’t meant to end just yet. The industry ebbs and flows over the year, but hopefully it overflows with new jobs sooner rather than later.

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member and Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

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