Welcome to Tech Bytes! In this series, we bring the biggest news hitting the Tech and Gaming fields, getting them into a simple brief for you to quickly catch up on, so you’re up to speed over dinner and drinks.
It has been a great year of news and announcements, and what better way to cap it all off than a deluge of game reveals? The Game Awards brings the year to a close with an exciting look at what to expect next year and beyond.
Bioshock creator back with new game Judas
The Bioshock series is revered amongst fans for its unique settings and immersive narrative, but it has remained dormant for quite some time. While developer Cloud Chamber is working on a new Bioshock, it will be without the guidance of its innovative creator Ken Levine.
He has instead been working on a new game with his studio, Ghost Story Games. That game was revealed at The Game Awards, titled Judas. Judas appears to be a sci-fi first-person shooter title, reminiscent of Levine’s early critically-acclaimed game System Shock 2.
No further details were revealed about the game, but it is slated to be released for the current generation console systems and PC.
God of War comes to TV
Hot off the heels of God of War: Ragnarok winning a multitude of awards at The Game Awards, the franchise is set to be further expanded, this time in a different medium.
Amazon recently announced that they had greenlit a live-action television adaptation of one of PlayStation’s famed game series. The TV show will be written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, writers for Children of Men and Iron Man, as well as the creators of the TV series The Expanse. Rafe Judkins, creator of The Wheel of Time, will be its showrunner.
The show will also be adapting the storyline from the 2018 sequel/reboot, with Kratos entering the world of Norse mythology after his bloody past in Greece. Members from Sony Santa Monica will be helping to produce the series, including God of War 2018’s director Cory Barlog.
There are no additional details about the show, like casting or a release date, and Barlog says in a tweet that “it will be a while” before we learn more about it. Nevertheless, the God of War TV show joins a growing list of PlayStation franchises going live-action like this year’s Uncharted film.
Hades II announced
Fans of Supergiant Games’ popular roguelike title Hades will have something to look forward to next year.
Announced at The Game Awards, Hades will be getting a follow-up — aptly named Hades II. The sequel, this time, focuses on Melinoë, sister of the original protagonist Zagreus and Princess of the Underworld. She vows to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time and will be aided by other members of the Greek pantheon like Apollo and Hecate.
The game will be launched in Early Access on PC next year in 2023, but like the first game, it will likely see a full launch on other platforms like consoles in later years.
Death Stranding gets a sequel and a movie
It is not The Game Awards if Hideo Kojima doesn’t make some sort of appearance and this year’s edition sees him bringing in some big news to the event.
His 2019 game, Death Stranding, will be getting a sequel in the form of Death Stranding 2, though it seems to be a working title at the moment. Actors Lea Seydoux and Norman Reedus will return to star in the game and join new cast members Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna. The trailer also indicates that the game will stick to its weird roots. No release date was revealed, but it will come to PS5.
That isn’t all. Shortly after, it was announced that a movie would be made to adapt the game. The film is a result of a collaboration between developer Kojima Productions and Hammerstone Studios, who helped produce the horror film Barbarian. Details remain scarce about the project, but it is said that new elements and characters will be introduced.
Dyson goes weird with Dyson Zone headphones
Dyson is famed for its product line of vacuums, fans, and hair dryers — suffice it to say, they know a thing or two about airflow. Their newest device also deals with air; however, it goes into the realm of the weird.
The Dyson Zone is a headphone that also comes with air-purification capabilities — announced in March this year, the company further detailed specifications this December. The headphones have active noise cancellation and will support Bluetooth 5.0, with a claimed 50 hours battery life that can also be fully recharged in three hours.
As for the air-purification, compressors on the earcups draw air through dual-layer filters and project two streams of purified air to the wearer’s nose and mouth. The filters are said to capture 99% of particle pollution and will last for a year, though it is not reusable. The MyDyson app will also provide real-time air quality monitoring and environmental noise.
Singapore will be the first in Southeast Asia to get the Dyson Zone headphones, with a launch period of March 2023 set. More details on local availability and pricing will be announced in Q1 2023.
This marks 2022 December’s edition of Tech Bytes, and we hope this roundup gives you insight into tech to be excited about. Check with us again in January 2023, as we bring you more byte-sized news every month!
Visuals courtesy of Take-Two Interactive, Sony PlayStation, Supergiant Games, Kojima Productions, and Dyson.
