Latest news with #JeffGrubb
Geek Vibes Nation
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
New 'God of War' Game Delayed To 2026
Fans eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the God of War saga may have to wait a bit longer. According to industry insider Jeff Grubb, an unannounced God of War project set in ancient Greece has been internally delayed to 2026. Shared during a recent episode of the Last of the Nintendogs podcast, Grubb's claim has sparked excitement and speculation about what this mysterious spin-off could entail. A Return to Greece with a Twist Unlike the Norse mythology explored in 2018's God of War and 2022's God of War: Ragnarök, this new project is rumored to revisit the franchise's Greek roots. Earlier reports suggested a 2025 release, but Grubb now indicates the game has been pushed back, possibly due to its expanding scope or challenges like the recent voice actors' strike. Rumors also point to a bold departure from the series' traditional formula, with insiders like Tom Henderson describing it as a 2.5D Metroidvania-style game. Deimos as the Star? Adding fuel to the speculation, leaks suggest the game may not center on Kratos but instead feature his brother, Deimos, in a prequel set before Kratos becomes the Ghost of Sparta. This smaller-scale side story could explore untold chapters of the Greek saga, potentially blending the series' signature combat with Metroidvania exploration. Grubb has emphasized that this is not a remaster or a mainline sequel but a distinct project, possibly akin to Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales in scope. When Will We Hear More? With no official confirmation from Sony or Santa Monica Studio, the game's delay to 2026 suggests an announcement might be imminent, perhaps at The Game Awards in December 2025, given the precedent set by the Valhalla DLC reveal in 2023. The absence of the project at recent PlayStation events like State of Play and Summer Game Fest further supports the idea that Sony is holding off for a bigger reveal. What's Next for God of War? The God of War franchise, now 20 years strong, continues to captivate fans with its rich storytelling and evolving gameplay. While the Norse saga concluded with Ragnarök, a return to Greece could rekindle the brutal, mythological roots that defined Kratos' early adventures. As PlayStation's 2026 lineup grows with titles like Ghost of Yotei and Wolverine, this Greek spin-off could be a unique addition to the PS5's first-party slate. Until Sony breaks its silence, fans can only speculate about this intriguing project. Will it deliver the same emotional depth and visceral action the series is known for? Share your thoughts in the comments, and stay tuned for updates on this developing story!
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New God of War PS5 Game Leaked and It's Not What You Think
It seems the next game might be revealed sooner than we think. However, it may not be exactly what everyone would expect after the last two entries in the beloved PlayStation series. In a recent X (formerly Twitter) thread from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, @GamerUPGaming asked if they would see the rumored God of War spin-off during the recently revealed PlayStation State of Play on June 4. According to Henderson, they believe it will be at the show, and that they've heard a lot of 'scuttlebutt' about a 2.5D metroidvania based on the popular franchise. 'Hearing a lot of scuttlebutt about the 2.5D/metroidvania game or whatever it will be, yeah,' says Henderson. 'Seems to be much smaller in scale than what I initially thought.' Additionally, the original question also tagged Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb, who had also mentioned a God of War spin-off in the past. Grubb simply answered, 'Yeah,' to the posed question. Outside of that conversation on X, Blessing Adeoye Jr. of Kinda Funny predicted a God of War metroidvania would be shown during Summer Game Fest. A recent thread on ResetEra seems to believe he may have knew something about the game at that point. However, it should be noted that Kinda Funny has said in multiple prediction episodes throughout the years that their predictions are not based on inside information they already know or that isn't already out there. In that same ResetEra thread, user Thisiserfan claims they have collected some information regarding the project recently. They claim it is a cross of God of War and Blasphemous. While a specific developer isn't named, Santa Monica Studio will supervise the project. Lastly, they claim it will be set in Greece before Kratos becomes a God, and that Deimos will return. Henderson had previously reported that the next entry would return to Greece. At the time of those rumors, it seemed God of War would maintain its 3rd person combat from the past two entries. However, as Henderson said in his reply, this metroidvania project is much smaller in scope than he initially thought. This could be the project Henderson was initially referring to in that previous report. The post New God of War PS5 Game Leaked and It's Not What You Think appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Another PS5 Exclusive Quietly Delayed to 2026
There seems to have been a lot of delays for various first-party projects. The latest supposedly impacts a many PlayStation fans are eager to see in action. According to Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb, the previously rumored Greek God of War game for PS5 has been pushed to 2026. During Grubb and Mike Minotti's latest episode of Last of the Nintendogs, Grubb let out that little 'nugget' during the Super Chats portion of the show. 'I have Marathon and the unannounced new God of War Greek project, which I heard was pushed into 2026, as well.' Rumors about the Greek God of War project have been swirling quite a bit this year. Back in January this year, fans began speculating that the next iteration of the beloved PlayStation series would be heading to Egypt. However, known insider Tom Henderson claimed it would be set in Greece, which Grubb has since corroborated. In terms of what this new God of War game entails, it is rumored to be a spin-off. Specifically, it will supposedly be a 2.5D metroidvania and feature Kratos before he becomes a god. It is also claimed that Deimos would return. Of course, like all rumors, it might be best to take it with a grain of salt. As of now, the Greek God of War project has yet to be formally revealed by Sony. Even if true, the game's development timeline can change at any moment, which lead to these supposed internal delays. For PS5 and PS4 players itching to play a God of War game set in Greece, God of War 3 Remastered is available to purchase on the PS Store. PS Plus Premium subscribers can play the game at no additional cost. The post Another PS5 Exclusive Quietly Delayed to 2026 – Report appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
When video games journalism eats itself, we all lose out
Last week was a bad one for video games journalism. Two key contributors to the veteran site Giant Bomb, Jeff Grubb and Mike Minotti, have announced their departure after a recent podcast was taken down. The 888th episode of the Giant Bombcast reportedly featured a section lampooning new brand guidelines issued to staff and is no longer available online. Later this week, it was announced that major US site Polygon was being sold to Valnet, owner of the ScreenRant and GameRant brands, resulting in a swathe of job losses. This follows ReedPop's sale, in 2024, of four high-profile UK-based sites – Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun and VG247 – to IGN Entertainment, owned by Ziff Davis, which also resulted in redundancies. It's sad how these long-standing sites, each with vast audiences and sturdy reputations, have been traded and chopped up like commodities. On selling Polygon, Vox CEO Jim Bankoff said in a statement: 'This transaction will enable us to focus our energies and investment resources in other priority areas of growth across our portfolio.' It felt gross, to be honest, to see this decade-old bastion of progressive video games writing being reduced to an asset ripe for off-loading. Of its purchase Valnet said: 'Polygon is poised to reach new editorial heights through focused investment and innovation.' Quite how it will do that with a significantly reduced staff is anyone's guess. This is, of course, the familiar robotic doublespeak of the corporate press release and industry observers have not held back in their anger and incredulity. Writing on Aftermath, journalist Nathan Grayson said: 'None of this was, strictly speaking, necessary, with Polygon an unqualified success in terms of traffic while Giant Bomb boasted a dedicated audience drawn to its unique mix of personalities. But of course, parasitic execs decided to suck the marrow from the bones of both, and now we're left wondering what comes next.' You do have to wonder if any of the CEOs involved in these sales have ever read a story or listened to a podcast in their lives that wasn't about maximising shareholder value. Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff at Code Conference in 2022. Photograph:for Vox Media Video game journalism has always walked a windswept tightrope between competing commercial interests. In the olden days of games magazines, much of the money came from adverts bought by the same companies whose products were being reviewed and often mauled by journalists. Several times during my career as a magazine editor I witnessed adverts pulled from publications I worked on following unfavourable reviews of the advertisers' products. To bow to those pressures would mean losing the faith of our readers, which was the most important asset we had. Publishers always came round in the end, but once you've lost the trust of your audience, you might has well call it quits. Later, those magazines transitioned into websites, where ad space remained a vital income. Nowadays it's much more complex, and the industry doesn't need dedicated gaming sites so much, thanks to the rise of influencers on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. It seems the companies most interested in acquiring gaming sites see only brands, not the creative and experienced staff behind them; in March digital news site the Wrap ran an investigative feature in which Valnet was accused of turning acquired sites into content mills for 'mind-numbing SEO bait'. Valnet has since sued the publication. But the pay rates for journalism are stagnating, even falling, as the games themselves transform into live-service megaplexes inhabited by billions of paying customers. There is, it seems, a festering suspicion of human creativity in the modern tech corp landscape. Unquantifiable, expensive and resistant to spreadsheet analysis, it is an annoying barrier in the way of streamlined market penetration and exponential growth. Wouldn't it be so much easier if AI could write those long, in depth video game walkthroughs that get so many hits, but take so many weeks of work to produce? Wouldn't it make sense if news and analysis was generated and filed within seconds through some sort of automated content pipeline? There's just one problem. Writing a game walkthrough is a complex task, relying on skilled play, the ability to interpret and explain a moment of action and the foresight to know what players will be looking for. A review is a subjective human response to an experience; a podcast is a parasocial chat with pals. Vitally, good games journalism also holds the industry to account, investigating and highlighting issues that would otherwise be buried. The people who do this stuff and do it well have been playing, writing and questioning for years. They know what we think about when we think about games. I suppose this is the same argument playing out right now everywhere in the arts, from movies to music. The tech bros want portfolios of brands to swap between each other, expecting the wordless masses to follow behind, consuming whatever slop they're fed. But it's not endless dead-eyed content we're coming for, it's ideas and craft. What a relief it is that independent sites are springing up at a growing rate. We have the UK games news site VGC and, in the US, there's Aftermath – both have blossoming audiences. Fandoms can only be fooled for so long. I harbour high hopes that when it becomes clear understaffed machines of digital content can only spew out secondhand ideas, the pathetic ghost burps of dead fandom, authenticity will become the only game in town. What to play Scarily good … The Horror at Highrook. Photograph: Nullpointer Games Every month sees a dozen new indie video games using the mechanics of collectible card battlers such as Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh to interesting but increasingly familiar effect. But don't let that stop you trying The Horror at Highrook a heady occult mystery in which a group of explorers raid a haunted mansion in order to discover the truth about a missing aristocratic family. The game world is like a highly complex Cluedo board and mysteries are uncovered and solved by combining relevant item and skill cards, while upgrading the abilities of your party. Clearly inspired by the twin forces of Poe and Lovecraft it's a beautifully constructed challenge, filled with ideas and little arcane treats for fans of both cosmic and gothic horror. Available on: PC Estimated playtime: 10-plus hours What to read Lucia Caminos, co-protagonist of Grand Theft Auto VI. Photograph: Rockstar Games Cheating is as old as video games, but it is ruining the experience of many who like online multiplayer shooters. This feature looks at how Riot is taking on cheaters in A League of Legends and Valorant and it's a great primer on the Red Queen-esque battle between developers and hackers. Most great video games were, at some stage in their development, a fraction of a millimetre away from some disastrous design choice. The highlight of this long interview is how the former Sony president Shuhei Yoshida saved Gran Turismo by suggesting that the team make it actually playable by non-racing drivers. I love that video games, though products of modern technology, still inspire their own legends and folklore. A feature on the BBC site analyses a wonderful example, Ben Drowned – the tale of a haunted N64 cart, a creepypasta that infected games forums in 2010. If you're done with reading, Rockstar just released a new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer and speedboatload of screenshots and info about protagonists Jason and Lucia (above), days after announcing the game's delay until May 2026. Go have a look, it's wild. What to click skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Pushing Buttons Keza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gaming Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Question Block Virtually non-existent … games have struggled to break through on VR devices like the Meta Quest. Photograph: Meta Connect/AFP/Getty Images This week's question comes from Guy Bailey who messaged me on blue BlueSky with the following: 'I love sim racing in VR and my son is addicted to VRChat and the camaraderie of the various worlds. Half Life Alyx is incredible, and most people who try VR love it – so why hasn't it had its gaming mainstream breakthrough yet? Will it ever?' This question has haunted the VR industry since the arrival of the Oculus Quest in 2019, which was supposed to rejuvenate the whole concept of VR for the modern era. And while more than 20m Quest headsets have now been sold, alongside 5m PlayStation VR sets and many other contenders, we're not all spending vast swathes of time in virtual worlds. There are many, many reasons. Motion sickness is one: a percentage of people (and it is more common in women for reasons that no one can agree on) will feel nauseous after a few minutes of use. No one wants to feel sick, no matter how fun the software is. There's also the neurological and physiological disparity of being enclosed in a visual environment which does not align with what our bodies and our senses are expecting. We've all seen the funny videos of people getting carried away in a VR game and running straight into walls. VR also makes us feel vulnerable and silly. It is weird to be so cut off from external 'reality' and it is weird to wear a massive helmet in your living room. These elements are perhaps part of why Apple has been betting big on augmented rather than virtual reality, via is Vision pro headset, which is comparatively inconspicuous and keeps us in touch with our surroundings – but even that has failed so far – at least as a consumer platform. Mostly though, I don't think the content is compelling enough for a non-tech audience. It's a cliche, but there's no killer app. I have an unused PlayStation VR headset and my sons only occasionally play with their Meta Quest 3. The games they like can only be experienced in 20-minute bursts, and I don't think they grip the heart, soul and intellect the way a traditional screen-based immersive game can. For most of us, VR will need to find a way to give us touch, taste, smell and presence, or at least give us a compelling enough reason to leave the sensual world behind for hours on end. If you've got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – email us on pushingbuttons@
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fandom Blows Up Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb's future is uncertain following a showdown with parent company Fandom, which also owns GameSpot, over editorial interference. Creative director Dan Ryckert announced on a recent livestream that he would no longer be appearing on the Giant Bombcast and co-host Jeff Grubb confirmed on social media on Thursday that he's no longer with the company. Giant Bomb content is currently on hold while Fandom engages in a 'strategic reset and realignment of our media brands,' it confirmed to Kotaku. 'Well, that was a dream come true. Knew it wouldn't last, though,' Grubb, who joined Giant Bomb in 2022 after a reshuffle that saw the departure of longtime host and cofounder Jeff Gerstman, wrote on Bluesky. 'Out of a job at the moment. But I'll always be doing Game Mess,' he added, referring to a podcast he cohosts with Games Beat reviews editor and Giant Bomb contributor Mike Minotti. 'Needless to say I will no longer be contributing to Giant Bomb,' Minotti wrote in a separate post. 'Nothing but love to all the wonderful people from there and GameSpot. Jeff was a workhorse and a hero for the way he shouldered so much responsibility there, and I am furious with the way execs treated him.' The news follows an ominous 'pause' on Giant Bomb streams at the end of April and the takedown of an episode of the Giant Bombcast from YouTube this week after the hosts mocked apparent 'brand safety' concerns recently foisted upon them by management at Fandom. Then in a livestream on April 30, Ryckert, a member of Giant Bomb between 2014 and 2020 who returned in 2022, announced he would no longer be appearing on the show and had no interest in Fandom's vision for Giant Bomb's future. 'As you know, we've temporarily paused Giant Bomb live streaming and that content is currently available on demand for our audience,' a spokesperson for Fandom told Kotaku in an email. 'We understand this programming pause isn't ideal for our audience, but it's part of a strategic reset and realignment of our media brands. We have some creative ideas for the future of Giant Bomb that we're actively working on that we'll be able to communicate more about soon.' The wiki company, whose business model of monetizing free contributor pages with auto-play video ads and other intrusive website practices has led many communities to depart its network, purchased Giant Bomb and GameSpot in 2022. Less than a year later it instituted cuts to both sites. Fandom's ad business faced scrutiny following a 2024 analytics report that questioned the brand safety of some of the content the company was running ads against across its user-generated wiki pages. The rest of the latest incarnation of Giant Bomb currently includes senior producer Jan Ochoa, general manager Jeff Bakalar, and editors Tamoor Hussain and Lucy James. It's unclear how many will remain amid the current fallout or what the future of the website, which hosts a long-running forum and annual Game of the Year lists from personalities across the gaming industry, will be. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
