Some Asian gaming love is all around in this week’s gaming newsletter. And also some gaming developments in this week’s COMPUTEX. 

The Big Picture

With two big games getting movie/TV series adaptations just this week (see news below), it’s clear as day video game adaptations are front and centre in the limelight for both Hollywood and streaming services. 

We are clearly past the days when filmmakers can make a quick buck making terrible movies based on video games and exploit tax loopholes to make an even bigger profit. 

Most of the time, there’s a lot of care and thought put into these adaptations. While some misguided, most of the time they stay true to the source material and do focus on quality in their scripts, direction, and aesthetics. 

So the next time you complain about A Minecraft Movie making a lot of money despite clearly being a movie aimed at children, we could have been stuck in the dark ages for a long, long time instead of the renaissance we’re in this generation and the last few. Long story short, be thankful.

Short Beats

Pro player Justin Wong and fighting game organizers Tampa Never Sleeps are teaming up to send a non-sponsored player to EVO 2025 in Las Vegas to compete in Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. 

Shift Up has mentioned that a Stellar Blade sequel is in the works and may be out quicker than Stellar Blade’s announcement-to-launch time. 

Kojima Production’s upcoming spy game Physint will only be getting announcements and updates after three or more years. 

Netflix will be making an animated series based on the Clash of Clans and Clash Royale games. 

The Warhammer Skulls 2025 livestream announced a good number of Warhammer 40K titles: Warhammer 40K: Boltgun II and Warhammer 40K: Dark Heresy. The former is a boomer shooter sequel to the first Boltgun while the latter is a computer role-playing game with turn-based combat. 

A24 and writer/director Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Annihilation) will be teaming up with Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to make the live-action adaptation of hit role-playing game Elden Ring.

During the week of Computex 2025, AMD chief architect of gaming solutions and marketing Frank Azor said that the handheld PC gaming space is significantly growing and in a good place right now, to the point where it isn’t niche.

Op-Eds

To celebrate the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in the next few months, here’s a retrospective on Nintendo and how they came to this point in the games industry. 

Games Out This Week

SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure is an action-adventure game where you play as a chef-and-hunter duo as they serve Southeast Asian-styled food to customers while also keeping up with rampant orders and wildlife trying to kill them. Inspired by party games like Overcooked and made as a love letter to amazing Southeast Asian cuisine & culture, SEDAP! is out for PC and consoles. 

Blades of Fire is a third-person action-adventure title from MercurySteam, the developers behind the acclaimed Metroid Dread on Nintendo Switch. You play as a veteran blacksmith who can make his own weapons to combat the armies of the evil Queen Nerea. This action title is out for PC and consoles. 

Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker is a free DLC for the original JRPG Sea of Stars. The 8+ hour expansion features new character classes, new enemies and bosses, and a slew of lovely carnival-themed locales to explore & solve puzzles in. It’s also free. 

Nitro Express is a 2D shoot-em-up where you play as a female cop with a boatload of weapons as she blasts down hordes of rogue mechas and machines threatening the peace. It’s got 2D pixel art, a fun and simple aiming and run-and-gun gameplay, and full of explosions. 

Recommended Viewing

Unseen, a game company started by Bayonetta & Okami artist and game producer Ikumi Nakamura, has released a new video Q&A talking about the producer’s experiences and the state of the industry. 

MinMax has released a video interview with the recently-independent game content outlet Giant Bomb which details about its future in an already-shaky industry reliant on changing content-creation trends and whiplash.