Defunct Games is taking a look back at what we learned in January 2021, including major video game announcements, unexpected news, fun modding trends and more. What we learned in this episode includes GameStop's unexpected Wall Street windfall, Microsoft doubling Xbox Live prices, Bernie Sanders memes in video games, Keanu Reeves, speedy Hitman 3, Power-Up Baseball, Magic Castle, Itagaki's new studio, Project 007 updates, Puzzle Quest 3 and more!


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It's the last day of the month, and I think it's clear that Wall Street Kid did not prepare me for all this GameStop news. That's just one of the many things I learned in January 2021, a month that saw CNBC have a Chernobyl-sized meltdown because of a sub-Reddit. Here are a few more things I learned this month ...

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When I heard that Microsoft was raising the price of the Xbox Live Gold subscription, I figured that they would do the obvious things and bump it up by $5 or $10. Unfortunately, this week I learned that Microsoft was a lot greedier than even the most cynical gamers could have imagined. They tried to double the price of their service. Right after launching a disc-free system. In the middle of a pandemic. Yeah. Obviously, they reversed course almost immediately, but it's still shocking that Microsoft thought that they could double the price without anybody noticing.

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As I'm sure you know, January brought the inauguration of President Biden, a ceremony that was completely upstaged by Bernie Sanders wearing a comfortable coat. The memes went viral, and this month I learned that Bernie is the perfect fit in games like Mortal Kombat, Pokemon, one of the million versions of Skyrim, the cover of Phalanx on the Super NES, Undertale, Mario Kart, LittleBigPlanet, Kingdom Hearts, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and even the Dating Game. Okay, so maybe I ran out of video games, but the point still stands.

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This month I learned that there's a really long Saturn that is definitely not overcompensating for anything.

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I also learned that there are a lot of people out there that want to have sex with Keanu Reeves. Believe it or not, this is a trend that seems to be sweeping the Cyberpunk 2077 modder community, and CD Projekt Red would like it to stop. Maybe if they had watched My Own Private Idaho, they would have seen this coming.

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Speaking of people who make sexy things weird, Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki has created his own studio, annoyingly named Itagaki Games. That's something I learned in January.

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Also, did you know that Minecraft Earth was a thing that existed? I didn't. And, apparently, it's getting shut down. That's probably terrible. Honestly, I don't know.

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One thing I do know is that it's awesome when people can beat games or bosses at super-human speeds. In January I learned that it's possible to kill a target in Hitman 3 in less than 10 seconds. It's completely impractical, but I love that this kind of thing exists.

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And while we're talking about Hitman, this month I learned a lot about the upcoming Project 007 game. Not only will it not be connected to any of the existing movie Bonds, but the developer is apparently eyeing the game to be part of a trilogy. As a life-long fan of the super spy, this feels like the right fit for the franchise, and I have my fingers crossed that it's not set in present day. Cold War Bond is my favorite Bond.

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Speaking of promising games based on long-running movie franchises, this month I learned that LucasFilm and Bethesda are diving back into the world of Indiana Jones. I'm sure it will be fun, but it will never top Temple of Doom on the NES.

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Did you know that Vicarious Visions has been gobbled up by Blizzard? Yeah, that's sad. But at least we learned that the team is working on a remake of Diablo II. It seems like the upcoming fourth game in the series will be something of a reboot, so remaking one of the most popular dungeon crawlers of all time makes all the sense in the world.

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Another game we learned about this month is Puzzle Quest 3, the long-awaited sequel to one of my favorite puzzle games. I'm troubled that it is being released as a free-to-play game, but I have my fingers crossed that they would be able to revive the magic.

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This month I learned that the developers behind the excellent Streets of Rage 4 are interested in making a sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves. They tweeted this mock-up picture, which is irresistible to anybody who loved the original Fatal Fury spin-off. But don't feel like Garou is your only option, Lizardcube, because somebody needs to pump some life back into Waku Waku 7.

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Speaking of dream projects that probably won't come to fruition, David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, has apparently spent his time in lockdown writing a movie version of the classic point and click adventure game Full Throttle. I loved Moon and enjoyed Source Code, but Duncan has been on a losing streak lately with both WarCraft and Mute. I'm not getting my hopes up for this.

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Oh hey, there's a new Game Boy game called Deadeus. That's something I learned in January. It's a top-down horror game that is getting a physical release in February. I can download the ROM right now. Should I?

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On that note, one of my favorite things is when long-unfinished games you thought would never come out end up, well, coming out. In January we learned that the 1998 PlayStation game Magic Castle had secretly been finished and is now available to play via an emulator. Now you too can see the game that six different publishers, including Sony, ended up passing on more than twenty years ago.

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And no, we're not done talking about unfinished games you can play now, because I just learned that Power-Up Baseball exists. This Midway sports game was supposed to do for baseball what NBA Jam did for basketball. There's a great interview over at the Video Game History Foundation, where art director Alan Noon lays out a lot of the problems that plagued development. You can also check out their website for a ROM download, in case you want to see what could have been. Sometimes, the internet is great.

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Community fans rejoice, because you can finally return to Greendale in a free Steam game based on the sitcom's paintball-themed episodes. Yeah, okay, that's cool and all, but go ahead and make a game based on Twin Peaks: The Return's eighth episode, you cowards!

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TV fans were busy this month, because not only did they make a Community game, but Gilmore Girls-loving modders put Rory, Lorelai, Sookie, Dean and the rest of Stars Hollow into Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

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Modders also created a way to play the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games from a zoomed-out perspective. And when I say zoomed-out, I mean all the way out. It's actually kind of mesmerizing. And that's a bonus thing I learned in January.

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And finally, here's something weird I discovered while reviewing Teratopia. When you set the controller down and let the monster do his idle animation, he'll very slowly slide backwards. You can't see it at normal speed, but it's crystal clear when you speed up the footage. It's basically the world's slowest Moonwalk. There's a chance that this will be the only thing I remember about Teratopia.

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