A new title in CD Projekt Red’s massively successful Witcher series was announced this week, with the untitled game currently in development and switching to a new engine. In response to a tweet referring to mandatory crunch practices on both Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3, the new game’s director has said things will be different this time.

In a tweet, CD Projekt Red developer Jason Slama announced that he will be working on the next Witcher game in the role of game director. After contributing to both Witcher 3 and the studio’s standalone Gwent title as a programmer, Slama has served as the game director on Gwent since late 2018, and will now be taking on that role for the studio’s next big AAA game.

With Slama’s tweet–and likely the early announcement of the new game–mostly serving as a recruitment tool, the developer later responded to a tweet that brought up the studio’s poor track record with crunch in the past. Slama responded “never on my watch,” promising better conditions for those hired to work on the new title.

It’s unsurprising that CD Projekt Red may be seeking to mend a reputation damaged by reports of mandatory crunch on Cyberpunk 2077, especially after the company initially promised it wouldn’t require its employees to crunch on the expansive open-world title.

Since the reports of crunch on Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has put some work into changing its workplace culture, with a 2021 strategy update saying that the studio was “working hard to minimize stress, prevent burnout, and give our employees everything all they need to focus on the work with a fully positive mindset.”

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Gran Turismo 7 players are not happy with the racing series’ latest release, and they are making their voices heard. In response to a maintenance outage lasting almost two days, as well as complaints about aggressive microtransactions, players have review bombed Gran Turismo 7 on Metacritic, pushing its user score to a dismal 1.8 at the time of writing.

When reported by Kotaku, the game’s user score was sitting at 2.8, and has only been pushed lower since then. Reviewers cite complaints such as not being able to resell cars on the marketplace, developer Polyphony Digital cutting the amount of in-game currency earned by racing, long maintenance periods, the game’s always-online playstyle, and more.

While many of the negative reviews were posted during the game’s extended downtime, which Polyphony Digital attributed to a “rare” startup issue on the PS4 and PS5, negative reviews have continued since the game’s servers were brought back online.

One of the biggest complaints involves the price of the game’s top-tier premium vehicles, which rotate through the game’s digital storefronts in a way that players say encourage spending on microtransactions. Developer Polyphony Digital has even seemingly made it more difficult to earn these vehicles through regular play, slashing the earnings players get from winning on certain tracks.

Series founder Kazunori Yamauchi defended the in-game vehicle pricing in a statement released after the game returned from its extended maintenance period. “I would like to have users enjoy lots of cars and races even without microtransactions,” Yamauchi wrote. “At the same time the pricing of cars is an important element that conveys their value and rarity, so I do think it’s important for it to be linked with the real world prices.”

While the developer has promised that future events and upcoming content will “will constructively resolve” the issue, players are still vocally unhappy with how the game functions as of the latest patch.

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo’s best-selling game on Nintendo Switch, so it seems like a no-brainer to offer more content for it. If anything, it’s surprising that it’s taken this long. But the success of the Fighters Pass for Smash Bros. Ultimate has seemingly resulted in the Booster Pass for MK8D, effectively doubling the number of tracks in the game over the course of several content drops. The first wave is now available and shows the enormous potential of regularly feeding kart-racing fans new content–even if it isn’t strictly new.

These are remastered tracks, borrowed from the series’ long history across a variety of console and handheld platforms. The results are inconsistent, but in a narrow band of quality from “very good” to “absolutely fantastic.” There are no real clunkers here, and even the weakest link in the chain isn’t all that weak.

That weaker track is Toad’s Circuit, a recreation of the 3DS Mario Kart 7 track. It’s well-made and straightforward, but it’s just a bit on the bland side. This is the type of track that would exist to introduce you to Mario Kart’s basic racing mechanics–wide thoroughfares, a few turns but nothing too sharp. It’s fine for what it is, but it doesn’t quite belong in a set designed for Mario Kart fans hungry for more tracks to master. It’s like buying a variety pack of gourmet ice creams and finding a container of vanilla. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with vanilla, and hey, ice cream is ice cream. But it’s a little boring compared to the rest.

Toad’s Circuit is also oddly placed as the second track in the Golden Dash Cup, so it doesn’t serve an introductory role. That position makes it more awkward, because it comes right after Paris Promenade, which is borrowed from the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, making it one of the most recent tracks. Tour is the odd duck of the Mario Kart family, having not attracted quite the same audience as much of the console series, but the track design is top-notch and this remaster approach will give Switch kart-fans a chance to see them. Paris Promenade in particular is lovely, with wide vistas, beautiful brickwork along the road, and landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe sitting alongside cute little touches like parked Vespas. It’s narrow enough and tight-cornered enough to present a real challenge even for karting experts.

The Tour tracks as a whole shine here, and it’s easy to see why they make up three of the eight new additions. They’re among the best-looking and most polished, to the point that many fans wouldn’t even know they aren’t just brand-new Mario Kart 8 tracks. They’re also the tracks that change most significantly between laps, which helps keep you on your toes. Mario Kart Tour generally shortened races to two laps instead of three, and this shifting track design maintains that spirit by keeping races from feeling repetitive.

This first wave delivers a nice dose of racing action and highlights tracks that were overlooked or have drifted into obscurity.

Sometimes the bustling track design is a little too busy for its own good, though. At one point I got stuck on some unusually enclosed geometry in Ninja Hideaway in such a way that it wasn’t easy to find my way out of, and when I did I ran into yet another boxed-in wall. Nintendo generally avoids designing track elements that could result in those types of dead ends, so this is a rare flaw.

The rest of the tracks are stellar. Shroom Ridge (from Mario Kart DS) is a traffic-laden street reminiscent of Toad’s Turnpike, but with banking mountainous curves that create a risk-reward element for using your slide to maneuver between the cars and trucks occupying the street. Sky Garden (from Mario Kart: Super Circuit) received the most significant facelift, from a simple flat sky-themed track to a beautiful mid-air location full of winding turns.

The biggest revelation for me, though, was Coconut Mall, a remaster of the track from Mario Kart Wii. This version of Mario Kart never stuck out in my mind–in part because it was following on the heels of the renowned Double Dash, and in part because Nintendo pushed its gimmicky Wii Remote steering wheel control scheme. But Coconut Mall shows that the track design, at least, was definitely not that game’s problem. With a creative concept, clever uses of the theme like the boost pads on mall escalators, and an appealing environmental switch into the mall parking lot, this is easily one of the best tracks in this first wave.

The one drawback of all this is that the Booster Pass is limited only to tracks. Nintendo has not announced any plans to introduce more racers, karts, wheel types, or gliders to the game. For the first new Mario Kart content in years, some new racers or karts would have been a nice addition. That distinction makes it not-quite analogous to the Smash Bros. Fighters Pass, which introduced new characters in addition to the new arenas.

That said, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe roster is already massive, especially since it includes all of the DLC characters from the original MK8 release on Wii U. Many dedicated go-karters have probably picked their favorite character, so what they’re really looking for is new tracks to master. This first wave delivers a nice dose of racing action and highlights tracks that were overlooked or have drifted into obscurity. If this is the level of quality we can expect from the five remaining waves, the Booster Pass will serve as an excuse to dip back into Mario Kart 8 on a regular basis with new races to master. That’s all we ever really needed.

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Upon Elden Ring’s release, more than a few players noticed a trend for the game’s various demigod characters: All of their names either started with G, R, or M. Those are also the initials of Games of Thrones author and Elden Ring collaborator George R.R. Martin, leading many fans to believe the naming scheme to be intentional on Martin’s part.

According to Martin in a new blog post, that is not the case. Martin writes that the fact that many of the game’s critical characters, like Godrick, Radagon, or Marika (just to name a few) share his initials is “news to me” and that he had no reason to “hide” his initials in Elden Ring.

“Coming up with names is hard, especially since A Song of Ice & Fire uses so many of them, and I am fond of giving family members and close kin names that have something in common… but really, why would I have to hide my name inside the game?” Martin asks. “My name is right there ON the game, as one of the creators.”

Martin has said working on Elden Ring was an offer “too exciting to refuse,” describing his contribution as helping to build the foundation and backstory for the game From Software planned to create. According to more recent interviews, From Software is said to be responsible for crafting the actual story of Elden Ring, with Martin’s involvement being limited beyond the game’s early stages. That means the fact that many of Elden Ring’s characters share Martin’s initials could be From Software’s doing. Or it could all just be a coincidence.

Elden Ring is currently enjoying huge success, having sold more than 12 million copies since launch and earning a perfect score in GameSpot’s Elden Ring review. A recent patch for Elden Ring nerfed some fan-favorite weapons and builds, in the process drastically altering the game’s speedrunning scene.

Martin is still currently working on the next book in his A Song of Ice & Fire Saga, The Winds of Winter, as well as multiple Game of Thrones spin-off projects like the upcoming HBO prequel House of the Dragon, which recently wrapped filming.

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