At the top of London's Old Bailey sits the Statue of Justice, a woman with a sword and scales in either hand. It's a familiar sight to any London tourist, but in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the Victorian-set prequel to Capcom's much beloved Phoenix Wright games, those scales take centre stage right inside the courtroom. Up and down they go as the jury deliberate on your client's innocence, pronouncing their verdict by chucking balls of flame into two enormous torches either side of the judge's head. Only it's not the judge sweating over these literal hot takes. It's Phoenix Wright's ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodo (Phoenix Wright was known as Ryuichi Naruhodo in the original Japanese) feeling the heat here. If he fails to uncover the contradictions in the prosecution's case it's the noose for his clients, and a bleak end to his fledgling legal career.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics kicked off last week, and, as with many worldly events, Google have made a lovely Doodle on their homescreen to celebrate. It's not just a pretty picture though, it's a full game complete with an adorable anime-style opening. Named the Google Doodle Champion Games, you play as a little cat who competes in lots of sports-themed minigames. Naturally, speedrunners are beasting through the Doodle, and one person has already managed to complete one minigame in just 11 seconds.
Sundays are for watching the Tokyo Olympics and turning into an armchair critic who's actually an expert on every sport. Before you say "I could probably do better than that", let's read this week's best writing about games.
Battlefield 1 is free to play on Steam right now and until the end of the weekend. All of its expansions are free, too.
If you like it and you're a subscriber to Amazon Prime? Then until August 4th you can grab it free to keep.
Genshin Impact is getting its first crossover event. Aloy, the protagonist from Horizon: Zero Dawn, is arriving in Teyvat "in search of a new challenges". She's also Genshin's first free five-star character.
Max Payne is one of the most famous faces in videogames, which means Sam Lake's face is one of the most famous faces of videogames. The Remedy writer and now creative director lent his mug to Max's 3D model back in 2001, and he teamed up with Max voice actor James McCaffrey yesterday for a fun birthday message as the game turned 20.
Halo Infinite's multiplayer will be free, support crossplay, and its battle passes will be permanent. That's quite a lot of ticks in the "yes please" column.
Here's another: it'll also have bots, a first for the series, and next week could see the release of a "technical preview" designed to let players test them.
Several Activision Blizzard employees have criticised the company on social media for its response to allegations of harassment and discrimination. Earlier this week, the State Of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard which alleged the company has a "frat boy" culture that has created "a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women".
In a statement, Activision Blizzard called the Department Of Fair Employment And Housing which brought the suit "unaccountable State bureaucrats", and said the allegations were "distorted, and in many cases false." Some Activision Blizzard employees, including senior developers on World Of Warcraft, are reportedly "fuming" at the response.
I'm back off of my holidays, which means I missed the best weather. Phooey. But there are many games to play still, so I'm sure that this weekend we're all going to enjoy turning on small personal engines in our rooms to make sure our homes are extra hot.
Hack and slash RPG Path Of Exile has just launched another one of its expansions, bringing lots of game updates, tweaks, and a new challenge league. Path Of Exile: Expedition is an explosive one, challenging you to detonate expedition sites and kill all the creeps that come crawling out of them. POE's scheduled launch day maintenance has ended, so you're now free to jump into the queue to take a crack at what's new.