Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
NoVA Open Promises Big Reveals and Sneak Peaks for Warhammer Fans
One of the largest events in tabletop gaming, the NOVA Open, is happening this upcoming weekend. Held at the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C from August 28th to September 1st, the annual event is host to events for dozens of game systems, as well as other events like a live music event for charity and a live recording of the beloved 40k BadCast.
For Warhammer fans who aren’t able to attend NOVA in person, there are still plenty of reasons to pay attention to the event. The NOVA Open will be host to the next live preview show hosted by Games Workshop, which will be held in person at NOVA and then streamed on the Warhammer Twitch channel.
Games Workshop has already teased the contents of the show, with Stormcast Eternals, Blood Bowl, and release road maps taking the spotlight. Much like the Skaven did a few weeks ago, the Stormcast will get their chance to show off new models being released for the faction in the wake of Skaventide and the new Age of Sigmar Edition. Blood Bowl fans will also get new models shown off, with a new team “brewing in the pitch.”
Other game systems, like Warhammer 40,000, Horus Heresy, Old World, and even Age of Sigmar won’t have as many models to show off, instead focusing on the release roadmaps through the rest of the year and into 2025.
Kill Team fans curious about the new edition of the game can also tune in to watch a live streamed game of Kill Team: Hivestorm, as two of the best Kill Team players in the world duke it out in a rematch from the Kill Team World Championships last year.
The preview event will be streamed on Wednesday, August 28th at 9pm EDT, with the Kill Team showcase game being streamed on Saturday, August 31st at 7:45 pm EDT.
LEGO and Asmodee Partner on Board Game Line
Two of the biggest names in the toys and games world, LEGO and Asmodee, signed a deal to partner on a new line of board games featuring LEGO products.
With this collaboration in mind, the two companies created a company called Dotted Games to facilitate the creation of new LEGO board games.
“Dotted Games will nurture and develop all games within the LEGO Group and Asmodee’s partnership,” LEGO and Asmodee write in an announcement statement, “With an experienced team at the helm, its mission is to bring the best LEGO board games to fans and families, while unlocking fresh avenues of play thanks to the versatility of LEGO bricks. The Dotted Games team, based in Denmark, brings decades of invaluable experience in the board gaming industry, boasting a remarkable collection of awards between them.”
The first game born from this partnership will be Monkey Palace, a light strategy game where players compete against each other to help a Monkey rebuild it’s home with LEGO bricks. It will be released in early October following it’s worldwide premiere at Spiel this year. Soon to follow will be Brick Like This, a family party game focused on collaboration, communication, and, of course, LEGO bricks.
Amazon Games CEO Ignores Entire Industry of Video Game Actors by Claiming Video Games “Don’t Really Have Actors”
Earlier this year, voice actors in SAG-AFTRA went on strike against several large video game publishing companies, on the grounds that the proposed AI protections from last years strike-ending deal did not go far enough in protecting voice actors from having their voices replicated by AI without their consent.
A few weeks into that strike against the dangers that AI poses to video game voice actors, Amazon Games CEO gave an interview with IGN praising the possibilities of AI while downplaying the importance of actors in games.
Speaking on the strikes and video game acting, Amazon Games CEO Cristoph Hartmann stated that, “But when we talk about AI, first of all, hopefully it will help us to have new gameplay ideas, which has nothing to do with taking work away from anyone. And especially for games, we don’t really have acting… The majority of the team sits in programming and that’s not going to go away because that’s all about innovation.”
Hartmann then goes on to praise the potential for AI voices in tasks like localization, and how AI can be used to speed up what can normally be a slow process. Hartmann does emphasize that he doesnt think AI will make all actors obsolete, saying “I don’t believe any technology can replace human creativity and the uniqueness… There’s always something special. Humans will be always, when it comes to that, they will be always one step ahead.”
Despite Hartmann’s lukewarm defense of the value of real actors over AI, the statement has drawn widespread criticism online. While Hartmann may find value in the more high-profile video game performances, his idea of using AI to speed up things like localization directly impacts the livelihoods of many people, and this sort of attitude towards smaller roles or localizations is a key reason why so many voice actors are going on strike.
Space Marines Join the Lineup of Franchises Featured in Upcoming Animated Anthology
Warhammer fans excited to see the grim darkness of the far future come to streaming services may not have to wait long, as it’s been announced that Warhammer 40,000 will feature in a new animation anthology show on Amazon Prime called Secret Level.
Created by the team behind the award winning series Love, Death, and Robots, Secret Level takes us through the worlds of several iconic video game IPs in each episode, including notable series like Pac-Man, God of War, and Armoured Core.
The Warhammer 40,000 animation is centered around Titus from Space Marine 2, bringing in the Video Game theme present in the Secret Level anthology.
“Our own Warhammer Studio partnered with the talented team at Blur (of critically acclaimed Love, Death & Robots renown) to ensure the episode stayed true to the tone and themes of the setting,” Warhammer Community writes in the Secret Level announcement post. “The result is an animation we’re proud to present as a definitive Warhammer story.”
While this is a Warhammer show on Amazon Prime, this episode of Secret Level is unrelated to the larger deal made with Amazon last year, with the Warhammer Community post saying that they will share more details about that partnership as soon as they are available.
Secret Level premieres on Amazon Prime on December 10th, 2024.
Golden Demon Rules Update Explicitly Bans the Use of AI Generated Materials
The highest honor in miniature painting, Golden Demon, has updated their rules for the upcoming event this October at the Essen-Spiel convention to explicitly ban the use of AI generated content as a part of a Golden Demon entry.
In the Category and Entry Guidelines for the event, Games Workshop directly addresses the issue as a part of the FAQs. “Q: Am I allowed to use Artificial Intelligence to generate any part of my entry? A: No.”
This clarification follows a controversy from the 2024 Adepitcon Golden Demon event, where the winner for the Warhammer 40,000 single model category used AI generated art as a background for the piece. While Hollis’s award was not revoked, it did draw a great deal of negative attention to the awards. It seems that for any future event, Games Workshop is getting ahead of the issue by putting down this blanket ban on AI content.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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