Skip to main content

Jetsetter: Valve backs Brazil with new Steam pricing while Square completes Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Were Jetsetter a Daft Punk song, it wouldn’t be one the soft hippie rave ups like “One More Time” where everyone’s invited on the dance floor to wave their arms languidly through the air. You know what it would be: The bumping, ferocious club beats of “Around the World!” Daft Punk’s sweet helmets and laser light shows could stick around though, as they’re video game ready.

Recommended Videos

Welcome to another edition of Jetsetter, Digital Trends’ weekly look at the international video game scene. We look at the business, trends, and development of games outside of the United States. The US being the biggest game market in the world, things tend to skew towards it in the industry. We try to peak beyond its borders to see what’s happening.

Have a suggestion? Hit the comments. You can also follow me on Twitter @ajohnagnello.

* Valve finally adapts Steam pricing for Brazil.

Digital commerce ain’t ubiquitous. Some things we take for granted like Amazon.com are only just coming to one of the biggest nations in the southern hemisphere. Valve’s Steam is available in the country, but Brazilian players have had to use it without using local currency. No more! Starting in November, Steam will finally support the Brazilian Real, making games cheaper for locals. “Note that in Brazil, the game pricing is lower as compared to the United States.” Reads Valve’s fact sheet about the changes.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

* Black, Bodycount creator Stuart Black opens new studio.

Stuart Black, the British designer behind ambitious but deeply flawed console first-person shooters Black and Bodycount, is opening his own independent studio called Self. “All I care about is making games,” Black told GamesIndustry International, discussing the new studio, “I really just want to make a really fucking good game.” Self’s first projects will be an iOS title and then, potentially, an Unreal Engine game to be distributed through Steam. Until recently, Black was working on a World War II FPS for City Interactive, but conflicts with the company led to his departure.

 

* Tetsuya Nomura says Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is already done.

Square-Enix’s western work is dominating 2012, with games like Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs taking center stage, but its Japanese teams are still hard at work. Final Fantasy creative lead Tetsuya Nomura told Dengeki PlayStation (via Siliconera) that work on Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the third game to bear the Final Fantasy XIII name, is already complete. He also said that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still in development, so he might just be a big liar.

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Code Vein 2 features more weapons, a motorcycle, and even some time travel
Heroes face down a boss with a bell in Code Vein 2.

When the first Code Vein launched in 2019, the Soulslike genre was wide open. There had been plenty of attempts made to build on FromSoftware’s popular action RPGs, but the field was so slim that the idea of a Soulslike with an anime aesthetic felt entirely unique. That’s not so much the case in 2025, a year that has already brought us The First Berserker: Khazan, which means that the upcoming Code Vein 2 will need to work twice as hard to stand out this time around.

How is Bandai Namco approaching that task? By doubling down on everything that made the first Code Vein a cult hit. Following its reveal at Summer Game Fest last week, Digital Trends got more detail on the upcoming Soulslike. Bandai Namco showed us a larger sequel with new combat systems, a more robust character creation suite, and even a bit of time travel. All of those upgrades look to pump Code Vein 2 up and help it stand out in a more crowded landscape.

Read more
Epic Games brings down the hammer on Fortnite cheat makers
Fortnite Star Wars Visitor with Lightsaber

Epic Games has filed a new lawsuit against cheat makers Sincey Cheats and Vanta Cheats, citing both violations of Epic's terms in Fortnite and alleging that the defendants fraudulently impersonated Epic Games in an attempt to revoke the takedown of several YouTube videos. While lawsuits against cheat makers are nothing new (Bungie, Activision, Ubisoft, and Tencent Games have all previously filed lawsuits against distributors), impersonating an Epic employee is unusual.

The lawsuit targets not only the creators of these tools but also groups that resold the software. The cheats allowed players to see through walls and use auto-aim against opponents, rendering in-game cover meaningless and ensuring that every bullet hit its mark. According to Epic Games, Sincey Cheats — also known as Ediz Atas — has created and sold cheat software since January 2023.

Read more
Pragmata is a game from a bygone era, and that era rules
A man in a spacesuit holds a gun in Pragmata.

Most modern big-budget games don't have the most complicated sales pitches these days. Assassin's Creed Shadows? It's an open-world action-adventure game with stealth. Doom: The Dark Ages? It's a first-person shooter with some extra melee combat. The First Berserker: Khazan? Soulslike. They all have elevator pitches that are easy to boil down to a quick genre descriptor. Capcom's Pragmata, on the other hand, is the rare modern AAA project that will make you sound like you're making a game up when describing it.

I know that feeling firsthand because it was playable for the first time at this year's Summer Game Fest. I had a demo scheduled for it on day two of the event, but those who played it before me kept hyping it up to me. I asked what it is, expecting a reply like "it's a third-person sci-fi shooter." Instead, I was given a sales pitch about how I had to do puzzles in order to shoot. I couldn't even picture what that looked like from the description, and that's exactly what makes Pragmata special. It is a throwback to a specific kind of early 2010s action game that is built around a wild idea that you need to try to truly appreciate.

Read more