General Gaming News

[Iceman]

Amazon is publishing the next Tomb Raider game (msn.com)
Amazon not finished with AAA gaming just yet then.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

ADL: Hate is No Game: Hate and Harassment in Online Games 2022

Vice - Senator Asks Gabe Newell Why Steam Hosts So Much Neo-Nazi Content

Polygon - US lawmakers question top game publishers on online extremism and hate

Seven members of Congress are writing the leaders of 15 video game publishers on Friday to ask how they respond to, and mitigate, extremist and harassing behavior in their online communities.

A draft of the letter, published Thursday evening by Axios, cites the latest “Hate and Harassment in Online Games” report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to express the lawmakers’ concern. The ADL has published a study of extremist and toxic online behavior each year since 2019. The current report, released on Dec. 6, says “[a]n estimated 2.3 million teens were exposed to white supremacist ideology,” in online video games spanning Fortnite, Roblox, Apex Legends, and the Madden NFL series.

“We are writing to better understand the processes you have in place to handle player reports of harassment and extremism encounters in your online games,” say the seven lawmakers, all of them Democrats. “Authorities around the world like the United States’ Department of Homeland Security and the EU’s Radicalisation Awareness Network are taking notice and launching investigations into how extremists use online gaming spaces to radicalize young people.”

Axios said the letter would be sent Friday to the corporate leadership of Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Riot Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, Ubisoft, Valve Corp., and the makers of Among Us, Roblox and PUBG. Notably, Nintendo of America was not included.

The lawmakers ask the companies what data they collect “on in-game player reporting mechanisms and automatic bans for inappropriate behavior,” and whether they would consider “releasing those data in regular transparency reporting.” They also asked the companies how they identify “extremist content in your games,” and whether they have policies in place to address it.

Video game companies make money from toxic players but they also lose money from them as well driving people away whether they admit it or not. A lot of these video game companies are social networks like Twitter and Facebook now yet they do not want to moderate or do the bare minimum even though they are exposing children to content that is above the ESRB ratings and worse.

3-Year Study Into Effect Of Loot Boxes On Children Concludes "Financial And Emotional Harm"
A new research study finds that children can't keep track of their in-game spending, especially when it comes to loot boxes.

 

[Iceman]

They need to be pushed to do more about it.

 

[Teelie]

There is a very big reason I no longer play MMO's or other similar multiplayer games. Or games which promote loot boxes.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Epic Games fined half a billion dollars in privacy-based fiasco - gHacks Tech News

 

[Iceman]

Microsoft "understood" Kojima's upcoming Xbox game, others thought he was "mad" (trueachievements.com)
I can really believe a bunch of people thinking Kojima was quite mad from whatever he was thinking up and trying to get across in those meetings.

 

[Iceman]

Epic Games fined half a billion dollars in privacy-based fiasco - gHacks Tech News

Some stuff I heard about that was pretty sinister. Moving buttons for refunds and cancels to make them harder to find is intentionally fraudulent IMO and should have the book thrown at it.

 

[metaphysician]

Microsoft "understood" Kojima's upcoming Xbox game, others thought he was "mad" (trueachievements.com)
I can really believe a bunch of people thinking Kojima was quite mad from whatever he was thinking up and trying to get across in those meetings.

I'm more confused by the idea that anyone would be *surprised* by this. Like, have they never played a Kojima game before? Even his most normal games are pretty out there.

 

[Iceman]

I'm more confused by the idea that anyone would be *surprised* by this. Like, have they never played a Kojima game before? Even his most normal games are pretty out there.

I guess having it use theoretical tech that’s not ready yet and cloud was even further beyond their comfort zone than usual. But yeah, they shouldn’t have been expecting anything anywhere near normal from him.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Elden Ring surpasses The Last of Us 2 as the most-awarded Game of the Year recipient

 

[Iceman]

Microsoft is now the home of the video game industry's largest union (yahoo.com)
This is what's needed in this industry given all the stories from the last few years. Hopefully it becomes more widespread and workers choose companies that allow them to sign up for unions.

 

[Iceman]

Microsoft recognises new ZeniMax Workers United union (trueachievements.com)
Hopefully all the Microsoft studios unionise over the next couple of years and that then puts pressure on the rest of the industry.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The Washington Post - Crypto Crash Makes Blockchain a Dirty Word

GameSpot - Square Enix Reaffirms Commitment To Blockchain Gaming, Despite Crypto Winter
In its New Year's letter, Square Enix's president called blockchain its biggest focus, despite recent volatility.

 

[Gee]

**** Putin.

 

[metaphysician]

The Washington Post - Crypto Crash Makes Blockchain a Dirty Word

GameSpot - Square Enix Reaffirms Commitment To Blockchain Gaming, Despite Crypto Winter
In its New Year's letter, Square Enix's president called blockchain its biggest focus, despite recent volatility.

Square-Enix really makes themselves hard to love. Even when the right move should be easy, they still bork it half the time. . .

 

[Iceman]

**** Putin.

Very sad to see those who died defending against Putin’s war. All that talent wasted. RIP and good luck to his family.

 

[TheSlickTony]

The more I think about it, the more it bums me that we went an entire generation without a Superman game. From the 2nd to the 7th generation of consoles there was, at least, one game. Now, the last one was 16 (almost 17) years ago .

 

[Iceman]

The more I think about it, the more it bums me that we went an entire generation without a Superman game. From the 2nd to the 7th generation of consoles there was, at least, one game. Now, the last one was 16 (almost 17) years ago .

Batman and Spider-Man in that time have had critically acclaimed and massively popular, market-leading games. It feels like a big miss. Even games like Anthem which didn't otherwise do that well showed that the flying aspect can be done well with modern gaming tech.

 

[TheSlickTony]

Batman and Spider-Man in that time have have critically acclaimed and massively popular, market-leading games. It feels like a big miss. Even games like Anthem which didn't otherwise do that well showed that the flying aspect can be done well with modern gaming tech.

The sad part is detractors go to criticism is Superman is too 'overpowered' to make a good game. Even though changing power levels is a thing. Case and point: the aforementioned Batman & Spider-man games feature rather nerfed versions and no one cares.

Heck, no one complains about a witch who punches God into the Sun with her hair or whatever deus ex machina stuff a Final Fantasy protag pulls out of their butt to win.

 

[Iceman]

The sad part is detractors go to criticism is Superman is too 'overpowered' to make a good game. Even though changing power levels is a thing. Case and point: the aforementioned Batman & Spider-man games feature rather nerfed versions and no one cares.

Heck, no one complains about a witch who punches God into the Sun with her hair or whatever deus ex machina stuff a Final Fantasy protag pulls out of their butt to win.

It's a point made as an excuse despite the massive variety of games we've seen succeed over the years. Even if it were an issue (which I don't think it is) you can have Superman recovering from an event and gradually getting more powerful over the course of the game rather than starting out at his regular level. You can have other powerful enemies even at goon level as standard in the game. There are a ton of ways around it (without relying on kryptonite) but I don't accept it as an impossible thing to have in a game anyway. Games can be a lot of fun even when a character is actually overpowered or there wouldn't have been companies existing solely by selling cheat code devices back in the old days lol. I only played Doom on Invincible mode.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

They could make a Superman game that has him starting out with his Golden Age powers, and have all the other powers he acquired since then be skills to unlock throughout the game.

 

[ComicChick]

The 2022 Hype Awards are Live and we would love for you to nominate your favorite Games Forum Poster(s)!

2022 Games Poster of the Year

 

[BrollySupersj]

The more I think about it, the more it bums me that we went an entire generation without a Superman game. From the 2nd to the 7th generation of consoles there was, at least, one game. Now, the last one was 16 (almost 17) years ago .

We came close. Rocksteady pitched a Superman game to WB with art and everything. They passed on it.

They passed on a Superman game, made by the same people who made 3 critically acclaimed Batman games.

It's just never going to happen.

 

[TheSlickTony]

They could make a Superman game that has him starting out with his Golden Age powers, and have all the other powers he acquired since then be skills to unlock throughout the game.

I actually got bored once and... wrote a 52 page design document with this as my idea >_>.

 

[Iceman]

I actually got bored once and... wrote a 52 page design document with this as my idea >_>.

52 pages, wow. Should have submitted that to them and got the ball rolling.