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Category: Industry

Game Articles 0

Dying Light 2’s 500-hour completion time draws backlash

by Stephen Totilo, Axios A weekend promotional announcement that the upcoming zombie game Dying Light 2 will take 500 hours to complete drew a lot of negative replies. Why it matters: Big-name games keep getting longer, squeezing out other games and frustrating some players. Driving the news: “To fully complete Dying Light 2: Stay Human, you’ll need at least 500 hours,” Polish studio Techland tweeted Saturday afternoon. Some players responded enthusiastically, saying they were eager to dive into the first-person open-world adventure, in which players explore and fight their way through a city infested with zombies. But negative reactions were abundant: “That’s not ideal. Less is more,” someone tweeted. Another: “I loved your previous games but that is a huge turn off. As a father […]

Industry 0

For the videogame industry to grow, it needs to first grow up

After ‘frat boy’ culture came to light in 2021, videogame publishers need to be more inclusive to expand customer base and cure their workplaces by Wallace Witkowski, Market Watch The videogame industry appears to have hit a watershed moment in 2021 that sent a clear message: It’s time to grow up before you can grow any larger. Allegations of a “frat boy” culture and sexual harassment, rape and discrimination at Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, +1.34% became a public-relations nightmare for the videogame publisher, directly affecting the business and ability to produce games, both in keeping current workers productive and attracting and maintaining top talent. The same type of trouble has plagued “Assassin’s Creed” publisher Ubisoft, and “League of Legends” publisher Riot Games, which this week agreed […]

Announcements 0

‘Artemis’ Is An “Earth-Sized” Open-World Game From ‘PUBG’ Creator

by Ewan Moore, Gaming Bible We’re starting to reach a point with open-world games where bigger doesn’t always necessarily mean better. Take, for example, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. That’s a damn good game, but I’m not sure it would have lost anything if Ubisoft had made its sprawling recreation of Greece even half the size it ended up being. Basically, just because developers can make a huge open-world game these days doesn’t mean that they should. With that in mind, join me as we take a look at Artemis; a brand new in-development game that promises an open-world roughly the same size as Earth. Artemis is the ambitious new project from Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, the creator of PUBG. You may recall […]

Announcements 0

Rockstar Just Confirmed Red Dead Redemption 3

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick just flat-out confirmed the existence of Red Dead Redemption 3. by Amidu Njiemoun, Early Game We all knew it was coming, and we already extensively covered everything we know about Red Dead Redemption 3. Still, there is some sweet gratification when a game is actually confirmed, and now this is exactly what happened to the third entry in everybody’s favorite Western game: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked if franchises like GTA and NBA 2K will continue forever-ever, and this was his reply: “If it’s really, really great, it will keep going. I don’t know if you saw it, I just saw the new Bond film, that was great. You would like every franchise to be James […]

Industry 0

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant

Top executive didn’t inform board of some reports, including alleged rapes; company faces multiple regulatory investigations by Kirsten Grind, Ben Fritz and Sarah E. Needleman, The Wall Street Journal Bobby Kotick, the longtime chief executive of videogame giant Activision Blizzard Inc., received a troubling email in July 2018. A lawyer for a former employee at Sledgehammer Games, an Activision-owned studio, alleged in the email that her client had been raped in 2016 and 2017 by her male supervisor after she had been pressured to consume too much alcohol in the office and at work events. The female employee reported the incidents to Sledgehammer’s human-resources department and other supervisors, but nothing happened, according to the email, which threatened a lawsuit against the company. Within months of receiving the […]

Announcements 0

Microsoft adds 76 more games to the Xbox backward compatibility program

It’s the final update to the library. by I. Bonifacic, Engadget Microsoft added a total of 76 games to the Xbox backward compatibility program, the company announced yesterday during the Xbox 20th anniversary event. Highlights include the entire Max Payne series and F.E.A.R franchise, in addition to Skate 2 and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II. Every title Microsoft added supports Auto HDR on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. You’ll also see an increase in resolution when playing original Xbox games. The Xbox Series X and Xbox One X will render those titles at four times their native resolution, while the Xbox Series S will do so at three times and Xbox One S and Xbox One at double. Additionally, 11 titles will […]

Industry 0

Man arrested Sunday following argument over a video game

by Ken de la Bastide, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind. ANDERSON — A dispute about the settings on a video game resulted in the arrest of Robert Baker on potential felony charges. The Madison County prosecutor’s office Monday was given an additional 72 hours to file formal charges against Baker, 45, 1800 block of West Ninth Street, after a 2½-hour standoff Sunday. Bond was set at $10,000 full cash by Criminal Magistrate Kevin Eads. Baker is facing preliminary charges of domestic battery with the use of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and intimidation, a Level 6 felony. According to a probable cause affidavit, Anderson police were dispatched at 9:11 a.m. Sunday to the 200 block of West 37th Street. […]

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Teenager Stabbed To Death, Has Consoles Stolen In Home Invasion

by Ewan Moore, Gaming Bible Three men have been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly breaking into a 19-year-old male’s home and stabbing him to death before leaving with his PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles. The incident took place in Des Moines, Iowa. Law & Crime reports that Taylor Scott Austin (20), Tyrone Glen Davis (20), and Daniel Fletcher Jackson (18) have been charged with first-degree murder after breaking into the Polk County home of Cory Elifritz. The trio are alleged to have knifed the young man before leaving him for dead while they robbed his home.  Officers were called to the house on October 28, where they found Elifritz lying in a pool of blood having suffered from multiple […]

Announcements 0

Facebook changes name to Meta as it refocuses on virtual reality

by Elizabeth Culliford and Sheila Dang, Reuters Facebook Inc is now called Meta, the company said on Thursday, in a rebrand that focuses on building the “metaverse,” a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the successor to the mobile internet. The name change comes as the world’s largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its services. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its work investing in the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service, which will continue to be called Facebook. The metaverse is a term coined in the dystopian […]

Announcements 0

New Tech Lets You ‘Feel’ Holograms Like STAR TREK’s Holodeck

by Matthew Hart, Nerdist In what is undoubtedly another step toward an IRL Star Trek holodeck researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed holograms people can “feel” with their hands. The interactive holograms are quite basic at this point, but the proof of concept is certainly there. And, incredibly (dare we say magically?!), the system relies ultimately on illusions and air. Design Taxi picked up on the new, tangible holograms, which the research team recently described in a paper published in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems. Professor of Electronics and Nanoengineering Ravinder Dahiya led the team that aimed to pair holograms with “aerohaptics.” That is, the process of creating feelings of touch with jets of air. To create the interactive holograms the researchers […]

Industry 0

Marvel sues artists and their heirs to block them from rights to Spider-Man, other heroes

by Diana Dasrath and David K. Li, Variety Superhero factory Marvel asked a federal court on Friday to block artists behind iconic figures such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, and those artists’ heirs, from wresting away control of those valuable rights. The federal civil suits from Marvel Characters Inc., filed in the Southern District of New York, claim the work of several artists and authors belong to the company and not to those original creators or their heirs. Those artists, or their descendants, had previously filed action with the U.S. Copyright Office seeking termination notices to end Marvel’s control over their characters. In the multiple civil actions filed by Marvel, attorney Daniel Petrocelli cited the precedent of the court siding […]

Announcements 0

Reports show no ‘practical difference’ between Sony’s PS5 models

by Igor Bonifacic, Engadget At the end of August, YouTuber Austin Evans posted a video on Sony’s updated PlayStation 5 “CFI-1100” console. He was one of the first to obtain the revised model and what he found after tearing down the console was that Sony had equipped it with a smaller and lighter heatsink. In testing the unit, Evans found exhaust temperatures were higher than on the launch variant, leading him to claim it “worse” than its predecessor. That’s a statement that led to controversy, and, in some cases, confusion over whether people should buy the updated CFI-1100 model. Now we have a more definitive answer on what the new heatsink means for the PlayStation 5. Working together, Digital Foundry and Gamers Nexus conducted an independent teardown […]

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Evidence of ‘superhuman’ immunity to COVID-19

by REUTERS It’s being dubbed ‘superhuman immunity’. New research shows some people may have a significantly higher level of immunity to COVID-19 that could even protect them from future pandemics. Scientists studied individuals who have recovered from the virus and then later received a mRNA vaccine, such as Pfizer or Moderna. What they found was that protection against the disease and its variants was higher than immunity conferred by either infection alone or vaccine alone. Paul Bieniasz is a virologist at the Rockefeller University, he prefers the term hybrid, rather than superhuman immunity: “So this is a phenomenon that we and others have uncovered in people who were infected by SARS-CoV-2 early in the pandemic, and then some months later […]

Industry 0

Here’s the Fee PS5 Owners Will Now Be Charged to Upgrade First-Party PlayStation 4 Games

by Jose Martinez, Complex Media Sony confirmed that upgrading its PlayStation 4 first-party titles to PS5 will start coming with a $10 fee.   The company announced last week on its PlayStation blog that anyone who purchases standard and Special Editions of the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West, which is slated for a Feb. 18, 2022 release, will be charged to upgrade to its next-gen console. However, Sony walked back the decision following widespread criticism, citing the pandemic’s impact on developers who were forced to delay the game past its launch window.   While the company chose to honor its promise with Horizon Forbidden West, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan used this circumstance to establish a new norm for first-party, cross-gen titles. “I also want to confirm today that moving forward, PlayStation first-party exclusive cross-gen […]

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Michael K. Williams, Star of ‘The Wire’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ Found Dead at 54

by William Earl, Variety Michael K. Williams, who memorably portrayed Omar Little in “The Wire” and Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire,” has died at age 54. The New York Police Department confirmed to Variety that the actor was found dead on Monday at 2 p.m. inside of his Brooklyn residence. Williams was a regular on many acclaimed HBO series, including “The Wire,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Night Of” and “Lovecraft Country,” played Leonard on SundanceTV crime series “Hap and Leonard” and had a recurring role on J.J. Abrams’ “Alias.” He also acted in acclaimed films including “Inherent Vice,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Road.” The actor’s work often attracted awards attention, including three Emmy nods for outstanding supporting actor […]

Announcements 1

China further slashes kids’ gaming time to just three hours a week

by Daniel Cooper, Engadget China has announced a further crackdown on the amount of time children can play online video games, with the new limit set to just three hours per week. Bloomberg, reporting from local news sources, says that platforms like Tencent can now offer gaming to kids between the hours of 8-9pm on Friday, weekends and public holidays. It’s a significant and notable reduction from the previous rule, which had been generally capped at 1.5 hours per day in 2019. Earlier this month, Tencent was forced to cut the amount of time minors could play the smash hit mobile title Honor of Kings to just an hour on weeknights and two hours on the weekend. The added restriction is likely to impact the […]