by Jonathan Wilkie
It’s the end of June so let’s have a round up of the news stories this month…
IS MW NOT FINISHED?
Chad Michael Collins is an actor set to star in the new controversial Modern Warfare. He plays the role of Alex a soldier we strongly expect to feature in the single player. What is surprising is 4 days ago he tweeted “heading back to set today to create some magic for you.
The picture shows he is holding a motion capture gun and if you look in the top right you will see a motion capture camera and monitor. Quick to jump on the defence of this Taylor Kurosaki IW’s own design director (why the hell is he defending with his level of social media profile, no idea) stating that he never said he was returning for MOCAP even though the picture says otherwise. Add this to the fact that we have no leaks for the new call of duty this year which has ALWAYS happened, no gameplay this game is 4months off production 4!!! I wouldn’t be surprised at this time for a day 1 patch at best or even a delay? I’ve tweeted him and got no reply, I tweeted Taylor the same and got blocked…go figure.
CD Projekt Red labelled as discriminating
In 2 breaking stories this month, A certain subset of people has been taking to the internet screaming outrage at the digital world. The first against Modern Warfare who actually appeared at E3 despite saying they wouldn’t and had a closed-door demo for some gaming news platforms.
In an obvious move to stoke the coals they invited IGN (the guys who are so deeply offended by everything) IGN wasted no time in taking to the internet to explain:
- They didn’t like playing as a kid
- MW is too graphic
- In the game you supposedly watch your parents die
- Then stealth kill a soldier.
We at Stoffel are relatively confident that this was a deliberate move by Activision who, like Stoffel know IGN has the consistency of a tea bag in fair reporting.
Of course, IGN could have been played and any controversial reports will increase MW’s profile similar to the Russian airport level in MW2.
The other side of the coin is they could be testing the waters to simply remove any offensive content.
Even Michael Condrey, former Sledgehammer CEO has weighed in saying that Activision is leaning on the developers to make the game more controversial.
CDPROJEKT RED one of the top if not the best game developers of the current generation have also laughably come under fire.
In Cyberpunk 2077 there is a gang. This gang is referred to as the “animals” this gang is predominantly of people of colour. Also, there is a transgender woman with a massive penis. Because of this, some moronic gaming platforms have been suggesting that there are racial or transphobe undertones. This in spite of the game designer being Michael Pondsmith who is black.
EA announce surprise games mechanics
EA & Epic Games “surprise Mechanics” EA & Epic games are on the defensive as of late across the world as more and more countries finally call into question Loot boxes and the level of gambling associated with.
Turns out they are not loot boxes but surprise mechanics like Kinder eggs as offered by Kerry Hopkins EA’s Vice president of Legal and government affairs. This comment gets the first Absolute bonehead award if we ever start the Stoffel Awards. The “conference” with the British parliament and the gaming commission is so vast to cover but with Epic games saying that they don’t make money off of Fortnite or other pearls such as they don’t know what a typical gamer is…we implore you to watch all about it.
Shenmue 3 says screws over backers
Shenmue 3 is facing a massive backlash after Deep silver has become complete pricks with the publisher and developer deciding that Shenmue 3 will be an Epic Games exclusive.
Originally made possible by raising over $6.6 million in Kickstarter money. Now the game will be released on PS4 and Epic store November 2019. What makes this action abhorrent is when the Kickstarter was made it specified a choice between PS4 and Steam.
There is even a page on the steam store for it! So Deep silver so quick to pocket the money of the gaming community wants that little bit more as well with Epic stores developers shares. Here’s hoping that everyone sues them and all that backed get their money back!
RETRO & BOARD gaming on the rise
It’s also worth noting that retro gaming is continuing to be on the rise. While AAA titles keep letting us down retro gaming and board gaming continues to be the force to be reckoned with.
With board gaming cafes and retro arcades opening all over the country it appears the industry may be facing a challenge it is unaware of. With Arcade Club opening in Leeds, R-Cade in Glasgow and more… retro gaming is ever on the comeback with more and more people turning back to what many deem the golden ages.
Even Atari are coming back into the market with their first console with some bold claims. More to come on this as details emerge.
Google Stadia Google Stadia enters the market
Opening a Google tab to 4k 60fps gaming in 5 seconds and being able to switch device simply. The founder’s edition will set you back £119 including controller and the subscription is looking at £8.99 a month.
Google has promised that Stadia will support all PC’s, tablets and their own PIXEL smartphones to start, without the need for a hardware box, with games instead powered by Google’s own data centres. Many a bold statement, potentially a game changer but also potentially a super flop. Time will tell as we find out more…
Nintendo Switching up a gear
In what seems to be the most “accidentally on purpose” leak to date it is being widely claimed that we are going to be seeing 2 new versions of the switch!
Despite being only 2 years into its life cycle, These are suspected to be a “souped-up version” offering double ram and quadrupled storage and a budget version or LITE with no docking and permanently mounted controllers.
The one question here is how would the budget version for the switch be a switch if it can’t switch?
And Finally…..It’s been a lengthy piece and if you have stuck it out this far, take a pat on the back. If you like what I say, if you don’t or just want to vent find me and the rest of the crew over on our Discord for live messaging and we are at all your usual stops Twitch, Facebook, Twitter
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