Author: Trafficblast

Concerns around COVID-19, and local government orders that prevent people from gathering in large groups, have led to the cancellation or postponement of numerous gaming, tech, and entertainment conferences scheduled for 2020. E3 2020 in June has been canceled outright, while July’s San Diego Comic-Con has also been scrapped. August’s Gamescom event in Germany is transitioning to a digital show. The next major gaming event after that is PAX West in Seattle, and it is planning to go forward in September as scheduled, organizers have announced.

The current plan is for PAX West to take place over the Labor Day weekend of September 4-7.

In a statement on its website, organizers said, “Our first priority is always your safety, and that extends to issues of public health.”

In the lead-up to PAX West in September, the organizers will monitor the COVID-19 situation and heed the advice of the CDC and the WHO. The local government in Seattle, and the Washington State Convention Center, have already taken actions that the PAX organizers said “left us optimistic.”

So far in 2020, PAX has run all of its shows globally. PAX South took place in Texas in January, while PAX East was held in Boston at the end of February before lockdowns and social-distancing began in earnest. After PAX West, the next PAX show is PAX Australia, which is slated for October in Melbourne.

Outside of PAX, the first-ever Gamescom Asia show is scheduled to take place in Singapore this October, immediately after PAX Aus. All of these shows are tracking to go forward.

Even if all of these shows are legally allowed to go forward, whether or not people will want to attend a convention in a crowded hall and using controllers touched by thousands of people is a different story.

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It was only recently that Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds were fueling their online fake feud and rivalry between them, but now it seems that the fun is coming to an end, or at least for now.

Hollywood stars Jackman and Reynolds have challenged each other to cease the teasing and joking online at one another for a full 24 hours as a part of the All In Challenge. The All In Challenge was started by Michael Rubin, with stars having to auction experiences to raise funds to feed the elderly, children, and those on the front-line working to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The challenge for Jackman and Reynolds is not just to be kind to each other for an entire day, but to also run a lemonade stand together without breaking.

A randomly selected person from the list of supporters will have the two stars working a lemonade stand alongside the child of the winner in their own home, with all proceeds going to first responders. All of the money raised in the auction will be going directly to Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, World Central Kitchen, and No Kid Hungry.

Nintendo should expand its reach beyond games and become a broader entertainment company. That’s the thinking of the investment firm ValueAct Capital Partners, which recently acquired 2.6 million additional shares in the company to own a 2 percent stake in the gaming giant.

ValueAct is known as an “activist investor,” which means the firm is picking up a huge number of shares in Nintendo in an attempt to influence its future direction. However, unlike other activist investors, ValueAct is not attempting to get a seat at Nintendo’s board of directors, according to a report from Reuters. Instead, the company is looking to work “behind the scenes” with Nintendo.

ValueAct began investing in Nintendo back in April 2019, and it currently has a stake of $1.1 billion in Nintendo. ValueAct said in a note, which was seen by Reuters, that it sees room for growth in Nintendo’s business in the areas of new games, as well as a transformation to become a “broader entertainment company.”

A spokesperson for Nintendo confirmed that it has been “engaged in dialogue” with ValueAct, though it declined to share specifics, citing a company policy to not do so.

ValueAct said in its note that it has already had “several meetings” with Nintendo management, adding that it has faith that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa is leading the company in the right direction.

At the same time, ValueAct pointed out that Nintendo has not enjoyed the kind of success–and profits–that companies like Activision and EA have over the past 10 years. But thanks to some of Nintendo’s recent moves in the digital space, ValueAct sees Nintendo on a strong path forward.

“We believe Nintendo will be one of the largest digital media services in the world, in a category with the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Tencent Interactive Entertainment and Apple Music,” the company said in its letter.

ValueAct brings unique insight and perspective to Nintendo, the note said, because some of its members have served on the boards of other tech companies, including Microsoft.

In 2014, then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata–who has since passed away–said he doesn’t see Nintendo as a company that sticks strictly to games.

“A lot of people around the world think Nintendo is solely a company that makes video games, and I believe more and more of our own employees have started thinking in this way,” Iwata said at the time. “Some employees in charge of development find themselves in positions where all they are thinking about is how they can make the game in front of them more fun, so I don’t think it can be helped if others outside of our company see us the same way.”

“So even though we won’t change the fact that our focus is on video games, I felt the need to take that occasion to state that Nintendo is a company that can do whatever it wants,” he added.

Nintendo has indeed branched out to new markets to position itself as more of an entertainment company in recent years. The company is currently producing a Mario movie with Minions studio Illumination, while it is working with Universal on a Super Mario theme park.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Video game retailer GameStop was struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the store is facing an even more uncertain future. The company has now outlined some of its “business updates” related to the virus, and it includes pay cuts, store closures, and more.

Starting off, GameStop CEO George Sherman has announced he’s cutting his salary by 50 percent, while chief financial officer Jim Bell and the rest of the executive team are dropping their salaries by 30 percent. Additionally, members of the board of directors–including Reggie Fils-Aime–are seeing their compensation decreased by 50 percent.

GameStop also announced that “certain other employees” at the company’s offices around the world will see their pay reduced between 10 percent and 30 percent starting April 26. Additionally, some members of GameSpot’s corporate support staff have been offered a temporary furlough or fewer hours of work for less pay. What’s more, GameStop said it did not pay some of its lease payments for its stores due to government regulations and decisions made by landlords.

The company also provided an update on its store footprint. About one-third of all US stores are closed, while the remaining two-thirds are open, but only for curbside pick-up of orders. GameStop is preparing to re-open its stores in South Carolina and Georgia, after local governments announced that could happen, while stores are also re-opening in Italy, Germany, and Australia.

GameStop also said that 100 percent of its EB Games stores in Australia remain open, and are in fact performing well. In March, sales in Australian stores increased by 64 percent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of GameStop’s business performance, the company said store sales for the nine-week period ended April 4, 2020 fell by 23 percent. A downturn was of course expected given the numerous store closures across the world.

Finally, CEO George Sherman said GameStop has a “strong balance sheet” and enough cash and liquid assets to help get the company through this difficult time. Specifically, GameStop said it had around $772 million cash and liquid assets as of April 4. This should be enough to “navigate the current environment,” the company said.

2020 will be a big year for GameStop, as the retailer historically commands a strong share of new console sales. The release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X–and other next-gen consoles–should help improve business at the retailer, but it remains to be seen how it will all shake out. It was recently reported that the launch supply of the PS5 could be lower than the PS4 from back in 2013.

The Nintendo Switch has received another system update, bringing the console up to version 10.0.1. But after the major changes introduced in 10.0.0, including button remapping and easier data swapping, 10.0.1 is a minor update–and you probably won’t notice any difference.

Here’s the single note for this update from Nintendo: “General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.”

Yep, it’s one of those.

There are some far more exciting Nintendo Switch updates that have arrived recently or are on the horizon, though. Animal Crossing: New Horizons will finally add an art gallery soon, as well as expanded garden options. Super Mario Maker 2, meanwhile, just got its last major update, and it’s a doozy–you can now craft your own entire Mario campaign in there.

Of course, if you have a Switch at all right now, you should count yourself lucky–it’s currently incredibly hard to buy one.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers a seemingly endless amount of possibilities to show off your style thanks to extensive customization options. This video will break down several of our favorite methods for customizing our island, whether it’s the ground and pathways, or our furniture and house. The first step is to secure the Able Sisters tailor shop on your island, while also making sure that you have the Nintendo mobile app downloaded and connected with your copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Once all the technical steps are out of the way it’s time to customize.

An excellent way to get custom designs is through social media such as Twitter, using hashtags like #ACNHDesigns. Simply enter the creator code at a kiosk located in the Able Sisters shop to gain access to all of that creator’s custom designs, or enter the code for a specific design itself. QR codes can also be scanned via your mobile device in the Nintendo app. If you’re curious what items can have custom designs applied to them, check your Nook Phone in game. The DIY app will show you all the recipes you currently have unlocked and those that are customizable will have a paint brush in the top left hand corner, although not every piece of furniture that is customizable will allow custom designs.

There are a lot of ways to make an island your own, and plenty of online resources that we have linked in the description below. If you want to know more about Animal Crossing, whether that’s how to make some extra money or how to terraform your island, check out our channel for all of our video guides on Animal Crossing: New Horizons!