The Biggest, Baddest Super-Weapons in Gaming

The gaming world is filled with more evil super-weapons than an 80s spy movie. We’ve got more maniacs, evil geniuses, misguided scientists and evil super-beings than we know what to do with – and most of them want to destroy humanity in a hundred different ways.

The bad guys in video games have tried everything from enslaving all the fluffy animals in the Green Hill Zone, to turning humans into Stroggs and generally trying to blow everything sky-high.

So to celebrate all the heroes that have foiled dastardly plots, and all the evil beings who plotted them, we wanted to take a look at some of the biggest, baddest super-weapons that have threatened to put the bad guys on top.

Continue reading…

Transformers Movie Series To Be Completely Rebooted–Report

Although the Transformers franchise has proven to be a hugely poplar one, 2017’s The Last Knight was the least successful film by some distance, suggesting that audience interest in the series might be fading. The spin-off Bumblebee is due out later this year, but a new report states that beyond that, Paramount is planning to reboot the whole series.

As reported by Transformer World, toy manufacturers Hasbro confirmed at the company’s Toy Fair 2018 Investor Preview that the series will be entirely reset. In addition, a new agreement with Paramount means that Hasbro will have greater control over the property, including greenlighting movie projects. The site also reports that no Transformers movies beyond Bumblebee remain on Paramount’s release schedule.

No Caption Provided

This is something of a change in fortune for the series. In October 2015, Hasbro announced that there would be at last four more movies, and that a “writers room” had been established to map out the next decade of Transformers across movies, TV, and digital. Following this, Paramount confirmed that Transformers 6 would arrive in 2019, which seems to be no longer the case.

The Last Knight made $605 million worldwide. This was well below the $1.104 billion haul for its predecessor, 2014’s The Age of Extinction, and less than the first movie made back in 2007.

Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21, 2018, and stars Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena. It will be directed by Kubo And The Two Strings director Travis Knight, who is making his live-action debut. No footage from the movie has been revealed yet, but a first official image was released in December.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email [email protected]

It’s Time: Cast Your Votes for the SXSW 2018 Gaming Awards

Partner Content by SXSW

sxsw_logo_162x61

The SXSW Gaming Awards 2018 will take place on March 17 and your assistance is cordially requested. That’s because at SXSW Gaming, all award winners are determined by an elite body of, well, you. The SXSW Gaming Awards are by the gamers, for the gamers, and the time to vote is now.

Between the Nintendo Switch, the triple-A might of Sony and Microsoft, and an incredible lineup of indie darlings, 2017 was an amazing year for games. Now, it’s up to you to crown the best across 20 diverse categories.

Continue reading…

Hasbro Announces Toy Crowdfunding Platform, HasLab

Hasbro’s HasLab crowdfunding platform is like Kickstarter for cool toys, and first up is Jabba’s Sail Barge, weighing in at 14lbs.

HasLab “hopes to bring dream products into the hands of fans” with new models that are “trophy items in significance and size”.

mxkrlqovzxglbcvoazpr

If the campaigns are fully funded by the end date, the products will move into production, and release exclusively to backers – for now. If the goal isn’t reached, backers won’t be charged.

Continue reading…

Rainbow Six Siege Dev Defends Limited Run Loot Boxes

Rainbow Six Siege will be rolling out loot boxes for a limited run, and brand director, Alexandre Remy, has stepped in early to defend the decision.

The loot boxes will be a part of the Outbreak event pegged for March 6, and will be available to purchase alongside the existing free alpha packs that reward players with cosmetic items.

“I feel like the loot boxes act like the gift shop after the rollercoaster,” Remy told MCV. “I am feeling very empathetic towards players upset with this, but at the same time I do not feel we are cheating anyone, I don’t think we are being greedy whatsoever.”

Continue reading…

“Ridiculously Exploitive” Loot Boxes Must Change, Lawmaker Says

Chris Lee, the state representative from Hawaii who wants to take action against video games with “predatory” loot boxes, believes we are in the midst of a turning point when it comes to the video game industry and its business practices. The industry has to stop taking advantage of players with exploitive practices related to microtransactions, he told GameSpot in an interview. The time is right now due to the “generational transition” where lawmakers and people in power are becoming more attuned to video games.

“We have to try and stand up for what is right,” Lee said. “I think it is inevitable that, whether it was spurred by Battlefront or some of the recent big-title games just being so ridiculously exploitative of the player base, there is enough of generational transition in politics and positions of authority around the country and the world, that you have people who understand what the industry is doing and are willing to stand up and take action and do something about it. Inevitably, the industry will have to change.

“Because more and more jurisdictions are going to start protecting their citizens from the kinds of exploitive and predatory practices that the industry has been employing lately. Inevitably, that means a better industry for everybody and better games for everybody.”

One of the bills that Lee put forward seeks to limit the sale of video games with “gambling-like mechanisms” to people under the age of 21. If this bill became law, it would only affect games sold in Hawaii, but Lee believes this legislation could have a snowball effect and spread to other parts of the country that enact their own similar laws. In fact, lawmakers in Washington and Indiana have introduced bills with similar language.

The Entertainment Software Association, which lobbies on behalf of the video game industry in Washington, DC., believes that loot boxes do not constitute gambling. The ESA also believes that self-regulation is the best way forward, not the kind of government control and regulations that Lee and other lawmakers are suggesting. Lee told GameSpot that people from the ESA or working on their behalf are in Hawaii right now trying to prevent bills like his from getting passed.

“There are ESA lobbyists roaming the halls of the state capitol here as we speak who have been flown out to try and stop any sort of conversation about these issues from happening,” he said.

We have followed up with the ESA in an attempt to get more details on its ambitions as it relates to Lee’s bills and others with similar language in state legislatures across the US.

In other news, US Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) recently urged the ESRB (which also believes loot boxes do not constitute gambling) to consider the effect of loot boxes when putting together their ratings. We will report back with more details on the legislative action happening related to loot boxes and more as new information becomes available.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email [email protected]