According to a Kotaku report and corroborated by Twitter account StreamerBans, several prominent streamers–including IamSp00n, Wolv21, BlessRNG, DreadedCone, and WarwitchTV–have been banned this week. Each one of these streamers has been accused of sexual abuse and harassment, ranging from sending sexually explicit messages to known minors to physically taking advantage of women at gaming conventions. [Update: In what appears to be an unrelated action, Twitch has seemingly banned DrDisrepect.]
The bans come not long after Twitch issued a statement about plans to thoroughly investigate each allegation. “We are reviewing each case that has come to light as quickly as possible while ensuring appropriate due diligence as we assess these serious allegations,” the statement read. “We’ve prioritized the most severe cases and will begin issuing permanent suspensions in line with our findings immediately.”
Twitch also said it remains committed to making the platform a safe environment for communities to congregate. “We’re also committed to continuing our efforts to make Twitch a safer environment with more tools to combat harassment and hate,” the statement said. “We have work underway including a review of our Hateful Conduct and Harassment policies, enhanced offensive username detection, improvements to AutoMod and our Banned Words list, and other projects focused on reducing harassment and hateful conduct.”
The games industry is continuing to see an ongoing #metoo movement. Several high-profile figures, such as former Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail and former Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone, have had multiple allegations levied against them. In both situations, the accused individual is no longer associated with the project or projects they were working on. Avellone has also had his contributions removed from the upcoming RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
Square Enix has revealed that The World Ends With You has become an anime project, and is currently in the works.
A newly-created TWEWY “The Animation” Twitter account notes that a full reveal of the project is coming during Anime Expo Lite on Friday, July 3 at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern (that’s July 4 at 2am UK / 11am AEST).
— すばらしきこのせかい The Animation 公式アカウント (@TWEWY_PR) June 25, 2020
If you’ve never heard of The World Ends With You before, it’s a one-off Square Enix RPG with a massive cult following. The game breathes Shibuya youth culture and was worked on by Final Fantasy and Kingdom Heart’s character designer Tetsuya Nomura. Characters from the game have featured in Kingdom Hearts games since its release, such as 3DS spin-off Dream Drop Distance.
Pokemon Go‘s solstice celebration has ended, but a new event is underway in the game. The Bug Out is now live until 10 PM local time on July 1, giving you a chance to catch lots of Bug types and earn other rewards.
Throughout the event, Bug Pokemon like Scyther, Venipede, and Dwebble will be appearing in the wild and Raid Battles much more often than usual, and you’ll have a greater chance of hatching Bug types from 5 km eggs. You’ll also have your first opportunity to catch another new Shiny Pokemon: Shiny Dwebble.
Additionally, certain Bug Pokemon will be lured out by Incense at specific times during the event. You’ll have a much better chance of attracting the following Pokemon during the specified time frames when you use an Incense:
June 26 (8 AM) – June 27 (11:59 PM): Nincada
June 28 (12 AM) – June 29 (11:59 PM): Wurmple
June 30 (12 AM) – July 1 (10 PM): Scyther
Finally, there will be event-exclusive Field Research tasks to complete during the Bug Out, and you’ll earn twice the usual amount of XP for catching Pokemon. You can read more details about the event on the official Pokemon Go website.
As part of the Bug Out, Niantic originally planned to hold a special Raid Day featuring Pinsir on June 28. However, that event has been canceled.
Niantic has more summer events planned for Pokemon Go following the Bug Out. Starting July 3, the studio will kick off a series of weekly challenges leading up to Pokemon Go Fest 2020, and completing enough of these will unlock additional Pokemon to catch during Go Fest weekend. A Pokemon Go anniversary and summer event are also on the horizon.
In other Pokemon Go news, Galarian Farfetch’d recently made its debut in the game. Niantic has also announced that Mega Evolution will come to the game later this year.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
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Given the year is now 2020, you likely don’t expect to see a lot of new games coming for Wii or Wii U, save for perhaps the obligatory ports of the latest entry in Ubisoft’s Just Dance series. However, in news that will have you checking to make sure it’s not April 1, a new, non-Just Dance game is on the way for the two Nintendo consoles that preceded the Switch, and it’s releasing quite soon.
The game is Shakedown: Hawaii, a retro-style open-world action game in the vein of the early Grand Theft Auto entries. It originally released on a number of platforms last year–notably including PlayStation Vita–but is now coming to Wii and Wii U seemingly due to a random impulse on the part of the developer.
“Like most of my ports, Shakedown: Hawaii on Wii began one Friday night on a whim of curiosity,” wrote developer Vblank. “Perhaps a jolt of Wii nostalgia rushed through me that evening, but I suddenly wondered… how long would it actually take to port? How would it feel to play with a Wii Remote? How would it look in 4:3? Would it hit 60 FPS right off the bat, or need optimization? I had many questions, but as soon as I held that Wii Remote and started playing, I knew I wanted to take it to the finish line.”
However, while Vblank says that many ports for discontinued platforms get started, they don’t necessarily end up seeing the light of day. In this case, however, they will: The Wii version launches on July 9, with the Wii U version (and a Steam port of the existing PC version) set for sometime in August.
The Wii edition is limited to 3,000 copies and will be sold for $30. Unfortunately, those in North America won’t be able to play it, at least easily–despite working with Nintendo of America, given the age of the platform, a disc-based release couldn’t be worked out. (Wii discs aren’t region free, so importing would require you to have a PAL region system to play it on.) However, Nintendo of Europe was able to make this a reality, and those 3,000 copies will go on sale at 6 PM BST on July 9.
A digital Wii release also couldn’t happen given the Wii Shop has been shut down (and thus robbing us of the pleasure of one last Update Day.) That’s where the Wii U version comes in–this release will be available even in North America. A precise release date has not yet been announced.
In terms of what to expect, this is the full version of Shakedown: Hawaii that’s available on other platforms, even including post-launch updates. But there are some new features, with the game offering support for the 4:3 aspect ratio. On Wii, you can play with the Wii Remote (with shake support), Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro, or GameCube controller. The Wii U version supports the GamePad, Pro Controller, Wii Remote, Classic Controller, and Classic Controller Pro, with the ability to play entirely on the GamePad with touch controls, if you so choose.
Work has also been done to ensure the disc-based nature of these versions didn’t result in new load times. “I took special care to ensure it parallels the experience of the more powerful platforms, and further optimized it to fit entirely into the Wii system memory,” Vblank said. “This means that you won’t experience any disc load times during gameplay. Once the game boots, you’re in!”
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If you’re sitting in a chair right now, and there’s a good chance you are, ask yourself “could this seat be more dynamic and futuristic?” The answer is almost certainly “yes,” and the good news is you can actually make your futuristic-sitting dreams a reality with the limited-edition Cyberpunk 2077 chair from Secret Labs.
You can actually choose between the OMEGA and the TITAN 2020 series chairs, depending on your size. Both have unmistakable Cyberpunk 2077 branding: neon yellow on the backrest accented with “electrical traces and cybernetic augmentation slots,” as well as the Samurai logo embroidered on the back of the chair.
What I’m saying here is this is a really cool chair, and it’s available only in limited quantities (it’s already sold out in the UK, sorry chaps).
Microsoft has announced that it will be permanently closing all of its retail stores, while four physical locations in London, NYC, Sydney, and Redmond will be re-imagined as Microsoft Experience Centers.
Microsoft announced the news and said that “the company’s retail team members will continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities and remotely providing sales, training, and support.”
Microsoft has told The Verge that no layoffs will result from today’s decision. Microsoft closed its retail stores in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and had yet to re-open them.
Since then, there focus has obviously shifted to its digital storefronts on Microsoft.com and the stores on both Xbox and Windows PC, which “reach more than 1.2 billion people every month in 190 markets.”
“We deliberately built teams with unique backgrounds and skills that could serve customers from anywhere. The evolution of our workforce ensured we could continue to serve customers of all sizes when they needed us most, working remotely these last months,” Microsoft Corporate Vice Pesident David Porter said in a statement. “Speaking over 120 languages, their diversity reflects the many communities we serve. Our commitment to growing and developing careers from this talent pool is stronger than ever.”
Netflix has shared an inside peek at The Cuphead Show in a new video that offers fans a closer look at the show’s animation style.
The streaming giant invited fans to take a behind-the-scenes look at the “intricate, nostalgic design” of the animated series in a new teaser shared on Twitter. The short video showcases character concept art for Cuphead (Tru Valentino) and his brother Mugman (Frank Todaro), together with Fleischer-style scenes that have been created to tell the tale of Cuphead, who is described as a “lovable scamp.”
The show’s “ragtag tribe of enthusiastic artists and animators” provide an insightful commentary over the footage, with the team sharing details of everything involved in the creative process, from character creation and storyboarding to the role of the voice actors. The video concludes with another look at the official poster for the series, followed by a “coming soon” title card.
“Reimagining the Fleischer style with these incredibly relatable siblings is gonna be pretty fresh and new,” executive producer CJ Kettler promised in one clip, while art director Andrea Fernandez suggested that the show would “bring you back to the wonder of childhood.”
Similarly to its video game counterpart, The Cuphead Show will follow the unique misadventures of the world’s colourful characters through 1930s-style animation, however, it will not be a retelling of the game. The character-driven comedy will be hand-drawn, though not entirely to paper this time, and not by Studio MDHR themselves, but rather Netflix’s own in-house animation studio.
It’s ludicrously hot (read: a bit hot) in the UK right now, and it isn’t helping our general state of “melted” that all these exciting games are being shown off at the moment. This week, Jesse, Matt and Joe discuss the finer points of Cyberpunk 2077 after Night City Wire and a swather of previews. We also touch base on Marvel’s Avengers, which impressed us in its possibilities.
Alongside that, we’ve got thoughts on The Sinner, Snowpiercer and the Harley Quinn TV show, not to mention a new Endless Search favourite, and your excellent emails. Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected].
From the backyards of the American suburbs to a fantasy world where dwarves, fairies, and dragons are real, the new book Dwarf Story promises to take readers on a journey where homework and cell phones collide with a mystical turf war. Yeah, it must be Wednesday!
Written by Professor W.W. Marplot, Dwarf Story tells the tale of middle-school student Arty, who stumbles upon “an ax-swinging, bearded, sweaty warrior Dwarf.” Soon he and his friends realize that all manner of magical creatures has converged on their everyday lives, which of course leads to an adventure as the kids follow the clues in an attempt to figure out the mystery behind these critters. “And also,” the book’s logline reminds us, “whether you can give aspirin to Pixies.”
According to Waxing Gibbous Books, Professor Welkin Westicotter Marplot, of Coillemuir, Scotland, “is a collector of esoteric tales of global wisdom and curator of ancient manuscripts. He is a recluse and, as he claims, has been collecting and collating adventure and fantasy stories for over a century.”
Today we’ve got a free sample of Dwarf Story for you to check out. The book, which is available for pre-order now, will be released on June 30. Read on for the excerpt, and check out the cover below as well!
Every time the iPad line goes on sale, I recommend getting one. Earlier this year I bought the 32GB WiFi iPad and it is my favorite piece of tech now. I thought I’d look like a huge dork carting it around, but that’s true regardless of the tech I’m carrying. At some point I realized I spend most of my non-gaming tech time either reading or surfing the web, and rather than drop $500+ for a laptop, the $249 iPad does all that and so much more.
The newest iPads also work with Apple Pencil, so you don’t need to drop a grand to get a Pro Model if you’re interested in creating digital art. I recommend getting an Apple Pencil and the $10 Procreate app if you have any interest at all in drawing digitally.
Beyond art and web surfing, I use my iPad for reading comics. It’s awesome. The Marvel Unlimited and ComiXology Unlimited apps are great. In fact, you can still sign up for a 60-day ComiXology unlimited trial at no cost to you. If you have an iPad, or any device really, I recommend it.
