On June 1, GameSpot began hosting Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. We asked that you 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 with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. But we’re also taking this opportunity to state our support for the recent protests that have popped up across the US in response to the continued police brutality against black people.
To that end, GameSpot would like to highlight black creators in our industry, whether they specialize in writing video essays, producing hard-hitting articles, or hosting good podcasts. Below, we’ve listed the work of notable black creators–regardless of whether or not they work at GameSpot. We hope you’ll take a few moments to read and watch them and maybe gain a new perspective into your favorite video games. And keep checking this page, as we’ll continue to update it with more voices over the coming days and weeks.
Projects By Black Creators About The Black Experience
If you’re in the market for a music streaming service, here’s a deal to check out. Right now Tidal is running a promotion that gets you four months of unlimited music for $4. It works on the standard plan, but it also works on the HiFi plan that gets you lossless, master-quality audio. In fact, it even works on the HiFi family plan that gets you five member accounts. You can claim the offer here.
You can cancel any time, including before the first normal-sized bill arrives. If you want to keep going after the promo ends, the standard plan costs $9.99 per month and the HiFi plan is $19.99 per month. Students and military personnel get a 50% or 40% discount respectively.
Tidal is a music streaming service that offers unlimited access to over 60 million songs and over 250,000 videos. Basically, if you can think of a song, there’s an extremely good chance you can stream it. You can create your own playlists or peruse the many playlists curated by musicians and Tidal’s music editors.
The main thing that sets Tidal apart from competitors like Spotify and Amazon Music Unlimited is its selection of high-fidelity music. If you care about getting the highest possible sound quality, you’ll appreciate the lossless, master-quality tracks on offer here in the HiFi plan.
But even if standard fidelity if fine with you, you’ll find pretty much any song available to stream at a moment’s notice on desktop or mobile. And since it only costs $4 for four months of the service, it’s worth a listen.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
In 2013, I was a high schooler with way too much free time on my hands. It was the last few weeks of school and a bunch of my friends and I would routinely skip class to play video games in the back of the library. It was a forbidden gamer paradise. Animal Crossing: New Leaf just dropped and we were all desperate to play it. There was a game where you could go to a town with your friends, become a home makeover demi-god, talk to animal neighbours, and be the mayor? Why wasn’t every video game built exactly like that?
Self-expression is the core element of ACNL; it’s a feature embedded into every aspect of the game. You choose the colour and style of your clothes and the location and architecture of your dream house, and since there are no pressing time constraints like other social simulators, you even choose what you do all day, every day. It’s a game about freedom. I was so incredibly excited when I picked it up, but that feeling dwindled fast. There were no options to have black skin colour or any black hairstyles. A game all about freedom and customization refused to let me be me. It was beyond alienating; out of all the things that could have been excluded, why those things?
For a while, the only way to create a character with a darker skin tone in Animal Crossing: New Leaf was to use a tanning mechanic.
I headed straight online to figure out if I had just missed out on an option, but I hadn’t. That’s just how it was. The wackest part was that the options for darker skin tones were in the game, but you couldn’t access them from the start. The only way you could make your skin darker was through a convoluted temporary tanning mechanic that had to be used on an in-game day between July 16 to September 15, during a morning that had a clear sky. Many forum posts with titles like “Can I be black in this game???” or “So… Can your character have dark skin?” popped up as others wondered at the lack of skin tone and hair options. It spurred people to write out theirthoughts on race in games, and players were even tweeting directly at Nintendo to express their frustration.
The audience was quite vocal, but Nintendo never responded to anyone’s comments, acknowledged the issue, or made a public statement about it. Six months after launch, an item called a “Mii Mask” was added to the game that gave the player the ability to look like their customized Mii characters. But when they were first added to New Leaf, the masks didn’t even properly adjust Animal Crossing characters’ skin tone. You’d literally just be wearing an uncanny black Mii face on your character’s face, leaving the rest of your body pale. New Leaf was eventually patched to match skin tone, but the whole idea of the masks was at odds with the rest of New Leaf. Masks stuck out like a sore thumb among the Animal Crossing world’s cute aesthetic. They felt like a band-aid for a situation Nintendo didn’t properly deal with, a weak attempt to pacify an entire crowd that was fed up with fighting to be seen in a medium that doesn’t respect them.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but black people play video games. Period. Black people are killing it in the gaming cosplay scene, non-binary black legends like SonicFox continue to rinse people in the competitive fighting world, and groups like Black Girl Gamers have formed to help showcase black women in gaming. Racial representation in games isn’t a topic that gets studied frequently, but there is a 2015 study from Pew Research Center that takes a look at the people behind the controller. One key thing the study found is that 83% of black teens play games, while 71% of white teens play games. It’s evident that we are out here, yet somehow, none of this is truly reflective in games’ racial representation.
New character creation options in Animal Crossing: New Horizons mean it’s possible to create villagers that are much more representative of the players who make them.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons finally gives the players their blackness for the first time in a main Animal Crossing game. There is a wide range of skin tones and hair types selectable from the start. It’s really rare for me to see my hairstyle in games, but when I created my villager, he had the same cut and the little dude almost pulled it off as well as me. My villager can be me now, and I love that, but it took so damn long. It’s hard for me to even praise Nintendo for including it now when I, and so many others, needed it years ago. The bar for representation feels so dishearteningly low that companies are praised for including content that should have been there from there start; that we celebrate having our hair in a game as a “win,” or having a black character that isn’t a stereotype as something innovative. The industry should’ve been listening years ago.
Some black characters from older titles are iconic, but that doesn’t mean we should lower our standards
Representation has been a problem since the beginning of games. Black people have been continuously excluded or only included as a second thought (that doesn’t even feel that thought-out) or as a punchline, as with Barret from Final Fantasy VII’s awkward attempt at an ’80s Mr. T impression. The early inclusion of black people in games was incredibly cringey, and it’s only in recent years that the industry has started to move away from the all-too-common stories about middle-aged white men (who are usually dads) and that things have started to improve. A 2018 Eurogamer article by Malindy Hetfield breaks down the embarrassing ways early black characters were handled and puts them into two camps of tropes: the scary thug and the funky guy.
It’s remarkable how many black video game characters fall into those categories–even some of my favourites, like Carl Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the carefree cab driver B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi, are there. It’s a messy situation because those characters were spawned out of stereotypes, but I’ve also held onto them since childhood because they were fun and looked like me. In Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks, a book unpacking the history of black people in American film, author Donald Bogle introduces an idea that all black actors have been forced into stereotyped roles. But those performances are still black heritage, and something to hold onto. Even though a lot of the roles were wack, we can’t completely dismiss them. “The essence of black film history is not found in the stereotyped role but in what talented actors have done with the stereotype,” he wrote.
I think that rings true for games too–some black characters from older titles are iconic, but that doesn’t mean we should lower our standards.
Even characters that become iconic, like Barret from Final Fantasy 7 (seen here in the remake), often are very stereotypical.
The first step for a better industry is listening to black people; the second step is supporting black people. More focus needs to be put on creators like TJ Hughes, a young black man creating a super-neat food simulator, and supporting events and organizations like Game Devs of Color Expo, spaces that are meant to uplift black and other marginalized designers, developers, and writers.
Supporting black people in games will make sure the standards for blackness in games is higher. It’s as simple as that. Instead of a bunch of non-black people in a game’s writers’ room theorizing the proper way a character would use African American Vernacular English, or non-black artists wondering if black people also have entirely black palms and feet, there should just be black people working in that room. Tossing in a poorly crafted black character to fill an invisible diversity meter isn’t going to cut it anymore–nobody wants any of that. Black people exist, black people play, and that should be represented in the media they enjoy and help create. The field of games has to improve as a whole so we can get more meaningful advances than simply being seen, and paying attention to black creatives (all year round) is the only way we can jumpstart that process.
The only reason those durags, hairstyles, and skin tones are there is because black people spoke up.
The world right now is messy and uncertain, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a pretty good distraction. It lets me feel at ease as me. I’ve been picking weeds so my place doesn’t look like a mess when my friends fly in, and I can’t stop taking pictures of my character doing literally any silly thing. As I see my villager run around the island with his slick fade and his twists bobbing away, I’m left with hope. The only reason those durags, hairstyles, and skin tones are there is because black people spoke up. This addition took far too long, but it’s proof that change is happening, albeit slowly, across the industry.
I’m still tired, though. Talking about representation in games is draining, and it often feels futile. The people that don’t want to listen will simply not listen, and a bunch of people with unflattering, vaguely racist profile pictures will continue to yell at me on the internet. I dream of a time where games get to a place where I don’t have to write something like this, where developers respect and listen to their black audiences when issues arise, where black people aren’t an afterthought. Hopefully we get there soon.
Star Wars director JJ Abrams, his wife Katie McGrath, and the entire team at Bad Robot productions are donating $10 million to a series of charities to help fight racism amid the protests and unrest surrounding the death of George Floyd.
The Bad Robot Instagram page released a statement, confirming the money will go to “organizations and efforts committed to anti-racist agendas that close the gaps, lift the poor, and build a just America for all.”
The statement calls out police brutality and white privilege, while it also acknowledges that money alone won’t fix the issues with America. You can read the full statement below.
Bad Robot Statement:
“Enough is enough. Enough police brutality. Enough outsized privilege. Enough polite conversation. Enough white comfort. Enough lopsided access. Enough exhausting our friends and colleagues. Enough being incurious. Enough being unintentional. Enough injustice. Enough death. ENOUGH.”
“We at Bad Robot are grateful to the many scholars, activists, organizers, and leaders fighting on the frontlines of change in our systemically unjust country. It is that constellation of thinkers and doers who have the blueprint to a more perfect, fair, equitable, and kind union.”
“In this fragile time, words matter, listening is critical, and investment is required. The centuries-long neglect and abuse of our Black brothers and sisters can only be addressed by scalable investment. A massive and thoughtful overhaul of tax policy, one that effectively meets the needs of the many in this country, and not just the few, is long overdue.”
“Corporate and private philanthropy can never achieve the impact needed to address these systemic inequities, but companies and individuals who are able must do what we can until our political leaders lead. We are committing an additional $10 million over the next five years to organizations and efforts committed to anti-racist agendas that close the gaps, lift the poor, and build a just America for all.”
GameSpot’s summer gaming show, Play For All, started on June 1 and will run the weeks to come. The show was built on bringing the gaming community together and leveraging our passion and solidarity to benefit those in need. It feels right that we should extend our fundraising efforts to include those fighting against the systemic injustices faced by black people in America, along with supporting Direct Relief’s COVID-19 efforts aiding front-line medical workers.
We’ll be using our platform to raise money for both Direct Relief and Black Lives Matter. We want to be clear: Black Lives Matter; Black Culture Matters; Black Communities Matter.
Rick and Morty answers some long-burning questions in its excellent Season 4 finale.
Rick and Morty’s Season 4 finale has finally arrived, and it did not disappoint. We love zany, random Rick and Morty adventures as much as the next squanch, but it’s been way too long since this show returned to the continuity of some of its long-running plot threads.
It may not have been Evil Morty pulling the strings all along, but at least we got to see what Tammy, Phoenixperson, and Maybe-Clone-Beth have been up to. And it turns out to be “a f***ing piece of s*** Star Wars.”
Naturally, “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” featured tons of references back to Rick and Morty episodes of the past. And if it’s been a while since you binged Season 1-3, or even if you need a refresher on the first half of Season 4, which aired late last year, we have you covered. Here’s every Easter egg and reference we could spot in Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 10.
And don’t forget, 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.
And speaking of things you should be watching, consider listening to GameSpot’s weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.
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1. The Galactic Federation
You can tell from the episode’s opening shot, based on the colors and architecture here, that this episode is going to return to the story of the Galactic Federation, the governing empire that was introduced in the pilot, then deliberately dismantled by Rick in Season 3, Episode 1, “The Rickshank Rickdemption.”
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2. Gromflomites
In case you forgot, these bug-like aliens are called Gromflomites. They’re the ruling race of the former Galactic Federation. They were first seen in the pilot, in which Rick encouraged Morty to kill them because he doesn’t respect bureaucrats.
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3. Clone Beth
In this shot, we finally learn the answer to the question posed at the end of Season 3: Did Rick clone Beth? Yup, it turns out he did. For now, we assume this is the clone, though by the episode’s conclusion, that’s in doubt.
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4. The Star Wars Jokes Begin
In the background we glimpse some of Beth’s cohorts in “The Defiance” (clearly a riff on the “Rebellion” from the Star Wars franchise), including another Gromflomite, a female Squanchy (an alien race first introduced in Season 1, Episode 11, “Ricksy Business”), and an unknown alien and robot.
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5. The NX-5 Planet Remover
This instructional video for the NX-5 Planet Remover is the McGuffin Beth’s Defiance squad was after in the opening scene, much like the mission to steal the Death Star plans portrayed in the 2016 movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Rick even explicitly calls the NX-5 “a Death Star” later in the episode.
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6. The NX-4S
A Gromflomite explains that the NX-5 Planet Remover “eliminates planets twice as fast as the NX-4S with half the battery,” a dig at Apple’s iPhone naming conventions (iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, etc.).
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7. Tachyon Beams
The NX-5 does this with “industry-leading tachyon beams.” A tachyon is a hypothetical, possibly nonexistent particle that theoretically travels faster than light. They’re frequently referenced in Star Trek, whenever the writers needed a technobabble word for some inexplicable technology.
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8. Brought To You by Wrangler Jeans
Wrangler Jeans are referenced throughout this scene, including a vocal shout-out, the visible logo, and the Gromflomite’s entirely denim outfit. Unlike Pringles and Wendy’s, Wrangler doesn’t appear to be an actual sponsor of Rick and Morty, but this minor joke returns in a big way later in the episode.
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9. No More Secret Hole
The Gromflomite also proclaims that the NX-5 no longer has a “secret hole that blows the whole thing up when you shoot it,” referring to the fatal flaw (usually an exhaust vent or something equally inane) in each subsequent bigger and better version of the Death Star throughout the Star Wars series. This revelation also renders Beth’s retrieval of the instructional video pointless, since the NX-5 apparently doesn’t have a weakness.
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10. Family Therapy
The Smith family’s ongoing therapy sessions with Dr. Wong are referenced throughout this scene, which culminates in Rick attempting to calm Space Beth down by using tactics he no doubt learned during some of those awkward therapy sessions: “What I’m hearing is that you think that’s a bomb.”
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11. Gotta Squanch ‘Em All
It turns out, in the world of Rick and Morty, Pokemon are real. Beth throws a Poke Ball and Rick throws the slightly superior Great Ball to kick off a battle that we wish lasted way longer. Granted, those don’t look like any Pokemon we’ve ever seen.
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12. The Neck Device
Rick claims here that the neck implant wasn’t a bomb at all (so, not a Suicide Squad reference?), but a memory system that would have transferred the clone’s memories into the real Beth’s when she returned to Earth. That said, considering what we learn later, Rick is certainly lying here, since he doesn’t actually know which Beth is the clone. So what was the implant actually for? No idea.
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13. VR
When she’s caught in this guy’s house, Summer quickly comes up with the excuse that she “wandered [away] from her console,” apparently attempting to pass off Morty’s infrared goggles as a virtual reality headset. Side note: What on earth is the deal with that picture hanging on the wall in the background? If you have any theories, let us know in the comments.
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14. Shoney’s
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this diner. Rick met with a Gromflomite at Shoney’s in Season 3, Episode 1, “The Rickshank Rickdemption.”
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15. A Tad Star Warsy
As Rick points out, Beth’s space adventures are “skewing a tad Star Warsy.” The slave rebellion she’d just finished describing certainly seems like any number of cookie cutter Star Wars movie plots, and there are plenty of references to the series throughout this episode.
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16. The NeEeEw Galactic Federation
The way this news announcer says “the new Galactic Federation” drips sarcasm, probably to continue poking fun at Star Wars, in which an entire trilogy of movies was just made to tell the story of the “First Order” rising up to take the place of the “Empire,” which is totally not the exact same thing, and do battle with the “Resistance,” which is super different from the “Rebellion” from the old movies. (See also: Beth’s “Defiance.”)
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17. Soony PlayStatioon
The TV in Shoney’s is a Soony model, an obvious parody of Sony.
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18. Return of the Dr. Wong
Guest star Susan Sarandon returns to Rick and Morty to once again play family therapist and Rick nemesis (in his mind at least) Dr. Wong. She first appeared in Season 3, Episode 3, “Pickle Rick.”
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19. Puppet Therapy
When Jerry claims that therapists use puppets in TV shows, he may be referencing Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon’s previous show, Community, which did a whole puppet thing in Season 4, Episode 9, “Intro to Felt Surrogacy.”
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20. Great British Prize Show
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21. Tammy II: The Tammyning
At last, Tammy Guetermann has returned on Rick and Morty, and not in a non-canonical Story Train segment that was just meant to hurt us. If, like Jerry (who initially calls her “Tanya”), you don’t remember exactly who this is, don’t worry–it’s been a while since she appeared for real. Tammy was Summer’s high school friend who married Birdperson in Season 2, Episode 10, “The Wedding Squanchers” (and appeared several times before that), then revealed herself to be a deep cover Galactic Federation agent.
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22. We Love Wendy’s
When Rick says he thinks Wendy’s has given them some money, he’s not joking–if you’ve watched these Season 4 episodes live, you’ve likely noticed these (admittedly very funny) commercials for the Wendy’s breakfast menu.
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23. That Thing
When Tammy says Rick “might want to do that thing where you find a new universe where you can suck yourself off,” she’s referring to Rick and Morty Season 1, Episode 6, “Rick Potion No. 9,” in which the duo accidentally Cronenberg’d the whole world and had to hop into an alternate timeline where they’d coincidentally just died. The repercussions from that event have spread throughout the series, although it’s unclear how Tammy knows about it. Also, this feels like a good time to point out that technically, neither of the Beths in this episode is this version of Rick’s original Beth, who he left behind on Cronenberg Earth in that Season 1 episode.
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24. Citizen Kane
When Morty correctly points that his and Summer’s arc of eventually working together is “not Citizen Kane,” he’s referring to the 1941 Orson Welles film that’s widely considered to be one of the best movies of all time, and often held up as a benchmark of cinematic storytelling to this day (to the point that it’s basically become a meme).
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25. You Made Me Go to a Wedding
Rick is of course referring to the events of Season 2, Episode 10, “The Wedding Squanchers” when he kills Tammy. He also references the fact that Tammy killed Rick’s friend Birdperson, since he doesn’t yet know that Tammy helped resurrect Birdperson as Phoenixperson.
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26. Luke and Leia
Summer points out that she and Morty are “like Luke and Leia,” another brother/sister sci-fi team who worked together to topple an evil galactic government. However, she quickly realizes that Luke and Leia also kissed at one point. Morty then suggests Hansel and Gretel, characters from the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but Summer believes they were definitely “f***ing.”
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27. Phoenixperson Revealed
In this very Star Warsy entrance, Phoenixperson is finally revealed to Rick. Technically, Rick already saw him in Season 4, Episode 6, “Never Ricking Morty,” but since that was non-canonical, he might not have believed Birdperson’s return was real.
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28. Bone-Crushing Fun
Rick and Phoenixperson’s fight seems to pay homage to any number of radical video game and/or anime fights, particularly the Mortal Kombat series, which introduced X-ray-style bone breaking moves in Mortal Kombat X.
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29. The Wrangler Jeans Thing
The Gromflomites in this scene finally explain the Wrangle jeans sponsorship. The NX-5 is apparently programmed to destroy everything but Wrangler jeans. Morty and Summer will soon use this to their advantage. Presumably, there are large clouds of Wrangler jeans floating around in space where the NX-5 has destroyed a planet.
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30. You Kill Good Bug For a Horse Doctor
It’s been a while since Beth’s day job was mentioned, so don’t forget: She’s a horse surgeon, which Jerry tends to be weirdly condescending about. Good thing he’s not in this scene to knock her down a peg.
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31. A Parent Trap Thing
When Beth suggests to Beth that they do “a Parent Trap thing together sometime,” she’s referring to the 1998 Lindsay Lohan movie, which was a remake of a 1961 movie, which was an adaptation of a 1949 book. In the film, two identical twins who were separated at birth meet at summer camp and conspire to get their parents back together. If the Beths meant this literally, it would mean getting Rick back together with their mom, who we’ve never actually seen (besides a fictionalized version in “The Rickshank Rickdemption” that Rick suggests is completely fabricated).
Lastly, when Earth Beth says “naturally,” she does it in what might be taken as a terrible British accent, potentially riffing on the fact that Lindsay Lohan had to do an accent for one of her Parent Trap characters.
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32. Don’t Look Now
Rick’s strange claim about how he thought he would eventually die–in Venice and having something to do with “a dwarf in a raincoat”–is an extremely weird reference to the 1973 film Don’t Look Now, in which, you guessed it, a father is murdered in Venice by a dwarf wearing a raincoat.
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33. You Mind-Blew Yourself?
This line is a reference to the Season 3 episode “Morty’s Mind Blowers,” in which it’s revealed that Rick has removed tons of memories from Morty that blew his mind too hard.
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
Paradox Interactive, the publisher and developer best known for strategy games, is opening yet another studio. The company has announced a new office in Barcelona called Paradox Tinto.
Paradox Tinto is Paradox’s seventh studio, and its first in Spain. Paradox also has offices in the Swedish cities of Stockholm, Umea, and Malmo. In the United States, Paradox operates Paradox Tectonic in Berkeley, California and Harebrained Schemes in Seattle. The company also owns Triumph Studios, which is based in The Netherlands.
Paradox Tinto will open “in the immediate future,” with 25-year Paradox veteran Johan Andersson leading the team. Andersson is crediting with creating the Europa Universalis franchise. Paradox Tinto will start out as a “small core team” that will support the ongoing development of Europa Universalis IV before starting work on multiple new games in the grand strategy genre.
“I am excited and grateful for this opportunity to build up a new studio in a new location, putting the knowledge accumulated through the decades of building games and development studios into good use,” Andersson said in a statement.
GeForce Now is switching to an opt-in system for developers instead of the previous opt-out system, Nvidia announced on May 27. GeForce Now, Nvidia’s cloud-based streaming service for PC, left beta in February and has seen a number of big name companies, like 2K Games and Activision Blizzard, remove their games from the service.
The blog post by Phil Eisler, General Manager of GeForce Now, stated that not only would companies need to opt into the service moving forward but that they would be removing games on May 31 if the companies do not opt-in by that time.
Eisler further explained that participating in the service would not require any extra cost on developers that opt in.
“GeForce Now is an extension of the PC ecosystem. There is no cost for developers — games just run without difficult porting requirements — helping them reach millions of players who don’t have game-ready PCs,” Eilser said in the blog post.
“Back in March I decided to remove The Long Dark from Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming platform, as I disagreed with our game being incorporated into the service without our consent,” van Lierop said. “I applaud Nvidia for embracing this opt-in approach and for their support of independent creators like Hinterland.”
The post went on to say that there are more than 2,000 games already committed to the service. Nvidia is currently listing all of the approved GeForce Now games on its support site.
Unlike other streaming services, like Google Stadia, GeForce Now doesn’t have its own storefront, instead using your existing library from services like Epic Games and Steam. The service also offers limited-play sessions before having to reconnect, with one-hour sessions for free users and six-hour sessions for paid users.
Sony delays its PlayStation 5 stream until further notice. We’ll be getting more details on Pokemon Sword & Shield’s DLC Isle of Armor very soon. Sega’s got a big announcement lined up later this week coming from Famitsu magazine.
Also, for the next six weeks GameSpot is hosting Play For All, a summer gaming and charity celebration featuring special guests like Alanah Pearce, Troy Baker, Danny O’Dwyer, and many familiar GameSpot faces. All of which are coming together to raise money for Direct Relief in support of those fighting on the frontlines against COVID-19, and Black Lives Matter.
Anyone who’s been considering getting into the hugely popular MMO Final Fantasy XIV can now get a bundle with the game and all its major expansions for a great price. Amazon and Walmart are currently offering the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XIV Online: Complete Edition for $36.98, down from its usual $60 price tag. This includes not only the base game but also the Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers expansions in an all-in-one package.
The important thing to note is that you’ll still need a subscription to keep playing FFXIV longterm. The Complete Edition comes with a 30-day free trial period (new accounts only); after that period runs out, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee to keep playing. The standard membership costs $12 for your first month; after that, it costs $15 a month for 30 days, $14 a month for 90 days, and $13 a month if you opt for a year-long subscription. However, PlayStation Plus isn’t required to play.
Final Fantasy 14 deal
At Amazon, the discount is available but the game will be in stock on June 9, which means you’ll probably receive your copy a day or two later, depending on where you live. Walmart has stock available now, but according to the listing, only a handful of copies are left, so we expect it’ll sell out soon. It’s also worth noting the Shadowbringers expansion pack is on sale separately for $24.85 at Amazon, normally selling for $40 on its own. This expansion pack includes Heavensward and Stormblood as well, but you still need to own the base game’s Starter Edition on PS4.
The most recent expansion earned a 9/10 in GameSpot’s FFXIV Shadowbringers review for its well-paced and heartfelt storytelling, expertly crafted dungeons, and more. “Shadowbringers makes a strong case for itself as the game’s most engaging expansion,” wrote critic Ginny Woo.
“It’s not just the sheer scale and strength of the narrative weaving in years of old lore without cheapening the experience for new players, or the immaculately designed boss fights replete with spectacular music and thematic touches. It’s also the implementation of the Trust system and the chance to truly feel the impact of the Warrior of Light’s decisions over the past expansions through exploring the stories of your companions. For a story that starts with a laser focus on your character’s motivations and misgivings, it tells a tale that ends up being the biggest and the best that Final Fantasy XIV has ever told. Equal parts redemption, vengeance, cruelty, and sassy Elezen, Shadowbringers promises a hell of a lot when you take your first steps into Norvrandt and delivers a truly spectacular finish even if it stumbles a little along the way.”
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How Shadowbringers Morphs Final Fantasy 14’s Identity | E3 2019
