biteho.com

The writers and producers of Fox’s iconic animated TV show The Simpsons are coming to E3 2019. They will appear on a June 11 E3 Coliseum panel where they will discuss … well, we don’t know. Given E3 is a video game convention, people are naturally assuming there will be a discussion about video games and potentially some news.

But don’t get too excited just yet. A sequel to The Simpsons Hit & Run would be fantastic news, but there is no word yet on if there will be any game announcements during the panel. We don’t even know who from The Simpsons team will be there.

Whatever the case, you can catch The Simpsons panel at E3 on June 11. Presumably it will be streamed live like the rest of the E3 Coliseum panels including the one where Netflix may announce video game adaptations of its shows. The E3 Coliseum is organized by games media veteran Geoff Keighley in coordination with the ESA, which owns and operates E3.

There haven’t been any new Simpsons video games for console/PC in a while. The latest one was 2007’s The Simpsons Game, in which the Simpsons family discovers they have been licensed for a video game. Electronic Arts, which owns the license for The Simpsons video games, released a mobile game called The Simpsons: Tapped Out in 2012 and it was, at least for a period of time, a big-time money-maker.

In 2014, The Simpsons TV producer Al Jean said a Simpsons RPG was considered, going on to say at the time that he thought more Simpsons games would be made someday. Might it finally be time for a new Simpsons game to be revealed? It’s too soon to say but that would be exciting.

The Simpsons franchise is now owned by Disney following the company’s acquisition of the majority of Fox’s entertainment assets. In terms of the TV show, all 30 seasons will be available for streaming on Disney+ when the service releases in the United States this November.

For more on E3 2019, you can head to GameSpot’s E3 2019 hub for everything you need to know.

Read next: E3 2019 Schedule For Press Conferences: Times, Dates, And Announcements

The new John Wick movie, Chapter 3, is very popular. After another strong performance at the box office in its second weekend, Chapter 3 has now made $175.4 million worldwide.

What that means is John Wick 3 needed just two weeks to surpass the amount of money that John Wick 2 made during its entire theatrical run ($171.5 million). To put that number in context even further, the first John Wick made $88 million worldwide over its lifetime. The franchise is getting more popular with every release, which probably explains why John Wick 4 was announced so early. In addition, there is a John Wick film spin-off in the works, while a TV show called The Continental is also in development.

The John Wick series stars The Matrix actor Keanu Reeves as an assassin with a price on his head. He mows down everyone in his path. The series also features Laurence Fishburn, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane, while Chapter 3 added Halle Barry and Anjelica Huston. The movie was directed by Chad Stahelski, who also made John Wick 1 and 2.

The creator of John Wick and the film’s writer, Derek Kolstad, is presumably involved with John Wick 4 in addition to his newly announced job as the writer of the Just Cause video game movie.

John Wick 4 is coming, but all we know so far is a release date: May 21, 2021. The ending to John Wick 3 certainly set up another story to be told. Here’s to hoping that Reeves and Stahelski return for the fourth movie.

Travis Strikes Again, the No More Heroes spinoff that launched in January as an exclusive for Nintendo Switch, is headed to new platforms. The game is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC, game director Suda51 announced at the Momocon 2019 event in Atlanta this weekend.

There is no word on when Travis Strikes Again will launch on PS4 and PC, what differences there may be compared to the Switch edition, or if it’ll also release on Xbox One. Developer Grasshopper Manufacture says it will announce more details in due course.

Travis Strikes Again takes place seven years after the events of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. In a plot that is suitably absurd, Travis Touchdown finds himself stuck in a haunted game video console called the Death Drive Mk-II. Alongside Badman, Travis must fight his way out of the Death Drive’s six different games hack-and-slash style.

The game offers co-operative play with one player as Travis and the other as Badman; there are also unique co-op special attacks to pull off. Check out GameSpot’s Travis Strike Again video review in the embed above to see the game in action. GameSpot scored the game a 6/10 in our Travis Strikes Again review.

Looking ahead, Suda51 has said that there might be more No More Heroes news coming at E3 in June. The ending to Travis Strikes Again very strongly suggested that a new No More Heroes game was in development. Asked by Siliconera about the ending, Suda replied with a laugh, “I wonder what that was myself. It might be Travis messing around. [Laughs] I hope around E3 time I’ll have something cool to announce.”

The No More Heroes series started with 2007’s No More Heroes for Nintendo Wii. It was followed up in 2010 by No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, which was also released on Wii.

Ahead of the release of Borderlands 3 in September, Gearbox Publishing boss John Vignocchi is heading out. The games industry veteran announced on Twitter that he’s left Gearbox for his “dream job” somewhere else.

“Leaving the company was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make and I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the love and support of everyone there,” Vignocchi said on Twitter. “They understood and encouraged me to take this role as it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime gig.”

Vignocchi said he had a great time working at Gearbox, where he served as executive producer for Gearbox Publishing for about a year. He specifically praised Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford and head of publishing Steve Gibson, saying they both know “how to bring out the passion and excellence of all the amazing [developers] that work there.”

Vignocchi didn’t say where he’s going after Gearbox, but he noted that he is going on a “bit of a road trip,” which suggests the new job is not close to Gearbox which is in Frisco, Texas.

Vignocchi joined Gearbox in October 2018 after a long run at Disney where he oversaw Disney Infinity and other products and projects. He spent less than a year at Gearbox before leaving. Pitchford said goodbye to Vignocchi in a post of his on on Twitter in which he wished Vignocchi well in his new job.

Gearbox’s next game is Borderlands 3, which is due out in September for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The company has made headlines recently not always for Borderlands 3, but behind-the-scenes controversy involving Pitchford and former employees.

The World Health Organization, the public health division of the United Nations, has officially added “gaming disorder” to its registry of officially recognized diseases. This happened over the weekend when the WHO officially adopted the 11th revision of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11). All 194 members of the WHO voted unanimously to adopt the revision.

According to the WHO, “gaming disorder” is characterized by a “pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour” online or offline. The official description goes on to say that gaming disorders can include the following: “1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2) increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities; and 3) continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.”

People who are deemed to have the “gaming disorder” run the risk of “significant impairment” to their personal, family, social, education, and occupational lives, according to the WHO. The description goes on to say that “gaming disorder” can be a continuous condition or it can be episodic in nature. For it to be suggested that a person has “gaming disorder,” they would display these behaviour patterns for a year or longer.

The “gaming disorder” disease will become officially recognized by the WHO on January 1, 2022. According to GI.biz, the WHO came to its conclusion based on consultations with experts from a variety of backgrounds.

In January, when the WHO first announced it would consider recognizing “gaming disorder,” the US video game industry group, ESA, said the designation “recklessly trivializes real mental health issues.”

“Just like avid sports fans and consumers of all forms of engaging entertainment, gamers are passionate and dedicated with their time,” the ESA–which lobbies on behalf of the video game industry to protect its interests–said in a statement. “Having captivated gamers for more than four decades, more than 2 billion people around the world enjoy video games.”

“The World Health Organization knows that common sense and objective research prove video games are not addictive. And, putting that official label on them recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder, which deserve treatment and the full attention of the medical community,” the statement continued.

At the time, the ESA said it strongly encouraged the WHO to reverse the action, but now that it has been officially adopted, it remains to be seen if there are any appeal possibilities.

It’s not just the ESA that’s hitting back at the WHO over this decision. A statement attributed to the global video game industry associations–including the ESA (USA), ESA Canada (Canada), IGEA (Australia and New Zealand), ISFE (Europe), K Games (South Korea), and UKIE (United Kingdom)–says the WHO reached its decision “without the consensus of the academic community.” The consequences could be far reaching and might achieve the opposite of what the WHO is setting out to do, according to the statement.

“There is significant debate among medical and professionals about today’s WHO action. We are concerned they reached their conclusion without the consensus of the academic community,” reads a line from the statement. “The consequences of today’s action could be far-reaching, unintended, and to the detriment of those in need of genuine help.”

It continues: “We encourage and support healthy game play by providing information and tools, such as parental controls, that empower billions of people around the world to manage their play to ensure it remains enjoyable and enriching. As with all good things in life, moderation is key and that finding the right balance is an essential part of safe and sensible play.”

Last week, before the WHO decision came down, Sony’s CEO talked about how the video game industry needs to do more to promote healthy gaming. “We need to take it seriously and adopt countermeasures,” he told reports (via Kyodo News).

Some games are already implementing features to promote healthy gaming behaviors. Recently, PUBG Mobile introduced a new feature that sends pop-ups to young players to remind them to put the game down and take a break.