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The Brilliant Scholar Who’s Challenging Racism In Game Design
2.6.2023
During her keynote speech at last year’s ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in New Orleans, Dr. Kishonna Gray shared a story about the game Pokémon Go.Read more
Overwatch Forums Get Heated Over Baptiste's Bisexuality
1.6.2023
The official Overwatch 2 forums have been abuzz ever since Blizzard confirmed that there are more queer characters in its hero roster than we were previously aware. While some posts are from folks suspiciously eyeing the welcome confirmation that Pharah is in fact a rocket-powered lesbian as if...
Nintendo Facing Lawsuit Over ‘Immoral’ Loot Boxes In Mario Kart Tour
22.5.2023
Nintendo isn’t immune from the backlash against loot boxes, and now a recently filed lawsuit claims the video game company used “dark patterns” to trick younger players into spending money on Mario Kart Tour’s “immoral” microtransactions. Read more
Epic Games Store Will Now Pay You Back For Buying Games
18.5.2023
The Epic Games Store is rolling out a new “Epic Rewards” program to give players five percent cash back on PC gaming purchases. Whether it’s in-game purchases like Fortnite V-Bucks or big blockbusters like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the new policy is essentially a discount on everything you...
Overwatch 2 Multiplayer Isn’t Good Enough To Justify Gutting Its Long-Promised PvE
17.5.2023
Overwatch players, it’s been a rough few years. When the hero shooter first debuted in 2016, it offered one of the best multiplayer experiences of all time: tight, focused combat centered on team compositions, an impressive hero pool with options for every kind of player, solid matchmaking, and...
Mourning Overwatch 2's Story Mode, A Tragedy That Didn't Need To Happen
17.5.2023
Yesterday, Blizzard held a livestream in which it announced that, yes, a new tank hero, map, and cinematic are coming to Overwatch 2. It also announced that its PvE story mode, y’know, the whole reason it said it was making Overwatch 2 in the first place, is getting nerfed into the ground. Deep...
PlayStation Has To Pay Back Some Loot Boxes After Court Ruling
17.5.2023
Over the past few years EA’s FIFA series has been the target of multiple investigations and government hearings across Europe, with some countries concerned that the game’s flagship Ultimate Team mode is basically gambling, and others convinced that it is and taking action.Read more
Valve Updates Steam’s Code Of Conduct, Bans Gambling
11.5.2023
Steam’s online code of conduct just got an update and, for the most part, it’s filled with the expected language prohibiting explicitly illegal activity, harassment, use of cheat programs, and manipulation of the Steam client. But a fresh addition to the code of conduct is a strict ban...
Rainbow Six Kickstarter Asks For More Money From People Who Already Backed
4.5.2023
In 2021 Mythic Games, with the backing of Ubisoft, announced a Kickstarter campaign for an officially-licensed board game adaptation of Rainbow Six: Siege. Two years later, Mythic are asking people who already paid for the game to pay a bit—and in some cases a lot—more.Read more
What Your Overwatch 2 Skin Says About You: Brutal Callout Edition
5.4.2023
When Overwatch 2 was announced as the not-so-sequel-sequel to the original 2016 first-person shooter, the first thing most players wondered was, “What about my skins?”Read more
Overwatch 2's Lifeweaver Seems To Confirm Baptiste Is Queer, Too
5.4.2023
Overwatch 2’s next hero, Lifeweaver, is the series’ first pansexual character. When we talked with the Blizzard team about the new support hero in a roundtable interview, we were told by Lead Narrative Designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie that characters would be receptive to his advances during pre-match...
Meet Lifeweaver, Overwatch 2's First Hero Confirmed Queer Upon Reveal
4.4.2023
Niran “Lifeweaver” PruksaManee is Overwatch 2’s 37th hero, a support character who specializes in plant-based technology to heal and protect his teammates. He’s a fugitive on the run from the Vishkar Corporation who was close to DPS character Symettra while at the company’s Architech Academy. He’s...
Australian Government Wants To Give 18+ Ratings To Any Game With Gambling
30.3.2023
The Australian Federal Government have announced this week that they’ll be pushing to “apply an R18+ rating to all video games that contain simulated gambling”, a move that appears to be the strictest of its type we’ve seen.Read more
Controversial Ex-Epic Games Store Exclusive Now Free On Steam
24.3.2023
If you’re like me and feel life is entirely too short to spend on important, self-congratulatory games (or people, for that matter), might I recommend 2020’s Sludge Life? Once exclusive to the Epic Games Store, it arrived on Steam about a year later where you could buy it for 15 bucks. Right...
Deadly Call Of Duty Police Killing Settles For $5 Million Years Later
22.3.2023
On the night of December 28, 2017, police killed Andrew Finch, a 28-year old father of two, shortly after appearing outside his home in Wichita, Kansas. They were there in response to a swatting hoax called in over a $1.50 Call of Duty bet Finch wasn’t even involved in. Five years and a long legal...
Roadhog Roasts the Overwatch 2 Cast In Latest Limited-Time Mode
22.3.2023
Roadhog is one of Overwatch 2’s quieter heroes. Where some characters like Tracer and Junkrat are real chatterboxes, the chain-slinging, shotgun-toting Tank is a man of few words. That changes with the game’s latest limited-time mode, which makes him the announcer. Not only is he the one to declare...
FIFA Loot Boxes Violate Austrian Gambling Laws, Court Rules
7.3.2023
Loot boxes have been a thorn in gamers’ sides for as long as they’ve been around, with lawsuits and players deriding them as exploitative gambling mechanics. EA has been a prominent example of publishers using loot boxes, and its massively popular soccer game FIFA is no exception. FIFA’s Ultimate...
In Overwatch, Healing Is The Real Gay Agenda
3.2.2023
There’s a phenomenon in the Overwatch community that has persisted through the original game’s 2016 release, its gradual decline, and the launch of the sequel. This phenomenon is an interesting one, a sort of “IYKYK” situation that requires membership in a specific community in order to recognize...
Kadabra Will Finally Return To Pokémon Card Game After 18-Year Ban
27.1.2023
The Pokémon Company will print its first new Kadabra card in over 20 years. According to a report by PokéBeach, the Pokemon Card 151 set due out in June will feature the psychic spoon-bender alongside the series other original Pokémon, something that would have previously been blocked...
The Best Ways To Keep Your Overwatch 2 Healer Alive, As Told By Tired Mercy Mains
25.1.2023
Angela “Mercy” Ziegler has long been one of Overwatch 2’s most iconic heroes, and after years of being the scapegoat for when things go wrong in a match, the players who main this airborne healer are sick and tired of your shit. Mercy is the caretaker of the heroes of Overwatch, and as she flies...