Workers’ Rights Issues

Bethesda‘s US branches and the World of Warcraft development teams have announced that they have unionized. Microsoft has confirmed that they are open to beginning negotiations with both unions.

SAG-AFTRA, the union that had previously enacted a strike for actors in Hollywood, have now begun a new strike, this time focused on video game voice actors. The strikers are asking for protection against misuse of AI technology, specifically compensation for using their likeness and voice for AI generation. The strike will effect games that began production after August 2023, meaning big releases such as Grand Theft Auto VI are most likely in the clear, but if further voice clips are needed, union members may decline to contribute work to games.

Ziff Davis has shuttered Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble Bundle. The entire team was laid off on the 23rd, with reports that leadership had no idea what the process of publishing games entailed. It is unknown how this will change the release of currently scheduled games under the Humble Games branding.

Fights in the Future

EVO was this past weekend, so a variety of new characters were announced for a good amount of games. San Diego Comic Con is also happening, so there’s a few announcements from there, as well.

Guilty Gear Strive‘s next season was detailed at Evo. The roster sees returning favorites Dizzy and Venom, new character from the recently confirmed anime Unika, and the first guest character in the series, Lucy from Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners. A new three-versus-three mode will also be added, with an open beta for the mode happening as this is posted.

Multiversus has announced two of their season two characters, with Samurai Jack available now and Beetlejuice available later. Warner Bros. also acquired Player First Games, developers of Multiversus.

SNK had a big showing this week. The studio announced two new DLC characters for The King of Fighters XV, Vice and Mature (due out in December), then revealed that they are working on both a new Art of Fighters and a Samurai Shodown action RPG.

Later, they released a port of SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos on Steam, with console versions available later. The port adds rollback netcode.

Finally from SNK, two new characters were confirmed for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Kevin Rian, a SWAT team member in South Town, and Billy Kane, former Geese crony and new leader of the Howard Connection, will be in the launch roster.

The last two season one DLC characters for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising were announced. Versusia will release August 20th alongside a large 1.50 update to the game, and Vikala is due out in October. A second season of DLC was also confirmed, starting with Sandalphon.

Somehow, Heihachi has returned, and he’s the next DLC character for Tekken 8. He’s due to be added to the game some time this Autumn.

Mortal Kombat 1 had to wait for Comic Con to announce their next round of DLC, alongside a story expansion and the return of Anamalities. Noob Saibot, Cyrax, and Sektor are returning, and three new guest characters will be added. Ghostface from Scream, Conan the Barbarian (as portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the T-1000 from Terminator 2 are the new action figures you can slam against Omniman and Homelander. The story expansion and returning MK characters will be added September 24th, and the guests’ release will be announced later.

Other Assorted Announcements Abound

The first teaser for the Like a Dragon/Yakuza live action show has been released.

Former Skip Ltd. developers have announced a crowdfunding campaign to make a spiritual successor to Chibi-Robo. Titled koROBO, the Kickstarter has already reached about two-thirds of its initial goal.

Katawa Shoujo, the visual novel developed by Four Leaf studio about romance at a school for disabled girls, is coming to Steam and Itch after twelve years on August 16th.

A remaster collection of the first two Legacy of Kain games has seemingly been confirmed by a logo shown with Legacy of Kain action figures revealed at Comic Con.

A remaster of Tales of Xillia has seemingly been leaked through Czech and Slovak retailer listings. If the listings are real, the remaster will release on all major platforms.

The entire catalog of The Behemoth’s games will be getting updates:

• Alien Hominid: Invasion and Alien Hominid HD will be released on PS5 and PS4.
• A quality of life update for the Steam version of Battleblock Theater will release, as well as ports of the game to modern consoles.
• Castle Crashers is getting a new DLC called Painterboss Paradise, in which players can create their own skins for the playable characters and upload them to Steam Workshop. All of the games’ sprites have been redrawn as well, and a new character, Paint Jr., will be added.
• Pit People will also get a quality of life update, and their next title is confirmed to be in the prototype phase.

And finally. Michael Bay, of live-action Transformers and the first two Bad Boys films fame, is currently in talks to direct some form of Skibidi Toilet movie or television series. No word on if the Half-Life characters’ faces will be used for these ventures.

The post The Bulletin: Workers’ Rights and a Weekend of Fights appeared first on Gamesline.

Bobby Kotick Departs Activision Blizzard

As of the end of December 2023, Robert “Bobby” Kotick has officially retired from his role as CEO of Activision Blizzard.

Kotick’s departure leaves behind a legacy of controversy and potential complicity to the company’s toxic and hostile workplace issues in his wake, and is part a series of many leadership and policy changes to the company in response to the long, grandstanding saga of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. As another subsidiary under Microsoft, Jill Braff has been named head of studio for Bethesda and ZeniMax. Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard was officially finalized in October 2023.

The state of California ended up settling the Blizzard’s gender discrimination lawsuit for about $54 million, the very case that has pushed the series of dominoes that catalyzed the acquisition of the company in motion back on July 2021.

In its initial filings of the suit, California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) alleged that the company had a “frat boy” culture, but has went on to now conclude that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard in the suit’s settlement text. If the court approves of this settlement, the payout will go to “cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs” and “a settlement fund dedicated to compensating workers.”

While being pushed back by the ABK Workers Alliance union, Blizzard will also be ending hybrid work for QA employees starting this year. The union believes that the in-office accommodations that have been offered due to this decision will not adequately meet the needs of its membership and that it will cause “many, many more employees being forced out of the company and into a desperate situation.”

As Blizzard will be continuing to face turbulence and ongoing changes under a new coat of paint, Microsoft pulls back from their VR projects as consumer trends shown interest in the medium dipped in 2023.

Leaving the Year With Leaks

Insomniac Games had the misfortune of experiencing a severe cyberattack credited to ransomware group Rhysida, who claims to have taken over 1.67 terabytes of data from the company.

After a deadline has passed demanding a ransom of $2 million dollars, Rhysida went on to leak a plethora of internal data and sensitive employee information, such as HR documents, screenshots of private messages, and unreleased images and assets of future projects, and even a playable build of one of those projects. Sony experienced a data breach by a different group in October that same year.

Insomniac has went on to respond to how demoralizing the attack has been, but nonetheless has vowed that teams will resume to push on and that work will continue on the projects that have been leaked. The leaked playable build contains a warning against piracy, which could result in legal action from Insomniac. Downloading it also potentially comes with the threat that it contains implanted malicious software after the hack’s tampering.

Allegedly, Rhysida has sold a tiny portion of this data to an unknown buyer, but a significant portion of 98% of the data allegedly has been released.

In less concerning news, sensitive military documents have been leaked on the War Thunder forums —again.

The Blockchain Is Not for Babies

While the Epic Games Store still won’t necessarily list games in its catalog with the Adults Only rating, the platform has adjusted its policy to now allow exceptions for games utilizing blockchain technology.

The ESRB board has been labeling games using blockchain technology with the AO rating, determined on “assess[ing] whether products may reward real money, prizes with real world value, or something that can be exchanged for or converted to real money.” NFT-based game Gods Unchained was removed from the Store for its AO rating, but has since been relisted on the platform after this policy update.

Government Goes After Gacha

Reguators China are attempting to introduce new policies to curb spending and monetization practices in online games.

Per several other past initiatives in an effort to reduce play time and addiction to games, some of the terms of these regulations include imposing spending limits on players, disallowing in-game items to be auctioned or used as speculative assets and that all Chinese games must be ran in servers based within China.

Researcher Leon Y. Xiao has further found that the policies will require that loot boxes shouldn’t make their contents exclusive and that unspent currency must be refunded to players if a game shuts down.

While in Korea, the Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined Nexon for changing and reducing the loot box probability rates without transparency across their published titles that contain this equivalent mechanic.

The New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft

On top of an ongoing string of other lawsuits pushing back against the exploitative use of the technology, The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft, opening what might possibly be one of the largest lawsuits against AI thus far by for copyright infringement.

The publication alleges that the AI technology used has been illegally pulling from the Times’ archive to train ChatGPT. Data that that plaintiff has currently reported has found the Times as one of the largest sources that the technology has pulled from, arguing that ChatGPT is for-profit that now directly competes with the Times’ own services.

Wizards of the Coast deservedly catches flack again, this time for the use of AI art going unchecked in a recent social media campaign for Magic: The Gathering.

In other news…

Teenager Willis Gibson is the first human player to fully complete a version of Tetris on the NES. Going by “Blue Scuti” on his YouTube channel, the run lasted for about 38 minutes.

Devolver Digital capped off the holiday season with a quick Public Access Holiday Special that showcased several upcoming indie titles, such as The Plucky Squire, Pepper Grinder, and Baby Steps.

Actor James McCaffrey passed away. McCaffrey has starred in various film and television roles, and provided his voice for the titular role in the Max Payne series and was a regular talent for Remedy Entertainment’s various characters, such as Alex Casey in the Alan Wake games.

Publisher Versus Evil laid off its entire staff, effectively shutting down. Versus Evil was acquired by TinyBuild in 2013, and effectively all titles of their library, such as The Banner Saga games, have been moved under TinyBuild’s ownership.

Ubisoft’s The Crew will be going offline. The game has already been delisted from all online stores and will remain playable until March of this year.

While Sea of Stars has much to celebrate following their win of Best Independent Game at the 2023 Game Awards and achieving a 4 million player milestone, the game is removing the cameo appearance of Jirard Khalil. Also known as The Completionist, Khalil was met with allegations of financial fraud against his family-founded charity to support dementia research, the Open Hand Foundation.

Publisher Bushiroad Games and developer Eighting announced the production of a Hunter x Hunter fighting game. Bushiroad has published various titles based on anime and manga IPs, and was responsible for bringing the multimedia musical franchises Love Live! School Idol Festival and BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! into the mobile games market.

As even its own cast awaits an official greenlighting of a sequel to Illumination’s animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie, rumors suggest the animation studio has pitched the idea of potentially also adapting the Smash fighting games into a film.

Likewise, Jack Black won’t be waiting for his next gig for too long as he is reportedly to play Steve in the Minecraft adaptation.

Meanwhile, the Paramount television series adaptation of Halo has been confirmed for a second season.

While the official server of MMO City of Heroes was shut down way back in 2012, NCSoft officially granted a license to a long active, private-run server Homecoming. Players are reassured that accounts will remain untouched and that the gameplay will continue to be free, hoping to be supported by donations.

Fans of Baba Is You will be pleasantly surprised by the release of Mobile Suit Baba, a tactical mission-based puzzle game that revisits the same quaint Baba characters and setting.

The post The Bulletin: Bye Bye Bobby appeared first on Gamesline.

The combined power house of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue, with further elaborations made by the latter in regards to confusion that stirred over strike guidances.

Voice actors have chimed in on the ongoing issues that continue on the table, expressing concerns over AI uses of their voices without their consent.

Representatives of the strikes have continued to urge consumers that effective means of supporting the strikes is not through boycott, but by either showing up at local picket lines or monetarily supporting through funds such as the Entertainment Community Fund, Groceries for Writers, and the official SAG-AFTRA Emergency Relief Fund.

What is Even Going On With Overwatch Anymore?

While it has been noticed that the game is now listed on Steam, Overwatch 2 is not igniting the fire that Activision Blizzard is hoping it would in the pro scene, with a recent report indicating the engagement is on the decline.

Teams in the Overwatch League are also voting on a $114 million exit payment, as the League could be faced to make major structural changes by the end of the current season based on a recent Activision quarterly report. Activision also recently laid off about 50 employees from their Esports department.

Meanwhile, Team Fortress 2 had a big summer update: Seals. The Valve shooter has not just introduced a new game mode and about 14 new maps to the game, but a new Player Destruction map that involves the simple objective of feeding Selbyen, a seal, the most amount of fish. Team Fortress 2 appears to be hitting new all-time player peak numbers thanks to this latest update.

In other news…

Neopets is in full force right now marketing their soft relaunch of the name, which includes a revival of the Neopets Trading Card game.

Bandai Namco is planning to open a store in London, the first of its kind outside of Japan. Bandai Namco publishes and distributes various brands such as Pac-Man, Tekken, and game rights to Dragon Ball.

On the other hand, Bandai Namco will be shutting down Gundam Evolution, announced less than a year it has been online. A free-to-play game, sales of the game’s premium content will cease to be available by the end of July, and the final season of the game is still on set to go on as schedule in late October. The game will officially go shutter by the end of November this year.

Roblox is planning on giving developers tools to create subscription models within their experiences. Through this system developers would be given the channels to deliver content in monetized chunks as they see fit, similar to subscription model tools like Patreon. “Experiences” are what Roblox labels the many games, projects, and virtual labs utilizing its platform. Roblox has repeatedly come under fire due to its dominantly young userbase, which critics have pointed out are susceptible to being exploited by its own monetization practices.

Pokémon Go has rolled out a new feature letting players to customize their own Routes. In Go, Players can “record” their paths, choosing a PokéStop or Gym as a starting point. Senior producer Chad Jones says hopes that “the intention that [Routes] becomes a nice addition to how trainers think about their normal play sessions.”, encourage players to curate and exhibit more interesting landmarks in their local areas. Pokémon Go developer Niantic has recently come under fire in a recent lawsuit that accused the company of nurturing “boy’s club” culture, in wake of a recent major layoff.

The upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot has received their first roster of guest characters, which includes comic book characters Omni-Man from Invincible, Homelander from The Boys, and DC Comics’ Peacemaker.

In a surprising development, the girls seem to no longer be fighting, and The Idolmaster and Love Live! idol game franchises will be joining forces for an upcoming joint concert at the Tokyo Dome in December this year. The lineup is slated to feature singers from the different generations of the respective series.

The post The Bulletin: Is Overwatch Going to Be Over? appeared first on Gamesline.

Talkin’ TOTK is back with Talkin’ TOTK 2, the sequel to Talkin’ TOTK with even more layers both above and below Talkin’ TOTK. Scott and Maverick can’t do it alone, though, so they summon the aid of Twitch streamer ROBBYDUDE to help us talk as much TOTK as your little heart can desire. Plus, we cover Ravenlok, Mato Anomalies, Super Baseball 2020, the latest Sea of Thieves “Mystery” ARG, the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie, very specifically the actor Nicolas Cage and not any of the characters he’s played in the video game Dead By Daylight, That Man, Mortal Kombat 1, Overwatch 2 dropping it’s story mode, Riot Games’ gender discrimination lawsuit settlement, and we figure out if Link’s cooking is good or not.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @FKAsocks, @MaverickDrifter, and @ROBBYDUDE.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or directly to our RSS feed.

Edited by Scott B

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 4: Tears of the Flinstones w/ ROBBYDUDE appeared first on Gamesline.

New Games Coming Down The Track:

Zelda is out! The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Breath Of The Wild 2 if you’re nasty) is real and in folks’ hands. Immediate reviews are glowing as you’d expect, but it’s hard to tell what that really means this early in. Press around it has been highly guarded and handled by Nintendo as well as by deliriously ebullient fans whose identity depends on this game being a massive success. Luckily for you, Scott is live tonight playing it for the first time on GameslineTV. Come in tonight and see the Takes of a Gamer.

Hollow Knight: Silksong has been delayed once again to… later this year? It’s unclear currently when it will be released but there is still much to be done to prepare for a release way larger in scale than the original Hollow Knight. Will they be able to meet the lofty demands of fans? The pressure is clearly on and this is a sign they are taking it seriously.

Growing up, I played a TON of games on Kongregate and FlashGames. Some were regrettable, and some were jmtb02’s Achievement Unlocked series. A fun lampoon of the burgeoning design trope of the era. Now, Armor Games announced the blue platforming elephant has returned after a decade of absence in The Elephant Collection. And somewhere deep inside my soul, a younger me has lit up again for the first time in a decade.

Private Division is officially publishing a new action-adventure game by Game Freak. It’s not Pokémon though. Project Bloom is the codename for this new IP they have just started development on. While that may sound exciting, Game Freak’s track record has been shaky outside of Pokémon‘s unflappable IP with the lackluster Little Town Hero (2019). Private Division also has struggled as a publisher through many of its releases leading to a lackluster library, especially the recent Kerbal Space Program 2. So we’ll see if they can turn out anything from this vaguely potent combination.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create new IP that is bold and tonally different from our prior work,”

Kota Furushima, Director at Game Freak. 

Is French-Bread cooking again? The Korean Ratings Board seems to have rated what could be a sequel to Under Night In-Birth. There is a lot of speculation surrounding a sequel to clearly the greatest fighting game ever made but it may be titled Under Night In-Birth 2: Systacelles based on Gematsu’s report. Either way, your Eltnum loops better not be caught lacking anytime soon or my scrub ass Merkava will eat you.

Finally, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon teased a new Mortal Kombat-related project on the way. Is this Mortal Kombat 12? The clock’s second-hand stops before striking twelve. Perhaps we’re moving past a twelfth entry and returning to another reboot of the franchise, but that’s the only heads or tails I can make of whatever this is suggesting. If you have ideas, let us know on your favorite social media, Discord, or in the comments below!

Merging The Green and Blue Lodge

Outside of new games announcements, we continue to follow Microsoft’s efforts in the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The EU’s European Commission may be finalizing it’s decision as soon as next week to allow the merger of the two corporations to happen. If that were to happen, it would make the current score Yes from China, Japan, and the EU’s trade commissions and a No from the UK and the US’s federal commissions. What does this mean for the $69B acquisition? It’s still too early to say, but Microsoft and Activision are exhausting all possible avenues before they finalize a deal. One thing is for certain, both corporations are so desperately hungry for this merger.

ASUS has revealed all the details to their Steam Deck competitor: The ROG Ally. The base price $599 version features an AMD Ryzen Z1 processor, 7-inch 150hz display, and 512GB Storage. This makes it stronger than the Steam Deck for a very comparable price. Pre-orders are up now (I won’t affiliate link you here, I promise) and it sounds like other than a very short battery life that this will be some substantial competition for the previously unchallenged mobile PC gaming space.

The developers of narrative game Open Roads has officially removed any recognition of the Fullbright name from their game. This follows reports of employee mistreatment from Fullbright’s co-founder Steve Gaynor in 2021. Gaynor was removed from development shortly after the reports were published, but Open Roads is now pushing forward with less baggage. The team is currently referred to as “The Open Roads team”.

In lighter news, Mark Frost confirms he did consulting on The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening while working on Twin Peaks?? In an Iwata Asks blog posted on Nintendo’s website around 2006, Zelda-series director Takashi Tezuka spoke about how he was inspired to make a followup to A Link To The Past by the runaway success of the surreal serial drama. I don’t know how Collider found this old blog post or how Mark Frost found the Collider piece, but he quickly tweeted out his collaboration on the project which confirms this whole story. This is a fascinating new wrinkle that somehow ties the beach-loving Marin to the beach-lying Laura Palmer.

The post The Bulletin: Games That Aren’t Zelda? appeared first on Gamesline.

It’s the first EVER episode of The Gamesline Podcast! That’s right! The first one we’ve ever done! We’re still pretty new at this so I hope it’s good! Please be nice in the comments. This week on the pod: Lorelai’s taking the Honkai Star Rail over to the Dead Island 2, Scott’s having a few Shadows of Doubt, Solon can’t seem to get out of this dreary weather on the Rain World, and The Gamesline’s Future is Redeemed as John has been playing the new Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC (and also everyone talks about Xenoblade in general there’s so much Xenoblade talk on this one y’all).

Plus: the United Kingdom does something right for once and blocks the Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard merger for the funniest reason, Sonic unionizes his workplace (Sega), Wizards of the Coast does some no good very bad Pinkerton shit, we look at the Twisted Metal teaser and the Armored Core 6 trailer we’re so fucking back, and we cover Vice’s closure of Waypoint.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @john_michonski, @FKAsocks, @ChorbySP, and @JudgementScythe.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

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Edited by Scott B

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 1: Johnkai Star Rail appeared first on Gamesline.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger. The CMA cited concerns about Microsoft having too much of an authority in “cloud gaming” as the primary reason for their interception. Brad Smith, CEO of Microsoft, has stated that the company intends on appealing the decision.

Waypoint, launched in 2016 as Vice Media’s dedicated games section, will be shutting down on June 2. Vice is also shuttering its Vice News Tonight program as part of a series of other major cuts in midst of the restructuring of the company.

I'm not sure where to begin, except to say, with equal parts fury and sadness, that Waypoint is over. The team, myself included, have been terminated by VICE, and our final day running the website, the podcasts, and streams, will come to an end on June 2nd.

— Patrick Klepek 🎃 (@patrickklepek) April 27, 2023

Sega of America unionizes as the Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA (AEGIS) with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). AEGIS-CWA will be the first union in the video games industry that encompasses several departments, comprising of members from the departments of marketing, games as a service, localization, product development, and quality assurance.

Powerhouse Animation Studios, the studio behind the Netflix, animated adaptation of Castlevania, its upcoming sequel, and an anticipated adaption to Tomb Raider, has also announced their unionization with the Animation Guild.

Great news! Congrats to #animation workers at Powerhouse in #Texas for unionizing with the #AnimationGuild! Let's show our support for this historic effort as they seek voluntary recognion. #Power2Powerhouse#WeAre839 #WePowerAnimation@LATimes @AustinChronicle @Variety @THR pic.twitter.com/3uPRYwkxnH

— The Animation Guild // #WeAre839 (@animationguild) April 24, 2023

Nintendo will be exhibiting at Gamescom 2023. This will be the company’s first big, in-person appearance at a major games trade show since E3 2012. Gamescom is set for August 23 to 27 in Cologne, Germany.

Square Enix’s attempts as remaking The Portopia Serial Murder Case as an “AI tech preview” has been met with scrutiny across the board. The game relies on a machine learning text input system that has been quickly found to be incredibly faulty, rendering progress difficult and nearly unplayable. The game is free to download, and currently has an over 90% “Very Negative” reviews on Steam.

the portopia serial murder case is an excellent example of why stapling "AI" to your game doesn't in fact guarantee your game will work pic.twitter.com/WX9v6VZrGD

— Aura (MOOMANIBE@Cohost) (@MOOMANiBE) April 24, 2023

Developer Young Horses has made their early catalog of games free to play, such as the original version of Octodad.

A new entry to the Armored Core series has been announced, and Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is set to be released around late August.

The Guinness World Record of the most people playing Dungeons & Dragons at a time was broken in a mall in Provo, Utah. Over 1,200 aspiring adventurers took place in the nerdy gathering crowding the Provo Towne Centre mall.

On the other hand, Wizards of the Coast continues to be off their rocks and hired and sent security agents to a YouTuber’s home to shut down a leak of their latest Magic: The Gathering set, “March of the Machine: The Aftermath.”

YouTuber Oldschoolmtg cooperated with the agents to hand over the set, and explains that the set was mistakenly sent to him. WotC has yet to release a statement about the incident, and is currently unclear if Oldschoolmtg will be compensated for the goods they have had to turn in.

The post The Bulletin: Shut It Down appeared first on Gamesline.

The latest series of headlines turning heads this week was a major leak of classified documents, reportedly traced back to having been circulated through the use of Discord. Details of the documents include the United States’ involvement in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.

As of recent, provided by the cooperation of Discord representatives with the FBI, the original leaker is found and identified to be 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Teixeira has since been apprehended and although explicit motivations still remain unclear, chat history in his private Discord server seemed to suggest he just wanted to impress his members.

A new trailer has dropped for the The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to Breath of the Wild. The game is slated for release May 12, 2023.

Hidetaka Miyazaki president of FromSoftware and creator of Dark Souls, has landed a place TIME’s “100 Most Influential People of 2023” list. Miyazaki’s entry is written by Neil Druckmann, and he is currently the only figure in the extensive roster representing the video games industry this year.

Voice actress for Ada Wong in the Resident Evil 4 remake, Lily Gao, has faced a flood of harassment for her performance, resulting in the deletion of her social media. Capcom claims they made the decision to cast Gao to align with better representation, but it is also worth pointing out that Ada Wong’s previous actress, Jolene Anderson is a union performer, which Capcom seems to have steered away from in recent titles.

Former Google vice president Phil Harrison has officially left the company. Details emerged note that Harrison, a primary voice and leader for the now sunsetted Stadia, possibly left during January, when the console was shuttering.

Tsunekazu Ishihara and Hirokazu Tanaka have left their leadership roles at Creatures Inc, one of the major owners of the Pokémon franchise.

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG), the eSports organization, has been sold. Numerous layoffs have occured, including head of the organization himself, Greg Kim.

The original creator of Eurogame Settlers of Catan, Klaus Teuber, has passed away, confirmed by CATAN Studio.

It is with profound sadness that we at CATAN Studio acknowledge the passing of Klaus Teuber, legendary game designer and creator of the beloved board game CATAN. Our hearts go out to Klaus' family during this incredibly difficult time. pic.twitter.com/gPPIVtleHJ

— CATAN – Official (@settlersofcatan) April 4, 2023

Riot Games confirms that the next season of Arcane likely won’t debut within this year.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is now delayed to not release until February next year.

Tekken 8 has confirmed the appearances of Asuka Kazama and Leroy Smith in the upcoming game. Details were revealed at EVO 2023.

Crusader Kings 3’s latest expansion now includes jousting, wild hunts, and even more pageantry.

Citizen Sleeper’s has got its final DLC, “Purge”.

🔻 1 DAY LEFT 🔻

Episode: PURGE marks the final chapter of Citizen Sleeper’s DLC!

See the future of the Eye from tomorrow 🚀 pic.twitter.com/Ftgj0S5We5

— CITIZEN SLEEPER | ANNIVERSARY WEEK! (@CitizenSleeper) March 29, 2023

Monster Energy is back to heckling games companies over trademark disputes for the use of the word, “monster.” This has happened many times before and may as well continue.

And Activision Blizzard is back at it again, and while in the midst of debuting the new character Lifeweaver, for Overwatch 2, faces another headline of controversy within the same timely manner.

LIKE CLOCKWORK https://t.co/nYlTnuojQ7 pic.twitter.com/10Z75Nr5gZ

— Ultima | #вʟм (@UltimaShadowX) April 3, 2023

The post The Bulletin: Leaks for Likes appeared first on Gamesline.

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The post VGCC Episode 433 LIVE: Video Game Choo Choo: The Movie appeared first on Gamesline.

Who’s going to win? Who’s going to lose? That’s what you get to find out now! We had a blast putting together nominees for this past year’s Game of the Year Awards, and if you missed our livestream award extravaganza, or prefer to read things instead of watching them, we have all of our awards right here… for you…

Best Music: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Runners-Up: Beacon Pines, Sonic Frontiers

Yasunori Mitsuda and the rest of his team at Monolith spared no effort when composing Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s gargantuan 12-hour soundtrack. With so many pieces having variations and arrangements to match specific scenes, the sheer scale of this body of work is commendable in its own right.

What’s even more impressive is the meticulousness and raw energy invested into every minute of the experience. The soundtrack ranges  from luscious solo piano pieces to monumental symphonic metal epics featuring traditional Japanese woodwinds and large choir ensembles.When trying to discuss–I repeat-  12 HOURS of music it’s hard to choose specific highlights that would accurately portray so many other songs, and yet it’s incredible that not a single track chooses to take the easy way out. There aren’t 4 chord loops or extended ambient cuts anywhere to be seen. Even down tempo numbers like the lovely off-seer melody features multiple variations on its main motif with slight changes in progression, phrasing, and harmony every time a passage repeats that show just how much love and effort was poured even into the music that wouldn’t call attention to itself.

But, it’s of course in the high energy numbers that this team’s dedication has an opportunity to really shine, such as the theme for special enemy encounters, “A Formidable Enemy.” Not content with being an extremely catchy and danceable piece of symphonic rock, it’s awash with so many riffs, and small flourishes for each part of the ensemble, packing into a single piece the amount of ideas that other musicians would have spread over 4. And let us not forget the incredible instrumental heroics from the guitars dive bombing and chugging away even as the beautiful strings drown it out, to the preposterously flashy piano solos. This entire score is performed with all the fire of a shounen hero, and what could be better fitting for a JRPG?

With its amazing composition, passionate performances, and sheer size, this is truly a score worthy of accompanying an adventure larger than life.

-Walker

Best Audio: Signalis

Runners-Up: Faith, HYPER DEMON

As early as the first time you read the title of the game, Signalis evokes the feeling of distant radio signals, so far and so removed from you that you can only sit and speculate their meaning. One of Signalis’ biggest inspirations are real world numbers stations; cryptic shortwave radio signals that would broadcast seemingly arbitrary sets of numbers (as well as the occasional national anthem or piece of classical music) that have been the subject of mountains of speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding their origins and their purpose. The world of Signalis is similarly distant and alien. It draws from the familiar, like a set of numbers you recognize, but like the feeling of hearing a sudden crackle after listening to the same set of numbers being read back to back, it distorts itself in cryptic and horrifying ways.

While the game sports its own unique in-game numbers stations alongside other stations with other vague and mysterious purposes, its use of audio goes far above and beyond a simple numbers-stations-as-metaphor gimmick. Signalis sports a soundtrack by artists Cicada Sirens and 1000 Eyes full of dark distorted synths, haunting, often offkey and deeply compressed piano strings, and classical swells that are employed so so effectively at all the most heart wrenching moments of Signalis’ ambiguous yet deeply emotional story.

Signalis’ soundwork in all aspects is truly amazing. From the gun sounds that feel all too familiar to Resident Evil, to the deeply distorted and jarring cacophony the KOLIBRI enemies overwhelm you with when you walk into a room full of them, to the low screech that plays while your screen fills with the deepest shade of red you’ve ever seen every time you save your game (an all time Best Save Screen contender if that ever becomes one of our GOTY categories), it truly should come as no surprise that we loved how horrifying Signalis sounds.

-Scott

Best Visuals: Signalis

Runners-Up: Scorn, Elden Ring

“PS1 Graphics” used to be a scathing remark upon the graphical quality of games from the 00s and into the early 2010s. These days, thankfully, more and more people are recognizing both the latent charm and aesthetical advantages of low-fidelity textures and polygonally-limited environments and models. rose-engine’s Signalis, a survival horror game taking large inspiration from PS1-era games like Resident Evil, brandishes this antiquated style with bombastic effect to accentuate its levels, atmosphere, and characters.

Every frame in Signalis brims with a retro-futuristic flair, matching perfectly with the excellent array of worldbuilding art scattered across the game’s eerie rooms and corridors. The UI itself is replete with details, taking the form of a CRT screen to highlight both the technological and utilitarian aspects of the world Signalis invites one to explore. The uncomfortably unhinged androids skulking about are made all the more horrifying as their lack of detailing and polygons leaves the mind to fill in the blanks as they screech and succumb to visual distortions, heightening their terror.

With Signalis, every visual aspect has been considered and refined to a razor-sharp point, and the full effect is immaculate. The low-fidelity style of the moment-to-moment game is so crisp, it even manages to match unbelievably well with the high-quality sprite artwork showcased in the game’s cutscenes. The game is just that stunning to behold. In the past, game developers had to work within the limitations of older hardware to create vibrant and stunning worlds, but in the present day, rose-engine proves such limitations can be used to brilliant effect in enhancing a game’s experience.

-Spencer

Best Presentation: Pentiment

Runners-Up: Signalis, Faith

Pentiment is a rare video game that actually looks like the era it represents; the way that people would have depicted themselves and their life in 16th century Bavaria. The art style focuses primarily on Reformation woodcuts, with some scenes played out on medieval and religious manuscripts and art. Character text is presented as though being written by hand, with fading ink and misspellings corrected in real time, and different script-styles for different status and social classes that can change when uncovering new information about a person. The audio of Pentiment is all soft footfalls, the scratching of a pen, the solid thump of a press, minimal vocalizations, and an early music instrumental score. This is all very appropriate for a narrative that’s mostly a murder mystery, but is just as much focused on history, commentary on the dissemination of the printing press and the written word from the church to the common people, and the way that art can change or erase the story of a community. From the color palette and art style to the writing to the sound design, everything in Pentiment builds off of each other to form a game that’s interesting, visually stunning, and expertly composed.

-Franny

Best Mechanic: Soul Hacking (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Runners-Up: Throwing a Pokeball (Pokemon Legends Arceus), Throwing Your Guns/Alt. Fire (Neon White)

Blue Mages are cool!!! I will always stand by this one true fact about gaming: it’s super cool to learn the moves of your enemies, and use them against them in an incredibly modular and broken format. In recent years, more and more games are realizing this, from Final Fantasy XIV finally adding Blue Mage, to games like Nioh 2 taking the concept and making it fit into their pre-existing gameplay systems. It’s an idea that’s understandably limited by the scope of a lot of games, especially those that are focused on maintaining some sort of “balance”, but when it’s there, let me tell you, I am popping off. So imagine my joy when the notorious developer who doesn’t give a damn about scope or balance Monolith Soft decided to put Blue Mage into Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

Soulhacker is one of the many classes your characters gain access to over the course of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and it just might well be the best in nearly every way. Firstly, from an aesthetic standpoint, it’s taught to you by a member of the main antagonist organization who doesn’t seem to really care about anything because he’s a crazy old pirate, so the class’ outfit has you wearing their weird techno uniform while wielding two flaming anchors as fist weapons. Second, it integrates itself perfectly into the world by having you learn your various abilities via defeating the Xenoblade Chronicles’ series recurring unique named monsters, providing them with new purpose outside of just being a mini-boss in the open world. Finally, it provides a new dynamic to strategize your party around, which helps make the game’s occasional reliance on the holy trinity of RPG design (Tank, Damage, and Healing) a lot more fluid.

You can make any of your characters into a Soulhacker, and even further, you can make any of those Soulhackers more specialized into doing anything from more healing, more debuffs, being able to draw more aggro from enemies, the list goes on! While it’s really fun to play as a Soulhacker, the real joy comes from its hearkening back to an entirely different era of RPG design. An era where a certain class was allowed to be ridiculously strong, where there were so many different systems going on at any given time with a game, that it made things feel like almost anything could be possible. More games could stand to learn from letting players fool around and getting lost in their systems, and in other Role Playing Games’ case, it helps make their worlds all the more richer.

-Rose

Worst Mechanic: 2 Minute Job Design – Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker

Runners-Up: Viola Block Parry for Witch Time (Bayonetta 3), Weapon Crafting (Destiny 2: The Witch Queen)

Final Fantasy XIV job design has had a history of being rebuilt to be more accessible with every new update. Back in the day, we had resources like TP, a form of MP for melee jobs that would fully drain when you sprinted to worry about, and cross-class abilities that required leveling multiple jobs. We had healers with swappable stances for healing and dealing damage, and  tanks who, if they had their aggro generation abilities running, could barely do any damage. At first, the design focus was on getting rid of redundant systems, removing abilities and cross classing to solve issues like button bloat, then on  taking away stances and TP to make jobs a little bit easier to manage.

With Shadowbringers, the jobs in the game had some of the best balance and depth they’d ever had. Most were easy to pick up and beginner friendly,with tanking and healing as more accessible roles, and every job getting simplified for the new and casual player, but full of depth and strategy for the high end players. Jobs having buff windows going out at one minute, 90 seconds, and 2 minutes made figuring out the best ways to do damage a lot of fun. Do I hold my 90 second buff so it lines up at 2 minutes? Or do we have a smaller burst at 3 minutes and a massive one at 6 when everything lines up? Raiding in Shadowbringers was some of the most fun the high end of the game had ever been.

And then Endwalker came around and suddenly nearly every job buff was set at 2 minutes. Which, shock of shocks, when every single damage buff in the game outside of a few hit at 2 minutes, suddenly you go from miles away the highest damage dealing classes in the game, to ones that aren’t really worth the tradeoff you get of not having any group buffs, which led to them shifting all of the abilities that weren’t on the 2 minute timer to that time frame. Jobs like paladin that always did sustained damage but not during burst windows suddenly became locked out of high end parties because everything was so reliant on that window. Every raid tier there have been multiple jobs locked out from being able to participate unless they could put together a team with friends. The first tier was Paladin, Dancer, and Machinist, the next it was Paladin, Warrior, Machinist, and Reaper.

Of all of the mechanical decisions in gaming, the 2 minute window has done the most harm to long-time players of the game. It might make things easier for new players who started in Endwalker, but it has led to a homogeneity that even casual players are feeling; leading to a lot of people taking long breaks, or even unsubscribing from the game altogether.

-Lorelai

Best Character: Eunie (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Runners-Up: Ranni the Witch (Elden Ring), Sage (Sonic Frontiers)

I would’ve been happy to see any of Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s main cast in this spot, but Eunie was the obvious winner for me. She’s a brash, sharp-tongued woman who still finds a way to show she cares about her friends. She’s a healer, but takes no shit and can fight just as well as her more aggressive counterparts. She’s also absolutely hilarious, shooting down insincerity from anyone. Grey, a mysterious cowboy hero, often hides his emotions around the party. Eunie is quick to tell him to drop the façade and just be honest about how much he likes the crew. The main thrust of her character arc is struggling with her collective pasts, the continuous war that every person in their society is trapped within for all time. Eunie breaks free from this cycle with confidence, leading her friends and society as a whole in healing from the trauma of the endless now.

-John

Worst Character: Lien (AI The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative)

Runners-Up: Kenny (High on Life), Ghost (Destiny 2: The Witch Queen)

AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative has been a pretty divisive game around my circles, but if there’s one thing that nearly everyone agrees on, it’s that Lien really sucks.

You’re introduced to Lien within the first hour of the game, where his literal first action is to profess his undying love to Mizuki’s high schooler friend Kizuna, while he cries about being laid off. In another game, there could be something to this! There could be some sort of analysis about the way that women quickly become tools of comfort in the eyes of men without any sort of thought or consideration. Instead, nirvanA Initiative does absolutely nothing with this concept, and in general, does nothing with Lien at all!

Lien stalks Kizuna relentlessly for the next six years, while other characters grow and change in all sorts of ways, Lien remains exactly the same, still stalking the same girl since she was in high school. When it comes to engagement with the overarching narrative of the game, the most Lien does is pop up in situations where incredibly contrived reasons are devised to utilize his singular talent of lockpicking. In the last couple hours of the game, where everything is popping off and things are really starting to happen, the game actually forces you to go do a whole sequence with Lien out of nowhere just so you can open a lock somewhere, and it grinds the pacing to a ridiculous halt.

All of these issues on their own make Lien unlikeable in his own right, but what truly puts him beyond the pale is that nirvanA Initiative actually rewards his stalking, and puts him together with Kizuna at the end. Thoughtlessness doesn’t even begin to convey how bad this sort of writing is; the idea that if you stay true to the grind and harass a woman nonstop, she’ll eventually realize just how charming you are. Maybe if there was any sort of chemistry between Lien and Kizuna; maybe if there was a sense of meaningful growth as they each changed over the course of the game, a story like this wouldn’t feel so bad. There’s even a universe where Lien’s terminal lack of coolness, despite his slightly edgy appearance, is charming! Instead, the lack of care and awareness that went into the writing of his character does nothing but bring down what should have been an amazing sequel to an amazing game.

-Rose

Best Surprise: Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher

Runners-Up: Sonic Frontiers, Weird RPG

If I had to think about the most unlikely series to get a new installment in 2022, I’d probably think it would be Monster Rancher. The monster raising sim franchise hasn’t had a new installment since the phone app My Monster Rancher in 2011, and prior to this year we only just got an updated port of Monster Rancher 1 and 2 for the Nintendo Switch, which simplified the physical feature of scrounging up CDs to a new keyword format in order to unlock and train new monsters. So color me surprised when not only do we get a new game in the series, but it’s a crossover with the much beloved Ultraman franchise. Now with that kind of a mix of two not-incredibly-popular series stateside, it would make sense that any English translation would be relegated to a South-East Asian release only for import. Yet, Bandai Namco truly cooked this year by letting Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher release stateside digitally for many curious and eager fans alike to enjoy.

Nothing ostensibly big has changed in the formula here: you get to choose between buying a stock monster from the local town or insert keywords (song titles in Japan and Southeast Asia versions) to potentially unlock a completely new kaiju from the hearty tokusatsu franchise to then raise its various stats and make compete against other monsters in a fighting sequence that’s all about positioning and luck. Admittedly, the accuracy component that was notoriously difficult in previous games feels more even-handed here; you’re just as likely to get hit with a devastating blow that retires a Kaiju as you are to sweep an entire cup thanks to dedicated min/max strategies beforehand. Training increases your Kaiju’s Anger meter, and once it’s full they’ll go on a Rampage which could end up in a surprisingly good outcome or a smackdown from the titular hero himself. I knew I’d have a good time training various Kaiju up to their retirement, but I definitely didn’t expect it to become my gateway to Ultraman after having spent over 50 hours in the loop. Thank you, Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher, for opening my heart to the likes of Alien Baltan and Gomora through my time raising them to victory and acclaim.

-Maverick

Best Moment: The Eclipse (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Runners-Up: Project Protection Protocol (Pokemon Scarlet/Violet), Final Level Sequence (Spark the Electric Jester 3)

About 50 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles 3, The Eclipse occurs, which sees our party at their lowest. They have been captured by their enemy, locked in a prison for months, and now Mio, the catgirl of the team, is set to be executed. I don’t want to fully spoil what goes down, but there’s plenty more game after this, so you can figure some of it out. Going from the lowest to the highest point in Noah and Mio’s character arcs in a masterful, transcendent way is a big reason why The Eclipse stands out as the highlight in the incredible story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but I’d be remiss to skip mentioning that this is a moment that weaponizes cucking someone. Someone gets broken up with so hard it ruins an entire evil plan. The greatest victory the Ouroborus crew gets over their enemies, Mobius, is thanks to realizing that the future is important to accept instead of living in the present, even if things are at their lowest. Also you gotta be nice to your catgirl or you’re done for. Xenoblade rules.

-John

2022 What the Fuck Award

Ah 2022, a pretty lively year for games but even livelier with games news. Specifically, a whole lotta bad news with the way this hobby we share gets tossed around and stomped on. For starters, Disco Elysium creators and creative co-op ZA/UM saw the removal of key members Robert Kurvitz, Aleksander Rostov and Helen Hindpere, prompting a subsequent lawsuit from the trio over accusations of fraud. Truly ironic that the developers of a game reckoning with the forces of capitalism and poor politics ultimately got upended by capitalism and poor politics.

If this were the only sort of company wide fuck-up that’d be one thing, but 2022 sure gave us a look into just how little companies care about games media. Tencent effectively sundowned Fanbyte and its related sites, a shame given how personable the site made itself to its audience (RIP to the two articles Maverick made for its wrestling vertical). While something like the collapse of G4 seemed inevitable, and doubly so once finding out that its demise came from the joint mishandling of funds between CEO expenditures and payouts for streamers, one of the biggest shocks of the year came in the form of Jeff Gerstmann getting fired by Giant Bomb, the company then being one of several bought by Fandom, and Fandom then laying off several staff members across GiantBomb and GameSpot including recent GB hire Jess O’Brien and long running member Jason Oestreicher. Jeff’s been able to set up a Patreon and weekly streaming/podcast setup, but this entire year’s been a grim reminder that people making most of the money in these media verticals really couldn’t care less about the people who hustle day in and day out to make these sites interesting.

Of course, the true nature of the What the Fuck Award wouldn’t be complete without an out of left-field moment, and among the several squares on people’s proverbial 2022 Bingo Cards, Yuji Naka getting arrested on two separate accounts of insider trading probably wasn’t on any of them. The man responsible for Balan Wonderworld, a bogus game that insulted the audience it was meant to placate, had gone on to become somewhat of a hero for the common man after blaming the game’s rough development on the greed of publisher Square Enix. Then, Yuji Naka actively removes a member of his staff when sharing a snapshot of the development team for Balan, offhandedly confirms connections between Michael Jackson (his collaborator, actually) and Sonic 3, and then finally invests in upcoming mobile projects for the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series before their public announcements. Truly, Yuji Naka had a case of Going Through It and we could all feel that on the day he got double arrested. As we look onward to the new year, I guess between the genuine dread of being in games media and greater desire to leave a mark in life be it good or bad, it becomes easier to recognize you truly aren’t off the deep end when it comes to how video games play a role in your life. Solidarity forever, and fuck Balan’s Dad.

-Maverick

2022 For the Win Award

2022, for as many turns it gave us, also had plenty to celebrate!

For starters, the Zelda Wiki has completely defected from Fandom, after its  announcement of its mass acquisition campaign . The Wiki had been running through Gamespedia since 2017 and after surviving Fandom’s buyout of their original host, the decision to leave is admirable. Being able to hit the bricks instead of trying to appease the wants of a force like Fandom who’ve all but ransacked the honored tradition of forum posting and GameFAQ updating felt like something that couldn’t happen anymore. Godspeed Zelda Wiki, may Tears of the Kingdom get you a motherload of hits once people start searching for lore.

In the wake of Activision Blizzard shitting the bed with everything regarding its game development, treatment of employees, and credibility as an employer, it’s always reassuring to know when workers are able to get demands met (since the headassery of one CEO or Project Manager shouldn’t cost the paychecks of those below him). Blizzard East, formerly Vicarious Visions, along with Raven Software, managed to get union voting on the table and ultimately have their unions recognized, or at least vocalized amidst the general conversation regarding whether or not Microsoft might make a bid for the company. Times are hectic, and in the wake of seeing multiple people lose their jobs for no good reason, it’s a helpful reminder that the workers do have power when in collaboration.

Finally, more games are being able to implement features that allow for more inclusivity in who gets to play. This trend has been ongoing for quite some time, but it’s a great reminder when AAA studios are able to truly dedicate budget and resources towards including features that games made with much less had still taken the time to incorporate. Big shout-outs to God of War: Ragnarok in particular for how much it allows the player to work with while still maintaining its core features. From being able to change the text color and presentation of subtitles to incorporating a screen reader to even changing gameplay so that someone doesn’t have to wreck their wrist button mashing, these inclusions do show what happens when studios recognize just how much money they have on hand and that making games available for everyone isn’t going to harm the vision that’s there.

-Maverick

Best Writing: Norco

Runners-Up: Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pentiment

There are something around fifty-or-so different government registered townships surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, one of America’s largest, briniest, and shallowest lakes. It’s haunted as shit. One of these lakeside towns is Norco, LA, which stands as the centerpiece of an entire universe where nothing ever changes (the mini-mart is now fully automated and the last cashier they had is now the bodyguard outside the mart) yet everything is happening (boat and floaty party, you’re invited, at the rocket launch in the center of the lake! Not evil!) Norco celebrates the joys and pains of humanity to its fullest through combining folktale, sci-fi, and a noir-ish Americana to depict a bayou town’s struggle with belonging and identity in an increasingly disconnected late-capitalist world.

Sometimes you’re feeding people week-old hot dogs, taking in a puppet show, fueling a stalemate between coked up Proud Boys, trawling for gators, hanging with a juggalo detective, or just having a staring contest with a stuffed monkey…but most importantly you are making connections with people. During a time when folks in America are so isolated from each other, where you can be constantly surrounded by people and still feel utterly alone – Norco is a game that takes suburban depression and nihilism together and embraces them as understandable characteristics of human life. It criticizes institutions of labor and faith and gives space to let the people who get wrapped up within them (often absurdly so, in our case) speak for themselves. Sometimes people, gods, or crocodiles do evil things to gain power, but as much as they fight against it, even the wicked aren’t disconnected from the tethers that weave us all together. By the end, Norco is a staggering story where you continually ask simple questions to a local community member or a god and receive an incredible, complex tapestry of an answer. It makes you think that if this is what Norco is like, then what about those 49 other tiny towns that surround Lake Pontchartrain (again: haunted as shit!!!)

-Solon

The 100% Orange Juicin’ Award For When You’re Juicin’ Your Game Hard And It Feels Good to Play a Game Award Not Presented By Balan This Year (His Dad’s Going Through Some Stuff 🙁) Award: Evil West

Runners-Up: Rumbleverse, Neon White

When I first started playing Evil West on stream, one of my girlfriends immediately came in to ask what year it had come out in, only to be flabbergasted when I said that it had come out just months ago in 2022. Evil West is pure concentrated Xbox 360-era B game THQ-ass gold in every way, and it fucking rules. They do not make games like this anymore, but Evil West proves they should.

Evil West is basically just your average third person action game, but the sheer breadth of tools and breakneck pace at which they are given to the player is admirable in a world where most games take hours to even unlock new traversal features. You start Evil West with a huge metal gauntlet and a pistol, and not two chapters later you’ve got teleporting, electrocution, a rifle, a shotgun, and all sorts of new kinds of punching to do. It’s the closest we’ve gotten to the light of God Hand in almost twenty years, and WE NEED MORE OF THIS!

It would have been so easy for Evil West to just be a half-baked B game with mediocre combat that never strays too far from its opening level, but instead Flying Wild Hog Games decided to follow the Vampire Survivors creation ethos and recreate the sensation of one of those fancy insane slot machines without any of the nasty gambling. Every move you have is tied to a different button; left trigger to aim down sights with your rifle, right trigger to fan the trigger of your revolver, square to fire a shotgun, the list goes on. When you electrocute an enemy with your grapple or any of the other various ways to do so, you immediately go into a rapid ridiculously over the top punch combo that literally makes slot machine noises. Couple all this with the fact that every enemy that you fight explodes into comical bursts of viscera and it just all feels so damn good.

-Rose

Most Disappointing: Bayonetta 3

Runners-Up: Neon White, AI The Somnium Files 2: Nirvana Initiative

I truly don’t know what else to say about this game. In the final quarter of 2022, I was more or less thrown on an emotional rollercoaster with the release of Bayonetta 3. First there was excitement that it was happening, then concern over Helena Taylor being replaced for the role, some embarrassment over how a lot of the ensuing discourse got handled, and ultimately I sit here in dejection and resignation over what the  game is. I’ve got a review out for the bigger points, Rose and I spent three whole hours stomping on what makes this game insane to us, so it’s only natural that this whole campaign ends with a declaration: Bayonetta 3 is the most disappointing game of 2022.

Mechanically, it’s not a bad game; the part where you play as Bayonetta is the tightest the series has felt, and the implementation of multiple demon and weapon loadouts leaves plenty of space for replayability. That said, the story commits its most grievous sin of taking “The Lore” of Bayonetta way too seriously, and brings the entire project down to Inferno with it. Jeanne is an afterthought at best and a wet fart of a minigame segment at worst, Viola, while fun as a dorky Nero equivalent, is irritating to actually control since no one bothered to make a game all about dodging work inherently with parries. Luka is the most disposable he’s ever been, which is mind boggling considering how much they want to make him a plot point to the extent of writing in a new rich backstory, and it’s especially head-turning when, in any and all conversation about this game, I can bet 5 bucks against anyone that they won’t know who the main villain for the game is. Bayonetta famously said that “As long as there’s music, [she’ll] keep on dancing” at the end of her outrageous introduction to gamers back in 2009. Well, three games in I can confidently say the music’s over; get your shoes, honey, and get off the dance floor.

-Maverick

Best Ongoing: Warframe

Runners-Up: Monster Hunter Rise, Harvestella

While too many AAA games are chasing the phantom clout of trying to be too much like films and prestige television, Digital Extreme’s funny little free-to-play space ninja game has been steadily refining itself over the years since its launch in 2013. In 2022, Warframe launched cross-play, allowing players to connect with each other regardless of their platform; a big step for any online game to be sure. But the real clencher for Warframe’s position as the Best Ongoing Game of 2022 lies in the execution and follow-through of one of its greatest story arcs – The New War.

The New War is an incredible demonstration of what an actual film-like experience in a game can be. Warframe had been building up to the New War for years, and the payoff was well worth the wait. It opens with the second invasion of the Sentients, a robotic faction from ages past, who have returned to take over the Origin System. Instead of throwing the player into a series of samey missions as is standard practice for shooters these days, the player first takes control of a Grineer soldier; a grunt-type enemy the player has killed countless times before. The mission makes it imminently clear how overpowered Warframes are, and how deadly and dangerous this world is to the average person. From there, the player takes control of other characters as well, including Teshin, Warframe’s PvP vendor. Imagine a Mario game that opens up with you playing as a Goomba; imagine a Splatoon game that has you play a level as one of the Splatfest idols. That’s the kind of experience that the New War offers, and it’s all for the purpose of contextualizing just how all-encompassing this invasion is, as well as what the world is like for the factions the player has come to know, and that’s just in the first few missions.

I won’t spoil what happens in the New War, but it certainly has some of the coolest moments I’ve ever experienced in a video game (if you really liked the Azem reveal in FFXIV, you’ll like what the New War does). And once you complete it, the world of Warframe permanently changes. Locations, environments, and even the world map change to reflect the damage the New War has wrought. Some of the newest content in the game expands on aspects brought up during the New War, from the Veilbreaker update offering missions where you once again play as that Grineer soldier, to the Angels of the Zariman, which adds a unique fusion of Warframe’s open-world and mission-based gameplay offerings.

It’s always been easy for me to recommend Warframe since the movement mechanics are fun to learn, the nature of its design allows for cooperative play and interesting buildcrafting, and its one of the few free-to-play games that actually embraces that structure of game content delivery, as it doesn’t lock players out of content or cosmetics with an additional price tag with each update. Nobody is doing what Warframe is doing, and more games should follow their example.

-Spencer

Worst Game: Babylon’s Fall

Runners-Up: High on Life, Fashion Police Squad

It’s insane to think that there was in fact a point in my life where I believed Platinum Games could do no wrong. A time where I even went out of my way to buy a Wii U just to play The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2. Unfortunately that age is long behind us, and while Platinum has been putting out some questionable work over the last few years, Babylon’s Fall is easily the worst.

Babylon’s Fall was supposed to be a follow-up of sorts to Platinum Games’ developmental relationship with Square Enix that was forged by NieR: Automata. It was shown at an E3 presentation to a middling reaction, with the reception becoming only more dour with the reveal that it would be a Live Service title. In a perfect world divorced from the way this model has been utilized across the past few years (and to be safe maybe a world without capitalism), the idea of a Platinum Games’ title that got continual updates almost seems like a boon in their favor. Players of Character Action games already love replaying the same levels over and over, so giving some sort of tertiary hook in the form of cosmetics, or pacing things out through a time-locked format has a lot of potential! Sadly, the only potential Babylon’s Fall made good on was the potential to further accelerate the erosion of Platinum Games.

Immediately, the gameplay of Babylon’s Fall is somehow on the level of a bad licensed hack-and-slash game from the PS2 era, with limited weapon options and even fewer combos. The core loop of the game involves queuing into missions Monster Hunter style, and doing some mediocre platforming as you make your way to a slightly stronger enemy (or sometimes even a boss!), defeating them, leaving, and starting all over again. Again, if the gameplay was even close to parity with any of Platinum’s flagship titles, there could have been something to all this, instead of creating an experience so dire that a server shutdown notice was put out only months after release, and PC player numbers peaked at just 1106 players.

Even outside of the gameplay, there isn’t much else to love about Babylon’s Fall. Several player animations and gear sets were directly imported from Final Fantasy XIV, which in a vacuum would be just fine, but without any sort of aesthetic base to work off of, end up making the game feel like a thrift store of ideas. Despite being a full-priced game, Babylon’s Fall also wanted to operate on a battle pass model, asking for additional money right from the get-go (though they would quickly make that first battle pass free). With other games that use this system, like Destiny 2 and Warframe, and even shooters like Apex Legends or Fortnite all available for free, it’s mind boggling that this model was seen as even remotely viable for any game, let alone one as rough and bare bones as Babylon’s Fall.

While all sorts of discourse around Platinum Games later in the year would quickly overshadow Babylon’s Fall, it still remains as a perfect exemplification of all the recent problems surrounding the company. It was a project with no real ideas behind it, and the lack of direction and complete misuse of developers and their talents resulted in what can only be described as the worst.

-Rose

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