Akira Toriyama Has Passed Away

Confirmed by his production studio, Bird Studio, Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1 due to acute subdural hematoma. He had since been interred to rest in a private ceremony amongst close loved ones.

Toriyama’s influence on the world is unmistakable largely thanks to Dragon Ball, while he has also changed the trajectory of games in Japan with contributions to Dragon Quest. On top of his other projects such as Chrono Trigger and Dr. Slump, Toriyama’s iconic style and stories have often been cited as huge sources of inspiration in not just comics and games, but sweeping the feet of whole swathes of cultures and communities.

Close friend and One Piece creator, Eiichiro Oda, eulogized Toriyama, describing him like “a tree” that has taken root, establishing a legacy of “branches” that has and would continue to influence many. Shōnen Jump has published a compilation of numerous other statements from various industry figures, such as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and Dragon Quest co-creator Yuji Horii. Translations of their statements can be viewed here.

Among one of several of Toriyama’s final projects he had creative involvement in, the video game adaptation of his manga, Sand Land, is set to release this April.

What the Hell Is Happening With Warner Bros?

Corporations continue to stay corping, and Warner Bros. Discovery has been announcing a smattering series of wild decisions.

First off: CEO and President of the Global Streaming and Games division J.B. Perrette has made a statement boldly stating that he hopes to move the company away from the “volatile” AAA market, instead hoping to focus on the free-to-play and live service games space. Perette acknowledges that the WBD’s success is dependent on reliably working with well-established franchise IPs—although their recent Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League hasn’t met the publisher’s expectations.

WBD goes on to shut down Rooster Teeth, in a process and transition that current general manager Jordan Levin states may take several months. Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. since 2022.

Having its roots initially starting out as an independent production comedy group that also produced various series such as Red vs Blue and RWBY, Levin asserts that The Roost Podcast Network will remain in operation. Numerous alum from the original Rooster Teeth have since gone on to produce their own independently-run work. It is currently unclear what will happen to Rooster Teeth’s library of content after this shutdown.

WBD is also intending on retiring games from its Adult Swim label, which would officially pull them from all platforms and storefronts. A company representative told developers that they are not transferring ownership to developers due to “logistical and resource constraints.”

Calling WBD unscrupulous is an understatement: The film and television sectors of WBD has long been taking scrutiny for various other measures, mostly infamously for the nefarious scrapping of the unreleased film Batgirl, with similar actions more recently reflected in their intentionally just as criminal handling of Coyote vs. Acme.

Meanwhile, fans are just hopeful for MultiVersus‘ return, catching on that several of the game’s social media channels are reawakening with some activity.

*taps mic* testing, testing, 1, 2, 3

— MultiVersus (@multiversus) March 5, 2024

The Fallout Franchise Flourishes

Fallout’s TV series adaptation is officially real: The series is scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime on April 11.

Conclusions to a Couple of Gaming Crimes

A judge has officially settled the terms between Nintendo and Tropic Haze, the developers behind the Switch Emulator yuzu. The defense must now pay Nintendo $2.4 million and cease all development and distribution of the emulator.

Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who was traced to have leaked major classified documents on a Discord server agrees to accept a 16-year prison sentence. Teixeira has pleaded guilty to all six counts charged against him in exchange to not be charged with additional counts by the prosecution under the Espionage Act.

In other news…

Voice actress TARAKO has also been confirmed to have passed away. In games, she has played Monokuma in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and various roles for the Super Robot Wars titles. She has performed for numerous characters in anime throughout her long career, most known for having held the role of the titular protagonist of Chibi Maruko-chan for over 35 years.

More games studios continue to announce they are shuttering: Deck Nine Games, developers who have contributed to Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, Life Is Strange: True Colors, and Telltale’s The Expanse have announced closures around the same time Sony has gone through a period of hundreds of layoffs last week. Eggnut Games, developer of Tails Noir has also made the difficult decision to close due to “persisting complications in funding.”

The 20th BAFTA Games Awards has officially announced their nominations list for this year. Baldur’s Gate 3 has secured about 10 nominations across several categories. The awards ceremony is taking place on April 11.

Following Sting’s official sendoff and retirement from wrestling, one of his sons goes on to reveal himself as having been running a Destiny YouTube channel for some time.

Fellow games journalists who used to work at Hard Drive have launched a new, independently-run publication called Palette Swap. The team hopes to focus on both serious writing and satire their Hard Drive alum is known for.

Mass Effect is getting a co-op board game. To be published by Modiphius, the game’s storyline is set to take place during the events of Mass Effect 3.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is coming to PC on May 16.

Currently trending card game Balatro has been removed from some console storefronts due to strict anti-gambling restrictions in various regions. Publisher Playstack states that this is due to a ratings bump of the game stemming from the mistaken belief that the game contains or encourages actual gambling.

Following an unsurprising, tepid response, Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones has been seen already getting price cuts on storefronts.

But more baffingly, Overwatch 2 has an upcoming collaboration with Cowboy Bebop.

The post The Bulletin: Rest In Peace, Akira Toriyama appeared first on Gamesline.

We spend far too much time talking about Peter Griffin on this episode.

John and Rose did speak on other topics, however. The controversy over Street Fighter 6‘s costume DLC’s cost, Destiny‘s patronizing microtransaction, the reveal of Wapeach, and the continued creation of Resident Evil remakes. Plus, John is obsessed with his Analogue Pocket still, and Rose has plenty to say about Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2, Like a Dragon Gaiden, and The Last Faith.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @john_michonski, and @horngal.

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

Edited by Lorelai

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Solon joins John for a news-focused episode of the podcast. Twitter had a breakdown over how Cait Sith is pronounced, DidYouKnowGaming revealed new truths about Pokemon history, the Wii U and 3DS’ online functions are winding down, a half-a press has been shaved off, Bungie’s former HR rep is suing the studio, and Randy Orton paid to have his Elden Ring character leveled. Plus, John has been breezing through Fate/Samurai Remnant, and Solon has become a true gamer by obsessing over the NYT Crossword.

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Edited by Lorelai

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Actor Lance Reddick has passed away. Although primarily known for many of his on-screen roles, such as Cedric Daniels in The Wire, Charon in the John Wick franchise, and a recent portrayal of Albert Wesker in a 2022 Netflix series adaptation of Resident Evil, Reddick contributed his talents to various other mediums, such as providing his voice to the Destiny games series as the character Commander Zavala.

Disco Elysium has added a photo mode feature to the game called Collage Mode, which many have rushed to point out was announced in the midst of a lawsuit between ZA/UM’s original founders and the studio’s current leadership. Some reports are indicating that the dispute with former poducer Kaur Kender has officially settled, but there is argument that these reports are misleading and that the legal battle is not quite over yet.

Create the Disco scenes of your dreams.

Introducing Collage Mode: the new functionality that gives you the creative freedom to stage just about anything in-game.

Available now for PC and Mac players, with console rolling out soon: https://t.co/PTkM4PBmLy pic.twitter.com/3dCZGmGzyQ

— Disco Elysium – The Final Cut (@discoelysium) March 16, 2023

Emmett Shear is stepping down as Twitch CEO. Dan Clancy will be taking over the role.

Meta is continuing to fall apart, and the predicted 10,000 layoffs that some analysts have foreseen has come to fruition. In the middle of restructuring, NFTs seem to no longer be a priority in Meta’s pipeline, in which many of these roles were tied to.

Meanwhile, Square Enix continues to insist NFTs are part of its future, releasing a new trailer for its NFT game, Symbiogenesis.

The FTC has fined Epic Games for what it has charged as misleading tactics to trick Fortnite players into making unintended purchases.

IO Interactive is expanding their horizons and opening up shop in Turkey. That said, the region is still in the midst of reeling and recovering from a fatal earthquake.

Former Blizzard leaders have come together to form a new games studio called Magic Soup.

The UK government is increasing tax relief support for video games.

The next Guilty Gear Strive DLC character is Delilah and “Bedman?”, a pair that will function as a single unit.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is coming to Steam on April 6.

Everyone here is pretty hyped for the release of Dokapon Kingdom: Connect, and the game now officially has a release date for North America on May 9.

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In the news, Activision’s got another Blizzard of news with just, so much happening that they had to show off a new Overwatch character to distract people. Bugsnax is getting more content and coming to all the consoles, No Man’s Sky is getting even more free updates, and Cook Serve Forever is coming. Kingdom Hearts 4 is also on the way, along with fun furry Half-Life 2 mods. Hasbro also bought back D&D Beyond.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, @arealgoldmouth, and @lvmaeparian 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 videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

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

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John’s been digging into the new Smash Ultimate character while Spencer’s been digging hard into Destiny 2 and Genshin Impact. Rose goes deep into Neptunia Virtual Stars, Eternal Return: Black Survival, and the House in Fata Morgana sequel.

As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, @SolaireHazard, and @horngal

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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 iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

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As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, and @horngal

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 videogamechoochoo.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 iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

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Delving into question the gang takes a dive into MTV, SFM, and MMDs. OMG. And Travis Touchdown’s marriage might fall apart, but he can always get married again by the newly ordained Minister Duke Nukem. Bucca di Beppo!

As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @John_Michonski and @Horngal.

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 podcast@videogamechoochoo.com, via twitter with the hashtag #AskVGCC or into our ask box at videogamechoochoo.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 iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

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The Destiny team is now referring to the game as an action MMO. Bungie discussed that cross-save is coming to all platforms, even Sony, which was a worry that many people had after earlier leaks said otherwise. Talk is that this was decided last minute, on Playstation’s end.

Bungie has also promised that New Light, a new version of Destiny 2, will launch for free, allowing new players to hop in to the current new free modes with friends at a baseline level without the grind to current Destiny 2‘s state. They also say that Shadowkeep will be a paid, standalone update, not tied to previous story so new players can hop in.

Finally, Destiny 2 will launch on Stadia, and from now on the PC version will be on Steam instead of Battle.Net. The game will come over to Steam when Shadowkeep launches, and Bungie says that all content previously purchased will be transferable to Steam seamlessly.

Shadowkeep is being heralded as a more “horror” themed expansion for Destiny. A “darkness” has risen from the depths of the Moon, and enemies previously thought defeated will return. Bungie also says they’ll be focusing on making systems more RPG-esque, making stats more involved in character specs and customization. Mods can now be assigned to any armor you want, so you don’t have to sacrifice your armor stats for mod perks. Each class will also have new “finishing moves” to defeat foes quickly and stylishly. A new raid in “Black Garden” is also coming.

Shadowkeep is launching September 17th, 2019.

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In a blog post on Bungie.net, the Destiny development team talks about the break:

When we first launched our partnership with Activision in 2010, the gaming industry was in a pretty different place. As an independent studio setting out to build a brand new experience, we wanted a partner willing to take a big leap of faith with us. We had a vision for Destiny that we believed in, but to launch a game of that magnitude, we needed the support of an established publishing partner.

With Activision, we created something special. To date, Destiny has delivered a combination of over 50 million games and expansions to players all around the world. More importantly, we’ve also witnessed a remarkable community – tens of millions of Guardians strong – rise up and embrace Destiny, to play together, to make and share memories, and even to do truly great things that reach far beyond the game we share, to deliver a positive impact on people’s everyday lives.

We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny. Looking ahead, we’re excited to announce plans for Activision to transfer publishing rights for Destiny to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny community, we are ready to publish on our own, while Activision will increase their focus on owned IP projects.

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