Anthony Fantano, the Internet’s Busiest Music Nerd, has gotten entangled in a court case with Activision over a popular meme audio he created. The audio, in which he shouts that there’s too many slices of pizza, was uploaded to Tik Tok’s audio library and was used by thousands for memes, but Activision used it for an ad promoting the new Crash Bandicoot party game. Fantano threatened legal action, and Activision answered similarly. This raises the question of if Fantano uploading the audio to the audio library meant brands and companies could use it as well without financial compensation.

Yuka Kitamura, composer of FromSoftware titles such as Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, has left the company. She will now be working as a freelance composer.

Labor’s Continued Struggles

Kickstarter has updated their AI use policy. Now, if a “creator” uses AI in their project, they must attribute how they used AI, and that will be listed on the project’s page.

eBay has been charged with refusing to recognize the union TCGPlayer, the card sale website they bought in 2022, voted to form earlier this year.

Last week, Project Moon of Limbus Company fame ended the contract of one of their artists due to threats levied by right wing incels. Now, the CEO of the company, Kim Jihoon, spoke on Twitter, saying that anyone who claims the firing was unjust will be met with potential legal action.

Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency project, in which common tropes in media was criticized from a feminist viewpoint, is shutting down after fifteen years. While often surface level and not without faults in its critique, Feminist Frequency’s Tropes vs Women in Games series did usher in a variety of new voices into games criticism, and changed the landscape of video games forever.

More Standard Game Announcements

Treasure’s beloved SHMUP Radiant Silvergun is coming to Steam on August 18th.

Nintendo rumors abound, one big and one small. The small one first, as LEGO is seemingly gearing up to announce some Animal Crossing sets in the near future.

As for the big rumor, the next Nintendo console is supposedly gearing up for announcement. Prominent leakers are saying the new console will be similar to the Switch, with an eight inch LCD screen and 512GB internal memory. Backwards compatibility with the Switch is still up in the air, but said leakers are claiming it will release sometime late in 2024.

And hey, it’s Evo right now, so we’ll tell you more fighting game news next week. The one thing that got in under the door was Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes, the full sequel to French Bread’s non-Melty Blood hit.

The post The Bulletin: Practice What You Preach appeared first on Gamesline.

Scott and Elvie take their break from manning the bar to talk about some dang games. Elvie’s making some embarrassing shopping mistakes, Scott is flabbergasted by Halo Infinite, our collective experience so far with VA-11 HALL-A, and we read a couple Essays of Empathy. Plus, the hottest news which we’ve poured into a glass and are lighting on fire, including: what’s going on with FFXIV Endwalker, Kickstarter’s tripping all over it’s nuts for the blockchain, the Vodeo Games union, CD Projekt Red, Bungie, FF7R, more NFT bullshit, and more!

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @scottblah, 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.

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, watch the live stream above or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 383: Rugrats: The New Class: Gamer Edition appeared first on Gamesline.

Follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, & @horngal and don’t forget to rate & review the show on iTunes, as well as tell a friend! You can also send questions, comments, and concerns to podcast@videogamechoochoo.com or find us on Tumblr! You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

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

Learn every ass with Chooch via iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 204: Half That Ass appeared first on Gamesline.

Nightdive had been responsible for the “Enhanced” editions of System Shock and its sequel, and also released a playable demo alongside the beginning of their funding campaign, so at the time there seemed to be plenty of evidence that this would in fact be a real game that would definitely actually for reals exist this time. Thanks to this evidence, the company was able to rake in over 1.3 million dollars from over 20,000 backers during its 30 day campaign and with plenty of communication and the expected ease of the project it seemed all was well.

News stories hardly ever get written about Kickstarters that go well unfortunately, and now almost two years later Nightdive has announced that they’ll be taking a hiatus from System Shock development in order to “reassess” and “return to their vision.”

According to CEO Stephen Kick, the project continued to grow and grow throughout development, and between things like switching engines and pushing more and more new ideas, they started to feel like they were getting too far from the “concepts that made System Shock so great.” Kick also promised that this hiatus would not spell the end of the project, and that he gives his “personal assurance” that all of their promises would be fulfilled.

While I’m personally hesitant to trust the words of a CEO, or trust the quality of a project largely made by a studio that works solely on ports of incredibly old games, this sort of letter is at least a lot better than so many other Kickstarters have pushed out. Don’t get me wrong I’m still absolutely worried about whether or not backers will actually end up getting the game they wanted, but compared to the things we’ve seen out of Kickstarters like Project Phoenix, or the rough as hell Mighty No. 9, this is at least a little more hopeful than most.

While things might seem dreary right now, with no scheduled release date or timeline, I’ll still hope against hope that everyone excited for this remaster will be trudging through their cyberpunk dreams sooner rather than later.

The post The Kickstarted System Shock Remake Has Paused Development appeared first on Gamesline.

In his release, Swery blames a variety of factors for the campaign’s failure, including misleading concept art leaks and confusing backer rewards. He also points to a lack of PR for the “powerful tag team” of game developers involved in The Good Life, and missteps in conveying what the game actually is. At the end, he addresses his plans for the game: to bring The Good Life to Kickstarter by the end of 2017 with clearer information, a bigger PR push, and a lower goal facilitated by the involvement of “some great partners.”

All in all, it’s exciting to see such a unique project get a second chance. Although some might be wary of Kickstarter in a post Mighty No. 9 world, it’s likely still the best way to bring Swery’s singular vision into the world. Here’s hoping we still get a taste of The Good Life after all.

Read Swery’s entire statement below:

This is my final message of the FIG campaign of The Good Life.
Little bit ling, so I attuched pic.@yukiof @ryanpayton #Thegoodlife #supportswery #supportcreativedevs pic.twitter.com/VPAS2M48tI

— HidetakaSwerySuehiro (@Swery65) October 12, 2017

The post Swery’s Good Life Fumbles Fig Funding, Kickstarter Imminent appeared first on Gamesline.

The spiritual successor to games like Gitaroo Man and PaRappa the Rapper never quite burst out of the gate with the cash that other similar projects like Mighty No. 9 or Yooka Laylee saw, and with the funding period’s end today it unfortunately seems like it never will.

The tumultuous Kickstarter for Project Rap Rabbit always seemed like less of one big fixable issue, and more like a “death by a thousand cuts” problem. Whether it was the lack of a demo, something consumers have become more vigilant about given the endless limbo of successes like Project Phoenix, or the completely disparate Mighty No. 9, or even just the outlandish stretch goals (a Switch port was originally at the lofty height of $4.95 million), its been made clear that Project Rap Rabbit did something wrong and, unfortunately, was not able to recover from their rockiest of starts.

While there were several attempts to course correct – things like videos of conceptual gameplay and lowered stretch goals were created in response to feedback – the initial negative press and low enough numbers expected of a “cult classic” game left their mark. Both iNiS J and NanaOn-Sha have announced no further plans to re-launch Project Rap Rabbit, and have gone as far as to say that while it’s clear there’s plenty of people looking for new rhythm games, it will still take some time for something like this project to happen again.

Have spiritual successor Kickstarters finally met their end? Have the end results of projects like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka Laylee left enough of a sour taste in peoples mouths that they’re forgoing entirely? For now it’s hard to judge, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Project Rap Rabbit was, unfortunately, just the first to fail.

The post Project Rap Rabbit Misses Kickstarter Goal By Over $800,000 appeared first on Gamesline.

Although its existence has been teased and speculated over the last few weeks, Project Rap Rabbit has been officially revealed thanks to a PlayStation blog post and the launching of its Kickstarter campaign. The game represents a unique direction for rhythm-action games, namely in that it provides a branching system and dialogue tree of rap verses, thus putting the player in control of the rhymes.

The Kickstarter details a dynamic, three-phase battle system in lieu of simple “tap for rhythm” mechanics. First, players select key words in their opponent’s rap attack which they want to single out. Then, using an “emotion wheel” which is “inspired by the likes of Mass Effect and Fallout 4,” but looks more like speechcraft from Oblivion, players can respond how they see fit. Finally, this à la carte rap is set to the beat and players enter the classic tapping phase.

It seems like an interesting take on rhythm games, especially through the attempt to incorporate RPG mechanics. An emphasis is placed on player freedom- Keiichi Yano states that “there are no wrong routes through [the] songs,” and that the “different paths through each battle will unlock bespoke bonuses and outcomes.” Coupled with the game’s art style and setting in an alternate history 16th century Japan, Project Rap Rabbit seems ambitious and unique if nothing else.

In terms of the Kickstarter, Project Rap Rabbit is seeking around $1.1 million for a basic, six-level release on PS4 and Steam. Stretch goals include further localization at $2.3 million, an Xbox One release at $3.1 million, and finally, a Switch version at $4.95 million. It’s a lofty set of goals, and since Project Rap Rabbit has apparently already secured publishing through PQube, it’s likely people won’t be chomping at the bit to fund the game.

Project Rap Rabbit’s Kickstarter ends on June 19th. Check out the announcement video from the devs below:

The post Project Rap Rabbit Hits Kickstarter appeared first on Gamesline.

Thankfully, the Kickstarter hasn’t been paused for any sweeping developmental reasons, or for internal strife related to Romero’s ideas about advertising, but rather because the team is responding to feedback about general desire for a playable demo. A solid demand, considering we’ve seen plenty of gaming Kickstarters that either predictably fell short or were over-funded and simply never delivered on time. Weird, huh?

It’s also a pretty reasonable demand considering Blackroom’s high-concept ideas and overall ambition. According to its Kickstarter, most of Blackroom will take place in a kind of holographic simulation setting, allowing for a variety of locations in the game, but also for players to use a special item to freeze time, move through walls, and generally interact with the physical environment in various ways. It’s a lot to take in, and a lot to deliver.

If nothing else, it’s refreshing to see players and prospective donators indicate they want some kind of deliverable from a company before donating money to a Kickstarter, and it’s even more refreshing to see said company respond in kind and give the people what they want. As of now, the funding is frozen at $131,052 out of $700,000 with 2,287 backers- a good start for a campaign only four days in. When it’ll resume remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: the gaming community has learned their lesson about being John Romero’s bitch.

The post John Romero Delays Blackroom Kickstarter appeared first on Gamesline.

Woah nelly! That’s a lot to look at!

Well, first off, Amplitude plays pretty much exactly like the original- think of a hybrid between Guitar Hero and Audiosurf. You move your little spaceship back and forth between six tracks which represent the various layers of each song and hit L1, R1, and R2 to shoot nodes in time with the music. Clearing a track will keep that part of the song playing for a while, which allows you to move to a different track and chain together combos. The movement feels smooth and snappy, albeit a little slower and less fluid than its cousin Audiosurf. From what I could tell, there’s no way to glide across tracks- instead, you can only jump one at a time.

The game provides you with different power-ups, unlocked by (what else?) playing through a certain number of tracks or getting high enough scores. They do things like preemptively clearing rows. Nothing we haven’t seen before. There’s also four different spaceships, which don’t seem to have any real gameplay difference aside from differentiating players in the multiplayer mode. They’ve got cute little names though, so you can tell your friends and family you’re playing as “Boxy,” or  even “Chubs.”

What is this, Enter The Void? Film jokes, people!

Really, there’s nothing to complain about in regards to gameplay. Amplitude doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it doesn’t have to. The way it plays is tried and true, and it controls simple enough to easily jump into the game. The game also looks great, using the PS4 to bring an abstract world of neon lights and morphing shapes to vivid life. So where does Amplitude suffer? Unfortunately, the game is weakest where a music game can’t afford to be- its music.

There isn’t anything particularly bad about Amplitude’s soundtrack; there aren’t any ear-splitting misfires or boring slow-jams. Instead, Amplitude is cursed by a tracklist that’s often simply forgettable. The bulk of the game’s music are Harmonix originals, comprising the game’s Campaign mode as a loose, and I quote the PlayStation Store page here, “sci-fi concept album” about awakening a “comatose patient and [expanding] her perceptions.” Although it’s a lofty idea, a lot of tracks seem to bleed together, and I could probably name from memory maybe 3 standouts from the 15 tracks of the roughly hour-long campaign.

The only (!) other mode in the game is Quickplay, which lets you pick a song and jump right in. Unfortunately, most likely due to the limited Kickstarter funding, you’ll find no David Bowie remixes or Garbage or even Papa Roach in this version of Amplitude. The biggest names most people will probably (maybe) recognize are Danny Baranowsky, contributing a banger off the NecroDancer OST, and, uh, Freezepop, who did that cool little song about Achewood, which unfortunately isn’t in the game. Also, there’s the guy who did the Minecraft soundtrack I guess? Sure.

I’m a little distracted because I’m still listening to Here Comes A Special Boy. Sorry.

As mentioned, there’s only two modes in the game – Campaign and Quickplay, and although there’s local four-player multiplayer, there’s no true online multiplayer or freeform Remix mode like in the original Amplitude. Combined with the lackluster tracklist, Amplitude takes a big hit to longevity. Of course, some people may love the music here, and some might be obsessed with topping the leaderboards, but I personally can only listen to Freezepop so many times before giving up on trying to top my score.

Maybe if online functionality was added, or the tracklist expanded, Amplitude could sit beside titans of the genre. But as it stands now, Amplitude doesn’t have to kind of staying power as other iconic music games. I could recommend this game to hardcore fans of musical games, or big fans of the kind of electronica it features, but anyone coming to the new Amplitude expecting something innovative or something as varied as the original game will end up disappointed. Some classics are just better left alone.

The post Amplitude Review appeared first on Gamesline.

Then came a Red Ash anime that was funded. That is unless you ask Studio 4C who is making Red Ash Magicicada. The anime has already raised $162,882 on it’s first Kickstarter but Studio 4C would really like some more. Now they’re asking for an additional $127,118 to extend the twelve minute episode to a full thirty minutes. The donation tiers go up to $5,000 and the stretch goals reach into the millions, promising a full feature film if funding somehow balloons that high.

All of this is utterly ridiculous and we are being taken along for the ride. Inafune could be on a cruise line for all we know and yet his newest franchise is being dragged around squeezing fans for every dollar they can spare. Konami may be turning beloved franchises into gambling machines but at least they aren’t asking hardcore and dedicated fans to fund their manufacturing costs.

The post Red Ash Would Like Everything In Your Wallet, Also Your Watch appeared first on Gamesline.