Many Americans right now have taxes either on the back of their mind or completely last on their list of priorities…
That’s what a project like Tax Heaven 3000 seems to be drawing attention to: a visual novel parody, by the New York City-based collective MSCHF, that claims it can assist and help you file your taxes through it. Of course, the game immediately garnered buzz for its ridiculous concept on top of the idea that one must provide compromising information to it, and both Steam and itchio have removed it from playability not that long after it was published. MSCHF has a history of doing various one-off marketing campaigns and stunts called “drops”, and claims that they wanted to criticize the US’s tax filing system and specifically point to TurboTax’s misleading and allegedly fraudulent services—which Tax Heaven 3000 itself anthropomorphizes as a character as well.
Ubisoft has developed an AI-writing tool named “Ghostwriter” that they claim hopes to mitigate and optimize some workload off of their writer. Although there is a lot of justifiable cause for concern, especially given Ubisoft’s own track record when it comes to the treatment of their workers, but representatives further clarify that the tool is supposed generate work based on in-house datasets.
CD Projekt has financially written off what is speculated to be a Witcher spinoff.
Atari acquires Nightdive Studios, a developer that was behind remasters for Quake, Doom 64, and the upcoming remake to System Shock.
Although no developer has been officially named, a representative at Paramount Global claims a dark, more mature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is in the works. The game will be based on The Last Ronin, set in a futuristic world where only one of the turtles of the titular four has survived and is set with the difficult task of continuing on to finish what must be done.
Valve announces Counter-Strike 2. The game is slated for release in the summer, and intends on hoping to replace Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Today we're excited to announce Counter-Strike 2. Counter-Strike 2 is an overhaul to every system, every piece of content, and every part of the C-S experience. First, let's talk about smoke grenades: pic.twitter.com/iTtguRHJ0S
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) March 22, 2023
Sonic Origins Plus is also announced for several platforms and consoles.
In the tabletop gaming world—the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida bundle on itchio is still live! Funds raised through the bundle will go towards organizations responding to the alarming anti-trans legislation in progress in Florida.
“The age of the ORC begins”, according to publisher Chaosium, who is set on releasing a new edition of Basic Roleplaying next month with the new Open RPG Creative License. The Paragon System is also now available for use with the Creative Commons license. This continues to be part of several moves being made in the tabletop publishing industry following the fallout of the leak of a potential new draft of the Open Game License earlier this year. Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is releasing theatrically next week.
The world of fantasy doesn’t stop there, as The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is finally getting a new release date on May 25—much to our relief. #GollumGame’s initial intended release had to be delayed, and we are joyous this gremlin is getting his time to shine.
