Culture

Highlight Reel is taking a break for the week. We’re still answering emails and reaching out for clips and the show will air next week. As always, feel free to send your clips to our email line here Looking for ways to advocate for black lives? Check out this list of resources by our sister…

Some Activision Shareholders Think Bobby Kotick Makes Too Much Money

In a recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, an investment group representing some Activision Blizzard shareholders argued that the video game company “finds multiple ways to unnecessarily enrich” chief executive officer Bobby Kotick. More directly, this translates to “Why the fuck is this one dude making so much money?” CtW Investment…

Game Gear Micro Is Missing The Best Portable Sonic Game

Earlier this week, Sega announced the release of the Game Gear Micro as a part of its 60th anniversary celebration. The ludicrously small handheld console comes in four different colors, each of which has four different games. I’m sad to say that Sonic: Triple Trouble isn’t one of them. Two of the four Game Gear…

Black Streamers Are Grateful For New Twitch Viewers, But Heartbroken It Took Police Violence To Make It Happen

With protests raging over the murder of George Floyd and the racist institution of policing in general, Twitch streamers find themselves faced with the same choice as the rest of us: Speak up or stay silent. Difference is, many streamers have audiences numbering in the thousands or even millions. They can make a difference, but…

Here’s the opening 22 minutes of The Outer Worlds on Switch running in handheld mode It’s…not pretty. While the game plays mostly fine, the vibrant visuals of the original have been lost in a blurry haze of down-scaling.

Rockstar Games Will Temporarily Shut Down GTA Online And Red Dead Online In Support Of Black Lives Matter

Rockstar Games said today that it will shut down the servers for its popular online games, Red Dead Online and Grand Theft Auto Online, for two hours in response to the current protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd. In a tweetposted today on the company’s official Twitter account, Rockstar wrote that…

How’s It Going?: Sleep Edition

It’s Thursday, somehow. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’m sure I’m not the only one having trouble sleeping lately, or having more trouble sleeping lately than they were before. Cop cars and helicopters are making my neighborhood very noisy, and there’s too much to worry and seethe about to be able to get…

Kingdoms Of Amalur Is Getting Remastered As Re-Reckoning

A new listing on the Microsoft store has revealed a remaster of the 2012 action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning coming August 18. According to the listing, the remaster will have “improved graphical fidelity” and “refined gameplay.” It’ll also come with all the DLC from the original release. It’s also getting a ridiculous new title: Kingdoms…

Volleyball Rules

Kofi Ofosu is a freelance artist from Ghana. You can see more of Ofosu’s stuff at his ArtStation page

LEGO Asks Stores To Stop Advertising Police, White House Sets

In recognition of everything that’s going on right now, LEGO’s actions for #BlackOutTuesday involved not just a $4 million donation to organisations devoted to racial equality, but a request for sellers to not advertise any sets involving police or the White House. As The Toy Book report, emails went out on Tuesday from Rakuten (who…

New Video Offers Another Glimpse Of Long-Lost Avengers Game

The gaming historians over at Past to Present Online recently produced new footage from an early build of The Avengers, a canceled THQ game that was meant to coincide with the release of the first Avengers movie in 2012. “This is footage from an early build of THQ’s The Avengers, running on Xbox 360,” Past…

Call of Duty Studio Vows To Crack Down On Racists

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward will take more steps to find and ban players using racial slurs in their in-game display names, as well as other measures to keep racist language out of its game, it said today. Since the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare last year, players have been…

Fortnite Season 3, Event Pushed Back Again

Fortnite’s next season, which was originally scheduled to launch on June 4 and then last week got delayed to June 11, has had its start date pushed back again in the face of ongoing unrest in the United States. The live event “The Device” will now arrive on June 15, followed by the beginning of…

In A Unionization Breakthrough, Paradox Interactive Signs Labor Agreement With Trade Unions

The effort to unionize game development took another step forward today, as the workers at strategy game publisher Paradox Interactive publicly announced that they’re securing a collective bargaining agreement with their company. The deal is expected to safeguard their existing benefits and make it easier to advocate for improved working conditions. In a sign that…

It looks like Bungie is moving ahead with its Destiny 2 reveal after all. Originally leaked on Instagram, Bungie today confirmed it’ll show details of what’s to come in the game on June 9 at 12:00 p.m. ET. Other gaming events have recently been delayed following the ongoing protests

Elite Dangerous Will Let Players Stretch Their Virtual Legs In 2021

Space flight sim Elite Dangerous is set to expand next year with the release of the next significant update. While the game has confined players to their cockpits since it launched in 2014, Odyssey revolves around completing missions on foot rather than from behind the controls of a starship. Details are still scant, but developer…

Civilization VI’s Crossplay Randomly Broke Last Week, But It Should Be Fixed This Month

PC and Mac players of Civilization VI aren’t able to face off in multiplayer matches of global domination as of last week, since the 4X strategy game’s crossplay feature suddenly ceased to function. But the game’s developer says it should be back online before the month is out. Update: 6/26/2020, 10:30 a.m.: PC-Mac crossplay for…

Valorant Beta Cheaters Sad, Mad Over Bans Persisting Into Final Game

Yesterday, Riot Games’ new tactical shooter, Valorant, emerged from its post-beta slumber and into full release. This meant a fresh start for most players, who saw their ranks reset and an influx of new names to attach to (and, in the midst of battle, detach from) faces. Cheaters, however, were not so lucky. Players who…

Let Me Keep My Damn Weeds, Animal Crossing

I’m new to the Animal Crossing world. Outside of a short-lived stint in Pocket Camp, New Horizons is the first time I’ve ever played a major Animal Crossing title. Part of getting into an established series late means learning things seasoned players know implicitly, like that you’re supposed to pick the weeds. But I don’t…

Game Companies Say They’re Supporting Black Lives Matter, But Few Are Offering Specifics

As protests over the killing of George Floyd by police spread throughout the country last weekend, some of the gaming industry’s biggest companies put out statements in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. But while a few have shared some specifics about what they’re doing to help fight systemic racism, almost none of them…