Video Game Culture: Last News

The Simpsons: Hit & Run remake will never be released to the public.His The Simpsons: Hit & Run remake is now finished, according to a recently released video titled “THE FINALE” on his YouTube channel, showing the significant improvements from the original assets to the Unreal Engine 5 recreations. While it is an amazing achievement and a labour of love for the classic game, Reubs is not going to give the new and improved Hit & Run away.“This is a fan remake for entertainment purposes, this game will never be available to download.

post to Twitter (via Time Extension).In 1983, Gibson took on a role as a programmer at the incipient developer Imagine, after teaching himself how to write code on a ZX81 computer. There, he gained the nickname “Grandad” as he was the eldest member of a much younger group of developers.He contributed to the creation of classics like Molar Maul, Zzoom and Stonkers, as well as the real Bandersnatch game before Imagine went bankrupt.Denton Designs was formed from five ex-Imagine employees – Steve Cain, Ian Weatherburn, Ally Noble, Karen Davies,  Graham “Kenny” Everett and Gibson.

Baldur’s Gate 3 should not create a “raised standard” for other role-playing games, due to the upcoming game’s large scale.Xalavier Nelson Jr, accomplished independent developer and founder of Strange Scaffold, took to Twitter to explain that Baldur’s Gate 3 is an abnormal game. To exemplify this, Larian Studios began work on the new entry in the series in 2017, using seven different studios with over 400 developers, and benefitted from a significant volume of fan feedback in a three-year early access period.Like a lot of people, I'm deeply excited about what the lovely folks at Larian accomplished with Baldur's Gate 3, but I want to gently, pre-emptively push back against players taking that excitement and using it to apply criticism or a "raised standard" to RPGs going forward1/10— Xalavier Nelson Jr.

Grand Theft Auto is changing its course of action after Take-Two Interactive‘s legal representatives sent them a cease and desist letter.Smokin J’s BBQ and Boyworldwide were working together to set up a pop up Cluckin’ Bell and Burger Shot at Comic Con San Diego this week, per Rockstar Intel‘s report. However, Smokin J’s BBQ has had to let Grand Theft Auto fans down lightly because Take-Two Interactive did not grant its permission for this imitation of its intellectual property.“Last Night, we received a cease and desist letter from the law firm representing Take-Two Interactive.

EA Sports responded to the sexist statements from fans saying that including female football players in EA Sports FC 24‘s Ultimate Team mode is unrealistic as ‘female players are not as skilled as male players’.Ultimate Team Evolutions — its new name in EA Sports FC 24 — allows men and women to play with and against each other for the first time in the series. In an interview with IGN, Electronic Arts vice president and executive producer John Shepherd said that the team “thought deeply” about the inclusion and that Ultimate Team was a “great spot” to communicate its mission that this sport is for everyone.“We have a vision of connecting not just the 150 million fans we have now, but a billion fans,” said Shepherd.

Rockstar Games and leaking Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) footage has been deemed unfit to stand trial, after being charged with 12 offences in relation to a string of hacks.In September 2022, over 90 videos and screenshots from GTA 6 surfaced online.  Rockstar Games confirmed the “early development footage” had been “illegally accessed and downloaded” — and within weeks, a teenager in Oxfordshire was arrested in relation to the hack.Now, 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj faces 12 offences, including six charges under the Computer Misuse Act, three blackmail charges, and two counts of fraud (Reuters, via Eurogamer).While psychiatrists have found Kurtaj is unfit to stand trial, Kurtaj is an alleged member of hacking group Lapsus$ and stands accused of hacking Revolut, Uber, Rockstar, and BT. It’s alleged that Kurtaj also attacked BT and EE, and used Rockstar’s own Slack channel to threaten to release Grand Theft Auto 6‘s source code.While Kurtaj is suspected of acting alone for the Rockstar, Uber and Revolut hacks, a 17-year-old who cannot be named is thought to have been involved in the blackmailing of BT and EE.Prosecutors claimed that both were “key players” in Lapsus$, and attempted to blackmail BT and EE for $4million (£3million).

Researchers found that this has occurred as a secondary impact of digital game distribution becoming the preferred route for releasing games. As a result, the “classic” games in this study are games released prior to 2010 which was denoted to be the year when digital game distribution “started to take off”.

Sega Of America have successfully voted to unionise, after their attempts to organise went to an election.On Monday (July 10), Sega Of America workers voted 91-26 in favour of forming the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA).With members joining from a number of disciplines throughout Sega Of America’s California headquarters, AEGIS-CWA is now the largest multi-department union within the game industry.It’s a significant milestone for growing unionisation efforts across the game industry, as Sega is one of the world’s largest gaming publishers. Besides creating Sonic The Hedgehog, Sega is best known for owning the studios behind Persona, Total War, Like A Dragon, and Football Manager.“We are overjoyed to celebrate our union election win as members of AEGIS-CWA.

Sonic the Hedgehog and the president of Sega‘s Sonic Team for 16 years, has been sentenced and fined for insider trading in his time with Square Enix.READ MORE: Watch a historical weapons expert break down combat in ‘Final Fantasy XVI’The report from Jiji Press (via Video Games Chronicle) stated that Naka has been given a a suspended sentence of two years and six months in prison, with four years probation. As well as this, he faces two fines totalling $1.2million (£935k).Naka committed the crime with fellow Square Enix employees Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki in order to secure advantageous shares in developers Aiming and Ateam, based on information that had not been publicised about their games Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.In November 2022, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Naka and charged him with violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of 2006 for his $20,000 (£16k) shares in Aiming.

#Macron blames video games and social media for French riots.#FranceProtests pic.twitter.com/Tc3rm1jX2z— In Context (@incontextmedia) July 1, 2023Macron stated it was the “responsibility of parents to keep [protesters] at home,” and requested social media sites to remote “sensitive content” related to the riots.However, Macron’s statement has been criticised by supporters of the rioters as detracting from the tragedy of the incident and minimising the human response to the loss of a young person.Recently, the United Nations Human Rights office pleaded with the French government to examine the “deep-rooted issues of racism and racial discrimination” present in its law enforcement agencies.The police officer suspected of shooting Nahel was charged with “voluntary homicide by a person in authority” on June 29 and is currently under investigation.

Halo have been invited to take part in the “world’s biggest” performance of its now-iconic Gregorian chant, with “no previous singing or gaming experience” required.The original Gregorian chant debuted in 2002, as part of the first Halo game’s theme.  Composed by Marty O’Donnell, the piece went on to become synonymous with the long-running Halo series, with many elements from the first theme turning up in subsequent games.Today (June 28), gamechoir has sent out a call for fans of the game to come together in creating the “world’s biggest” performance of the series’ Gregorian chant.The digital event will begin with a live-streamed vocals lesson on YouTube, which will take place on July 10 at 18:45 BST. From there, singers will be encouraged to practice using a professionally-recorded backing track, before submitting their “high, medium or low voice” performances to gamechoir.Following that, gamechoir will broadcast the final piece on August 17.Marty O’Donnell, the composer behind Halo‘s theme, has encouraged fans — “singer or not” — to take part in the Halo chant, and admitted he “never imagined” people would still be singing the chant over 20 years later.“Video games and video game music have the power to bring people together,” shared O’Donnell.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has claimed that although he remains “enthusiastic” by the prospect of AI, it will not be able to replicate the “genius” of human game developers.While fielding questions from investors, Zelnick was asked how Take-Two — the publisher behind the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands and Civilization — plans to utilise artificial intelligence within game development.Although Zelnick described the publisher as a “leader in [AI space]” and said he was “pretty enthusiastic” about the technology, he views AI as serving a limited function (via PC Gamer).“While the most recent developments in AI are surprising and exciting to many, they’re exciting to us but not at all surprising,” shared Zelnick. “Our view is that AI will allow us to do a better job and to do a more efficient job, you’re talking about tools and they are simply better and more effective tools.”Zelnick explained that in this capacity, AI will make creating games “a whole lot easier and more efficient” for developers.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has described yesterday (April 26) as the company’s “darkest day in our four decades in Britain,” after its proposed £55billion purchase of Activision Blizzard was blocked in the UK.Yesterday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it was blocking Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, over concerns that ownership of Activision Blizzard‘s catalogue — which includes the likes of Call Of Duty, Overwatch and World Of Warcraft — would harm competition in the cloud gaming market.Speaking on the BBC‘s Wake Up To Money podcast (via GamesIndustry.biz), Brad Smith accused the decision of being “bad for Britain,” and claimed it will “discourage innovation and investment in the UK”.“Microsoft has been in the United Kingdom for 40 years and we play a vital role, not just supporting businesses and non-profits but even defending the nation from cyber-security threats,” said Smith. “But this decision, I have to say, is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain.

Ministry Of Sound and cosmetics retailer Lush have announced a weekly gaming livestream that will feature a mix of guest musicians and streamers.Titled Beyond The Player, the livestream will be hosted by NNESAGA founder Stephanie Nneoma, and feature “in-depth interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent figures, gaming challenges and giveaways”.Nneoma will be joined by a range of guests on the show. A number of musicians — including Talia Mar, Sim0ne, VENBEE, Bklava, wAFF and Jordan Adetunji — have already been confirmed, along with streamers Sunpi, Ebonix, and King Jae.Beyond The Pale will be hosted through Ministry Of Sound’s Twitch channel, and after its first livestream kicks off on May 9, it will run every Tuesday for eight weeks.Across those two months, the stream will cover a number of games that are releasing in that period — including The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, and Final Fantasy 16.As the schedule suggests, it’s going to be a busy few months for gaming releases.

Metacritic has confirmed it will be implementing “stricter moderation” going forward, after Horizon Forbidden West‘s Burning Shores downloadable content was review bombed due to an LGBTQ+ relationship with the game’s protagonist.Although Burning Shores holds an aggregated Metascore of 82 among critics, its user-submitted reviews score currently sits at 3.9 out of 10.While some of the negative reviews criticise the game’s story and brief length, others have scored the review negatively purely because of a dialogue option that results in a kiss between the game’s protagonist, Aloy, and her companion Seyka.The inclusion of an LGBTQ+ relationship has resulted in a number of bigoted reviews flooding the Metacritic page, with users taking aim at the game’s perceived “agendas” and “woke propaganda”.In a statement sent to Eurogamer, Metacritic and its parent company, Fandom, confirmed that it would be taking steps to crack down on the “abusive” reviews.“Fandom is a place of belonging for all fans and we take online trust and safety very seriously across all our sites including Metacritic,” wrote the site. “Metacritic is aware of the abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores and we have a moderation system in place to track violations of our terms of use.”“Our team reviews each and every report of abuse (including but not limited to racist, sexist, homophobic, insults to other users, etc) and if violations occur, the reviews are removed.

10:10 Games has released a trailer for its debut title Funko Fusion – an action-adventure game that features Funko Pop characters from Jurassic World, The Umbrella Academy, and more.Set to launch for PC and console platforms in 2024, Funko Fusion is a third-person action game that will see Funko Pops fight enemies and solve puzzles across a variety of worlds.The first trailer shows characters from the likes of The Umbrella Academy, Shaun Of The Dead and The Thing doing battle. Some of the trailer’s locales will also look familiar, as Back To The Future‘s town of Hill Valley and Jurassic World‘s Isla Nublar both make appearances as levels in the game.You can check out the trailer below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eq52cnf_Os&feature=youtu.beThe game appears to share some similarities to TT Games‘ Lego series, which — like Funko Fusion — features a mix of third-person combat, co-op, and puzzle-solving.

UKIE) and Many Cats Studios have announced Impact – a campaign to profile six disabled and neurodiverse individuals within the games industry.In UKIE’s latest UK Games Industry Consensus, the trade body identified an increase in neurodivergent workers in the industry: four per cent of respondents identified as disabled, while 18 per cent considered themselves neurodiverse.As part of Impact, six industry professionals will be offered a platform that “showcases and celebrates” their talents. This will include speaking opportunities at companies and an invitation to talk at UK events, including Develop: Brighton.Additionally, the six individuals will each star in a digital campaign to highlight their status as “top-tier professionals in video games”.Applications open here on April 24, and will be open to the likes of content creators, developers, journalists and esports competitors within the industry.Introducing Impact – the joint campaign by @ManyCatsStudios and Ukie's #RaiseTheGame initiative to showcase disabled and neurodiverse people working in games.

Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman has confirmed that Facepunch Studios will be “keeping more of an eye” on player-made content related to Nazis going forward, following a debate on the studio’s moderation responsibilities.While Garry’s Mod‘s community-oriented approach means its servers and game modes are created by players rather than Facepunch, a number of World War 2 modes and Nazi-oriented game modes have led to Garry Newman – who the game is named after – addressing the topic on Twitter today (April 20).While Newman can see the educational and entertainment “merit” in these games, the creator has warned that some too far and actively glorify the fascist regime.While Newman confirmed Facepunch doesn’t “want to police” the “huge majority” of entertainment-oriented servers, he acknowledged that the studio has a responsibility to prevent extreme servers from finding a home in Garry’s Mod.Lots of worry about the Garry's Mod server moderation.. here's a bit more of an explanation.RoleplayingI can see merit in the games here where you roleplay survival/war scenarios.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has claimed that Russian intelligence groups are trying to “penetrate” gaming communities to spread information.

Wii Sports Bowling tournament in France, taking home the competition’s trophy on behalf of their retirement home.The pair were competing at a tournament held by Gamers Assembly, which took place over the weekend (April 8-11).Jeanine (96) and Gilbert (85) were representing their retirement home at the competition, and managed to take home the tournament’s first-place trophy thanks to a well-placed strike from Jeanine (via Eurogamer).In the final round, Jeanine takes a moment to line up her shot before swinging the Wii controller forward to land a perfect strike. When every pin is knocked down, the audience erupts in cheers, with Jeanine and Gilbert moving to the front of the stage to celebrate.You can watch the moment below:96 year old Jeanine and 85 year old Gilbert won a Wii Bowling LAN in France this weekendWe need more of this pic.twitter.com/NPtauo3xmz— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) April 11, 2023GILBERT !!!! pic.twitter.com/B61f05CtEz— Asso Silver Geek (@SilverGeekFr) April 8, 2023In a follow-up clip, Jeanine and Gilbert can be seen posing with their trophy — a shattered bowling pin with a Wii remote inside.Also shouts to @Elchocobo the main caster for the event.

Elden Ring and Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion.Summer Games Done Quick 2023 (SGDQ) will run from May 28 to June 4, with the annual event hosting speedrunners from across the world as they attempt to raise money for charity.As the event prepares for next month’s kickoff, organising body Games Done Quick has published the speedruns that have been accepted for SGDQ 2023.While an exact schedule will not be issued until April 11, the current list confirms every game that has been “locked in” for the event.As is tradition, next month’s event includes a mix of new and old games. Nintendo 64 games Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and Paper Mario will all be making an appearance, along with arcade games StepManiaX and X-Men Arcade.However, there are plenty of newer titles that will appear at the event.