Game Bites: Blizzard Keeps Falling And Pokémon Press Goes South
Happy August, Nerd Caliber fans. We’ve made it another month and we have tons of exciting video game news and releases to share so let’s get into it.
Pokémon was in the news again this week for more than one reason. The aforementioned Pokémon Go update that we mentioned in a previous week has gone into effect. With Covid cases on the rise many are still upset over Niantic going through with their update of shortening the distance to spin a pokestop which forces players to go outside and to public areas in order to get certain items or even pokemon. The Serebii.net creator; a major pokemon site; even went on record stating that he will no longer be supporting Niantic or the game due to their “dangerous decision” with the pokestop distance. Currently it looks like Niantic will not be changing this back anytime soon.
Another Pokemon game was in the news this week for being a “pay to win” game. The brand new and currently free to play Pokémon Unite has been under scrutiny for its new features. The game is a MOBA and while you can easily play the game without using any real money, players soon realized the only way to win was to power up items using aeos gems which were purchased with real money. The game’s creators TiMi Studio Group, have yet to comment on the claims.
Following last week’s report of the sexual harassment lawsuit by California against Blizzard and Activision, we’ve seen much happen. On Wednesday, employees held a walkout at the Blizzard headquarters, while others participated remotely. Fans of the studios have also been protesting by not playing popular multiplayer games. More reports have been surfacing such as one by Kotaku about a “Cosby Suite ” which was a convention party room that was allegedly the location of many harassment incidents. Despite all the accusations and articles with images, texts and more proof some of the higher ups at the companies still refuse to apologize or see the wrong in their actions. One such executive is Frances Townsend who tweeted an article about “The problem with Whistleblowing” and blocked employees on Twitter. Townsend is, ironically enough, Blizzard’s Chief Compliance Officer, in charge of making sure the company meets all state, federal and international regulations. In contrast, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack announced he has stepped down. Brack was one of just two people named in the lawsuit as being responsible for failing to fix the culture of harassment at Blizzard. This is a long standing problem that unfortunately doesn’t seem to have an ending anytime soon but we will keep you updated on the situation as it unfolds further.
This week as always we saw a variety of games released. On the 27th we had Microsoft Flight Simulator (Xbox Series X/S); Neo: The World Ends With You (PlayStation 4, Switch); Samurai Warriors 5 (Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC); The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (PlayStation 4, Switch, PC); and Tribes Of Midgard (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC). On the 28th, Chernobylite (PC); NieR Reincarnation (iOS, Android); and The Forgotten City (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) were released. The following day on the 29th, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Series (PC, iOS, Android); and The Ascent (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) were released. Alone With You (Switch) was released on the 30th and ended our new releases for the week.
That was all the top news for this week of video games, next week is already looking to have some fun. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel for more information on new movies, anime and much more.
