Hive Gaming

Destiny 2 season 18: Release date, Arc 3.0,

2022-08-09T06:19:00.005-07:00

The current Season of the Haunted will end on August 23. The usual weekly maintenance happens at 6pm BST (10am PDT, 1pm EDT, 7pm CEST), so after that's done you can expect to head right on into the new season. Servers usually get overloaded right after the reset, but you should be able to play after a few hours.

Stardew Valley Sequel Haunted Chocolatier

2022-08-09T06:15:00.005-07:00

After dedicating 10 years of his life "and counting" to Stardew Valley, Barone has decided it's time to reveal his new game to the world. So, what's with the chocolate theme? It's just an idea that he had, and well - a lot of people like chocolate.

This game will go "beyond the ordinary" with the assistance of magical ghost chocolate:

"In Stardew Valley, the focus was more humble: living off the land, growing food, and connecting to the people and nature around you. However, with my next game, I wanted to explore more fantastical possibilities… experiences that take you beyond the ordinary. That’s where magical haunted ghost chocolate comes in.

"Chocolate represents that which is delightful. The haunted castle represents the allure of the unknown. The ghosts represent the imprint of the past. All of these things are important. However, don’t think for a moment that, because this game features ghosts in a haunted castle, it is an evil or negative game. On the contrary, I intend for this game to be positive, uplifting and life-affirming. However, if Stardew Valley mostly channeled the energy of the sun, Haunted Chocolatier channels the energy of the moon. Both are vital."

Borderlines the Movie?

2021-02-14T11:56:00.001-08:00

A feature film based on the popular video game set on the abandoned fictional planet of Pandora where people search for a mysterious relic . So here is the confirmed cast but no release date for the movie.

The Last of Us on HBO

2021-02-14T11:47:00.004-08:00

HBO announced the television adaptation for The Last of Us on March 6, 2020. The series will be produced by Game Director Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, creator of HBO’s hit mini-series Chernobyl. That’s not all! The show seems like it will have all sorts of details and additions that will not only adapt but also expand upon the Last of Us universe. WHEN IS THE LAST OF US HBO RELEASE DATE?

"The HBO series will cover the events of the original game, which was written by Druckmann, with the possibility of additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel, The Last of Us Part II," THR reported in the initial announcement.

Last of Us HBO was announced on March 6, 2020. Given the announcement, the show will likely air in LATE 2021 OR EARLY 2022. The show is seemingly going straight to series, which means there won't be an initial pilot episode to test the waters or another preliminary litmus test

Stardew Valley 1.5 is Live and Full Changelog

2020-12-23T04:36:00.000-08:00

Stardew Valley… the 1.5 content update. It’s available right now on PC, and will come to consoles early next year. Mobile should follow later, but there’s no timeline yet.

This is Stardew Valley’s biggest update yet!

This update adds some significant “late-game” content to Stardew Valley. It’s by far the biggest solid chunk of new content that’s been added to the game since launch. I won’t go into too much detail right now because I don’t like spoiling things, but if you don’t mind spoiling the surprise for yourself

Stardew Valley 1.5 Update Full Changelog

New world area

1.5 adds an entire new region of the world, Ginger Island (part of the Fern Islands):

Added new locations, dialogue, events, minigames, puzzles, and a quest line involving multiple NPCs.
Added Leo, a new NPC with his own backstory, plot line, events, etc.
Added new secondary NPCs: Birdie, Gourmand Frog, and Professor Snail.
Added a volcano dungeon which changes each time you visit it similar to the mines.
Added Qi challenges which unlock rare or unique items.
Added an unlockable island farm and farmhouse area, where you can plant crops in any season but can’t construct buildings.
Added an unlockable resort you can open to let villagers visit the islands, including new beach attire and schedules.
Added hidden pages of a lost sailor’s journal to uncover his story and learn about the islands.
Added Golden Walnuts hidden throughout the islands, which can be used to unlock new areas and content.
Added Golden Coconuts, which Clint can crack open to find rare island items.
Added gem birds which spawn in a random island area when it rains, and drop gems when approached.
Added secrets and puzzles to discover around the island.
Added new enemies:
- Dwarvish Sentry;
- False Magma Cap;
- Hot Head;
- Lava Lurk;
- Magma Sprite;
- Magma Sparker;
- Magma Duggy;
- Spiker;
- Stick Bug;
- Tiger Slime.
Added new cosmetic critters: crabs, caldera monkeys, overhead parrots, marsupial, and tropical butterflies.
Added new Island Obelisk building.

New farm features

Added a new beach farm layout.
Added ostrich as a farm animal.
The immovable dressers found in Farmhands’ cabins have been removed.
Added home renovations, which let you further expand and adjust the farmhouse after it’s fully upgraded.
Beds are now normal furniture you can pick up, move around, and replace.
- You can even have a house with no bed, but your spouse might have something to say about that.
Once unlocked, the greenhouse can now be moved at Robin’s shop.
The default shipping bin can now be moved or demolished at Robin’s shop.
Added Advanced Game Options, which can be used to customize a new game:
- Set seed value used in randomization;
- Choose default vs randomized community center bundles;
- Choose default vs randomized mine chests;
- Can make Red Cabbage Seeds guaranteed to sell at least once at the travelling cart in year one, so it’s always possible to finish the community center in the first year.
- Can access the profit margins and cabin related options that were previously inaccessible when creating a single player farm.
- Can toggle monsters spawning
You can now apply cosmetic paints to the farmhouse and buildings.
Ducks can now swim in water, and certain coop animals will now follow adults around.
Slimes now drink from slime hutch troughs in random order.

Quality of life changes

Added lost & found box in Mayor Lewis’ house. This can be used to retrieve items donated to failed special orders, lost quest items and tools, items from offline players, hats from children that have been turned into doves, and items left behind in the Stardew Valley Fair grange display.
You can now sit on chairs (both placed furniture and chairs that are part of the map).
You can now place most furniture outside.
You can now talk to people while mounted on a horse.
You can now donate items of different qualities for the same community bundle ingredient.
You can no longer plant fruit trees on tiles they won’t be able to grow on.
Improved game menus and HUD:
- The social tab now shows whether you talked to an NPC today.
- The cooking tab now shows the recipe for an item when you hover over it.
- The cooking tab now fades icons for recipes you know but haven’t made yet.
- The cooking/crafting tooltips now show the number produced.
- The inventory menu’s organize button now combines partial item stacks.
- The inventory menu for a chest chest now shows the Community Center button.
- The shipment screen now shows the unit price of shipped items instead of displaying the shipped quantity twice.
- The quest log now shows an arrow in the morning when you have pending completed quests.
- Buff icons now subtly pulse when they’re close to expiring.
- Added a notification when you enter a farm building if an incubator is ready but the building is at max capacity.
- The “infestation” indicator in the mines is now drawn alongside the floor number, rather than replacing it.
Improved shop menus:
- You can now press ESCor controller B to move the held item to your inventory (or drop it if you have no more inventory room).
- While holding a purchase, the inventory now highlights items you can stack it with.
Improved sprinklers:
- Sprinklers can now water Slime Hutch troughs.
- Hoes no longer remove sprinklers.
Improved Journey of the Prairie King:
- Progress can now be saved and resumed, so it can be completed in multiple sessions.
- You now also replay the original difficulty even if you’ve already completed it. (Previously it would increase difficulty automatically, which is now a New Game+ mode.)
Improved game options:
- added option to choose between multiple fish-bite chime sounds;
- added option to mute farm animals and pets;
- you can now scale the UI independently of the view zoom;
- increased maximum zoom from 120% to 200%.
Improved various items:
- The jukebox now has a “Random” setting.
- Removing a crystalarium that isn’t ready for harvest will now drop the gem that was placed in it.
- You can now push chests containing items by holding the interact button on them with no tool equipped (the same way you could previously remove empty chests without using a tool).
Improved inventory sorting:
- no longer changes tool order;
- now sorts by quality too;
- now sorts names in alphabetical instead of reverse alphabetical order.
Improved museum donation interactions:
- Clicking an item now grabs one instead of the whole stack.
- Pressing back while placing an item now returns to the inventory instead of closing the whole UI.
- Other minor improvements.

Balance changes

Combat changes:
- Immunity now reduces the chance of status debuffs.
- Changed special move cooldowns on daggers (6→3 seconds) and clubs (4→6 seconds).
- The dagger special attack now pins the target in place until the last stab (which then knocks them back), so dagger hits are less likely to miss.
- Reduced desperado profession’s damage bonus from 3x to 2x.
- Slightly improved dagger critical hit chance.
Crafting changes:
- Changed Skull Brazier recipe (was 10 Hardwood + Solar Essence + Coal; now 10 Bone Fragments).
- Repairing a fence now restores full fence health, instead of half the health of a new fence.
Farming changes:
- Lowered the cost of ducks (2000→600g).
- Doubled the value of duck feathers.
- Slightly increased the duck feather spawn rate.
Fishing changes:
- Fishing rod tackle no longer loses endurance when catching junk.
- Catching a non-fish item no longer triggers the minigame.
- Reaching an effective fishing level of 15+ now increases the rod casting range by one tile.
Mining changes:
- Gem nodes now provide mining XP and can drop diamonds.
- Gem node drops are no longer limited by mine level.
Item drop changes:
- Stumps and hollow logs now have a 10% chance of dropping Mahogany Seed.
- Any monster in the Secret Woods now has a 10% chance of dropping Mahogany Seed.
- Skeletons now have 4% chance of dropping a Bone Sword.
- Wilderness Golems now drop rice shoots more often.
- Some Skull Cavern monsters now have a small chance of dropping Red Cabbage Seeds.
- Pure-white slimes now drop diamonds and refined quartz.
- Some containers now drop better items after reaching the bottom of the mines at least once.
- Different drops now unlock on mine levels 60/80/100 and the first level of the Skull Cavern.
- Reduced chance of Lead Rod drops on mine levels 60–79 (or Skull Cavern level 40+ before the previous fix), and added chance for Shadow Dagger and Wood Mallet.
- Mine wood barrels can now drop Basic Retaining Soil instead of Sap.
- Mine frost barrels can now drop Quality Retaining Soil instead of Sap.
- Reduced chance of frost barrels dropping Aquamarine, Frozen Geode, Hardwood, Jade, or equipment from 35% to 26%.
Shop changes:
- Pierre will now sell his seasonal items year-round once you complete a certain new quest.
- Added two more items to the Stardew Valley Fair star token shop.
- Reduced Workbench price (3000→2000g).
- Coconuts can be purchased from Sandy on Monday. This is now limited to ten per day.
Machine changes:
- Some machines’ processing time was previously affected by the time of day. These have been standardized so they’re always ready when the morning starts: Bee House (every 4 days), Mushroom Box (2 days), Strange Capsule (3 days), Tapper (depends on input), and Worm Bin (every morning).
Doubled star token rewards for the slingshot and fishing minigames at the Stardew Valley Fair.
Fertilizer in the greenhouse no longer disappears on season change in some cases.
The random Stone Owl and Strange Capsule night events are now much less rare.

Multiplayer changes

Added local split-screen multiplayer mode.
The join co-op screen now remembers the last IP you entered.
Farmhands can now move buildings through Robin’s menu. The host can configure how this works (disabled, enabled, or only for a player’s own cabin).
Using the return scepter now returns farmhands to their cabin’s front door instead of the host’s farmhouse.
Added various new chat messages when a player does something.
When viewing a shared event in multiplayer (such as the Community Center event, or Morris’ introduction), you are no longer forcibly warped to the event location.
When the host player sees the year 3 event, Grandpa’s Theme is now added to all players’ jukeboxes even if they didn’t weren’t in-game at the time.

Interaction changes

Reworked slingshot controls: it now aims at the cursor position, and is fired by holding and releasing the mouse/gamepad fire button. The previous mode (where you’d hold the button and pull back on the cursor to aim) can be re-enabled in the options menu if desired.
To simplify bulk actions like harvesting, holding down a button while moving will no longer repeat weapon special attacks, open/close barn/coop doors, or interact with boulders, chests, furniture, hollow logs, meteorites, shipping bins, or scarecrows.
Constructed shipping bins now have a click-to-ship hitbox that better matches the original map-based shipping bin’s hitbox.
Flooring can now be applied by clicking on the tile the farmer is standing on. Previously, flooring had to be applied to a tile next to the farmer.
Purchasing recipes with a full inventory no longer shows a message that the inventory is full.
Clicking an empty tile right above an interactive element (like a machine or chest) now activates the element, similar to clicking below it in previous versions.
Trees chopped from above or below will now take into consideration the player’s horizontal position when falling to the left or right.
Clicking near the bottom-left corner of the screen no longer brings up the chat box.
You can no longer open the quest log by pressing the on-screen journal button if you’re currently doing something.
You can now use the “Y” key to answer dialogue boxes for holes and exit ladders in the mines.
Controller improvements:
- When buying/betting tokens in the Stardew Valley Festival with a controller, holding the number selection button now causes the amount to increase faster.
- Events can now be skipped on the controller even if a dialogue box is on-screen.
- Pressing B on a controller while on a specific quest page now returns to the quest list instead of closing the menu.
- Pressing B on a controller while an item is held on the crafting menu now snaps to the trash can (similar to the inventory screen).

Other changes

Save names are now based on the farm name instead of the player name. (Saves originally created before 1.5 will continue using the player name.)
Penny and the Dwarf now like artifacts.
Improved dinosaur sleep sprites.
Characters now face you when you talk to them instead of when the dialogue box closes (in singleplayer).
On the final day of a tracked quest, the timer now says “final day” instead of “1 day” for clarity.
Added many changes for modders.
Cosmetic tweaks to various sprites.

Fixes for multiplayer

Fixed an issue where fences would degrade faster in Multiplayer.
Fixed issue where a farmhand crashing while completing the final bundle could permanently prevent the unlock from properly triggering. It is now unlocked the next time a character enters the area.
Farmhands are now properly positioned under the elevator instead of the ladder when using it to navigate the mines.
Fixed an issue where other farmers’ emotes would not playback properly if you were watching an event.
Fixed a minor issue where multiple players getting the free coffee gift at the Night Market at the same time could prevent anyone from receiving it.
Fixed the note from Grandpa reappearing for farmhands.
Fixed issue where cows in Haley’s photoshoot event could be seen sliding around for farmhands. (Non-actor characters in events are now controlled by the host.)

Fixes for player interaction

Fixed rare controller and mouse input drops.
Fixed being unable to remount a horse after dismounting it behind a shipping bin.
Fixed issue where it would sometimes be impossible to name an animal with a controller because the onscreen keyboard would appear and disappear in the same frame.
Fixed character customization screen’s hair color slider not properly updating when hair color is randomized.
Fixed some farm tiles incorrectly preventing buildings from being placed on them.

Fixes for visual or cosmetic issues

Adjusted the sorting of item ready indicators for tappers.
Unified when night tiles get applied to fix inconsistencies when windows change from light to dark.
The critters list is now cleared out overnight. This fixes an issue where having a Butterfly Hutch in your house and repeatedly sleeping without leaving would spawn endless butterflies in the house.
Improved various text:
- Fixed some localizations using inches for fish measurements to reference centimeters.
- Fixed mill description not mentioning rice.
- Fixed typos in dialogue and events.
- Fixed missing characters in Chinese and Korean fonts.
- Fixed credits not showing localizer names correctly if the current language’s font doesn’t have the needed characters.
- Improved many translations.
Fixed various cosmetic/layering issues with character shadows.
Fixed characters in events snapping to strange animation frames when skipping an event.
Fixed various instances where the camera would pan unnecessarily after changing locations.
Fixed greenhouse trees taking on seasonal appearances.
Fixed tooltip for purchasing edible but non-health-restoring items (like crocus) showing price outside of the tooltip.
Fixed a single-frame flicker in Haley’s 10-heart event.
Fixed a single frame flicker of the farm when starting a new game.
Fixed stamina bar showing sweat particles when fishing during the fishing competition.
Fixed the scythe showing the weapon ability cooldown effects.
Fixed the erroneous door tile visible on the south end of the standard farm during winter.
Fixed issue where unlocking multiple community center bundles at once would make the screen pan to the same room multiple times.
Fixed various issues related to the Festival of Ice map, like being able to escape the festival bounds or prematurely end the festival from certain tiles, and minor visual fixes.
Fixed terrain features showing an “interact” cursor when mousing over their tiles during festivals.
Fixed options page scrollbar sometimes going past the end of the scrollbar region.
Fixed various text overflow issues on the options page.
Fixed chests spawned on certain Skull Cavern floors being shifted down by 4 tiles.
Fixed tiling of…
- floor tiles in the farmhouse so applied flooring in adjacent rooms appear contiguous instead of having hard edges;
- wall tiles in the farmhouse to fix sorting of certain objects that extend outside normal tile boundaries (e.g. grass starter).
- the fountain so that it has a more consistent appearance throughout the seasons;
- Pierre’s stand at the Egg Festival to fix layering issues.

Other bug fixes

Fixed crash when resizing game window in some cases.
Fixed rare crash on launch due to invalid game window size options.
Fixed Iridium Bat kills not counting towards Adventurer’s Guild bat eradication goal.
Fixed an issue where the Mermaid Show reward was delayed incorrectly.
Fixed some events showing a dark blue screen after fading out when viewed during rainy days.
Fixed museum-related rarecrows not sold at the Night Market after being unlocked.
Fixed issue where non-wooden gates would revert to wooden gates after saving & loading a game.
Fixed being able to add staircases to the Luau.
Fixed an item duplication exploit related to chest organization.
Fixed a minor desync in character pathfinding that could happen when characters pathed to the JojaMart on modded games.
Fixed Penny walking through walls on rainy days if you’ve completed the community upgrade.
Fixed Penny’s 4-heart event not accessible once you finish the community upgrade.
Fixed fences not collected correctly after a divorce or Penny’s 14-heart event.
Fixed characters greeting you when you enter a location when they’re not present.
Fixed characters you divorced still greeting you when you enter a location.
Fixed issue where an NPC spouse fails to pathfind when a player/NPC is blocking the front door when they check, causing them to stand in place instead.
Fixed crops sometimes growing a day slower than they should.
Fixed applying flooring for the first time in an upgraded house sometimes causing the flooring in the kitchen to switch to the default wooden flooring.
Fixed issue where riding a horse while travelling from one location to another diagonally would repeatedly warp back and forth between the two locations.
Fixed watered slime hutch troughs emptied when you load a save. (This mainly affects loading a mid-day save on mobile.)
Fixed the community center not properly loading the refurbished map variant on game load. This caused characters like Maru to path incorrectly in them if the player had not visited the Community Center during that playthrough.
Fixed the weekly friendship boost for giving an NPC two gifts not applied if you also gave them a third gift for their birthday.
Fixed overnight lightning not randomized correctly, so either every overnight lightning would strike or none of them would.
Fixed issue where stones, wood, and weeds could spawn on top of terrain features when a new year begins.

Where to Find the PS5 or X Series 2020

2020-11-30T04:19:00.000-08:00

PS5 and Xbox Series X restock coming to Walmart and other retailers

Walmart said it's restocking and will release more inventory throughout the holidays. "It's not unusual to see bot activity, especially on hot items like the PS5. Our teams work hard to prevent this and ensure our customers have access to these items," a spokeswoman said in an email.

In a statement, Microsoft game executive Liz Hamren acknowledged that some consumers were disappointed.

"We know that not everyone was able to get an Xbox Series X|S immediately and are working tirelessly with our partners around the world to bring as many new consoles to as many of you as possible over time and encourage you to check in with your local retailers directly for more details on availability in your market," Hamren said.

Pandemic gaming

Gaming has only grown in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic crippled the economy in March. With consumers stuck at home, many have turned to gaming to while away the hours.

The article wrapped up by advising to wait a year to make a purchase bc both systems have limited content now.

Sony reveals more PS5 backwards compatibility information

2020-10-08T08:29:00.002-07:00

Sony's senior vice president of platform planning and management Hideaki Nishino stressed the importance of backwards compatibility, and reiterated Sony’s promise that “approximately 99 percent of the thousands of PS4 titles, both catalog and newly published, will be playable on PS5”.

While Nishino continued to repeat Sony’s mantra of pushing the importance of PS5 first and foremost, he also revealed some new information about backwards compatibility that we didn’t know.

"When you sign in to PS5 with your account, you will automatically see your library of played PS4 content through the menu,” said Nishino. “...we’re excited about supporting our PlayStation community as they transition from PS4 to PS5 when they’re ready."

While Xbox Series X backwards compatibility impressions are already in, and sound extremely promising, Sony has continued to keep its cards close to its chest with more generalized statements of how the PS5 will handle PS4 games.

We know that PS4 games will be playable using the DualShock 4 controller on PS5, and that 99% of games will work, but we’ve already seen issues pop regarding save files transferring to PS4 in games like Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Dirt 5.

Microsoft Acquires Bethesda

2020-09-21T13:37:00.005-07:00

For $7.5 billion dollars, Microsoft has unveiled its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the holding company of Bethesda Softworks, id Software, Arkane Studios, Machine Games, Tango Gameworks, and all of its properties. This gives Microsoft ownership of legendary, industry-leading IP including DOOM, Quake, The Evil Within, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored, Prey, and dozens more, including future games like The Elder Scrolls VI, and Starfield.

Borderlands 3 coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X with free next-gen upgrade

2020-09-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Gearbox Software confirmed that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of Borderlands 3 are in development. They’ll will be a free upgrade for existing owners of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game.

Stardew Valley 1.5 Update and Creator Comments on Possible Sequel?

2020-09-13T09:25:00.001-07:00

It’s is confirmed that a mega update is coming to The indie hit game Stardew Valley with the 1.5 patch but an even bigger tease is that a sequel to Stardew Valley is in development.

“I’m not willing to commit to Stardew Valley 1.6,” said Barone while speaking to Game Informer. “I will say that I definitely love Stardew Valley. I love it as a world and a universe. I don’t think [1.5] will be the end of Stardew Valley. I would not be surprised if there’s another Stardew Valley update, or multiple updates, or a Stardew Valley 2. Who knows? There isn’t currently a Stardew Valley 2; after 1.5, I’ll decide what the next step for Stardew Valley is. But I would say there will probably be another step for Stardew Valley. In the meantime, I’m also working on a couple of new projects – solo projects – so I have plenty to do.”

Men Lie, Women Lie, Numbers Don’t..Never be Afraid of Competition

2020-09-12T16:30:00.002-07:00

Thank God football is back! I feel like some sense of normalcy comes with competitive sports returning. I don’t why but I really like sports.

It’s something special about seeing athletes at the peak of fitness under pressure performing and getting results to get a win. You can say what you want, but when we are on the field one one It’s going to be a different story.

Talented Workers Leaving Top Level Companies for Foreign Markets Due to Pay Discrepancy

2020-08-13T21:11:00.004-07:00

Looks like the video game and entertainment world is going through another big battle this time over money and the competitive job market for top level talent.

Once again Blizzard is leading the pack with bad news as reports have come in that it pays its employees 1/4 of the national average salaries for each position in its company while it pays the management millions of dollars with the CEO making $40 million which makes him among the top 5 highest paid CEOs in the world.

Now most of you are thinking if you were in these employees shoes then why not just go to another company since your so talented. You are correct most the top level talent is leaving Blizzard and EA for companies like riot games bc the pay is better. That’s why we got crappy games like Mass Effect 3 and Anthem.

Then the really talented developers are going the indie game route and starting their own companies instead of letting some greedy management leech their production and own the rights to all their creations for a below fair paying wage. When you think about it they pay these developers $16 an hour or less for products that earn the company billions.

It’s a power play from leaders with control issues and superiority complexes. One developer said he demanded fair pay and was told he was welcome to take his talent somewhere else and blacklisted in the entertainment industry. That not right to use people then when you can’t exploit them you give them the boot and deny them opportunities else where with slander or threats.

As a consumer I want great games again like Zelda, Final Fantasy, Madden in its prime. I hate to see top talent get treated like crap then have to accept poor quality products bc some CEO wants to a new private jet off the hard work of its underpaid workers. All I can say is karma catches up and the consumers will stop buying bad games as a result of not paying talented developers fairly for their hard work and creativity.

'Fable' Will Be Open-World RPG, Not MMO, Confirms Insider

2020-07-31T16:23:00.002-07:00

There's been some confusion surrounding the new Fable since its announcement last week. The incredibly brief teaser at the Xbox Series X game event confirmed two things: That the game is called Fable - not Fable 4 - and that it's being developed by UK-based Forza studio Playground Games.

There may be online elements like co-op functionality or limited, optional shared spaces," the publication notes. "But nothing to the extent that would justify classifying the game as an MMO."

This should come as a relief to those of us who were a little hesitant about the idea of missing out on a single-player Fable adventure. This also tracks with some of the earliest job listings for Fable, which were first shared by Playground Games way back in 2018.

Red Dead Redemption Clown Protest

2020-07-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

For months the Red Dead Redemption online community have been dressing up as clowns in protest Rockstar not providing any new content or communication to the community for nearly a year despite consumers paying for the service.

It’s been over a year since Rockstar has meaningfully update the open world MMO which has people feeling exasperated by content drought. Rather than complain about the situation the Cowboys of Red Dead Redemption stayed a protest. Dressing up like clowns was a creative way to protest. You don’t see any other gaming community that are very angry about the lack of content or the lack of communication and issues with the over all experience like Fallout and Anthem. It’s better than others who hack Rockstar employees social media accounts or send them horrific and disturbing messages.

What does the clown protest mean?
It means players are calling themselves clowns for continuing to support this live service.

Months Later the Protest Are Paying Off
Rockstar went to their news wire to announce their next update. They acknowledge protest by players and said updates are coming for both GTA and Red Dead Redemption. For Red Dead Redemption specifically a large update is coming July 28, 2020 featuring the frontier pursuit that will introduce players to secrets about naturalism as part of an all new role plus a new outlaw pass plus tons of more features and bug fixes.

To be honest this cycle of protest and content drought will Not be over. I hope for a compromise with a mix of single player dlc to expand on the story of other players in the gang and occasionally updates to the online side of things. This will never happen bc its all about the money. Online multiplayer is cheaper to produce and a lot more profitable. Many gaming companies have given up on single player dlc or games with that feature as the focus like gears or war, halo or call of duty that give a few hours of single player content but push for the online multiplayer as the focus of the game.

All well think consumers got to stop living the past of good single player games and continue to let companies to dig in our pockets whenever they feel like it to
Get the most money from us for the least amount of
Effort or return.

Ubisoft Joins the List of Tech Companies Fostering Discrimination Culture

2020-07-26T19:43:00.001-07:00

Well the tea has been spilled about Ubisoft discrimination practices against women and minorities for years with a total of over 150+ claims and equal employment opportunity violation cases to HR not being addressed and ignored despite the company taking money from investors and the government that enforces EEO. Not only have Ubisoft come under investigation for EEO violation with the threat of losing funding but the company has also been exposed for sexism/racist culture that has put a limit on development of games featuring women and minorities as leads bc the upper management and marketing do not believe either sales games.

Public reports revealed Ubisoft knew about bad behavior in the company for years and took little action until recently when the investigations went public bc that’s how these big corporations operate. Big corporations do not care about the oppression or discrimination cases until the public finds out and then it’s panic mode to save their funding.

A whistleblower revealed Ubisoft mistreated women at the company and Ubisoft creative executives believed women don’t sell games due to market research. These guys didn’t make female focus games bc of who they are what they think.

Reports said Serge Hascott is leading the way to push content that did with less linear narratives and cutscenes. This push was systematic discrimination that impacted the development of three Assassin Creed games.

1. Assassin Creed Syndicate

Jacob and Evie Frye were suppose to have equal time in the story, but executives made Jacob the focus of the story and its marketing.

Assassins Creed Origins

The original plan was to kill Bayek off early in the game then his wife Aya would take over the story. In the end, that plan didn’t happen. After marketing and upper management direction, Aya‘s role was significantly reduced. This was very disappointing and bc Aya was a cool character with a compelling character and potential. Aya was sidestepped so Bayek story came shine.

Assassins Creed Odyssey

This game is what really caused the community and whistleblowers and ethics committees to go into action. Kassandra was suppose to be the only lead of this game but the upper management and marketing team used their influence again. The idea to have Kassandra as the lead was rejected and the option of sibling choice made its way into the final game. The reasoning behind this choice is a troupe that male leads make more sales. It’s easier to believe this when it’s more games out there that have male leads. Even if you buy into all that conjecture, it doesn’t take into account games like Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn or Metroid Prime that have female leads and earned a lot of money for their companies.

This only showed Ubisoft distant itself from the progressive elements they claim to have they didn’t have much faith in their creative teams. The last assassin creed games could have broke the trend of no female leads games, but they were literally not allowed to by upper management marketing which is awful. This Only shows Ubisoft is another fake progressive company that lies about its diversity and progressive elements. How did they get away with this?

During a recent conference call Ubisoft executives with their investors, the CEO of Ubisoft was asked about how he is addressing the over 150+ Open discrimination cases. The CEO dodged the questions which lead me to believe 2 reactions to his dodge.

1. Ubisoft CEO is an incompetent Leader

2. Ubisoft CEO does not pay attention or care about his business.

There are 100s of HR claims that are ignored with testimony so horrible the public needed to know.

7 Days to Die Announcement: Fun Pimps, Pimped Console Gamers

2020-06-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

After a long legal battle and financial ruin of TellTale Games, the Fun Pimps have all the Console and PC rights again for 7 Days to Die. As a console gamer I was eager to learn what the Fun Pimps were going to do with the game since it hasn’t been updated in a while. Well nothing good came from the podcast last night.

Fun Pimps said during the legal battle they stopped working on the PlayStation and Xbox console version of the game and went all it with the PC version. The Pimps really Pimped console gamers. They got our money and said screw the console version bc Alpha 19 or the Gold Version they’re working on is too advanced to run on the current console systems.

The Fun Pimps went on to say that they may do something with console 3 years from now, but not really focused on the 7 Days to Die project primarily. The Pimps said they have another game in development with the same unreal engine that is going to get more priorities moving forward. The Pimps said they may double back to 7 days to die with the next gen consoles, PS5 and Xbox, then have it where you can play on the promised cross system capability where Xbox, PC and PlayStation Platforms.

So basically if you have the game now on Xbox One or PS4, the Current version Is the last version they’re doing for console until the next systems are out. What a big disappointment this news is to be honest. I paid a lot for a game that never got updates and was setup to fail soon as it got brought by a company that didn’t know what to do with it.

How Eccentric Workers are One Man’s “Trash” is Another Man’s Treasure

2020-05-17T07:02:00.005-07:00

Like 5.9 million other people in the world, I tuned into “The Last Dance,” the long-anticipated Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan documentary that aired on April 26, 2020, on ESPN. As a basketball junkie, I can’t get enough of MJ footage, but if you really dive into the material, the 10-part series tells us so much about more than just basketball. Four episodes in and we have already learned a ton about running a business, especially how to hire and team building. As someone who has spent their entire career in sales, recruiting, or a combination of both, I could not help but draw parallels.

One man’s “trash” is another man’s treasure

In the basketball sense, I am referring to Dennis Rodman, who was spotlighted in the third episode as the eccentric but talented player who had trouble fitting in with his previous teams. Although he had issues off the court, he rejuvenated his career in Chicago, playing alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. The tutelage of Phil Jackson certainly helped, as well, as they collectively let “Dennis be Dennis,” giving him the freedom that he needed mentally, all while trusting he would still produce at a high level.

What happened?…

Well, I don’t want to spoil anything here… but the Bulls won the title! For the third year in a row, nonetheless. They let Rodman go on a 48-hour vacation to Vegas, only to see him come back and outwork everyone else in practice, and which led to him helping the team win the last of their six championships all in Michael Jordan’s career.

What does this teach us about hiring/building sales teams?

I’m sure anyone who’s managed teams for long enough can think of someone they can relate this to: A talented but eccentric team member who might have a different way of doing things, but ultimately performs well and contributes greatly to the team as a whole.

While many of you might be thinking, “It’s not worth the hassle,”that might be the case in some circumstances. For those of you who don’t know, Rodman was almost black listed from the league due to some of his antics on the San Antonio Spurs right before his debut start with the Chicago Bulls. But where most General Managers in the NBA saw Rodman as “too much trouble,” Jerry Krause (we’ll get to him in a bit) saw him as an inexpensive asset. Krause trusted that the Bulls’ culture and winning-ways would keep Rodman on the right track.

While it was a risk for Krause to take on Rodman, it was a calculated gamble that he ended up winning big on. We often find that when some of our clients are looking for top talent, they can be scared away by hints at eccentricities. If an interviewee comes off that they might be “difficult to manage,” or shows signs of not getting along with previous direct reports or peers, they often times get written off and rejected. Now most of the time, that might be the right decision. But sales leaders and hiring managers in general should always keep an eye out for the folks who show promise and might just need a change of scenery to maximize their talents. Maybe in their last job their boss was a jerk who only had their own best interest at heart. Perhaps when they joined their last company, they were told one thing when they were hired and presented with a whole different set of job responsibilities. Or maybe the culture was toxic and bred a lot of negativity and selfish behavior. There are a million different reasons why people don’t stay with their last employer.

Sometimes the question “Well, if they were such a strong performer, then why did he/she get let go or leave on their own?” can be very misleading.

If you believe in your leadership team and the overall foundation of your company’s cultural, don’t look past these candidates. They might be the missing “winning” piece you’ve been looking for. Just ask Michael Jordan if he would take Dennis Rodman as a teammate again. And at the end of the day, don’t we all want to be “like Mike?”?

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Full List of Voice Actors

2020-03-27T05:56:00.001-07:00

Here is full list of voice actors for all the characters you’ve heard in our trailers so far, and where you might have seen or heard them in the past:

Cloud Strife: Cody Christian (All American, Teen Wolf)
Barret Wallace: John Eric Bentley (Hart of Dixie, Lab Rats, Fear of the Walking Dead)
Aerith Gainsborough: Briana White (Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Occupants)
Tifa Lockhart: Britt Baron (GLOW, The Thing About Harry, My Valentine)
Red XIII: Max Mittelman (Persona 5, One-Punch Man)
Jessie: Erica Lindbeck (Spider-Man PS4, Mortal Kombat 11)
Biggs: Gideon Emery (Dash & Lily, Teen Wolf, Dragon Age II)
Wedge: Matt Jones (Bob Hearts Abishola, Breaking Bad)
Sephiroth: Tyler Hoechlin
Reno: Arnie Pantoja (Konosuba, Trolls, Sydney White)
Rude: William Christopher Stephens (The Avengers, Spies in Disguise, Mortal Kombat 11)
Tseng: Vic Chao (Seis Manos, Mortal Kombat X, Ben 10)
President Shinra: James Horan (Metal Gear Solid V, Fallout: New Vegas, Love, Death & Robots)
Heidegger: John DiMaggio (Futurama, Adventure Time)
Scarlet: Erin Cottrell (Love’s Long Journey, The Identical)
Palmer: William Salyers (Regular Show, Spider-Man PS4, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders)
Reeve: Jon Root (Call of Duty: Ghosts, Fallout 76)
Professor Hojo: James Sie (Jackie Chan Adventures, Uncharted)
Marlene Wallace: Brielle Milla (The Ellen Show, T.O.T.S.)
Roche: Austin Lee Matthews (Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon, Trails of Cold Steel III)
Don Corneo: Fred Tatasciore (Overwatch, Fortnite, Gears of War)

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Producer Hints a Parasite Eve Remake

2020-03-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

Omega then asked Kitase if he would like to see more Parasite Eve in the future. "The characters are very deep and rich, especially Aya Brea," Kitase said. "I don't know of any plans right now, but it would be a waste to not use those characters."

Clearly angling for a remake or another original game in the Parasite Eve series, Omega responded saying that, "horror games are very popular right now, and Parasite Eve had some RPG elements to it. It was very original and unique, so I think now is a good time… Parasite Eve has a very unique game style. There are no games like it right now."

Parasite Eve started out life as a novel written by Hideaki Sena. Square made a video game released in 1998 that acted as a sequel to the novel, while at the same time, two Parasite Eve mangas and a film adaptation were released.

The game follow a New York police officer called Aya Brea who has to fight a powerful entity called Eve and the horrific creatures she controls as she tries to take over Earth. The first game was particularly unusual, especially for a survival horror game, as it has some RPG elements.

Why Did Aunt Viv Suddenly Change In The 'Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air'?

2020-03-02T17:45:00.001-08:00

I remember this change for the actress that played Aunt Viv on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a child, but I never knew why it happened. Decades later the record was finally straightened why the change happened.

According to Carlton, the original Aunt Viv was crazy. This was due to a three season long feud between Will and Aunt Viv. In real life Janet Hubert-Whitten, the original Aunt Viv, became pregnant which was also written into the storyline for the show. During that time Janet had issues with the star of the Will Smith.

Will Smith claimed that long before Janet's pregnancy they struggled to get along, and it was her attitude that lead her out of the door.

"I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be 'The Aunt Viv of Bel Air Show' because I know she is going to dog me in the press," Will Smith stated this in 1993 for an Atlanta Radio Station,

Will Smith said “she has basically gone from a quarter of a million dollars a year to nothing. She's mad now but she's been mad all along. She said once, 'I've been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.' No matter what, to her I'm just the Antichrist."

For years this was the excuse used to end Janet’s career. She was reduced to bit roles and short term parts. Many years later Will Smith came out to right a wrong he did as a 23 year old kid. Will Smith said Janet was right and he was wrong. Will had maturity issues and Janet was a professional that took her job too seriously. Janet’s stubbornness clashed with Will Smith’s ego. Ultimately bc Will Smith was a huge Movie and Television stardom in 1994, the show decided to dismantle the relationship with Janet Hubbard and replaced her with Daphne Maxwell Reid, who played Will's auntie in the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons of the show.

So to make a long story short, Will Smith got Janet fired and ended her acting career as well. This was a Hollywood secret that was forgotten but few knew.

RimWorld is getting an add-on for its Royalty DLC

2020-03-02T17:24:00.003-08:00

Along with hotfixes, the next thing on the agenda is a content add-on for Royalty. The goal is to make it play nicely with mods and not break saves, but as for everything else, it's still up in the air. Nothing is decided, but the add-on could include new combat psycasts, tweaks to mech clusters and extra quests.

The mech clusters are one of Royalty's big new additions. They're tricky mech bases made up of connected buildings with special elements like alarms, turrets, shields, factories that spawn more mechs. They're affected by extreme world conditions, too, filling the air with poison or blotting out the sun. They require players to go on the offensive, but the tweak being considered would make leaving them dormant for a long time worthwhile.

"The dramatic tension of having a mech cluster present on the map, but not yet fighting it, seems valuable," writes designer Tynan Sylvester. "So, if we can find more ways to have players intentionally keep clusters around it could add a lot of interest to play stories."

Further away, a 1.2 update is also on the cards—though Ludeon Studios' plans for that will probably be a mystery for a good while yet. In the meantime, players will be able to check out updates before they're live by hitting up the unstable development branch on Steam.

How to Change Acceptance of Discrimination in the Workplace

2020-02-08T08:43:00.001-08:00

The show Next Fashion on Netflix is the first show I’ve seen address the hard conversation of discrimination. The judges scored two contestants low for no one reason and one judge stood up and said this isn’t fair and made him uncomfortable. The two contestants with low scores technical skills were better than the other contestants, worked with the Big Three clients in the industry, and had successful projects for top revenue generating brands.

The judges said they were not happy with being the ones that keep discrimination alive. The judges said they know this important to the contestants bc they have been in their shoes and don’t want their career journey to end bc of discrimination. The judges also knew if they got attached to discrimination practices with their professional reputation on the line it would hurt their brands.

One judge said give me a reason why you are trying to eliminate these two contestants and give negative strikes on their reputation when they are the best in this competition based on the qualifications that were set for the competition.

The other judges had to admit they discriminated on the two contestants based on how they look without judging based on their qualifications and what they can do for business or have done. They redid the competition and evaluation until a wrong had been made right #blackhistorymonth

Will Activision Blizzard Stock Rise After Youtube Streaming Deal?

2020-02-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) dropped a big announcement just days before its Q4 earnings are due. On Jan. 24, the video game company announced a new partnership with Alphabet’s(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. The deal will see Activision Blizzard’s popular esports leagues stream exclusively on YouTube. In addition, Google Cloud becomes the preferred provider for the company’s online gaming. After a disastrous 2018 that saw the stock fall off a cliff and lose over 40% of its value in three months, Activision was in recovery mode in 2019. The Google deal, added to the boost from new game console launches this fall, will help ATVI stock continue on the growth path.

Activision will be dumping Amazon’s(NASDAQ:AMZN) Twitch to stream its esports league events exclusively on YouTube. This brings the popular Call of Duty, Hearthstone and Overwatch leagues to YouTube.

Esports not only helps to drive video game sales, the popularity of live streaming games is becoming an advertising bonanza. According to Neilson, Overwatch had a global average-minute audience of 313,000 viewers. That’s enough to bring in big-name advertisers including Coca Cola (NYSE:KO). Those numbers were up 18% last year, and the reach of YouTube could drive growth higher.

Terms of the deal weren’t released. However, Amazon had paid Activision $90 million for a two-year deal on Twitch for Overwatch. The YouTube deal is almost certainly richer.

Could the Relationship With Google Expand?

One interesting possibility that’s been raised by the deal with YouTube, is ATVI’s relationship with Google. There haven’t been any Activision Blizzard titles released for Google’s Stadia video game streaming service. However, as part of the YouTube deal, Google Cloud becomes the preferred provider for ATVI’s online gaming infrastructure.

This has raised hopes that the close relationship could turn into popular Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty making their way to Stadia.

New Game Consoles Will Spur Sales

Activision Blizzard Stock was relatively flat between 2009 and the start of 2013. That’s when it entered a period of rapid growth. ATVI ended 2012 under $11, and by the fall of 2018, it had topped $83. One of the biggest catalysSts for that performance? Video game consoles. In 2013, Microsoft(NASDAQ:MSFT) launched the Xbox One and Sony (NYSE:SNE) released the PlayStation 4. The next-gen game consoles kickstarted demand for video games.

Bottom Line on ATVI stock

Those who bought Activision Blizzard at its peak in 2018 watched their investment break a five-year growth streak to plummet in value. In the final three months of that year, ATVI stock lost over 40% of its value. Last year, the company had its ups and downs and it was a period of slow recovery, with the stock gaining 27% over the course of the year.

This year has the makings of a banner year for the company. Investment analysts see that, and ATVI stock continues to be a consensus “buy.”

Esports saw revenue top $1 billion globally in 2019, and Activision Blizzard is well-positioned to take a bigger chunk of that. The new deal to have Call of Duty, Hearthstone and Overwatch leagues stream exclusively on YouTube, is expected to expand the company’s reach. Add the launch of new game consoles in the mix — just in time for the holiday shopping season — and ATVI stock is poised to continue its 2019 recovery through 2020.

#YouTube, #google, #Activision, #blizzard, #esports, #EA

Lamar Jackson is Unanimous MVP

2020-02-01T16:01:00.001-08:00

Lamar Jackson was named the unanimous MVP receiving all 50 media votes. Jackson joins Tom Brady as 1 of 2 quarterbacks to receive the unanimous decision.

Jackson became the youngest quarterback to ever win MVP at 22 years, 358 days old (on Dec. 31, 2019) while leading the NFL's No. 1 scoring offense (33.2 points per game). With Jackson at the controls, Baltimore finished first or second in five key offensive categories: points per game, total yards per game, rushing yards per game, big plays per game and red-zone percentage.

Activision and EA Stocks Tank, Bethesda in a Historical Lawsuit

2020-02-01T10:20:00.002-08:00

Well. Where do I start. The AAA gaming world is in chaos right now. Whether we talk about EA and Activision losing significant profits or Bethesda being sued for illegal micro transactions, it’s a lot of instability in the video game world.

The stocks for EA and Activision dropped significantly for the consecutive quarters. That’s expected bc the games they released were far below standards. I mean I can list indie games with one developer/programmer that made better content. It’s like a factory environment with the content those companies are putting out.

Sports games like Madden, FIFA and NBA have been the same game for 10 years, and they still charge max price for it. Well, I will give EA credit bc their most anticipated game of 2019, Anthem, is now selling for $5, and I’m not kidding. I remember when the Mass Effect uproar was the warning for EA to make better games but they ignored customers and put out quickly done and bad games for a profit.

Bethesda really let everyone down with Fallout 76. Not only did the game like a true fallout experience, it was a pay to get ahead online player game. For years gamers wanted to connect with friends online and share the fallout world together, but the game created gangs, hacks and slavery options that made the game unplayable. Now Bethesda is being slammed by a lawsuit for illegal micro transactions as well.

I hate to say it but karma is hitting the gaming industry hard. For years it’s disrespected it’s workers and belittled on the customers. Now all that negativity is showing. The best place to retaliate is financially. No one can escape lack of income.