Random Video gamE newS

[Azdeus]

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Its an expansion, 20 hours or so in  length  and for high level characters from level 17 onwards and continues after the original campaign 

3 Chapters each 20 hours or so

"The campaign will be split into three parts, each around 20 hours in the length. "

[BruceVC]

20 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

3 Chapters each 20 hours or so

"The campaign will be split into three parts, each around 20 hours in the length. "

Nice catch, even better 

[BruceVC]

I am nearly done with Sunless Sea, its been a great journey and the game is very entertaining but I have spent 80 hours on it and I am happy to move on now 

I played about 30 minutes of Hitman and then realized I dont  want to play a game where I need to constantly sneak around and use disguises. So I uninstalled it 

Im seriously considering playing  NWN:EE with loads of Mods added but I havent finished studying  so maybe I should do that first 

[Malcador]

 

They need to put that quote on a card.

[Lexx]

Spoiler

 

Always remember that some trolls like to play both sides just to stir up drama.

[Gorth]

Guild Wars 2 live stream sometime today, with previews and info about the third expansion 'End of Dragons'... I'm mostly curious about the new elite class specializations atm, but that might of course change once we get to actually know something (like anything???) about what they have planned. So far, afaik, the only two things that are certain are it's in Cantha (a Far East inspired part of the game world) and there will be new elite specs. Personal guess is, a lot of the action is going to be underwater. Based on new skimmer (the aquatic mount) abilities, promised visual upgrades to legendary underwater weapons and last but not least, the last living Elder Dragon is supposedly an underwater dragon living in Cantha.

Just a teaser trailer from a year ago (i.e. just a mood setter, no useful info)

 

[BruceVC]

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/letter-co-signed-by-over-1000-activision-blizzard-employees-sent-to-leadership-denouncing-studios-response-to-lawsuit-2000122639

Blizzard isnt handling the allegations very well, more criticism from staff

 

[Raithe]

https://www.axios.com/activision-blizzard-walkout-harassment-lawsuit-fefa807b-107e-41e2-a6e2-78a086119e04.html

 

https://www.polygon.com/22595703/activision-blizzard-employee-protest-walk-out-lawsuit

 

Quote

Employees at Activision Blizzard will hold a walkout Wednesday in protest of widespread harassment allegations across the company, a spokesperson on behalf of the group told Axios.

*****

The lawsuit, filed July 22 by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), described a company culture that allowed for gender-based discrimination and “constant sexual harassment.” A two-year investigation into the company alleged that women were held back from promotions for various reasons, including the possibility that they may eventually take maternity leave, and that female employees were subject to “derogatory comments about rape” and other demeaning behaviors.

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Raithe

[Gfted1]

I guess the lawsuit wasnt "protest-y" enough. 

[Malcador]

4 hour walkout seems strange.

[Gfted1]

Well, they dont want to lose a full days pay.

[Malcador]

4 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Well, they dont want to lose a full days pay.

No, think I am mistaken - 4 hours in person protest but 9-1800 is no work so.  Good on them though, nothing changes without some sort of pressure.

[Gfted1]

18 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Good on them though, nothing changes without some sort of pressure.

Agreed. But the lawsuit accomplishes that imo. This seems like bush league attention seeking.

[Malcador]

Is useful attention though, people noticing the employees are getting angry does impact the management, much less than the lawsuit, for sure.  Although maybe I'm overestimating their concern for reputational risks.

[Gorth]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

Is useful attention though, people noticing the employees are getting angry does impact the management, much less than the lawsuit, for sure.  Although maybe I'm overestimating their concern for reputational risks.

Ask Electronic Arts how much their reputation matters to them...

Ok, just kidding. For some companies, it's all weighed up in their chart of accounts. Acceptable losses if other gains makes up for it.

 

I must be getting soft. Sat up all night watching the GW2 live stream on twitch together with a lot of guildies on Discord. Got to bed around 4am

Got some questions answered and some questions just got what I would consider teaser responses.

 

From memory:

Taking place in Cantha (already knew that).

Adding a new mount. A two person mount this time, with one driver and one gunner. It's a siege turtle. Yes, Mad Max meet Aqua World. Also mentioned in passing as useable in a WvW context.

Skiffs. Not only in the new area, but old areas to be retrofitted with the ability to sail around on your small boats.

Fishing. Multiplayer fishing too. 200+ different fish species to be caught all over the world (retroactively adding catchable fish to existing areas)

New guild hall. A small paradise like island with a distinct Asian theme. Lots of water features and lush greenery.

DirectX 11 support to be beta tested and hopefully released before the expansion.

Significant rework to how match ups works in WvW. The aim being to let players form alliances between their guilds and then pitch alliances against each other rather than the current server vs. server (the guild wars are truly coming). To be beta tested and hopefully released before the expansion.

9 new elite specializations. Only one was shown (a new Mesmer specialization). Four public beta test sessions scheduled, the first one in a few weeks time. Each of the first three sessions to test 3 specs each and the fourth to test all 9 together.

New strike missions (think Raid 'Lite') and new encounter mechanics in general, scaling enemies by adding more abilities rather than turning then into hit point sponges with increased damage output.

Five new mastery tracks, of which the first three are to improve your fishing, skiff piloting and siege turtle skills. The last two to be revealed later.

I probably forgot a lot of details because it was a bit late and I haven't watched it again. Open for pre-purchase now. Release date currently February 2022.

 

Edit: There was something too about the use of all that jade they have. When the human gods had a falling out with each other, one of the collateral damages was the ocean around Cantha got turned into solid jade (hence the name 'The Jade Sea'). Apparently this very magically charged jade has given rise to a new form for technology. An interesting scene towards the end of the new trailer shows a woman in something that looks like a server room, with a mix of magic, steam punk and green glowing jade everywhere.

[Mamoulian War]

11 hours ago, Malcador said:

Is useful attention though, people noticing the employees are getting angry does impact the management, much less than the lawsuit, for sure.  Although maybe I'm overestimating their concern for reputational risks.

We'll see how this will play out. We had similar backlash about Ubisoft few months ago, and with the exception of one C-suit getting golden boot, not much have changed there As Gorth said, if toxic behaviour rakes in more dough than normal behaviour, the bad reputation is just a small stain on the yearly earnings investor meeting
 

 

[Malcador]

I replace YongYea with Microsoft Narrator as I read the webpage.

10 hours ago, Gorth said:

Ask Electronic Arts how much their reputation matters to them...

Ok, just kidding. For some companies, it's all weighed up in their chart of accounts. Acceptable losses if other gains makes up for it.

Well, this is serious stuff, as opposed to gamers raging about trivial nonsense (I always like "They only care about money!!" as a revelatory accusation).   But Blizzard still had cachet.

[Keyrock]

 

[Katphood]

 

[MrBrown]

Not looking good for the employees at Acti-blizz.

[Maedhros]

I'll never understand why workers in the US don't want.....worker rights. These protests won't amount to anything in the long run unless they actually unionize. There is way too much exploitation of people going around in the video game industry, and elsewhere.

https://kotaku.com/inside-blizzard-developers-infamous-bill-cosby-suite-1847378762

[melkathi]

Because the US have vilified worker's rights for the better part of a century, and unions are the one thing the federal government will always come down hard on.

Isn't it telling that unions have a bad reputation for mob influence over them, while the same control the mob had over police, municipal authorities, the courts, was never addressed in the same way.

Edited July 30, 2021 by melkathi

[Lexx]

It's not just the US anymore. I know a czech person who is strongly anti-union with one of the arguments being that unions make his job worse and stuff like that.

[Gfted1]

List of labor unions in the United States.

[Pidesco]

23 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

List of labor unions in the United States.

Existing labor unions in the US have become weaker and weaker over the years. And a bunch of key occupations don't have unions at all. Specific to this discussion, tech workers Unions are almost nonexistent in the US.

Also, Union and collective agreement coverage is really low in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_agreement_coverage