A new look for an evolving studio

Remedy Entertainment is updating its look. After over 20 years of sticking to the same logo, Remedy unveiled its ??new logo today.

The old Remedy logo, with a bullet in the letter R, was representative of the era of Max Payne, and a different kind of Remedy. But, as communications director Thomas Puha writes in the announcement, Remedy is evolving. And so ??its logo is evolving, to??o, to better reflect today's Remedy.

"The Remedy logo means a lot to us, but we know it also means a lot to you," Puha said. "Like the games we create ??at Remedy, we approached this process with great care, consideration and a lot of passion! We want to create memorable worlds, stories, and characters for you to experience through our games. We wanted our n??ew logo to reflect how we constantly evolve and continue creating exciting games with the very best people. However, it’s all still one Remedy where courageous creativity thrives. We hope you like the new look."

The new logo, seen above, is an R with a bit of a mirrored, staggered look. It does remind me a bit of some of the visual effects from Control, which suits Remedy's?? lean into sci-fi storytelling over the years.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyJvCq4HvQ4

A question of identity

It might seem like a little shift, but reading about this today did make me reflect on how Remedy has shifted over the years. The studio started out in 1995, with an eye-shaped logo that infamously prompted a standoff with LucasArts and led to the logo that stuck for two decades.

In the time since, Remedy went from May Payne to Alan Wake, then on to Quantum Break. And now, with the success of 2019's Control, the studio is planning several spin-offs, as well as a Max Payne remake compilation. There's even Alan Wake 2 due out this year, a launch target that Remedy reaffirms in today's news. The studio's certainly grown a lot, and now it's got a new look to go with ?it.

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Buda-bep-bud-du-bep... Boop!

The National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) has announced that Koji Kondo's iconic Super Mario Bros. theme is to be inducted for preservation in the U.S. Library of Congress?. The instantly recognizable ditty will be the first piece of video game music ever to join the NRPB's catalog of significant compositions.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTa6Xbzfq1U&??amp;ab_channel=ultragam??emusic

Each year, the NRPB selects 25 pieces of music that it deems "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant, and/or informs or reflects life in the United States". I like to think that the Super Mario Bros. Theme falls into the latter category. Kondo's simple but endlessly entering tune �officially known upon conception as simply "Ground Theme" made its debut in World 1-1 of 1985 NES release Super Mario Bros. It has since been remixed and used endless times for various Nintendo titles, TV show?s, and commercials.

Joining Mario in the library this year will also be guitar shop nightmare "Stairway to Heaven" b??y?? Led Zeppelin, Madonna's censor bothering "Like a Virgin", Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", John Lennon's "Imagine" and, from the goddess of winter herself, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You". For all you midwestern dads, Jimmy Buffet is getting representation via his 1977 hit "Margaritaville".

Sadly, there is no sign of my personal favorite Super Mario Bros. tune, "Take on Me" by a-ha.

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See the future that once was

A piece of Nintendo hist??ory has resur??faced on YouTube. Once-lost footage of Nintendo's prototype LCD monitor for the GameCube has shown up, years after the hardware was shown at E3 2002.

YouTuber and IGN parent company Ziff Davis employee Adam Doree uploaded some footage from the show, as noticed by GoNintendo. This LCD monitor was apparently show??n at E3 2002, but was never released.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7KBJv4pqg

The attached LCD monitor would have made that GameCube handle suddenly make a lot more sense. To me, it feels like a distant murm?ur of the ideas that would lead to the Wii U and Switch. Part of the thinkin??g, as Nintendo's Satoru Iwata explains in the footage, is that players might be able to carry their GameCube around and link them up, using something like a broadband cable.

A different dimension

Having a small screen on top of the GameCube wasn't the only gimmick of this monitor, though. This may have also contained another wild potential twist: 3D technology. In an Iwata Asks about the Nintendo 3DS, Iwata t?alked with producer Hideki Konno about early attempts at glasses-free 3D.

Iwata: Then after development had advanced a bit, the 3D idea came up.

Konno: Yes. I think the timing was good. Some of the staff members around me were saying things like, "Today's 3D LCDs really look good!" I thought so, too. I had a connection with 3D games anyway. After the development of Luigi's Mansion for Ninte?ndo GameCube was over, I?? was involved in the experiment of making a 3D version of it.

Iwata: Luigi's Mansion 3D. Unfortunately, we never released it.

Konno: Yeah. We tried fitting the Nintendo GameCube with a small, roughly four-inch, LCD that allowed you to enjoy Luigi's Mansion in glasses-free 3D.

Iwata: We show??ed that LCD as a reference exhibit at the 2002 E317, but kept the 3D aspect secret. I liked that, though??.

Konno: Yeah. It had depth, so it really pulled you into the world of the game. I thought it was great, but�/p>

Iwata: But?? we ?just couldn't get past the problem of how to sell it.

Konno: Right. Liquid crystal was still expensive back then, and no matter how new an experience we could provide through the games, there would have been a need for players to buy the LCD as an accessory. There was even talk that it could turn out to be more expensive than the con?sole itself!

Iwata: In the end, we couldn't overcome that hurdle and it never made it out into the light as a produc??t.

LCD Wonderworld

As if the development history of this long-lost LCD screen couldn't get more interesting, here comes Yuji Naka. Also included in Doree's tape archives from the show is foot?age of Iwata discussing the history of this monitor. As Iwata shares, Nintendo brought out the LCD monitor to show off the technology. But this scre?en also lead to a collaboration between two other well-known developers: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and, at the time from Sega, Yuji Naka.

According to Iwata, Miyamoto was talking to Naka about Phantasy Star Online. The question was floated: is there a way PSO could go portable? Naka responded, ?saying it would be a good idea, but there was something else he had been thinking ??about and wanted to propose.

Naka then forwarded a card game based on Phantasy Star, which Iwata says is being shown off on the consoles. Obviously, this never came to fruition in this form. But given the timing (E3 2002), that sounds vaguely similar to 2003's GameCube entry Phantasy Star Online Episo??de III: C.A.?R.D. Revolution.

Either way, it's an incredible piece of GameCube history, for a console that's seemed to only grow fonder in peoples' hearts as time goes on. While we may dream?? of what may have been, we do at least have the Switch now for our on-the-go Nintendo needs.

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An icon returns

This week is a very special one for the retro purveyors over at Hamster Corp, this week sees the publisher hit 300 consecutive weeks of console releases, having rolled out almost six years' worth of golden oldies to its record-breaking Arcade Archives range. And, befitting the importance of the occasion, the publisher is taking it right back to the 1970s, with a rerelease of Namco's first major smash hit, Galaxian.

Released to the burgeoning arcade market in 1979, Galaxian was Namco's effort to capitalize on the earth-shattering success of Taito's 1978 release, Space Invaders. Following a similar formula, Galaxian has the player control a space vessel at ??the foot of the screen, taking on patterns of enemies that form in concurrent lines across the top of the screen.

Quite unlike Space Invaders, however, the enemy ships in Galaxian break away from the pack, dive-bombing the player while firing projectiles. This startling twist immediately increased the pace of Galaxian over its forebearer, while also winning over players with its colorful sprites, "futuristic" sound effects, and scrolling background �affording a faux optical effect of space travel. It was only a year on from Taito's groundbreaking release, but Galaxian seemed light years ahead at the time.

Check out the old-school action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Snake Latino.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy_Q7XBpwX4

Galaxian was a global hit, shifting over 50,000 arcade units worldwide in its first three years of release. It would receive an array of home ports on consoles and home computers, while paving the way for its equally successful and influential sequel Galaga. Followed by a host of spin-offs, sequels, remixes, and rereleases, the Galaxian franchise has shifted over 12 million games since 1979, and is recognized by video game fans the world over as one of the d??efining titles of the shmup genre in genera??l and of gaming as a whole.

Galaxian is available to download now on PS4 and Ninte?ndo Switch.

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5.1 million sales in launch week

While everybody, from developer to media to players, was expecting Sony Santa Monica's epic sequel God of War Ragnarok to light up the cash registers with the fury of Helios, perhaps nobody was quite expecting it to immediately become the fastest-selling launch in PlayStation's entire history, as decreed by the industry giant itself.

Over the course of its debut week, God of War Ragnarok shifted a staggering 5.1 million combined physical and digital copies, not only breaking launch records for the long-running mythological franchise, but also beating launch records for every single first-party game in PlayStation history, dating right? back to the brand's debut in 1994. That's a meaty feat.

God of War Ragnarok is available now on PlayStation platforms.  And it seems folks are into ??it.

//twitter.com/PlayStation/st?atus/1595432230750674945?s=20&t=qSazuZ38JJ6L0vCuhO6bzg

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Liberty, equality, fraternity... or death

Paris. ?1789. The Renaissance was so very long ago... Did it even happen?

Looking around the fallen capital, one would fairly assume not. ??The City of Lights, a place celebrated for its art, invention, culture, and architecture now resembles The Gates of Hell, a vision soon to be crafted by Rodin himself. The streets are awash with blood and bodies �innocent civilians, rebellious conspirators, and even the king's own army lying in miserable piles of broken flesh.

And the king himself? This citywide massacre is his doing, the heart of his capital torn in two by a seemingly unstoppable army of robotic soldiers. Far from being the loyal guardians ??and entertainers of Paris, as initially designed, the automaton army has instead become her oppressor, stalking the cobbled streets and killing those who would stand against the bereaved monarch with extreme prejudice. Starving, scared, and cowering within their own homes, the city's populace has neither the weaponry nor the knowledge to take on The Clockwork King's footsoldiers, let alone flee t??he city for safer ground.

But there is one hope. One automaton that is not under the command of King Louis XVI but is, ironically, guided by his own lady wife, Marie Antoinette. She is the Q??ueen's personal bodyguard, built to withstand the most brutal of assault, outfitted with a devastating arsenal of weap??onry, and blessed as one of the only automatons in France to possess anything close to free will.

She is Aegis, and she is co?me to open the purple testament of bleeding war.

Steelrising (PS5 [reviewed], PC, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Nacon
Released: September 8, 2022
MSRP: $49.99

Steelrising is French developer Spiders' first title since colonial RPG GreedFall, which launched to middling praise back in the fall of 2019. Much like that title, Steelrising focuses on an alternate retelling of another specific moment in human history �namely the French Revolution, which waged its bloody, class-based warfare in the late 1700s. Steelrising takes the framework of this tumultuous, world-shaping event and uses it as a backdrop to tell its own fictional?? tale, blended with a phantasmagoria of anachronist??ic technology to create a fictional retelling of these dark days of cake and head severings.

In Steelrising, players step into the delicate chassis of Aegis, a high-level automaton who serves as bodyguard to Marie Antoinette, currently residing in "protection"? (see "relative captiv?ity"), at the Chateau de Saint-Cloud. Aware that the streets of Paris are torn asunder, Queen Antoinette orders Aegis to travel into the heart of the capital and find her creator, Eugene de Vaucanson, who may hold the key to stopping the increasingly unstable Louis XVI and his battalion of automatons. Automatons that are already leading a campaign of death and violence throughout the capital.

Politics is politics, however, and every actor on this stage has a part to play. Queen Antoinette, King Louis, Vaucanson, the members of the Estates General, the mysteriou??s Comte Cagliostro, and, of course, the sublime Aegis herself �who will emerge the victor when the gears finally stop turning?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-pii4ZK6wg

Rise of the Robots

For all intents and purposes, Steelrising is a Soulslike �its gameplay typified by map explor??ation; deliberate, brutal combat; the accessing of stat-building checkpoints; and the mastery of both alchemic weapons and long-winded attack animations in order to win the day, whether stood against the lowliest of guard bots or most terrifying of titans.

Strangely, however, the chosen genre does not synergize wholly with the universe Spiders has created. There is an ever-present impression that the developer should have crafted Steelrising as a straight action-adventure, akin to Horizon: Zero Dawn, or the Batman: Arkham series.

While Steelrising does offer a solid and capable Souls experience, some of its brilliant conceptual capability is certainly lost in its slow-paced, measured, and deliberate approach to world traversal and in-game action. By choosing to jump on the, shall we say, Soulswagon? Steelrising leaves some of its own potential on the table, wearing the Souls genre in an admirable, but il??l-fitting fashion. One wonders what might have been had Spiders chosen to go with a di??fferent vibe for the chrono-bending adventure.

Still, while I do think that the world and its engine do not entirely sync, it must be noted that Steelrising is most certainl??y a fine �and pretty darn classy �adventure title in its own right.

I love my 18th Century Goth Robot Wife

When your protagonist is an indebted roboservant, you run the risk of alienating the player due to a lack of character re??latability. Blank-gazing automatons can feel a little flat, after all.

Fortunately, Aegis is a marvel of design, as achingly beautiful as she is painfully deadly, with a surprisingly engaging personality despite her dry, staccato line delivery. Aegis is no 2B of NieR fame �her gears and cogs crunch and grind as she runs, her engine sputters and chokes, and her vocal tone is reminiscent of the "What is this thing you call "'love'?" lore of old-sch??ool sci-fi. But despite �perhaps because of �her fundamental flaws, we like her. We like her very much. Additionally, a selection of customization options allows us to tune Aegis' design. This includes her skin tone. An important touch, even for automatons.

As Aegis, the player journeys through several quarters of Paris, each defined by its own style, atmosphere, and variety of intriguing �and very dangerous �enemies. The automatons themselves are a veritable circus of iconic 18th-century design, from rickety, inelegant, sword-swinging guards, to fanciful trumpet-playing clowns, frightening feline scouts, and bulbous, heavy-hitting giants. In typical Souls fashion, each of these enemies is a legitimate threat to Aegis, and must be closely studied for its vulnerabilities, so that our girl may strike hard, fast, and with finali??ty.

Evening the odds, Aegis can head into battle with a variety of bladed and blunt weaponry including swords, polearms, chains, fans, and mallets, as well as firearms and rudimentary explosive devices. Each weapon has its own range of weak, fierce, and charged fierce attacks, as well as special skills including aerial strikes, parries, or shielding options. In addition, "Anima Essence" (XP) can be spent on increasing ?a given weapon's statistics, or on upgrading Aegis herself, affording her a stronger moveset, better armor, elemental resistance, or fine-tuning for her offensive and defensive animations.

Ultimately, the player is encouraged to build "their" Aegis, from her abilities in battle and her aesthetic pre?sence, to her internal build, weapons of choice, and her d?ecidedly dapper robo-fashions.

Fetch the WD-40

As I noted in my review for another mid-budget Soulslike, Thymesia, control and combat are the beating heart of the genre. The core of any given example's gameplay experience. In this regard, Steelrising is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about. It is solid, but it is not great. It is precise, but it's not polished. Controls can feel a little sluggish at times, and even unresponsive on occasion, while the game's lock-on system, (which is a "Must Use" feature), can be woefully unreliable and cost me more than a few lives. Aegis, by design, is balletic chaos, a finely-honed machine of death that moves with all the grace and beauty of a dancer, but this wondrous design simply isn't reflected in Steelrising's mechanics.

When cornered, or when fighting several opponents in close proximity, Aegis is less Battle Angel: Alita and more Metal Mickey, stumbling between PoVs while the camera dawdles behind a nearby hedge. Steelrising's combat works. It's solid and it serves. But it falters under pressure, with lock-on fumbles, spinning camerawork, or obstacles posted frustratingly just out of frame aren't on a player's side. As a rule of animatronic thumb, Steelrising's combat mechanics are acceptable, but in a genre that requires scalpel sharpness, they need a little tweaking, lest Aegis?? b?reak down like yer boy Moyse on Twitter last week.

Perhaps hoping to corral players who do not sport the required Souls Sadist Streak, Steelrising features a clever "Assist Mode" option. This feature can be used to fine-tune the difficulty to your own personal level, with sliders available for enemy damage and endurance regeneration speed, as well as an option to retain all unbanked XP on death. I found that the Assist Mode offered excellent training wheels while I got to grips with Steelrising's function �switching it off once I'd cleared the first chapter. Steelrising also features three console modes, tuned for Performance, Resolution, and Graphics. I chose Performance for my playthrough (and for these screenshots) becau?se I like it when video games play.

Oh, there is also a toggle for "Hat Visibility," which I want to see in every single game from now on?.

Eyeful Power

Steelrising looks marvelous. From shadow-strewn woodland, mud-filled ghettos, and palatial estates to the carnage of The Bastille itself, Spiders' masterful eye for exterior locations �honed in the equally attractive GreedFall �is in full effect here. Sharp lighting, shadow, and other effects bring each location to life, while smartly shifting moods give each quarter its own distinct vibe. One moment you're taking in the opulence of The Lourve, and the next you're headed to Luxembourg, where the game goes full horror. In addition to the environmental design, clever concepts such as t??he Horseless Carriage, the "Vestal" checkpoints, and ??Aegis' death-dealing weaponry will please steampunkers.

Add to this Steelrising's cavalcade of memorable and disturbing automatons, (yes, of course there are arachnids), and there's no doubt that both historical concepts and slick visual design are assuredly Spiders' strong points. This is a studio of ambition. An ambition that often outweighs budget, mind, but ambition nevertheless. Even when Steelrising disappoints, it works to win back the player wit??h a creepy new enemy, a haunting vista, or a satisfying instrument of destruction �ready and waiting to be brought down on the noggin of a sleazy conservative bastard.

Steelrising, ultimately, plays tug-o-war with the player, repeatedly swinging between "alright," "good," and "great" on an hourly basis. Some of its design is disappointing, such as the clunky menu system, a genuinely funny mechanic whereby Aegis converses with NPCs through closed doors (likely due to a lack of character models), and an emphasis on rooftop traversal with a character that... well... isn't exactly Ezio Auditore. Most shockingly of all, Steelrising lacks a French dub, meaning that the dialogue proffers London East End accents for its peasants, while the aristocracy relies on the time-tes?ted "half-language" gimmick:

"Mon Dieu, I do not know what it is that we shall do next, c'est fini!"

"Calm yourself, Maitre, maybe this automaton will adiez nou."

So, here we are on jour du jugement dernier, and where does Steelrising stand?

I've personally been looking forward to this title since it was first revealed in the summer of 2020, and while I will admit that the final product is not quite the game I was hoping for, I still found it an enjoyable and challenging action RPG, despite its disappointments. We're not looking at your newest Souls obsession here, but Spiders has made a solid and agreeable title. Anyone with an interest in Steelrising's classy aesthetic and interesting take on history will enjoy guiding Aegis to her rise to glory, standing proud and tal?l over the aimless meat bags that make up the human race. Vive la robolution!

Though slightly wanting when compared with its Souls contemporaries, Steelrising still offers up challenging combat, inventive enemies, and an attractive and atmospheric take on 18th-century Paris at a time of great upheaval. Much like its previous release, GreedFall, you can see Spiders' ambition, passion, and talent at play here, and while the final product is not quite the success it could have been, Steelrising's robot revolution is ??still worth its we?ight in cake.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Farewell to a Downtown Nekketsu legend

Japanese developer Miracle Kidz! has reported the sad news that its president, Mitsuhiro Yoshida, passed away "suddenly" on August 30. Yoshida, who has been part of the games industry for many decades, is best known as the co-director of one of the most popular brawlers in history, River City Ransom.

Described by his Miracle Kidz! colleagues as the "father" of the Downtown Nekketsu franchise, Yoshida �alongside co-director Hiroyuki Sekimoto �may not have been responsible for the creation of the Kunio-kun franchise, but certainly helmed its most well-known and widely played entry. River City Ransom, (known in its native Japan as Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari) launched on the NES in 1989 and is one of the first titles to marry the belt-scrolling brawler action of the series with a non-linear RPG structure. The international success of RCR helped paved the way for a slew of sequels and spin-of??fs.

//twitter.com/miracle_kidz/status/156590762??1072470016?s=20&t=1EUKMC8KdRfhUOeqUT2pDg

Yoshida would continue to work with the franchise, directing the goofy NES port of Nekketsu Koko Dodgeball (Super Dodge Ball), before starting up a studio comprised of many former employees of old-school developer Technos Japan. Since founding Miracle Kidz!, Yoshida has continued to work on several titles set both in and out of the Kunio-kun universe, and was reportedly working on a new game ri??ght up? until his untimely passing.

As a mainstay of any NES owner's catalog, River City Ransom has provided brawler fans with hours upon hours of double-fisted action �paving the way for the series' enduring appeal, recognized today in the form of WayForward's popular River City Girls franchise.

We at Destructoid offer our condolences to?? his family and friends??.

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Become a politician; without selling your soul

Ever since Paradox Interactive announced Victoria 3, I've been in a state of semi-disbelief.? It was a strategy game in-joke for so long that I couldn't believe it was really happening. I was provided a preview build of the upcoming socio-economic grand strategy game thanks to Paradox. To quote Sidra Holland and Jackie Chiles, it's "real, and it's fantastic." And soon, you too can politick to your heart's content when the game releases on October 25, 2022.

For those of you present who aren't cool enough to know what the Victoria series is all about, an introduction is in order. Victoria is a grand strategy game series aptly set during the Victorian era. Whereas other entries in the Paradox family of grand strategy games focus on war or lineage, Victoria's focus lies in economics and the changing political landscape of the dawning Modern age. Starting in 1836, you control a country and all of its economy and laws while trying to improve the lives of your citizenry. You know how you always scream at your screen that you "can do better" whenever some talking head politician messes everything up? Victoria allows you to put your money (or n?ational credit) where your mouth is.

The problem with the Victoria series is that we've been devoid of a new entry since 2010 and the last entry is a notoriously hard nut to crack for various reasons. From the Version 0.1 build that I played, I can safely say that Victoria 3 is well on its way to addressing many of the barriers to ent?ry that its previo??us entries had.

Bringing the Modern Age into the Digital Age

The first improvement that stood out to me was the UI/UX design, even compared to games as recent as Imperator: Rome. At a closed-door press demo, game director Martin Anward emphasized that while Victoria 3 would be easier for new players to get into, it would not come at the expense of ?complexity but through streamlining how information is presented. Your basic menus where you take the various temperatures of your nation are all still present, but sorters and filters have been given big buttons to help you get to what you need quickly.

On? top of? menus, important overlays of the map have also been given big buttons at the bottom of the screen to show you the big picture of how your empire (and anyone else on the map) are doing in regards to metrics such as production and consumption, quality of life, what have you.

Additionally, nearly every term, metric, item, and country has been given what is called a nested tooltip. Those who have played Crusader Kings III will recognize the feature as it is used in the base release of that game as well. By hovering over a color-coded word in a menu, you will get both a br?eakdown of what it means, as well as a look at how well you are doing in ter??ms of said metric. After a few seconds of hovering over the term, the tooltip window will soft lock on your screen and you can then navigate to a nested tooltip within your nested tooltip. I think I maxed out at three tooltip windows as I was delving deep into my economy. It did start to get a bit crowded for simple mouse movement, but I had all the information I needed, and it didn't require going to the Official Victoria wiki.

I know what you're thinking, "menu design, what a place to start for a preview" �but all of your decisions and actions will be made through menus, so it's nice to see that a concerted effort has been made to streamli??ne the intake of information for a topic as complex as economics and how th??at affects your populace. But fine, if you want something juicier than menu improvements, how about an actual developer-made tutorial mode?

Ooooh, teach me, Amadeus.

With nearly every previous Paradox grand strategy game, you were given a very base tutorial that mostly entailed how to navigate menus and complete actions. Past that point, you were left to your own devices to figure out how to succeed which at the time meant digging into double-digit hours of YouTube videos. Victoria 3 has not onl?y a tutorial mode but also an objective mode that guides you with completing nations such as a hegemonic ruler ??or an egalitarian utopia.

In said tutorial mode, you are given a breadcrumb trail that acts as an interactive Econ and Poly Sci 101. Various objectives such as "grow your GDP" or "make a political party that doesn't like you happier" are presented to you and you are given the option of being shown why you should do that, and if you want to be truly handheld, how you can go about it. However, sometimes the objectives were a bit redundant. It got annoying when they were trying to make me placate a social group that stood in staunch opposition to the policies I was trying to enact. But the game never yelled at me for ignoring it. Even with the redundancy of one or two objectives, I was able to get my economy into working order thanks to training mode. Before this in Victoria 2, I had considerable trouble achieving it.

It could be easy to handwave away something as simple as an objective or tutorial mode, but when it comes to the Victoria series, it's incredibly welcoming to players who don't have an established knowledge of something as complex as statesmanship (i.e., most people). This addition is not only huge for the Victoria series, but also for the great?er Paradox grand strategy library. Is a tutorial also not doing it for you? How about a map improvement?

The map is alive with the sound of social upheaval

Also new to the Paradox gran?d strategy library as a whole is a new "?living map."

Previous entries of the map interface were pretty much just colors and lines akin to political maps. In Victoria 3, the map has received a major update to show how your country is evolving through visual cues. You can now see new cities and factories popping up along w??ith infrastructural changes such as trains running in yo?ur states. The neat thing about this new feature is that it isn't just arbitrary additions on the map �you can see that new building you built on the map. It's a little touch but it helps in helping drive home the connection between you and your populace.

While the addition of the living map is nice, it did adversely affect performance on my Ryzen 7 3700/RTX 2070 Super build. The development team did assure us at the conference that it was a preview build of the game and improvements would be implemented before launch, but it was still noticeable enough to lead to brief slowdowns and even a ??crash once.

War, (HUH), what is it good for?

One of the main concerns that arose since the announcement of Victoria 3 was the perceived absence of autonomy for war and how it is waged. Whereas every other Paradox game allowed you to wage war as you saw fit, Victoria 3 has done away with direct control of your armies and is instead leaving this task up to gen?erals and admirals that you assign to your armed forces and waging war based on their characteristics. While the loss of autonomy in warfare is felt, you have other ways of interacting with foreign nations through the us?e of hostile diplomacy in what is being referred to as diplomatic plays.

In a diplomatic play, you can attempt to force a foreign government to change one of its policies to something that you deem more fit for your liking. At this point, a battle of the wills pops up between the two nations. Demands and possible concessions are laid out by both sides, with the opportunity for allies and even regional neighbors to get involved in the diplomatic battle. Anyone who gets in?volved can do anything from simply getting their toes wet with economic support, all the way up to committing troops to a potential conflict (with demands of their own to be met by the main player they are siding with). If something can be worked out, great, all parties walk away (mostly) unscathed. But if talks fail to reach a compromise, then the two sides will escalate to war. War is then ??conducted through the use of high-level strategic choices that you dictate such as assigning generals to armies and placing said armies along fronts.

The developers have essentially taken the war goal/casus belli mechanic from every other game in their repertoire and expanded it for the purposes of diplomacy. I will admit that the only action I saw in diplomatic plays was sitting on the bench waiting to be called up by a larger country as repayment for a good deed they did for me earlier. I did come close ??to forcing a change from an isolationist trade policy to an open market, but peace won.

Fun with finance (and flags)

I've been waiting for Victoria 3 for what seems like forever. By the time I returned to PC gaming in the mid-2010s, Victoria 2 was already falling out of date as Paradox refined its craft and had begun to make its games more easily palatable to the uninitiated. I've always been a closet political junkie, and I'm a big enough nerd to love the concept of economics and international trade. So it was all about waiting for my turn in the sun. After a week and a half with the pr??eview build, I can tell that m??y turn is coming.

The entire time I had with the preview, I was having a blast. The game sucked me in, grabbed hold of my attention, and refused to let go. I couldn't stop thinking about my long-term goals and would frequently boot up the game to implement a policy change I thought of while doing real-world stuff. One evening, my poor partner came rushing into our computer room thinking something was gravely wrong with me because I was muttering curses at length. America had cut off my supply of small arms, and my economy took a turn for th??e worst because of it. I wanted America's head, and I was ready to back anyone who felt the same way but was limited by my size. I was promptly called a loser and left to smolder in my rage.

Victoria 3 is, without a doubt, not for everyone. It also has some ways to go before it is street-ready. But for a preview build, it ran pretty well most of the time. Even with the times where it stumbled, Victoria 3 was the most fun I've had with a grand strategy game ever. There is no greater?? joy than g?rowing your economy while also increasing your infrastructure. I can't wait to get back into the big chair and bring my nation into a prosperous new era of social equality.

Victoria 3 will release for PC on October 25, 2022.

The post Impressions: I got to play Victoria 3 and so ca?n you this October appeared first on Destructoid.

Masahiro Ito clears up a Silent Hill misconception

Few horror series in games are as talked about or discussed as Silent Hill. And while there's plenty of fascinating material in them, Masahiro Ito would like to clarify one point in particular: that's snow, not ash, in Silent Hill.

Ito worked as a monster and background designer on the first Silent Hill, before going on to be art director for Silent Hill 2 and 3. You might wonder why, of all things, this clarification is important. Or maybe why it has to be clarified at all. For that, we'll need to take a trip through Silent Hill history.

In the original 1999 game, white dots pepper the sky outside. There is a clear moment in game where, in dialogue, the characters address that it's snowing outside. Ito posted the exact screenshot, saying he's "tired of saying that tbh." Which is understandable, as he's had to clear this up before now, too.

//twitter.com/adsk4/status/1549489416208785408

Movie magic

So why is there a misconception at all? Well, Silent Hill would later be adapted into a film. This movie, which premiered in 2006, took some liberties with the source material. It combined pieces of several Silent Hill games, including Silent Hill 2's notorious Pyramid Head.

The film also took inspiration from real life. Reports from the time indicate screenwriter Roger Avary took inspiration from the real-life town of Centralia,? Pennsylvania. A fire lit up an underground coal vein in Centralia, creating a danger zone and leavin??g a ghost town behind.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q95d00fDQk

All this is to say, the town in the Silent Hill film was affected by smoke and ash due to a coal seam fire. And somehow this inspiration trickled downstream into ?the public knowledge subconscious a?nd became a repeated misconception that Ito is clearing up.

"Many people still claim that the town of the SH1 (not the film but the original game) was inspired by Centralia and they boast the headcanon is the canon," Ito writes. "They persistently question me as to the inspiration. This is the reason for this tweet. I just tw?eeted the truth."

The real Silent Hill

ResetEra user Darkknight2149 compiled an exhaustive topic on this, diving into the refutations, and not just from Ito. There are additional screenshots confirming it's snow in Silent Hill, and even quotes from Silent Hill creator Keiic??hiro Toyam?a about the game's inspiration.

In an archived version of a 1999 interview with Toyama from PSM #19, he actively refutes it ?being?? based on a real U.S. town.

PSM: Why did you choose a small US town for the setting of the game? Is there a real Silent Hill?

Toyama: If you like modern horror novels, it would be easy to understand, but it's the situation that you can't miss. In this game, the modern horror novel atmosphere was the hook, so we decided to choose a small U.S. town for the setting. Of course, Silent Hill really does not exist, and we have not allocated a certain place or time in the game. We deliberately did not use an actual place, since it might cause inconsistency with the real thing. However, with the name Silent Hill, we got a hint from a real place in Japan.

So, please listen to the designer a?nd artist that worked on the project, and please remember: it's snow, not ash.

The post Silent Hill designer clarifies that it’s snow, not ash, in Silent Hill appeared first on Destructoid.

Have you played Atari today?

Atari, (or at least the current iteration of Atari), has announced that it will be releasing an ambitious new compilation that hopes to capture the 50-year history of the legendary game developer. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration will look back at Atari's five decades in gaming, dat?ing all the way back to the birth of the industr??y itself.

We cannot think of a better way to celebrate our golden anniversary than to share the decades of fun, innovation, and talent with our fans worldwide through this truly remarkable collection," said Atari CEO Wade Ros??en. "To say it’s an honor to bring this collection to life is an understatement. I speak for everyone at Atari when I say we are elated to share this new Atari experience with the world as our 50th-anniversary celebration."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKwj_hi-Gc

The compilation contains over 90 titles pulled from the Atari catalog, including games released for the arcade market, the Atari 2600, the Atari Lynx, and even the ill-fated Atari Jaguar. More than just a game compilation, however, Atari 50 promises a fully interactive ?timeline, loaded with marketing materi?als, concept artwork, video interviews, archival footage, documentation, and other trivia tidbits pertaining to the company's legacy of hardware and software.

In addition, developer Digital Eclipse has crafted five new games for the collection: revamped editions of Atari classics Haunted House, Neo Breakout, Yars�Revenge, Vctr Sctr, and the never-released Airworld. With Atari 50, it seems that the developer is looking to provide a truly playable museum of the studio, allowing older players to follow a chronological timeline of their youth, while teaching younger players not only about A?tari, but also about the evolution of gaming as a whole.

While Atari's latter-day history is convoluted and, well, strange, there's no denying the company's impact on gaming history, particularly in its formative years. This new collection looks set to perfectly capture the highs and lows of one of the most recognizable gaming brands on the planet. I'm certainly more interested in this than I am in any hotel, even less so in your shitty blockchain projects.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration ?launches this winter on PlayStation, PC, Xb??ox, and Nintendo Switch.

The post Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration ?collates 90 titles from 2600, Jaguar, Lynx, and more appeared first on Destructoid.

Butterfingers

As some of the regular Destructoid clan may know, Final Fight is my favorite game of all time. I'm not gonna roll out why all ov??er again, who cares, yo? Just know that I've plunged hours upon hours (upon hours) into Capcom's legendary brawler, and across myriad platforms �thus, I was left reeling by some recently rediscovered tech, which is hidden away deep inside the grindhouse gutter fighter.

//twitt??er.com/hijiyan_jp/status/1539408098372112385?s=20&t=-Q9UDRbNqSsq9?n-QyflzKA

As noted by Japanese arcade aficionado @hijiyan_jp, (with the good word spread by dedicated brawler historian Belt Action Central), it is possible for the player to "break free" from the death grip imposed by some of Metro City's meanest villains, such as Andore and Abigail. This action is activated via a button command that was impossible to perform on the original arcade cabinet, but remains built into the code of the original ROM, as well as Final Fight's many home ports.

Here's the science: Final Fight is a two-button game (A/B), though the ROM contains a placeholder for a seemingly unused third button (C). This button, designed for developer usage only, lets Messrs Haggar, Cody, and Guy, break free of Andore's grabs by pressing Up + C, dodging an energy-sapping chokehold or brutal tombstone piledriver. Given that the dedicated cabinet only had two buttons, this escap??e was impossible for quarter-dropping kids in ??the arcade.

//tw??itter.com/BeltAction/status/1539684291982106627?s=20&am??p;t=-Q9UDRbNqSsq9n-QyflzKA

Through emulation, however, it is possible to remap Button C, and thus gain access to the secret escape. Weirder still, it seems that this move was directly incorporated into Final Fight's home releases. Belt Action Central has already reported that SNES players need only hit Up + Attack to activate the grab-break, with Game Boy Advance release Final Fight One also featuring the same shifty get-out-clause. Dedicated speedrunning community Speed Demos Archives has also been long aware of this secret function, spotlighting ?an ex??planation of the mysterious "Button C" and its use on the site's Final Fight page.

So there you have it, my fellow vigilantes, no more piledriver peril... I wish this shit worked on Street Fighter V's Abigail. Anyway.??.. I gotta run... I have ?a personal best to beat.

The post Secret Final Fight ‘grab’ tech resurfaces decades after original release appeared first on Destructoid.

Over 50,000 items already vaulted

Embracer Group, the holding company that plays host to THQ Nordic, Gearbox Entertainment, and, most recently, Eidos Montreal, has announced the formation of a new games preservation archive that hopes to curate the world's larg??est collection of video ??games, consoles, computers, and related chicanery.

The Embracer Games Archive, which is housed in the company headquarters in Karlstad, Sweden, already boasts a collection of over 50,000 sof??tware and hardware items, from the oldest of video game releases to the most modern console platforms. A team of archivists, engineers, and researchers has been assigned to source, grow, and ensure the safekeeping of the archive's contents.

While there are currently no plans to open the archive as a public viewing gallery, Embracer Group plans to allow access to researchers and academics as a record of the artistic, technological, and design history of our favorite pastime. In time, Embracer may make the archive availab?le for public perusal in the form of satellite exhibitions, but for now, it appears that the team is concentrating on the sourcing and collecting of items to further expand upon its impressive catalog.

In an increasingly digital world, any form of games preservation is becoming increasingly important, and while it's just as esse??ntial that private collectors the world over continue to gather relics from gaming's 50-year history, Embracer Group has the finance and resources to locate, purchase, curate, and maintain the condition of an artistic and innovate history often overlooked by mainstream museums.

You can read more about the Embracer Games Archive over on its official website.

The post Embracer Group announces formation? of new games preservation archive appeared first on Destructoid.

End of an era for one of the greats

Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan has announced that it is ending after-sales support of i?ts legendary console, PlayStation 3. From April 30, 2022, Sony will no longer be able to repair or refurbish any PS3 hardware or peripherals sent in by its customers, putting a period on the company's relationship with on??e of its best-selling consoles.

"Due to the depletion of parts inventory, we will no longer be able to provide after-sales service for the PlayStation3 CECH-4300 series main unit and all PlayStation3 peripherals on April 30, 2022," reads a short statement on Sony Japan's Twitter. "If you are considering applying for this service, please make your request as soon as possible??. Please note that repairs may not be ?possible before the end date due to the exhaustion of parts."

"We sincerely? apologize to customers who are using this product and thank you for your understanding."

Launched in November 2006 for a notoriously outrageous $599 USD, the Pla??yStation 3 was a huge step up (from a technical standpoint) from its predecessor, PlayStation 2. The mighty behemoth took its sweet time building a?? library of compelling releases but �alongside its Microsoft rival Xbox 360 �would eventually be home to hundreds of great games that truly pushed the boundaries of graphical fidelity and game design. PS3 was also the first games console to support the then-fledgling Blu-ray format.

It can be argued that we are yet to see the same technical leap experienced from PS2 to PS3 in the ensuing generations. While the PS2 is, undeniably, one of the greatest consoles of all time, the PS3 felt like an enormous step up from a tech standpoint �more so than we experienced when moving from PS3 to PS4, or even from PS4 to PS5. PlayStation 3 would also receive multiple physical redesigns, slimming ?down its painfully ginormous original?? form.

While the sales of PlayStation would not surpass those of either of?? its predecessors or its successors, the ??console would ultimately rack up over 87 million hardware sales in its lifetime. While the PS3 has been a little old hat for some years, Sony pulling the plug on the console's repair service definitely marks something of an era's end.

Regardless, nobody would deny PS3 its place in the annual??s of video game history.

The post Sony Japan is ending after-sales su??pport for PlayStatio??n 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

A real piece of gaming history

Today, Nintendo is recognized as one of the most prominent gaming companies in history, but what a lot of people don't know is that they've been around since 1889, nearly seventy years before the first video game was ever created. They actually got their start making traditional Japanese playing cards ??known as hanafuda. I've known this fun fact for a while, but I had never actually seen what early Nintendo's products looked like �until now. Reddit user with the whimsical and delicious-sounding screenname u/FizzlePopBerryTwist recently posted a picture of a pre-World War II era Nintendo hanafuda and gambling set, and I'm kind of blown away by how cool it is.

Nintendo's road to success is a long, storied one, but it all started in Kyoto, Japan in the late nineteenth century. Craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and his team began mass-producing the cards due to high demand, giving the company a good head start. Over the years, they would try all different kinds of business tactics, like partnering with Japan Tobacco to sell cards in cigarette stores, or Walt Disney, so as to have the famous characters appear on the cards, which actually helped busines??s quite a bit. In the late 1960s, the company built a new production plant in Uji City, and began mass-producing other tabletop games like chess, shoji, go, and mahjong, in addition to their original hanafuda cards.

?//www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/semtae/this_is_the_actual_original_nintendo_system/

It wasn't until the early '70s that Nintendo produced their first electronic toy �the Nintendo Beam gun, which was an optoelectronic pistol. In 1971, they produced a controller for a company called Magnavox, and their new at-home gaming console, the Magnavox Odyssey. As Nintendo continued partnering with other compan?ies, they soon began production of their own vide??o gaming products, and the rest is history.

Despite the struggles that they saw from time to time over the years, Nintendo has solidified a place for themselves as one of the most recognizable and successful companies in the entire world. Seeing now how far they've come, it's interesting to look back on something like this as p??art of their more humble beginnings. I do find it kind of funny, though, that they started off making games to gamble with considering their family-friendly reputation nowadays.

The post Check out this original Nintendo gaming set from pre-WWI??I era appeared first on Destructoid.

A chronological look at how the Call of Duty and Overwatch publisher got here

One of the biggest stories of this year has been the investigation of Activision Blizzard and its internal workplace culture. What started with a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has escalated ??as employees, shareholders, and executives have responded to reports coming out of Activision Blizzard.

With the most recent round of reports prompting another walkout, petitions, and a response from the likes of Sony's Jim Ryan and Microsoft's Phil Spencer, I thought it would be a good time now to look at how we got here. This will be a brief timeline,? tracking everything from the initial DFEH filing to today. We'll be working to keep it updated moving ahead too, as new developments occur. We'll be tracking our own coverage, as well as the reports from other outlets.

So let's go back to earl??ier in 2021, to see how this all kicked off.

July 2021

Activision Blizzard is sued by the California Department of Fair Employ??ment and Housing, as the result of a two-year investigation from the agency, citing allegations of harassment, discrimination, and a toxic workplace ?culture.

Blizzard executives J. Allen Brack and Fran Townsend address the suit in internal memos. (Townsend's letter was later found to be written by Kotick.)

Activision Blizzard employees sign a letter, declaring leadership??'s response to the lawsuit "abhorre??nt and insulting."

Employees organize a walkout and also set forth demands, including a removal of requir??ed arbitration and new practices for recruiting??, hiring, and promoting.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick calls ??the company's response to lawsuit "tone deaf" and promises "swift action." Employees respond to the letter, highlighting?? several demands that w??ere not addressed.

Ubisoft employees, who "no longer trust" Ubisoft management to address lingering issues from issues brought to light the year prior, file their own letter calling for change?. In it, they specifically reference the worker response at Activision Blizzard: "We need real, fundamental changes within Ubisoft, within Activision Blizzard, and ac??ross the industry."

A Kotaku report at the time details, among other things, a "Cosby Suite" and other reports of misco?nduct within the company.

[caption id="attachment_296559" align="alignnone" width="1536"] The first Activision Blizzard walkout. | Photo via Upcomer/Parkes Ousley.[/caption]

August 2021

A class action suit alleges Activision Blizzard misled investors over its failu?re to disclose internal problems.

Workers at Activision Blizzard form a coalition, the ABK Workers Alliance. They send a joint letter to the CEO and leadership criticizing the firm brought on to handle an internal review, WilmerHale, for its previous record of discouraging collective action.

Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack leaves the company to "pursue new opportunities." Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal are installed as co-leaders of Blizzard moving forward. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier al?so reports that Blizzard head of HR, Jesse Mesch??uk, is no longer at the company.

Shareholder group SOC calls Activision Blizzard's response to the lawsuit "inadequate."

The state of California expands its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging the publish?er has interfered with the investigation.

Several Blizzard developers, including the director of Diablo IV and the namesake for Overwatch's gunslinging cowboy hero, leave the company.

As part of its ongoing efforts to remove in-game references to real-life employees, Blizzard Entertainment confirms it will be renaming its cowboy Overwatch character.

September 2021

Diablo II: Resurrected design director encourages players to "do what they feel is right" in regards to purchasing the Diablo remake.

The Communications Workers of America files unfair labor charges against Activision Blizzard.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) l?aunches its own inve?stigation into Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard releases a statement saying it is cooperating with the SEC's investigation, as well as those from regulators at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Labor Relations Board, and the? California DFEH.

Blizzard Entertainment's chief legal officer Claire Hart leaves the company.

The U.S. EEOC and Activision Blizzard reach an $18 million settlement in lawsuit over the company's reported harassment and discrimina?tion.

Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny leaves Blizzard Entertainment.

October 2021

Blizzard Entertainment confirms the new name for its cowboy sharpshooter will be Cole Cassidy.

BlizzConline 2022 is cancelled, as the company says it will be p?utting its energy into supporting its teams?? and progressing development of games instead.

A report from Polygon says Vicarious Visions will be losing its studio name as part of its merge into? Blizzard Entertainment.

Activision Blizzard announces it will be dropping required arbitration and adopting a c??ompany-wide zero-tolerance policy for harassment, including immediate termination of those found to have retaliated against anyone for compliance complaints. CEO Bobby Kotick says he will take a pay? cut to minimum salary under California law, and also says he's asked not to receive any bonuses or be granted equity, until the Board of Directors has determined certain goals have been met.

November 2021

Blizzard co-leader Jen Oneal confirms she is leaving the company at the end of the year, with her co-??head Mike Ybarra assuming her responsibilities.

Blizzard Entertainment delays both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV to unspecified but "later" launch dates than originally envisioned.

A Wall Street Journal report alleges CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct ?at the company for years. The story also sheds light on the departure of Oneal, who was report?edly paid less than her counterpart at the helm of Blizzard, and on Kotick's own alleged interactions with his employees.

Kotick responds to the report, saying that "anyone who doubts my conviction to be the most welcoming, inclusive workplace doesn’t really appreciate how important this is to me." The Board of Directors says it "remains confident" in Kotick's leadership.

Activision Blizzard workers organize another walkout, calling for the removal of Kotick as CEO.

Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan sends out an email to employees, as reported by Bloomberg, that criticizes Activision Blizzard's response to the report. Ryan says Activision Blizzard has "not done en?ough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment."

Over 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees and contractors sign a public petition calling for Kotick's removal as CEO.

Xbox head Phil Spencer says he's "evaluating all aspects" of their relationship with Activision Blizzard and making "ongoing proactive adjustments" in light of the reports, as reported by Bloomberg. "This type of behavior has ?no place in our industr?y," said Spencer.

Activision Blizzard quietly announces a "Workplace Responsibility Committee," chaired by two existing board members. The company also says it will seek out a "new, di??verse director" to add to the board.

Jessica Gonzalez, a senior test analyst who was one of the organizers of the July walkout, announces on Twitter that s?he is leaving A?ctivision Blizzard, with her last day on Dec. 10. In a message to CEO Bobby Kotick, she says that his "inaction and refusal to take accountability is driving out great talent and the products will suffer until you are removed from your position as CEO."

December 2021

U.S. State Treasures from California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Oregon co-authored a statement of intent to meet with Activisio?n's board, with the general intent s??eeming to be confronting the company ab?out the ongoing situation at the publisher.

The Game Awards showrunner Geoff Keighley confirms that Activ?ision Blizzard will not be featured at this year's ev??ent outside of the categories its games have been nominated in. Following backlash over an interview with The Washington Post that suggested indecision on how to "navigate" the situation, Keighley posted a series of statements to Twitter. "The Game Awards is a time ?of celebration for this industry, the biggest form of entertainment in the world," he wrote. "There is no place for abuse, harassment or predatory practices in a??ny company or any community."

Following sudden layoffs at Raven Software in the QA department, developers at the studio walked out. They demanded members of the QA team, including those laid off, be offered full-time positions. Reports soon circled that they were promised a pay restructure for months, only to be called in one-by-one and let go. One report indicated employees moved cities for the roles just a few weeks prior.

ABK Workers Alliance announces a strike fund to support Raven devs and other Activision Blizzard studios who have joined onto what's become an ongoing work stoppage. The Washington Post reports that employees are asking others to sig??n a union authori?zation card.

January 2022

Xbox boss Phil Spencer says the company has "changed how we do certain things" with Activision Blizzard. Uh, p??ut a pin in that.

Lego delays an Overwatch 2 set, as the company re-examines its relationship with Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft announces that it intends to purchase Act?ivision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion, bringing the entire publisher under the Xbox umbrella. Spencer confirms that until the transaction closes, the two companies will continue to operate independently, with Kotick still at the helm of Activision Blizzard for the time being. (Though reports have since indicated he may leave the company once the ink is dry.)

Spencer comments on several of the major questions, with potential Xbox exclusivity as an obvious question. He also discusses the possibility of some franchise revivals from the Activision vault.

Raven Software QA workers announce they are forming a union, Game Workers Alliance. The group calls for voluntary recognition from Activision Blizzard. A spokesperson for the publisher says it is "carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from?? the CWA."

February 2022

Microsoft president Brad Smith tells CNBC that the company is looking towards the Activision Blizzard leadership team to "make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day," leading into the potential closure?? of the deal.

Axios reports that Activision Blizzard C?EO Kotick could receive a hefty chunk in stocks, should company ?culture improve.

March 2022

Activision Blizzard sued for wrongful death by the family of employee who die??d by suicide, claiming a significant factor was the sexual harassment they experienced.

Microsoft says it will not stand in the way of union efforts at Raven Software.

California court indicates it will approve an $18 million settlement between Activision Blizzard and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity ?Commi??ssion, or EEOC, over its lawsuit.

April 2022

Activision Blizzard employees stage a walkout over removed vaccinate mandate, and the publisher soon reverses course.

Activision Blizzard makes over 1,000 testers full-time employees, though those unionizing at Raven do not receive a pay increase alongside the other QA workers.

A lawyer leaves the California DFEH's suit against Activision Blizzard, alleging the governor's office of? interfering? with the case.

Activision Blizzard stockholders vote to approve the Microsoft deal.

May 2022

New York officials file complaint over Kotick and the board, claiming they may have breached their duty and affected the comp??any's value.

Raven Software QA workers officially vote to unionize, marking one of the first unions at a major AAA company. Phil Spencer says he will recognize the union once the acquisition closes.

June 2022

The parents of the Activision Blizzard employee who died by suicide file to dismiss their lawsuit over wrongful death.

Internal investigation at Activision Blizzard finds "no evidence" it ignored harassment.

Microsoft signs a neutrality agreement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), promising to take a neutral approach to Activision Blizzard unionization efforts if and when the buyout goes throug?h.

July 2022

Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions) QA workers announce they will hold a union vote.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority confirms it's looking into Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Bli?zzard, and whether it could harm competition.

September 2022

Phil Spencer reaffirms that Microsoft wants to bring Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo to Game Pass.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expresses confidence in the Activision Blizzard acquisiti??on getting approved.

October 2022

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) says Activision Blizzard withheld raises from unionizing workers.

A filing from the CMA investigation reveals Microsoft wants to start a new Xbox mobile platform, to compete with the ??Goo??gle Play Store and App Store.

November 2022

Activision Blizzard moves to postpone the Blizzard Albany union vote validation.

Blizzard Entertainment announces it will suspend services for its games in China, starting in 2023.

December 2022

Blizzard Albany QA developers vote to unionize, forming a second union under Activ?ision?? Blizzard.

ZeniMax QA employees announce they will vote on unionization.

Phil Spencer announces 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo, p??ending approval of t??he Activision Blizzard acquisition.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sues to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

A Washington Post report details allegations of poor working conditions and mismanagement of the Diablo IV team at Blizzard.

We will continue to update this post as news arrives.

The post Activision Blizzard: a brief timeline of everything, from the lawsu??it to now appeared first on Destructoid.

Turn Back Time

In an industry of glum news, it's a happy story. A modest story, sure, but a happy one all the same. Way back in 1992, Wonder Boy developer Westone Bit Entertainment received news from publisher Sega that production was to cease on its upcoming arcade platformer Clockwork Aquario. While the cute 'n' colorful title was just a sliver from release, it was decided that the scene had moved on, with the kids' quarters now being poured into brawlers and fighting games. In a world of Ryus and Scorpions �and with Sonic and Super Mario Bros. cornering the platform market �em> Clockwork Aquario was consigned to the vaul?ts, never to see its day i?n the sun.

And yet, here we are. It's three decades later, I'm three decades older, and somehow I'm reviewing Clockwork Aquario for the good ship Destructoid. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of publishers ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games �who have spent the last two years digging up the source code, acquiring the rights, and even going as far as to reassemble members of the original development team �this long-lost release can finally be experienced, just a tad late to the party. Clockwork Aquario is one of the "lucky ones." Who knows how many dusty games lie in dusty attics, canceled just a smidgen shy of completion? Every single relocated game represents a tiny bit of an industry, an art form, and a hobby �our hobby �lovingly restored.

And even if the game itself doesn't turn out to be a true gem, at least we might get a Guinness World Record out of it.

Clockwork Aquario (PS4 [reviewed], Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Westone Bit Entertainment
Publisher: ININ Games, Strictly Limited Games
Released: December 14, 2021
MSRP: $19.99

Right from the off, Clockwork Aquario is a reminder of arcade gaming of old, a time when backstory and a time when plot was iterated in seconds, gaping holes be damned. In this instance, a lightning-fast attract mode informs us that the world is under siege from devious fish Dr. Hangyo, who has risen up from the depths to attack our planet, (and kick over childrens' sandcastles), with the help of his mechanical (Clockwork) undersea (Aqua) ?army. In order to save the world from this fishy fate, three intrepid heroes venture into Dr. Hangyo's undersea kingdom of Aquario to shut down the mad mechanic's devious scheme. It goes without saying, this was a much simpler time in regard to video game narratives �Abby Anderson would shit bricks.

Thus begins Clockwork Aquario, an almost unbearably cute, side-scrolling platform adventure, designed for a world that had given rise, (and oodles of cash), to franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., Zool, and even Bubsy the Bobcat. Combining elements of its genre brethren, then splashed with lashings upon lashings of Konami/Taito-style Japanese charm, Clockwork Aquario sees one or two players take up the role of three distinct heroes �proto-steampunk kid Huck Londo, pink-haired cutie-pie Elle Moon, and rotund ro??bot Gush �before embarking on a madcap journey into Dr. Hangyo's world, laying waste to his wind-up warriors and... erm... popping lots of balloons. I don't get the last bit.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YbN_pnWass

Clockwork Aquario, it has to be said, does not rewrite the book on platformers. Featuring large, colorful sprites, a relatively fast pace, head-bouncing attacks, invulnerability power-ups, and a helluva lot of jumping, Westone Bit's final release certainly ticks all of the boxes required by the side-scrolling releases of its day. What this arcade does bring to the party, however, is bagfuls of charm, absolutely delightful sprite work, and some lavish and superbly detailed backgrounds. Clockwork Aquario is, without doubt, a great-looking game that, despite its age, can effectively charm the player with its cute charisma, cartoonish personality, and whimsical soundtrack. One can almost compare its style to that of WayForward's catalog today. Despite its age, Aquario's charac??ters, enemies, bosses, an??d locales are highly impressive.

The gameplay itself is a st??andard affair. Our heroes dash from left to right, ??leaping chasms and dispatching villains with a solid slap or a good, old-fashioned head-bounce. Once stunned, a villain can then be picked up and tossed, Koopa-shell style, at other enemies. Valuable score pickups, extra lives, and invulnerability power-ups are awarded for chained attacks. It's a slick system, and it can be very satisfying combining slaps, tosses, and head-bounces to efficiently clear a screen of enemies. Take a hit, and your chosen character looks a little worse for wear, take another hit, and it's ghost town.

The player presses ever-forward, negotiating the environment and bashing bad guys en route to a confrontation with each stage's sub-boss, before facing off against Dr. Hangyo in one of his monstrous contrapti?ons. In keeping with the Aquario aesthetic, the baddies are all of the undersea variety, from crabs and oysters, to squid, eels, and barracudas �all delightfully designed with that '90s anime aesthetic... All big tears and bursting blood vessels. Cute game. Real cute game.

Of course, it has to be clearly stated that as an arcade title, Clockwork Aquario can be finished in almost no time whatsoever. It is mos??tly up to the player to provide their own challenge by strictly limiting (no pun intended) the number of continues made available to them. This very nature of re-releasing a game initially designed to be played in 30-odd minutes gives way to one unfortunate inevitability of this entire project: $20 for a 20-30 minute game, designed with three-decade-old sensibilities, is a big ask. The price is likely a necessity, given that the publisher will look to make a return (or at least break even) on the investment spent on making this lost release a reality. Add to that the niche audience factor, and the publishers will be looking to squeeze every dollar they can.

Aside from the main game, there isn't a whole lot of bang for your buck here. There is a restored bonus round for two players, a small gallery, a music player complete with awesome remixes of Clockwork Aquario's fab score, and a selection of screen filters for those who dig their scanlines, CRT curves, and fuzzy pixel filters. Ultimately, the player is mostly recuperating for the restoration itself, an expensive task that saw the publishing team pull Clockwork Aquario fr??om the edge of oblivion. This makes the title a hard sell for your average video game buyer in gaming's ninth generation.

Fortunately, for the historians and retro fans among us, Clockwork Aquario is a fun title. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it plays great, looks wonderful, and sounds splendid. I found myself instantly transported to a world of Tumble Pops and Pangs, of Rainbow Islands, New Zealand Stories, and all of the other brash and colorful games that lit up the dingy walls of the arcade. In 2021, I don't expect Clockwork Aquario to be a smash hit, and I certainly don't expect people to "take a chance on it" at $20. But for those who care about video game preservation, those who can afford to support the cause, or those who just really love old-school ??pla??tform gaming, an enjoyable trip to the past awaits you.

Clockwork Aquario is here. 30 years late, but soaked in old-school style. Westone Bit Entertainment's final release would not win any awards for originality, but offers a short, fun, and attractive journey to the halcyon days of the '90s arcade renaissance. The package on offer is a little thin, and the price will be a tad high for the average player's taste, but important work has been done by publishers ININ Games and Strictly Limited �here's hoping the??y will be rewarded in kind.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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And they never did shape it like an 'X'

As part of yesterday's Microsoft Xbox 20th anniversary celebrations, the industry giant announced that it has wrapped production on a new documentary looking at the long and turbulent history of the mighty black-and-green brand. Power On: The Story of Xbox is a brand new, six-part series that is s?et to premiere on streaming services from December 13.

Power On will look at two decades of gaming history pulled from Microsoft's foray into the world of consol?e gaming. The documentary will chart the highs and lows of the Xbox brand from the pioneering Xbox console of 2001 to the mig??hty Xbox Series X/S units of 2020 �with due diligence paid to the fantastic Xbox 360 and the controversial launch and lifespan of Xbox One.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3wkL5fDuA

Fans can expect to see talking heads discuss every peak and dip of the enduring brand. From the release of industry-defining software such as Halo, to the never-forgotten legacy of the Red Ring of Death. From Xbox One's controversial, arguably generation-killing declaration of "Always Online," to the incredible success of Xbox Game Pass. It looks to be a fascinating recollection o??f one of the lar??gest, fastest rises in console gaming history.

Provided the series can remain candid and honest about Xbox's flaws, then Power On will not only serve the company's history well, but will also aid Xbox in its continued efforts?? to be seen as the "fan-friendly" gaming brand. Either way, as long as you can stomach people telling you that they're "crazy" and "rebels," alongside footage of people riding skateboards... bUt thRouGh aN ofFice?!..??. then it will be a delightful trip down memory lane for so many of us.

Power On: The Story of Xbox premieres December 13 on ??YouTube, Roku, Redbox, and other streaming se??rvices.

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I just want 13 CDs of 'Theme of Simon', honestly

There is perhaps no single more important and immediately recognizable element of the Castlevania franchise than its evocative and enduring soundtrack. Well, maybe Medusa Heads, but that's beside my point. And for those of you who dig the crazy rhythms of Dracula's castle, this upcoming soundtrack collection should be on top of your h??oliday shopping list.

Launching in Japan this December, the Castlevania Soundtrack Collection will consist of two distinct releases: Castlevania Black and Castlevania Red.

Each set contains 13 CDs for a total of 26 volumes of music, pulled from the storied history of Konami's Gothic horror-platformer franchise. The full set contains selected arrangements from a massive range of titles, including original NES entities such as Castlevania and Simon's Quest, through PlayStation releases Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania Chronicles, and late-day releases Castlevania: Judgement, Castlevania: The Arcade Game, and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, among many others.

In addition, customers who pre-order Castlevania Black and Castlevania Red will also receive a 14-track bonus CD, containing the MIDI arrangements of SNES release Castlevania: Dracula X. The damage? Well, the Castlevania Soundtrack Collection retails locally for ¥28,600, which is a cool $255 USD. Yowzers. But if you fancy picking up this premium Castlevania collectible for your own music collection, then pre-orders are open right now on the official Konami store. Western audiences might f??ind it easier to trawl import sites, tho??ugh with the item being sold at such a premium, it might be difficult to find a carrier outside of Konami itself. The collection will launch on December 15.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Chris Carter's review of the Castlevania Advance Collection.

[Via Siliconera]

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Game finally Over almost 30 years later

After almost 30 years of operation, Sega's legendary Ikebukuro GiGO arcade is finally out of ?credits. The entertainment venue closed its doors and h?it the lights for the last time on September 20, with an army of fans and regular customers turning up to pay their respects to one of Tokyo's longest-running and most popular coin-op centers.

A very sweet video, captured by YouTuber "medaaaals in Japan", shows a huge crowd of citizens bidding the venue adieu. Kotaku reports that staff wore shirts thanking customers for 28 years of service, while loudspeakers played the song "Hotaru no Hikari" ("The Lig?ht of the Firefly"), which is traditionally used in Japan to mark the clo??sing of long-term establishments.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3CqDmoA_lc

The arcade manager gave a short, emotional speech, iterating that they wished t??hey could keep the center open forever, but that it wasn't to be. According to Famitsu, Sega Ikebukuro GiGO closing following the end of its most recent lease coinciding with planned renovations for the mammoth complex in which it is located.

Opening in 1993, during the height of the arcade renaissance of the early '90s Sega' Ikebukuro GiGO has been home to a towering nine stories of coin-op cabinets old and new. The site of exciting tournaments and new cabinet reveals, as well as a pilgrimage for any video game fan visiting Japan, the venue will be missed dearly by its most frequent visitors, but will forever remain an indelible part of Sega's legacy as a prominent player in the arcade market. The closing of Sega Ikebukuro GiGO comes a little over one year after the closing of another legendary hotspot, Akihabra's Sega Building 2, further cementing the passing?? of a g??olden arcade age.

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LOAD ""

On September 16, 2021, the world �and in particular the gaming industry �lost an important pioneer. Sir Clive?? Si??nclair, the British-born inventor behind the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, passed away after a long illness. He was 81.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, Sir Clive was responsible for numerous electronic inventions and technological adaptations, such as the pocket calculator. His greatest contribution to society, however, is the ZX Spectrum, a range of home computers specifically designed to be affordable for the average family household. Sir Clive's company, Sinclair Research, produced the ZX80 in 1980, to be followed by the ZX81 and?? the immensely popular ZX Spectrum, famed for its cute streamlined design and rubber keyboard.

The ZX Spectrum would be succeeded by the slick ZX Spectrum +2, and the floppy-disc-based ZX Spectrum +3, though Sir Clive would eventually shift focus away from computers and toward other technology, famously producing the somewhat comical Sinclair C5 Battery Vehicle and the folding "A-Bike" bicycle. Sir Clive will, deservedly, be best remembered for the ZX Spectrum and its contribution to the British gaming scene, inspiring a plethora of bedroom coders and programmers, many of whom still work in the ??industry today.

If you'll forgive a personal note, the ZX Spectrum was the first home computer I ever owned, beginning a love affair with gaming that not only continues to this day, but has seen me transition into working alongside video games professionally. The ZX Spectrum was an affordable way for me and my family to enjoy video gaming, despite being a household on a very modest budget. As my gateway to home gaming, I owe the ZX Spectrum and its g?randfather a lot, and I'll never forget t??hat.

Sir Clive is sur????vived by his three children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. We at Destructoid offer our condolences to his family and friends.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy8hcsaoY4

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In honor of Thrice Upon a Time, let's look back at Eva's virtual legacy

Today, the final of the Evangelion Rebuild movies hits Amazon, bringing a long serie??s of films and the anime series before it to a—theoretical, at least—close.

For some fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion, this is the culmination of years and years of waiting, and literal decades spent following the series. Personally, I did a full rewatch of the TV series on Netflix near the start of the pandemic (even if it wasn't exactly the best way to do so) and just finished going back through the Rebuilds. I'm ready. This moment's been waiting for me, ever since I first picked up an Evangelion DVD from the local video store at what psychiatrists would call an "impre?ssionable" ag?e.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZfuWMDEJpw

But with the Rebuild line coming to a close, I've also been thinking about the roads less-traveled. Sure, there's been a lot of Evangelion media in t??erms of both the series and movies, but? what about the video games?

Today, in honor of the last Evangelion Rebuild coming stateside, let's look back at Neon Genesis Evangelion's strange, winding history in the world of interactive video g??ames.

The Evangelion games

In 1996, Evangelion got a series of games on the Sega Saturn, mostly mixing RPG elements with full-motion videos. They admittedly looked pretty cool, using animated clips for attacks. But the most notable entry here is Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sSUHsrkHnk

It's an interactive story, with the player navigating a map and dealing with the interpersonal relationships that Shinji Ikari has with the other Eva pilots. It also introduces a new character, Mana Kirishima, wh??o adds a bit of conflict to the gr?oup of pilots. There are three endings, focusing on three different characters (Mana, Asuka, and Kaji), and another ending was added in the PlayStation 2 release.

After this, we get a series of short collections of minigames, multimedia discs, and mahjong games. Then, in 1999, one of the most recognizable Evangelion games hit the market.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUAE-VGvcsw

Neon Genesis Evangelion for the Nintendo 64 brought the series into full 3D, and added a lot more action to the combat. I really dig the segment where you have to do a quick-time event with Eva Unit-01 and Unit-02, recreating Shinji and Asuka's practiced dance from the series. It even, somewhat horrifyingly, runs up through the End of Evangelion, where you can play thr?ough Asuka's last stand against the mass-produced Evas.

After that, we've got a series of life-sim management games. These get a little weird, ranging from Princess Maker-type games with Rei Ayanami and Shinji Akari to Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angel Raising, where you play as Ryoji Kaji raising an Adam f??etus. Yeah, it's weird.

There's also Detective Evangelion, a spinoff I've only learned of today that apparently involves investigating murders. It uses Ace Attorney-style gameplay within the Evangelion world, as well as beat 'em up and mecha segments. It also has a serialized manga adaptation? Truly, this is the next localization we need to demand. Oh, and lastly, check out this sick ad for an Evangelion VR experience.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVahCy5NGZ8

The Evangelion crossovers

Aside from actual Evangelion games, there are also a bunch of crossovers with other properties. Super Robot Wars makes the most sense; here's a series that's already about giant robots from various anime series coming together an?d scrappi??n' it out, so the Eva Units make a perfect fit.

Phantasy Star Portable 2 featured some costumes and weapons from the series, and some other service games have had collaborations with the series, like Puzzle & Dragons and Honkai Impact.

In one of my favorite crossovers, Granzella—the developer of the Disaster Report series—made a game called Kyoei Toshi. It features giant monsters causing damage all over the city, while you, a helpless human on the ground, have to escape from all the havoc and destruction. It's got characters from Ultraman, the Godzilla franchise, Patlabor, and even Gamera. And of course??, it has the Evas, as well as some of the Angels from the ser?ies, too.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYQN6vhnwNI

Kyoei Toshi has only been released in Japan, so you'd have to import a copy to play it. But hey, in what other way will you ever get to play an Eva x Gamera crossover?

And of course, no list of Evangelion games and related crossovers is complete without Taiko no Tatsujin. The most recent entry on Switch has Neon Genesis Evangelion's excellent, extrem??ely catchy, arguably iconic opening theme, "Cr?uel Angel's Thesis."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXrPx3SMPU

Could we ever see another big-budget adaptation of Evangelion? Who knows. But between the N64 game, some Taiko drumming, and whatever the heck Detective Evangelion is, we've already got a lot.

Got a favorite Evangelion game, or just excited to watch Thrice Upon a Time tonight? Let us know down below in the comments.

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Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it

As a Canadian, I probably already know too much American history. I say “too much,�but there really isn’t such a thing when it comes to history. Especially when it comes to the darker side that we’d much rather not repeat. So, while we’re up here grappling with the implications of the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves in residential schools set up for indigenous? children by the church and government, maybe let’s look at someone else’s dark past.

Oh, look! It’s Blackhaven, a game where you explore a museum built around the burned remains of a colonial farm. You play as Kendra Turner, an HBCU sophomore and summer intern at the Blackhaven Hall Historical Society?, who finds herself unraveling the true story behind the whitewashed history of the plantation.

Put together by HBCU students and historians, Blackhaven covers themes of slavery, emancipation, and white supremacy. All of this is ?told with carefully researched architecture, furniture, and documents. It’s a first-person narrative game that gives you free rein to explore and unravel the mysteries for yourself.

//youtu.be/zHSvPXx6eho

An uncomfortable topic for sure, but one worth learning about, and you can do so for free as Blackhaven releases July 27 on Steam. Brought to us by Historiated, it looks like a worthwhile experience that makes? use of the vid??eo game medium to create an engaging history lesson.

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Coming to PC & consoles in 2023

I don't think anybody really needs to add to the absolute horror that was the World War One front line, but newly-established German developer Hekate is going to give it a try with its freshman release, Ad Infinitum, curr??ently in development for PC and consoles with a tentative release date of 2023.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3erfgcyUQo

As teased in a new "re-reveal" trailer, featured in yesterday's Nacon Connect stream, Ad Infinitum will tell the story of a German soldier in the pit of WWI. Described as a first-person survival horror title, Ad Infinitum will use a combination of stealth and puzzle mechanics as the protagonist comes t??o grips with both the abject horror of war and wh??at seems to be a host of grotesque and monstrous creatures that prowl the darkest corners of No Man's Land.

Hekate is hoping to emphasize mood, atmosphere, historical accuracy, and both psychological and physical horror to punctuate its disturbing tale of war at its bleakest, blending the realistic horrors of man against man with the otherworldly fear of the unknown. Mixing straight horror and World War is not a new gaming concept, but Ad Infinitum sounds like it has its own unique and interesting ideas, and is very reminiscent of the type of story that one would see in The Twilight Zone. It's still a long way out, but Hekate's debut release m??ay be worth a spot on the radar of any first-person h??orror fan.

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I see your true (Sonic) colors

An online retailer may have outed the existence of a new Sonic the Hedgehog compilation, currently being produced by S?ega for the blue blur's 30th anni??versary.

French retailer Sogamely, (interestingly the exact same retailer that leaked the supposed Sonic Colors remaster), put up a listing for "Sonic Collection EU version" for PS4 — with the title obviously being a webpage placeholder. This is no confirmation that said compilation even exists, of course, but given the anniversary year, the upcoming movie sequel, and Sogamely's rep for early Sonic the Hedgehog info, i?t's a strong possibility that said title is en route.

Making its Sega Mega Drive debut in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was an absolute smash hit platformer, birthing Sega's first true global multimedia mascot. Sonic and his dopey pals would go on to star and/or appear in well over 40 titles in the ensuing decades, while also appearing on a slew of merchandise and a string of animated TV and web series. To date, the Sonic the Hedgehog f??ranchise has shifted over one billion sales and downloads.

We'll keep you informed? should Sega officially acknowledge the compilation's e??xistence.

I??t looks like Sega could be planning a new Sonic Collection [VGC]

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M.I.A. platformer headed to PS4 and Switch

Last summer, we reported on the strange-but-true news that Clockwork Aquario, an unreleased arcade platformer from the 1990s, would finally see release, some? 30 years after the title's cancellation. And it seems that the party's about to s??tart, as ININ Games has announced a launch window of Q2 2021 on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Clockwork Aquario was initially designed by Wonder Boy developer Westone Bit Entertainment, with the very ambitious platforming project scheduled to launch in 1992. Ironically, by the time said year rolled around, it was decided that the vibrant visuals and gameplay were outdated for the now fighter-heavy arcade scene, and Clockwork Aquario was shelved? indefinitely, a slive?r away from completion.

This is where Strictly Limited Games comes in. Having learned about Clockwork Aquario's existence, the boutique publisher t??eamed with ININ Games in order to discover the code's whereabouts - a pilgrimage that ?took a further three years. Eventually, a deal was struck with license-holder Sega M2, and work finally began on putting the finishing touches on the project.

While some of the game's original elements were now lost to time, including music and sound effects, the project runners were able to convince members of the M.I.A. title's original development team - including programmer Takanori Kurihara, composer Shinichi Sakamoto, and Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa, to return and complete the project. Thanks to everyone's spirit and passion, Clockwork Aquario will now finally join the pantheon of retro platform games, finding the space in the market that eluded it a??????????????????????????lmost three decades earlier.

To celebrate the impending launch of Clockwork Aquario, Strictly Limited Games has released details of several physical releases, currently available to pre-order at the publisher's online store. A standard physical edition includes a hard?? copy of the game on PS4 or Nintendo Switch, (though the latter platform has unfortunately already sold out).

An $80 Collector's Edition includes a copy of the game alongside characters cards, a double-disc soundtrack, an acrylic diorama, sticker sheet, hardcover artbook, arcade flyer reprint, and a replica ¥100 coin. Finally, a $150 Ultra Collector's Edition includes all of the above plus a PCB-style cardboard box, a certificate of authenticity, a reversible poster, pin badge, and a seven-inch figurine of protagonists Elle, Huck, and Gush. You can check out all of the above editions on the Strictly Limited ??store.

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The story behind a genre-defining classic

[Update: The Monsters in the Dark Kickstarter has hit its target goal of $12,000. The crowdfunding campaign will remain op??en until April 8, at which point the?? book will go through its final proofing and publishing process. It will launch in digital format soon thereafter, with a physical paperback to follow in summer 2021.]

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for a new book that will tell the story behind the development of 1994's X-COM: Enemy Unknown, (released in North America as X-COM: UFO Defense and also as UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe), the first? release in the genre-defining strategy series that is still zapping aliens and?? fending off intergalactic invasions to this day.

Monsters in the Dark: The Making of X-COM: UFO Defense is an independently produced book by author David L. Craddock, who previously penned the excellent Stay Awhile and Listen series, recounting the formation of Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard North, as well as the development and launch of the legendary Diablo series

"I read David Craddock's book, Stay Awhile and Listen, and I thought it was quite an intricate, deep-dive into the inner workings of Blizzard Entertainment," said X-COM co-creator Julian Gollop. "I would like to see the X-COM book as kind of a historical record of a game that was influential. Hopefully, it can provide some inspiration, and also some fascination for how things were done in the early days of the games industry- and in some cases, how b??adly t??hings were done as well."

Monsters in the Dark will trace Gollop's career from his formative years creating pen-and-paper adventures, to his work on ZX Spectrum games - such as 1985's Chaos: The Battle of Wizards and 1988's Laser Squad - to the ultimate conception, design, and development of X-COM: UFO Defense. Despite X-COM's now invaluable contribution to the strategy genre, Monsters in the Dark will recount the title's torrid development, and how t??he legendary release came within a hair's breadth of being consigned to the cancellation pile.

While Monsters in the Dark is already written and edited, Craddock is looking for $12,000 in crowdfunding capital in order to pay for third-party proofing & editing, as well as printing and publishing costs. Should the Kickstarter reach its goal, then Monsters in the Dark is expected to see publishing in a relatively short space of time, with digital copies tentative??ly scheduled to release within weeks of the campaign's closure. This will then be followe?d by the release of a physical paperback, which is expected to arrive late-June.

For more details on Monsters in the Dark: The Making of X-COM: UFO Defense, check out the official Kickstarter campaign right here.

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Cyber Troopers docked

Juro Watari, creator of the exhilarating mech-fighting series Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, has anno?unced that he is leaving Sega after almost three decades of workin?g alongside the studio.

Watari announced his departure on Twitter, thanking Sega and fans for their support of the preceding decades. Watari noted that he has not yet decided on what path his career takes at this point, but expressed desire to continue working in game development. In an additional tweet, Watari said? that his resignation was not related to any controversial or negative feelings within the company.

Juro Watari has been with Sega since the mid-'90s, working on arcade releases such as 1994's Jurassic Park and street basketball title Hard Dunk. In 1996, Watari designed and developed Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, a dynamic arena fighter which sees players piloting a roster of unique mechs, (or "Virtuaroids"), battle it out in tactical, twin-stick action. The series would produce numerous sequels and spin-offs, making cameos in franchises such as Yakuza, Super Robot Wars, and even Project: DIVA.

Unfortunately, Watari is unable to say what the future holds for the franchise he created now that he no longer works for Sega. "What happens to Virtual-On?" said Watari, predicting the fan query. "While I’m sorry to say that I don’t have an answer for you right now, if there ?are any developments at Sega in the future, I would like to watch with anticipation how it plays out alongside everyone."

While the news will no doubt come as a blow to the Virtual On faithful. Watari and his fans can take comfort in the indelible legacy of this niche but deeply-held series. Cyber Troopers Virtual On has always stood apart thanks to its unique conceptual nature, timeless gamepl?ay, dramatic soundtracks and, of course, its brilliantly designed roster of robot rumblers.

First... Mission... Get Ready...

Cyber Trooper?s Virtual On serie??s creator Juro Watari leaves Sega [Gematsu / Games Talk]

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Cblogs Recap: Week 49

-LaTerry reveals December's Band of Bloggers prompt, which focuses on games you have Unfinished Business with.

-Nior mourns the end of Flash Player by focusing on some of the best games desig?ned with that limited ??program.

-JagGentlemann ????analyzes the history of the Musou games through its spin-offs.

-Kerrik52 reviews Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters as part of his Traveler in Playtime review blogs.

-Black Red Gaming reviews Chronos: Before the Ashes on PCs.

-Riley1sSpook thinks the publisher ignore ???function in Steam is a joke.

-Chimpomagee wonders about how video games can convey the pas??t in the languag?e of its own medium.

-OmegaNate shares his thoughts on SkyRoad, a 1993 platform runn?er that eventually became freeware and is an interesting piece of history.

-Humantofu revisits Far Cry 2, which is actually a popular blogging topic he??re.

-Black Red Gaming shares a list of his most ant?icipated games to? be released in December 2020.

-Shoggoth2588 shares his gaming journal of November 2020.

-CorruptAI125 reviews Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

-Virtua Kazama sheds a light on Virtua Fighter x eSports.

-Gamingnerd shares their thoughts regarding the Idle/Clicke??r genre.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VI and mostly early 20th-century pop music.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Yoshi's Island and country music.

-Smesty shares his thoughts about how the end o??f the world as we know it rekind?led their love for video games.

-Queen of Philosophy opens last week's TGIF community thread.

-RiffRaff shares their Top 5 music albums of 2020.

Thanks as always to Lord Spencer for the Cblog Recap and to our community members for their thoughts and feelin??gs on a variety of topics. If you want to see your own opinions included in next week's recap, head over to our Community Blogs and get chattin'

The post Cblogs of 11/28 to 12/??4/2020: Kingdom Hearts, Virtua Fighter, and waving goodbye to Flash appeared first on Destructoid.

Your own pocket Hell

As all y'all must be aware by now, tech-heads in the video game industry are on a dogged mission to get id Software's iconic shooter Doom running on as many different platforms as possible. We've already seen Doom?? in action on Commodore 64, a calculator, and even a home pregnancy test, but the violent FPS title is now up-and-running on Nintendo's earliest handheld hardware, Game & Watch.

Upon getting their hands on a Game & Watch re-release unit, modder Stacksmashing immediately set to work on adding the rudimentary console to the long-list of platforms that can run the 1993 DOS classic. Of course, the Game & Watch edition of Doom is somewhat more rudimentary than its contemporar??ies - stripped of textures and sound - but this latest port is "playable" in the?? very least.

The video below features a brief clip of Game & Watch Doom in action, followed by a detailed breakdown of the work required in porting the title to such a basic piece of gaming hardware. It's a fascinating watch, showcasing the ingenuity of the homebrew scene. Stacksmashing's plans do not end with Doom, however, suggesting that they will continue looking into new homebrew projects for the Game & Watch. Be sure to subscribe to t??heir channel to see what comes next.

Today Doom, tomorrow... I don't know... Demon's Souls!

Doom running on a Nintendo Game & Watch [Kotaku]

The post The maniacs went and got Doom running on a Game & Watch appeared first on Destructoid.

End of an era

One of the few remaining landmark arcade centres has announced that it will be closing its ??doors at the end of the month. Sega Building 2, located in Akihabar?a, Japan, will hit the lights for the last time on August 30, ending a 17-year run of public entertainment.

Based in the heart of the technology-loving Akihabara neighbourhood, Sega Building 2 opened in 2003 under the name "Akihabara Kigo" and immediately welcomed a slew of players with its wide variety of arcade games, pachinko machine and UFO grabbers. As captivating on the outside as it is on the inside, Sega Building 2 has for years caught the attention of passers-by with huge, colourful murals of popular anime and video game characters, as you can see in these photos from @kaztsu.

The closure of Sega Building 2 was revealed on Twitter this past weekend, after locals ??spotted a modest s??ign posted up on the arcade's main entrance.

"Thank ? you for your continued patronage," reads the notice. "We are sorry to announce that this branch, Sega Akihabara Building 2, will be closing... The entire staff wishes to express, from the bottom of our hearts, our sincere gratitude at the loving support you have given our establishment for so many years."

While Sega has offered no official reasoning for the location's closure, it's hard not to direct blame at the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has decreased the f?oot traffic through metropolitan areas, and kept sensible people from gathering together en masse. Add to that the contamination potential of money/token/control handling, and it appears that 2020 may have dealt too fierce a blow? to one of the last bastions of the arcade scene.

G??iant Sega arcade announces it is closing for good [SoraNews24]

The post Legendary Sega arcade in?? Akihabara to close later this m?onth appeared first on Destructoid.