Monthly Archives: December 2017
A History of Game Industry Screwups
The game industry never goes without a controversy for long. The latest one concerns Electronic Arts, now in the crosshairs over pay-to-win lootbox features in Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Yet Josef Fares, director of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and the upcoming EA-backed A Way Out, offered a modest defense for EA at the recent Game Awards: “All publishers f*** up.”
He’s right, of course. No major game company has an entirely spotless record. The industry’s most popular names all made mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes spelled doom. Others were just bumps in the road. We packed together the biggest blunders of the biggest game publishers past and present to see just how they bounced back— or didn’t.
A History of Game Industry Screwups
The game industry never goes without a controversy for long. The latest one concerns Bethesda is suing Westworld game developer Behaviour Interactive and publisher Warner Bros, claiming Behaviour stole its designs, artwork, and coding, and used them in the mobile app. Bethesda goes as far as to claim that bugs appear in the Westworld mobile game which were evident in the early development of Fallout Shelter.
This is just one of the many times in gaming history that a company has unceremoniously dropped the ball. The industry’s most popular names all made mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes spelled doom. Others were just bumps in the road. We packed together the biggest blunders of the biggest game publishers past and present to see just how they bounced back— or didn’t.
Remembering the Star Trek Show That Never Was
Captain James T. Kirk announces at the head of every episode of the original Star Trek that the Enterprise is on a five-year mission. After three years, however, the show was canceled. We did get an additional two years in 1973 with the airing of Star Trek: The Animated Series, but only the most hardcore of Trekkies consider that show to be fully canonical (even the franchise's handlers consider it to be “semi-canon”). It wasn't until the late 1970s, when Star Trek was being run in endless syndication, that the show really began to sink its hooks into the pop culture fabric. Fans began assembling in hotel ballrooms as early as January 1972 to celebrate Star Trek, a practice that was, essentially, the invention of pop-culture conventions as we know them.
Remembering the Star Trek Show That Never Was
Captain James T. Kirk announces at the head of every episode of the original Star Trek that the Enterprise is on a five-year mission. After three years, however, the show was canceled. We did get an additional two years in 1973 with the airing of Star Trek: The Animated Series, but only the most hardcore of Trekkies consider that show to be fully canonical (even the franchise's handlers consider it to be “semi-canon”). It wasn't until the late 1970s, when Star Trek was being run in endless syndication, that the show really began to sink its hooks into the pop culture fabric. Fans began assembling in hotel ballrooms as early as January 1972 to celebrate Star Trek, a practice that was, essentially, the invention of pop-culture conventions as we know them.
Now’s the Perfect Time for Fantastic 4 to Join the MCU
Comic books are complicated. Superhero movie aren't much better. They're an intertwining mess of moving plotlines, changing contracts, and shifting alliances, and that's just talking about the business dealings behind the scenes. On camera, worlds can end in one film and five-second stingers can blow out into entire universes. Trying to work in a new host of characters and concepts can be a headache.
Lucky for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cosmos is in sync and the stars are aligning. Disney has purchased Fox, bringing a ton of assets along for the ride. That includes Marvel's First Family, the Fantastic Four. And there couldn't be a better time for it to happen. It's sure to bust up some plans, result in a couple of cancelled flicks that started life under Fox, but the moment is right for this merger to begin.
Now’s the Perfect Time for Fantastic 4 to Join the MCU
Comic books are complicated. Superhero movie aren't much better. They're an intertwining mess of moving plotlines, changing contracts, and shifting alliances, and that's just talking about the business dealings behind the scenes. On camera, worlds can end in one film and five-second stingers can blow out into entire universes. Trying to work in a new host of characters and concepts can be a headache.
Lucky for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cosmos is in sync and the stars are aligning. Disney has purchased Fox, bringing a ton of assets along for the ride. That includes Marvel's First Family, the Fantastic Four. And there couldn't be a better time for it to happen. It's sure to bust up some plans, result in a couple of cancelled flicks that started life under Fox, but the moment is right for this merger to begin.
Newly Discovered Black Hole Is the Farthest Ever Found
A newly discovered supermassive black hole is the farthest ever found.
A team of scientists, led by the Carnegie Observatories’ Eduardo Banados, reported the findings in the journal Nature. The black hole, whose mass is 800 million times greater than that of the Sun, lies in a quasar. Powered by black holes devouring everything around them, quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe.
Since the black hole is 13 billion light years away, it provides a snapshot of what the earliest universe must've been like, only just hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, which is 5 percent of the universe's current age. Banados equates it to seeing a photo of a 50-year-old man when he was 2 1/2 years old.
Newly Discovered Black Hole Is the Farthest Ever Found
A newly discovered supermassive black hole is the farthest ever found.
A team of scientists, led by the Carnegie Observatories’ Eduardo Banados, reported the findings in the journal Nature. The black hole, whose mass is 800 million times greater than that of the Sun, lies in a quasar. Powered by black holes devouring everything around them, quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe.
Since the black hole is 13 billion light years away, it provides a snapshot of what the earliest universe must've been like, only just hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, which is 5 percent of the universe's current age. Banados equates it to seeing a photo of a 50-year-old man when he was 2 1/2 years old.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp New Years Event Begins
New Years celebrations have kicked off in Nintendo's mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
The official Animal Crossing Twitter account announces that the event will run until 9:59 pm PT on January 10, 2018, and will see players craft new furniture and unlock new clothing.
Completing requests for visiting animals will earn players a limited-run currency called Countdown Charms which are needed to craft Japanese-style New Year furniture, and can only be used for the duration of the event.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp New Years Event Begins
New Years celebrations have kicked off in Nintendo's mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
The official Animal Crossing Twitter account announces that the event will run until 9:59 pm PT on January 10, 2018, and will see players craft new furniture and unlock new clothing.
Completing requests for visiting animals will earn players a limited-run currency called Countdown Charms which are needed to craft Japanese-style New Year furniture, and can only be used for the duration of the event.