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Elvinelol and the Trust We Place in Influencers and the Brands that Support Them

Editorials
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Recently, it was exposed that Thomas Cheung, a popular video game influencer and employee of Hi-Rez Studios, makers of SMITE, Paladins and Realm Royale, was arrested in Operation Interception. Operation Interception was a sting, much like the Chris Hansen “To Catch a Predator” series, where suspects were caught soliciting sex from a minor. While innocent until proven guilty, the allegations and the evidence presented so far are very serious. Of course, sadly in our society, this isn’t a once off situation. These busts occur frequently and the work of our officers and legal system work diligently to protect society from this kind of harm. What makes this situation relevant to the gaming community is that Elvinelol was a popular influencer, affiliated with many gaming brands and ran the local Twitch Atlanta Community (not affiliated with Twitch). He attended gaming conventions where attendees of all ages gather to celebrate gaming. He…

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I Lost my Redbox Virginity

Editorials

So I wrote an article recently on Blockbuster and the lost art of renting games, which gave me an urge within myself that I hadn’t felt in years. I needed to rent a game. I needed to satisfy that deep, long-lost urge inside of me, but where does one start? The only rental service that I even know of is Redbox, so operation Redbox Rental came to fruition. I had never rented anything from Redbox before, so the question became how do I even do this and what game do I rent? I had watched movies with friends who had rented them through Redbox, and I had even seen them operate the mystical, Redbox machines (SPOILER ALERT – they look like red boxes). However, I had never physically interacted with the machine itself. I would look like a fool if I went up to my first Redbox and not even…

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Bethesda is Doing Just Fine, Seriously

Editorials
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Bethesda has been getting a bad wrap lately. And, it’s not just because of Fallout 76. A bevy of lawsuits, middling fan reception to their latest two releases and a seemingly big push towards mobile all have hardcore Bethesda fans scared. That being said, artistically, the company is doing just fine. Seriously, there’s no need to worry. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of what’s going on with Bethesda right now and the seemingly chaotic turmoil their PR is dealing with, let’s slow it down. Let’s break down what got Bethesda on most gamers’ radars. Bethesda Game Studios earned their place as the proverbial top dogs of RPG games back in the early 2000s. With the release of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, later followed by the more commercially successful title Oblivion, Bethesda claimed their spot among the great developers for wide eyed, RPG playing video game fans around…

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No Plans yet for a Nintendo Switch Successor, but What About a New Switch?

Opinionated News
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Nintendo and their consoles have seen a rollercoaster of success over the years, but they are very pleased in recent times, throwing their plumber’s cap in the air at the surging success of their Switch console. They have seemed to have found a happy medium where they can sell a console with the popularity of the Wii, but with the focus being on traditional first-party games, in the spirit of the Wii U. As reported and translated by Nintendo Everything, there are no plans for a price cut or successor to the Nintendo Switch, as stated by Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa through The Sankei News. Furukawa references the Switch’s great sales numbers and their lofty target of selling 20 million units this fiscal year. In short, they have no plans on stopping the Switch train anytime soon. But if there is potentially a new Switch version on the horizon, that train…

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End of an Era: Wii Shop Channel Shutting Down Within Days

News
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The Wii Shop Channel has been live for nearly 12 years. Despite the smashing success of the Wii and the continued achievements of the Wii U, it is now the era of the Switch. With the Nintendo Switch having topped the hardware sales charts for 2018, it seems few fans are complaining. That being said, it’s still the end of an era. Now Nintendo fans are about to experience the brunt end of that loss. After nearly a solid dozen years of selling WiiWare and virtual console games, the Wii Shop Channel is now planning to shut down on Jan. 30, 2019. Many of the games offered within the service were never given a physical copy release or shifted to newer Nintendo consoles. Beyond that, Nintendo reportedly plans to eventually cease providing the ability to redownload previous purchases from the now fading channel. Consequently, many of these wonderful games will…

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Farming Simulator Now Has Its Own Pro League… Seriously

News
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Farming Simulator, just as it sounds, allows players to garner some virtual experience down in the fields. While a game all about mimicking manual labor may sound niche, don’t be fooled. Farming Simulator 19 launched near the end of 2018 and sold a massive 1 million copies within just 10 days. Needless to say, the not so niche game about planting crops and driving tractors has a cult following unlike almost any other. Well, Farming Simulator developers Giants Software have since announced an Esports league in Europe that will feature a massive 250.000€ grand prize. Giants Software CEO Christian Ammann recently offered a few words to Gamasutra on the matter. “Competitive farming is something people enjoy for years now, but it hasn’t been done in eSports so far,” Ammann said. “We have lots of eSports enthusiasts in our company who can’t wait to show the world that farming can indeed be…

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Fallout 76’s Rumored Free-To-Play Model Just Got Canned

News
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Following a video from YouTuber TheQuartering — who noted the game’s low availability on Amazon as one of many reasons for Fallout 76’s potential move to free-to-play — the rumor of the game’s shift to being a free service sky rocketed. However, it would appear that there is no reason to get excited quite yet. Fallout 76 is the latest in Bethesda’s highly popular Fallout series. While Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 have been met largely with high praise, Fallout 76 has met negative critical reception. The game currently holds a Metacritic score of 52 for its PC version. None the less, news of the game’s potential shift to free-to-play snared the attention of many longtime Fallout fans. A fan would go on to ask Bethesda if there is any truth to the rising rumor. Bethesda however has since categorically denied any intention to take Fallout 76 to a free-to-play…

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Bethesda Lawsuit Ends In Game Shutdown, Developers Offer Statement

News

Bethesda recently issued a lawsuit against mobile Westworld game developer Behaviour Interactive. Bethesda has claimed that the developer has stolen coding, designs and artwork which have since allegedly been used within the Westworld game. Behaviour helped develop Bethesda’s incredibly popular mobile game Fallout Shelter, which released back in 2015. Within the recent lawsuit, Bethesda claimed that the development studio has stolen assets from the Fallout Shelter property and has allegedly appropriated them for the development team’s recent Westworld mobile game. Westworld owners Warner Bros. are being sued by Bethesda for inducement to breach of contract. Meanwhile, Behaviour is being sued for breach of contract. Both parties, however, are facing litigation for “their willful and intentional infringement of Bethesda’s copyrights, misappropriation of Bethesda’s trade secrets, and deceptive business practices and unfair competition through their development, marketing, and promotion of the Westworld mobile game.” Warner Bros. has since provided a statement, as reported by…

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We Need an NFL Referee Game Now More Than Ever

Opinionated News
Football Ref

If you are a sports fan of any kind, I’m sure you have heard the news. With time dwindling at the end of the fourth quarter, Drew Brees threw a pass on third down to his wide receiver on the sideline. The receiver is sprinting to get into position to catch the pass when all of a sudden, BOOM! He gets nailed by the defensive back, unable to catch the pass. It is obvious pass interference. The Saints will get a new first down, can kill some clock, and kick a game-winning fieldgoal to send them to the Super Bowl. However, the referee never threw a flag. The game would eventually go to overtime with the Los Angeles Rams coming out on top. Tough break for the Saints. A fan ended up recreating the play in Madden, which is pretty creative if you ask me. This time, the ref immediately…

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What Makes a Re-release Worth the Cash?

Editorials
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So you’ve already beat your favorite game a few times. You have tried others, but you keep finding yourself back in that familiar world on that old console. You know every inch of that map, know exactly how the story unfolds, all of the secrets, and yet you cannot get enough. Then one day out of nowhere, you hear the news – they are re-releasing that game! But what must the re-release have to encourage you to spend that hard-earned money? For me, there are a handful of games that I would buy the re-release no matter what. That’s how special a few of the games I have played are to me. Mainly Zelda games, I would re-purchase Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask until the end of time (same with A Link to the Past, but A Link Between Worlds was mostly a remake). However, a key thing with re-makes that I expect is obviously the graphics. Graphics enhancement…

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