The wording of the complaints has me wondering if the game actually does anything “wrong” by the normal standards of video gaming. Like, does it actually glorify violence specifically against Jews? Is there some mission objective to butcher a bunch of civilians? I glance at the Steam page and it looks like the political statement its creator claims it is.
I’m pretty sick of this “anything that isn’t hardcore pro-Israel is antisemitic terrorism” horsecrap. Either care about human life or don’t, don’t BS me and everyone else like the acts and atrocities committed in video games suddenly matter when characters who happen to be (presumed) Jews are involved.
Throw a rock into the FPS section of your local game store. At least one of the games you hit will allow you to play as a German soldier in World War 2.
I said “glorifying the Nazi invasion”, not “play as a German soldier in World War 2”. These are two very different things. Why the hell do I even have to explain this?
The game is called “Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque”. How about a game called “Bliutzkrieg Poland: Heroes of the third reich”? In what store can I buy that one?
I’m willing to put $1000 that this game doesn’t glorify Nazis, and $100 more that it actively makes it clear to the player that while the game is played from the Nazi perspective, the game isn’t intended to glorify Nazis.
I’ve played neither games, so I cannot comment about their contents. The second part of your comment is specifically about titles.
“Knights of al-Aqsa”, as a title, does not have the same meaning nor implications of a your example. that would something more like “Bulldozing Israel, Knights of the Caliphate”, eventhough comparing the thrid riech to a caliphate is a stretch.
Knights of al-Aqsa mostlikely glorifies Hamas, along with any other faction fighting against Israel.
Panzer Corps probably glorifies Nazis as well.
but it doesn’t matter, as neither of us have played any of these games, nor will we ever. My whole point was about your choice of words for the nazi example.
“knights of al-aqsa” doesn’t have an explicit context, it comes knowledge of current events.
“panzer corps” doesn’t have an explicit context, it comes knowledge of historic events.
Bliutzkrieg Poland: Heroes of the third reich” has a very explicit context. The third reich specifically refers to nazi Germany.
Your example make it seems as if you think defending Al-Aqsa Mosque is inherently an act of aggression, murder, colonial expansion, and ethnic cleansing.
Great. as I said earlier - I’m willing to put $1000 that this game doesn’t glorify Nazis, and $100 more that it actively makes it clear to the player that while the game is played from the Nazi perspective, the game isn’t intended to glorify Nazis. Would you be willing to take that bet?
Bliutzkrieg Poland: Heroes of the third reich” has a very explicit context. The third reich specifically refers to nazi Germany.
Sorry, but if you think “panzer corps” doesn’t specifically refers to Nazi Germany, that’s on you. The first line from Wikipedia reads: A panzer corps (German: Panzerkorps) was an armoured corps type in Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht during World War II.
I’m failing to get my point across, so I’m bowing out of discussion. However I understand your point, and partially aggree , but mostly disagreed with the phrasing.
If the Nazis had legitimate grievances against the Polish? Maybe. Your premise is flawed in that it assumes everything a Palestinian resistance fighter does is terrorism that can't ve glorified. Let me flip your question around: Woud you object to an Irish-made game that allows you to play as the IRA and car bomb the British?
If the Nazis had legitimate grievances against the Polish? Maybe.
Who decides what’s “legitimate”?
Parts of Poland belonged to the second Reich, but were taken away by force in the aftermath of WWI. From the Nazi perspective, they had every right to claim them back.
Edit: Wait, what just happened? Did you actually say saying you’d be okay with a game glorifying the Nazi invasion to Poland if they “had legitimate grievances against the Polish”? WTF?
Your premise is flawed in that it assumes everything a Palestinian resistance fighter does is terrorism that can’t ve glorified.
My premise assumes that every Hamas fighter that crossed into Israel on Oct. 7th is a terrorist. The “resistance fighters” that attacked military bases are the same people who raped party goers, burned to death civilians in their homes and kidnapped men, women, children and the elderly to be used as a bargaining chip and human shields.
Would I be for a ban of Fatah fighters attacking IDF bases? Maybe, maybe not. I probably wouldn’t argue over it with strangers on the internet, for what that’s worth.
Would you object to an Irish-made game that allows you to play as the IRA and car bomb the British?
Depends. is it called “Knights of the IRA” or glorify the IRA in any way? Then I would support the ban. Because the they were a terrorist movement that targeted civilians. Why would you even ask that? Are you seriously okay with glorifying terrorists if you happen to agree with their goals?
Edit: Wait, what just happened? Did you actually say saying you'd be okay with a game glorifying the Nazi invasion to Poland if they "had legitimate grievances against the Polish"? WTF?
I mean depends on those specific grievances by the hypothetical Nazis, yes, because then they wouldn't be Nazis as we know them.
My premise assumes that every Hamas fighter that crossed into Israel on Oct. 7th is a terrorist.
You'll need a source for that.
Because the they were a terrorist movement that targeted civilians. Why would you even ask that? Are you seriously okay with glorifying terrorists if you happen to agree with their goals?
Your terrorist is someone else's freedom fighter. Nelson Mandela was listed as a terrorist in the US until the 2000s. "Terrorist" isn't a bad word that makes a whole organization irredeemable human scum, and considering the IRA's contribution to North Irish liberation, I'd say the answer is yes. "Terrorists" are people you can love or hate depending on their specific actions and goals.
You just said you’d be okay with glorification of “theoretical” Nazis, but not if they hadn’t committed multiple war crimes, countless atrocities, murdering and incarcerating people based on mental health, ethnicity and sexual orientation. No, the thing you’re most with is that they didn’t have a good enough reason to invade Poland.
I was obviously (okay maybe not very obviously) talking within the context of their invasion of Poland. Anyway Nazis didn't have legitimate grievances with anyone they targeted (because they targeted whole ethnic groups), which is part of why they're hated so much and what illegitimizes the comparison between them and insert your hated organization of choice here.
From the link: “Video game available on Steam allows players to simulate being a Hamas teroist who k*lls Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’” the account posted. In November, Nijm released an update called the “Operation al-Aqsa Flood Update,” which alludes to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel by having Palestinian fighters paragliding into an Israeli military base.”
No. You have given an opposite example. If you want to use historic comparisons it is Israel which proudly follows Third Reich, starting with racist laws and ending with genocide.
I said “Would you be against […] a game glorifying the IDF as it fights against Hamas terrorists in Gaza?” (and I would link to that if I could figure out how to do that…).
The main part of your message is just you saying “Israel are Nazis!!!”, which is besides the point.
You’re making a false equivalence, but regardless, I am fine with any of that, even though I hate Nazis and the IDF, because it’s a video game. It’s virtual.
Making a game about a specific attack that, at best, was purposefully indiscriminate, and at worst, directly targeted civilians is a bit more than the normal fare though. COD probably came closest with their false flag airport mission and that was a fictitious event.
Thanks for the information. I really didn’t know about that attack and was on my way out at the time so I was more reacting to generalities and what was right in front of me.
I don’t mean to suggest that anything and everything should be socially acceptable as freeze peach, just that I feel some people are being disingenuous and should be expected to point out an actual problem like “Look here, the rewards you get vary based on the racial and religious background of every civilian you kill!” Killing civilians who happen to be present regardless of other matters is murder. Killing opposing military personnel regardless of other matters is battle. Killing people because they’re Jewish is murderous antisemitism. Not wanting something seen doesn’t make it a crime… but I think some people are so stuck picking sides that even mention that there’s another point of view offends them 🤷
That said, could be Hamas is pure evil for all I know and there’s just no way to present anything they do without it being disgusting. I just… bleh, maybe it’s an autism thing. There’s a nit there that I can’t help but pick 😅 I want more sincerity and sense in this world.
To be fair I think the hostages/dead civilians are more because they’re Israeli than their religion. There’s definitely anti-Semitism in Hamas, but Hamas was founded to resist brutal occupation tactics.
Making a game about a specific attack that, at best, was purposefully indiscriminate,
I mean it also targeted the Israeli military so it definitely belongs in a game where you play as a Palestinian resistance fighter. Also the game was made in 2022 and only has a level about October 7.
Yeah that’s a good point, we play Vietnam games with zero recognition of what probably happened to the villagers. I think it probably comes down to what someone thinks the main purpose of the attack was.
I see the matters as connected: I figure people who flip out about “antisemitism” at anything even mildly unfriendly to Israel are serving (deliberately or not) to defend, justify, or even glorify its vile actions. That is, I think it’s not “zomg those poor pixel Jews!” but rather “Shhh, don’t talk like people are fighting against the IDF for a reason! (Let’s just accept that they’re all horrible evil sub-humans who must to be exterminated for the good of our wonderful, beloved friends and allies!)”
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched with what some suspected to be AI-generated textures that, as it clarified to El País, were then replaced with custom assets in a swift patch five days after release.
Fuck using Gen AI to replace human-made art, and fair enough for pulling the award, but I do think it’s worth making it clear exactly how much of the art is/was AI. And the answer is, very little at launch and none currently.
This is most of it, but it is worth remembering that using GenAI/LLMs for placeholders is still bad. It’s strictly unnecessary, has dubious efficiency gains at best, and you’re still using tech that is provably hurting people and the environment en masse.
I’m not going to hate Sandfall forever for this – it’s not original sin – but it’s still a very real error they should not repeat.
Ikaboze had access to a handful of save files at Nintendo Switch 2 Experience: Tokyo, one of which has a well-equipped Link that puts him right outside of Hyrule Castle. He makes quick work of Calamity Ganon.
So he just loaded a save file right before the end of the game. Not a speedrun.
Yeah, they still haven’t fixed the slow ass scrolling performance in the client and have barely introduced any platform features to their store. It’s so bad.
I don’t disagree. But the inciting incident was when an official Street Fighter tournament went awry when the person hosting left on a nude Chun Li mod. I imagine they’re specifically trying to prevent that from happening ever again.
If you’re like me, you might not recognize her by name, but she is Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Barbie in Toy Store.
Watching some old MGS3 cutscenes, I can hear it. There’s no way I would’ve guessed it without knowing, but you can hear a little of Ariel in EVA’S voice.
more like fighting against the ai slop. Such huge controversy should make other companies think again before using ai for creative process. Its either this or having more and more ai slop, voting with your vallet is the new pull your self up by your shoestrings.
Fighting against AI slop is fine, but that’s not what’s happened here. The devs tested using gen AI for a brief time with the intention to make placeholders. They stopped using gen AI after they found problems with the outputs. They therefore continued to use humans to make the rest of the placeholders. They then replaced all the placeholders with finalized versions, which are entirely human made.
The issue is not that Expedition 33 has gen AI, the issue was that they used gen AI for a brief time in the game’s development
I have an idea for a game, I know how to code, but I’m clueless about gamedev. Hell yes I will use AI to help me with it. That is if I’ll find time for it, because it will be insane amount of work to have something playable.
Some people seem think that you write a couple of prompts and you can ship it as an early access game.
They still have no real reason to exist though. Theyre a catalyst for ending physical media.
You get the worst part of owning a physical copy (you gotta find the physical game and put it in the console every time you want to.play that game) combined with the worst part about owning a digital copy (you still have to download all the game data).
Unless these versions of the game are cheaper than even the digital versions of the game, then there is no reason anybody would just pick the digital version over these. Any person interested in selling the game when they are done playing will just get normal physical media.
its worse than comparing it to physical media that has all content on media, but better than display boxes that only has a digital code in it.
digital key carts are more replacing the latter (which is better) but there will definitely be a few devs who will opt out of physical media storage costs for the key card
It is still possible to redownloaded previously purchased 3DS and Wii U games, they haven't taken that down yet. You just can't buy anything anymore. They haven't said how long they'll keep that up for, their FAQ simply says "for the foreseeable future", but we know it can't be forever and ever and ever.
Wii downloads went fully offline in 2019, 13 years after the console's launch, or 7 years after the console's successor. I wouldn't try to extrapolate off a single data point though, Switch servers may potentially last longer based on both a longer console life-cycle and a desire to keep backwards compatibility going.
outside of the official service, there is actually one other feature that people forget exists, and would be relevent to the resell of the key.
updating by local user (no not the recently announced game sharing stuff, but the ability to update a game via just being near a device with the update)
edit: of course, this will only work if nintendo okays the transfer of the BASE game instalation as well. time will tell if its possible or not, as its a situation thats functionalyl hard to test.
The 3DS and Wii U eShop was available for more than a decade, a full 6 years after the Switch was released. So all in all I’d say it was available pretty long, especially considering that there was no authorization required to download a game, so they were paying for servers to give away games for free
Okay but NES games are still playable and transferrable. Even earlier games for the first gen consoles like the MagnaVox Odyssey are still playable, and those are far older than one decade. And if it suffers physical damage, even to the point of becoming inoperable, as long as you dumped the ROM of your game you can continue to play it (at least in the US).
If a ditigal game shop server goes away, you better hope you downloaded your data, and that the hard drive you downloaded the data to never becomes inoperable. Because once that happens, it is gone forever. Even if you technically legally still have the license still to play it, if you tried to bring a legal case about being unable to access a game you paid for, the game publisher can just invoke their right as granted to them by the EULA of the game license you are forced to agree to to use their software (shrinkwrap license) to “revoke your license at any time, for any reason.”
Much, much harder to do that when someone owns a physical copy of a game, as that would require forcibly removing the physical game from you (AKA theft).
I mean with this setup you can still sell the game and it keeps a used game market. I don’t like not actually “possessing” the game cause we know everything online shuts down eventually, but it’s much better than the “physical games” that actually just have a download code.
Its effectively a self-destructing game set on a timer.
Not unlike real physical games that succumb to time and damage, except you cannot dump the gamedata to preserve your own physical copy.
Also, physical games deteriorate at a much slower rate than Nintendo shutting down their servers. Sure, you have the right to download your digital Wii games you paid for, but have fun doing that right now on servers that no longer exist. The WiiU and 3DS eShops are next, they already have purchases disabled.
I can still play physical NES games, the only maintenance required is changing the battery, if the cart even has one, and keeping the pins clean.
Nintendo doesnt want to sell them either. They lose so much revenue on wholesaling and manufacturing. Digital gets them that sweet sweet 100% of the consumer price per sale. Holy fuck they’re just counting the days until they can finally convince idiots physical shouldnt exist. Ask Sony and Microsoft what they learned about even trying to suggest they were killing the used market.
You may have seen reports of leaks of older text messages that had previously been sent to Steam customers. We have examined the leak sample and have determined this was NOT a breach of Steam systems.
We’re still digging into the source of the leak, which is compounded by the fact that any SMS messages are unencrypted in transit, and routed through multiple providers on the way to your phone.
The leak consisted of older text messages that included one-time codes that were only valid for 15-minute time frames and the phone numbers they were sent to. The leaked data did not associate the phone numbers with a Steam account, password information, payment information or other personal data. Old text messages cannot be used to breach the security of your Steam account, and whenever a code is used to change your Steam email or password using SMS, you will receive a confirmation via email and/or Steam secure messages.
You do not need to change your passwords or phone numbers as a result of this event. It is a good reminder to treat any account security messages that you have not explicitly requested as suspicious. We recommend regularly checking your Steam account security at any time at
We also recommend setting up the Steam Mobile Authenticator if you haven’t already, as it gives us the best way to send secure messages about your account and your account’s safety.
Reportedly found on a Wii test kit discovered at an e-waste recycling center
Man, talk about a find.
The reason for it being canned so late seems to be mostly on internal higher up conflict within Lucasarts, whose leadership became bean counters. www.eurogamer.net/free-radical-vs-the-monsters
And then we went from talking to people who were passionate about making games to talking to psychopaths who insisted on having an unpleasant lawyer in the room." (David Doak on the change within Lucasarts after Jim Ward left)
“LucasArts hadn’t paid us for six months,” says Norgate “and were refusing to pass a milestone so we would limp along until the money finally ran out. They knew what they were doing, and six months of free work to pass on to Rebellion wasn’t to be sniffed at.”
My 8bitdo story, back when they’re we’re just starting to put joysticks on their SNES style controllers, I used mine to the point that the joysticks were falling apart. I sent them a support email, and even though it wasn’t covered by any warranty or anything, a very nice Chinese person working there sent me a spare set of joysticks in the mail, plus words of encouragement (in somewhat broken English) since I wasn’t shy about fixing the thing myself.
Can’t imagine that today, but it was a nice gesture and I’m glad they’re still making stuff today.
Yep. I just bought an 8bitdo controller a few weeks ago with a defective RB button. I asked support if there was anything I could do to reseat it or replace a membrane to fix it. Support said either take it back to where I bought it or ship it to them in China to get fixed on my dime. That left a bad taste in my mouth for their products.
My joystick broke on my Ultimate controller. It could have been my fault or it could’ve been when I was traveling for work or the two year-old. Either way, I managed to take the front cover off and look at the joysticks and order a new set from AliExpress. Less than four dollars later and 20 minutes of work it was all fixed up. It wasn’t due to contacting customer support, but replacement parts were readily available.
To be fair: They are probably not working with a lot of margin and shipping it bavk to china is costly for them.
If I buy on AliExpress I am under the impression of it either fits or needs to be trashed. But returning is very unlikely.
And 8bitdo is (when not being sold by a 3rd party like for example microcenter) just another chinese seller/manufacturer on AliExpress or Amazon^(which is just a chinese shipping proxy with some local sellers nowadays)
If you buy a game, which you cannot use in single player mode, without internet access, you are signing up for this happening to you too, one day, guaranteed.
I mean, that’s basically all AAA games in 2024. Even songs PC ports which historically avoided DRM and network requirements is starting to mandate PSN accounts. I 100% would prefer to be able to play offline, more often than not it’s unwanted telemetry or BS bloat but that isn’t something we as users can enforce.
Stumbles ass first into giving creative control of their property to one of the most devoted and talented studios of the decade, leading to a wildly successful and popular game.
“That’s great! Let’s give it to someone else!” - some stupid ass exec who can only see ahead one financial quarter at a time.
I thought Larian themselves didn’t want to make another one? Could be wrong though but it would make sense for them to use their surge in popularity to create something that they wholly own.
While I respect Larian’s right to turn down another time intensive game like Baldur’s Gate…I do worry about the same thing you are concerned about: A shitty executive that only cares about cash and not art! A love for art and appreciating great storytelling is what made Baldur’s Gate 3 the breakout hit. The AAA industry is too shortsighted to be capable of creating such a marvel like BG3, though they occasionally stumble into success without understanding why. They won’t let their teams cook and, it’s very likely, their creatives have either moved on to another studio or became a stress casualty (Bioware’s own term).
Larian probably wouldn't have turned it down if Hasbro hadn't fired pretty much everyone who worked with Larian on BG3. Sven Vincke (CEO of Larian) seems like the kind of guy who would take such an action personally, which is probably why he doesn't want to work with Hasbro again and rightfully so, fuck Hasbro.
His team was also burnt out after working on BG3 after such a long time, Sven respected the wishes of his team over the lure of making more money. It’s important to remember, Sven actually cares about the team he’s assembled over short term profit. Screw Hasbro any day of the week is such a mood, but, not an inciting incident that lead to Sven making his choice.
polygon.com
Ważne