The news was pretty slow this week, so we decided to branch out and do an actual game show episode! These questions are super tough, can you do better than our contestants?

The boys are back with a normal episode... mostly.

If you have any interest in being on an episode, please reach out to us (easiest on twitter.com/aroundthemonito)

Deals of the Week:

Mario Tennis Aces free to download and play the 7th-13th

Ducktails Remastered is going off all digital storefronts, you have roughly 24 hours to get it (75% off)

For Honor and Alan wake are free on the Epic Games Store until the 9th

Ooblets devs receive thousands of death threats after announcing Epic exclusivity deal

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-08-05-ooblets-dev-received-thousands-of-hateful-threatening-messages-over-epic-exclusivity

For context here is the original blog post from the dev

https://ooblets.com/2019/07/we-did-the-thing/

Here is the update post from the dev. NSFW warning with posts of some threats

https://medium.com/@perplamps/regarding-whats-been-happening-3af0f27d863c

Epic's statement regarding the harassment.

https://www.vg247.com/2019/08/06/epic-games-takes-stand-abuse-statement-defending-ooblets-developer/

Nintendo, Xbox, and Playstation cracking down on lootboxes!

https://kotaku.com/esa-says-microsoft-sony-nintendo-will-start-disclosin-1837034610

Rocket League removing lootboxes later this year:

https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/6/20757348/rocket-league-crates-leaving

EVO made a bad joke and people thought Solid Snake was coming to Tekken 7.

https://www.gameinformer.com/evo-2019/2019/08/04/evo-says-metal-gear-solid-cameo-video-was-not-a-dlc-reveal-for-tekken-7

The ESA leaked personal data for over 2,000 press/influencer attendees of E3

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-esa-leak-puts-the-future-of-e3-in-question

Update on Ninja on Mixer: He's doing really well. Hit 1 million subs in a week.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ninja-hits-1-million-subscribers-on-mixer/1100-6468950/

Rockstar Lincoln, the Rockstar studio with worst “crunch culture” makes significant changes

https://kotaku.com/months-after-labor-controversy-rockstar-converts-game-1836982746

This week we tried something new with a Tonight Show-style version. It was also cobbled together really fast, so if we did this again, expect it to be expanded. Any feedback is appreciated!

Topics:

Pokemon Go has been downloaded 1 billion times

Nadia Oxford at US Gamer

Fornite Winner takes home $3m

Matthew Handrahan at GamesIndustry.biz

Sony has shipped 100 million PS4s

Stephen Totilo at Kotaku

Console prices across the board could rise if Trump's Tariff's with China go through.

Eddie Makuch at Gamespot

Gamestop lays off roughly 50 regional managers

Ethan Gach at Kotaku

Over 25 People got scammed into working at a non-existant game company

Cecilia D'Anastasio at Kotaku

Crash Team Racing Update adds micro-transactions

Imran Khan at Game Informer

Fire Emblem Three Houses voice actor is replaced amid sexual assault allegations

Khayl Adam at Twinfinite

Mario Tennis Aces is temporarily free (only in Europe)

Alysia Judge at IGN

Ninja switches to mixer

Adam Bankhurst at IGN

New Garfield Kart Racing Game

Luke Plunkett at Kotaku

This week on Around the Monitor we return from vacay, and are only slightly rusty! Special thanks to Little Buffet's Baby Butter for sponsoring this episode!

Discord: https://discord.gg/5FQC9W4

Twitch: Twitch.tv/kingkaiser (we go live every thursday at 7:30 ET)

Facebook: Facebook.com/aroundthemonitor

Twitter: Twitter.com/aroundthemonito

Instagram: Instagram.com/aroundthemonitor

Articles:

Watchdogs Legion under fire for sourcing music from fans

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-07-15-ubisoft-criticised-for-sourcing-fan-music-for-watch-dogs-legion-through-joseph-gordon-levitts-hitrecord

Fiverr adds dedicated gaming store

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-07-11-fiverr-adds-dedicated-gaming-store

Switch Lite

https://kotaku.com/the-nintendo-switch-lite-will-be-released-on-september-1836239070

Newer-regular Switch with better battery coming this year

https://kotaku.com/nintendo-releasing-new-switch-model-with-a-better-batte-1836444569

Shemue III backers will still have to purchase season pass/deluxe edition separately

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-07-11-shenmue-iii-backers-have-to-purchase-season-pass-deluxe-edition-content-separately

Ubisoft bans XP farming quests in Assassin's Creed Odyssey Story Creator

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-07-12-ubisoft-bans-xp-farming-quests-in-assassins-creed-odysseys-story-creator

Gearbox committed to supporting cross-play in Borderlands 3 “As soon as practical after launch”

https://twinfinite.net/2019/07/borderlands-3-gearbox-committed-to-supporting-cross-play-as-soon-as-practical-after-launch/

Xenoblade developers pitched an Earthbound game for GameCube, in a “crafted world” style

https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-culture/2019/07/11/xenoblades-developers-pitched-an-earthbound-game-for-gamecube

Cool multiplayer features for Supermassive's Man of Medan (Until Dawn team)

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2019/07/11/a-three-hour-tour

Mike Tyson had no idea Street Fighter's Balrog existed

https://www.resetera.com/threads/mike-tyson-says-he-just-learned-about-balrog-mike-bison-in-street-fighter-ii.129523/

Twitch is out there making those money moves...

Watch the show live on twitch.tv/kingkaiser every thursday at 7:30 PM EST

Also, we have a discord! Link here: https://discord.gg/5FQC9W4

Topics:

Twitch is launching subscriber only streaming

https://kotaku.com/twitch-launches-subscriber-only-streaming-feature-1835883968

Auto-Chess games are the new Battle Royale? When will Call of Duty make one?

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/auto-chess-is-the-latest-gaming-industry-gold-rush

Dr. Disrespect is back on twitch after only 2 weeks of being banned

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-06-27-drdisrespect-returns-to-twitch-after-ban-over-e3-livestream

Epic Games CEO says exclusives are the only strategy to shake up PC gaming status quo

https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/26/18759704/epic-games-store-exclusives-ceo-tim-sweeney-steam

Surprising no one, it was terrible to work on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

https://kotaku.com/the-human-cost-of-call-of-duty-black-ops-4-1835859016

For a post E3 news week there were some pretty great topics this week! Also apologies for some technical difficulties on our end, but please blame discord!

Discord link here: https://discord.gg/5FQC9W4

Topics:

Zelda BotW Sequel is happening “because we had too many ideas for DLC”

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-sequel-exists-because-nin/1100-6467884/

Platinum Games boss says the next gen hardware is: “more of the same”

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/platinum-games-boss-on-ps5-and-next-gen-xbox-scarl/1100-6467910/

Phil Spenser on Xbox's new strategy of putting games on multiple platforms, working with Sony, etc.

https://kotaku.com/phil-spencer-on-xbox-s-unusual-strategy-working-with-s-1835652509

EA puts their foot in their mouth about lootboxes... again

https://www.pcgamesn.com/ea-loot-boxes

Take Two CEO interview: Expects games to take less time, doesn't understand why people want to unionize, distances self from Randy Pitchford

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-06-17-take-two-expects-shorter-gaps-between-releases

Minecraft Story mode now costs $100 an episode so no one will buy it...

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-06-17-minecraft-story-mode-for-xbox-360-gets-massive-price-hike

Randy Pitchford's former friend/lawyer provides evidence he siphoned $12 million from bonus meant for employees siphoned

https://gamedaily.biz/article/965/former-gearbox-employee-provides-proof-randy-pitchford-diverted-funds-to-personal-company

Riot Games has withheld information in gender pay discrimination investigation

https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/69197/riot-games-has-withheld-critical-information-in-gender-pay-discrimination-investigation-california-fair-employment-body-claims/

Nier: Automata (in a way) has forced Elon Musk off twitter (sort of)

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/nier-automata-fan-art-forces-elon-musk-off-twitter

This week we could barely contain our hype as E3 approaches! Thank god Pokemon was here to calm us down!

Topics:

Death Stranding is coming this November

https://twinfinite.net/2019/05/death-stranding-trailer/

Crazy Pokemon announcements (I'm fine with people double dipping on this one)

https://kotaku.com/new-pokemon-games-hardware-services-announced-1835079940

Super Mario Maker 2 wont have online play

https://kotaku.com/super-mario-maker-2-won-t-let-you-play-online-with-frie-1835074483

Sexual Harrassment at Rockstar games

https://kotaku.com/former-rockstar-designer-says-former-top-executive-grop-1835067943

Dauntless launched with six million+ players. 60% of which were playing cross platform https://www.resetera.com/threads/dauntless-week-one-stats-6-million-players-60-of-parties-crossplay.119483/

Gamelab 2019's speakers announced: Cory Balrog, Brendan Greene, Randy Pitchford, and David Cage https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-28-cory-barlog-randy-pitchford-brendan-greene-anddavid-cage-to-speak-at-gamelab-2019

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare wont have a season pass, and will be crossplatform

https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/30/18645934/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2019-season-pass-multiplayer-crossplay-ps4-pc-xbox-one

The most streamlined episode yet! We final broke the 30 minute barrier!

Sony and Microsoft team up on cloud gaming

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/20/18632374/microsoft-sony-cloud-gaming-partnership-amazon-google

Bloomberg article on who benefits the most from this

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-19/sony-s-deal-with-microsoft-blindsided-its-own-playstation-team

Riot Games refuses to change it's policy post walkout

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-17-riot-games-stands-firm-against-walkout-employees-demands

Amazon is “gamifying” working at their warehouses

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18635272/amazon-warehouse-working-conditions-gamification-video-games

Riot is making a Mobile game of League of Legends

https://www.riftherald.com/culture/2019/5/22/18635799/league-of-legends-mobile-riot-games-tencent

Sony launches film and television division

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/342991/Sony_launches_PlayStation_Productions_to_turn_games_into_movies_and_TV_shows.php

Seems they are starting with Twisted Metal TV series

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/05/21/twisted-metal-tv-series-confirmed-in-development-at-playstation-productions

This one goes out to Captain Tony Lemon... may he forgive us. Once again we are back to talk game news and rumors!

Tune in at twitch.tv/KingKaiser every thursday night at 7:30 EST and watch the show live and ask us your questions!

Check us out on social media!

Facebook: facebook.com/aroundthemonitor

Instagram: instagram.com/aroundthemonitor

twitter: twitter.com/aroundthemonito

twitch: twitch.tv/KingKaiser

Topics:

Nintendo Vouchers offer discounts

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/nintendo-switch-game-vouchers-online-exclusive-discounts

Switch is now outselling the PS4 in Japan

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-15-nintendo-switch-sales-pass-ps4-in-japan

EU issues a law to prevent overworking Game Devs

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-15-what-yesterdays-eu-court-ruling-means-for-thegames-industry

Starbreeze is somehow hanging in... but not for long

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/05/10/starbreeze-unlikely-to-last-another-12-months

Ubisoft apparently has 3 more titles dropping this year...

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/05/15/ubisoft-has-three-unannounced-games-on-the-way

And a potentially leaked(?) Splinter Cell game was squashed

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/05/14/update-ubisoft-says-creative-director-wasobviously-joking-when-he-announced-a-new

LCS tells Echo Fox to remove racist shareholder

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-15-lcs-directs-echo-fox-to-separate-from-shareholderover-racist-remarks

This week, the running theme seemed to be Game Devs in less than savory conditions... but I suppose that's the game industry these days...

Just a reminder we go live on Twitch.tv/KingKaiser every Thursday at 7:30 PM EST!

Check out our social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/aroundthemonitor

Twitter: Twitter.com/aroundthemonito

Instagram: Instagram.com/aroundthemonitor

Randy Pitchford is having a... magical time.

Week started with him getting into a terrible fight with Game Informer on twitter:

https://twitter.com/gameinformer/status/1123658326372429825

Now the voice actor for Clap Trap wont be returning because they wont pay him, and alleges Randy physically assaulted him

https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-borderlands-3-controversy-involves-an-alleged-physical-assault-against-former-claptrap-voice-actor/

Riot workers walked out to stage a protest on monday over forced arbitration (preventing employees from suing the company)

https://kotaku.com/over-150-riot-employees-walk-out-to-protest-forced-arbi-1834566198

Final Round:

Switch is poised to launch in China, but Nintendo's president doesn't expect it to sell well

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-08-nintendo-the-reality-is-that-the-chinese-games-market-is-almost-all-mobile-and-pc-games

US Senator will introduce legislation to ban loot boxes

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-08-us-legislator-proposes-loot-box-ban

Apex Legends is likely to receive a mobile portability

https://www.polygon.com/battle-royale/2019/5/8/18536814/apex-legends-mobile-season-2-chinese-release

Microsoft developing a controller to help the visually impaired read with Braille

https://twinfinite.net/2019/05/microsoft-patents-braille-accessory-for-xbox-controller/