Splash Damage

Kotaku, PC Gamer, and probably others blasted Final Fantasy XVI, an upcoming game with Medieval Europe aesthetics, for not including black people. We discuss how ridiculous it is to expect diversity in every piece of media along with Hogwarts Legacy developers removing gender from the game as a swipe at J. K. Rowling, Dungeons & Dragons requiring cultural consultants on all future products, The Rings of Power actors tripling down on their stance on black characters in Middle-earth, and how based Emily Blunt is.

EA took to Twitter to apologize after a single person got offended by the company’s lack of representation during a presentation about The Sims. We discuss this spineless move along with how much the new Gotham Knights sucks, G4 being canceled, Kotaku’s hilarious article on climate change, Overwatch 2’s sexual game modes, Henry Cavill leaving The Witcher, D&D’s quest to become worse and worse, and plenty more!

CD Projekt Red recently announced a slew of new games the studio is working on, but there’s a catch: They’re joining ESG, a sort of social currency system that funds only “woke” games. This likely means future CD Projekt Red games will cater to social-conscious investors rather than fans. We discuss this disappointing news along with Overwatch 2’s required phone number blunder, The Last of Us TV actress being told not to play the original game to learn about her character, Polygon’s awful take on Elden Ring’s women, the UN blaming “toxic masculinity” and video games for the world’s problems, and more.

God of War developer David Jaffe went on another tirade last week, accusing men who don’t like lackluster female Marvel characters of being misogynists. The problem is Jaffe helped create the original God of War games, full of sex minigames and female nudity, nevermind the depraved parties his employer threw. We discuss his hypocrisy along with Frosk getting fired from G4, the GTA VI and Diablo IV leaks, how the Splinter Cell remake will be “modernized,” the government wasting tax dollar researching terrorism in video games, and plenty more.

Dungeons & Dragons has long been aboard the woke train, and the latest controversy proves just how hollow and hilarious it all is. D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast censored lore from its latest book after just a few Twitter wokies complained it was “racist.” We discuss how the only true racists in this story are those who found the lore problematic along with Game Informer wanting The Last of Us Part I censored, Kotaku’s ridiculous take on the censoring of Velma in MultiVersus, Awesome Games Done Quick virtue signaling about how terrible Florida is, a Warcraft pro being punished for his private support of Andrew Tate, and reactions to The Rings of Power.

Nexus Mods removed a mod that changed the pride flags in Spider-Man to American flags and banned the user who uploaded it. We discuss how players should have the right to experience games the way they want along with the failure of the new, woke Saints Row game, how The Last of Us remake looks worse than the original game, the terrible direction Dungeons & Dragons is taking, more warning signs that The Rings of Power is going to suck, the hypocrisy of She-Hulk, and more.

Former Polygon games journalist Ben Kuchera took to Twitter recently to rant about the website, its higher-ups, vaccinations, and sexual abuse. We break down his tweet tirade and discuss other topics, including the ongoing trend of uglify-ing classic female video game characters, a pointless in-game climate march in a Ubisoft game, and yet more claims that D&D is racist.

Grand Theft Auto VI is in development, but don’t get too excited; according to reports, the upcoming entry in the popular franchise will no longer “punch down” at minorities. In other words, GTA VI won’t be the Grand Theft Auto series fans know and love for being an offensive and satirical take on politics and America. We discuss this groan-inducing news along with Kotaku getting upset at Stray and Quiet, Games for Change’s warped view of reality, As Dusk Fall’s spoiler-filled trigger warning, San Diego Comic Con using the term “Filipinx,” and more.

Eric July is a libertarian who raised over $1.2 million in a day for an indie comic line he’s launching–one that will be decidedly not woke, like so many Marvel and DC comics are today. We discuss his wild success and what this means for nerd media along with The Watch trying to eliminate racism in gaming, Ubisoft continuing to be terrible, Bayonetta 3’s censored mode, Hideo Kojima being falsely identified as a political assassin, tokenism in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel, and more.

TheGamer.com has always been a terrible games “journalism” website, and today they prove it by disparaging their entire audience over the sins of the few. We discuss their awful article along with Activision Blizzard virtue signaling in Overwatch 2, G4TV’s imminent demise, scientific research that proves sexy video game characters don’t hurt anyone, a God of War Ragnarok writer who really wants Kratos to be gay, the horrible companies Ubisoft and EA, and more!