Words About Games

Moody, Amy & Foxes discuss the latest surrounding the Activision Blizzard lawsuit and more.

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

8:19 - Report: Morhaime, other Blizzard execs were informed of rampant misconduct 

20:24 - Diablo 4 director, lead level designer, and WoW designer depart Blizzard 

30:24 - Activision Blizzard investor says publisher's promises are "inadequate" 

41:50 - Under fire Activision Blizzard exec Frances Townsend steps down from company's women's network

45:41 - Kellogg’s pulls Overwatch sponsorship over ‘troubling’ Blizzard allegations 

51:11 - Apex Legends developer fired after offensive blogs surface

1:00:24 - Nintendo releases all of the indie games

1:06:41 - Guitar Hero/Rock Band nostalgia

1:15:25 - Nintendo profits decline year-on-year as Switch hits 89 million sold

1:29:35 - Gamescom Plans Are Heating Up

1:36:13 - After a flood of 'hate-raiding', Twitch responds to calls to do more for marginalized streamers

1:47:51 - Idris Elba to Play Knuckles in the Live-Action Sonic Sequel

1:50:45 - Dr Disrespect is starting his own game development studio

1:57:37 - Games Out Next Week

2:03:15 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - Twelve Minutes

This week Amy, Moody & Foxes continue to talk about the fallout of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit, as well as chatting about allegations of toxicity at Fullbright, last week's Annapurna Interactive Showcase & more.

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

12:06 - Activision Blizzard employees say HR department failed them

39:36 - Bungie speaks out against toxic studio cultures following Activision lawsuit

42:39 - Shareholder rights law firm investigating Activision Blizzard

45:09 - J.Allen Brack & Jesse Meschuk leave Blizzard

58:17 - Activision Blizzard exec Fran Townsend ‘deletes Twitter profile’ following inflammatory post about whistleblowing

1:07:20 - Open Roads Studio Co-Founder Steps Down Following Toxic Workplace Allegations, Issues Statement

1:19:05 - There's a new Shorter Games With Worse Graphics Bundle on Itch.io, and it's exactly what it says it is

1:27:25 - Everything from Annapurna’s Showcase

1:45:23 - Report: Horizon Forbidden West Delayed To 2022

1:48:59 - EA doesn’t get enough credit for how it handles acquisitions, apparently

1:55:05 - Games Out Next Week

1:58:30 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - Naraka: Bladepoint

In this week's podcast, Moody and Foxes discuss the evolving situation regarding the California State lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

9:37 - Angered Activision Blizzard Employees Plan Walkout, And They Have Demands

17:03 - Activision Blizzard employees say CEO’s statement ‘fails to address’ concerns and ‘we will not return to silence’

26:30 - Activision Blizzard Is Working With Law Firm That Specializes In "Union Avoidance" Amid Abuse Allegations 

32:07 - Here’s the evidence a fired Blizzard developer’s ‘Cosby Suite’ existed

43:41 - Ubisoft Employees Sign Open Letter In Solidarity With Activision Blizzard Walkout, Are Also Seeking Change

55:15 - Gaming outlets halt Activision Blizzard coverage

1:08:46 - NPD June 2021 Breakdown

1:17:29 - Superhot VR gets review-bombed following the removal of suicide scenes 

1:22:31 - Oculus Quest 2 sales have been suspended due to skin irritation claims 

1:26:31 - The PS5 Has Already Surpassed 10 Million Consoles Sold

1:29:26 - Capcom Is Now Offering Resident Evil Perfumes To Celebrate Leon, Jill, And Chris

1:34:08 - Krispy Kreme is selling Xbox doughnuts 

1:36:18 - Foxes is right

1:37:28 - Games Out Next Week

1:42:42 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - In Sound Mind

Time Stamps:  

0:00:00 - Intro  

---CONTENT WARNING: Sexual assault, harassment, abuse & suicide---  

0:03:27 - Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment 

0:20:57 - Blizzard Botched Warcraft III Remake After Internal Fights, Pressure Over Costs 

0:32:31 - Report details toxic culture, sexual harassment and racial pay disparity at Ubisoft Singapore 

0:45:50 - Toxic gaming discourse  

---CONTENT WARNING ends---  

1:04:34 - Psychonauts 2's No-Crunch Development Required A Change In Mentality, According To Tim Schafer 

1:16:04 - Humankind dev pulls controversial Denuvo DRM from game before launch  

1:22:53 - Players Say Amazon's ‘New World’ MMO Is Frying Their Expensive Video Cards 

1:30:03 - Netflix Focusing On Mobile Games Included At "No Extra Cost"  

1:36:42 - All-women speedrunning event Flame Fatales unveils schedule 

1:42:48 - Death’s Door Uses UI-Based Comedy To Make Signposts Funny 

1:45:25 - Games Out Next Week 

1:56:58 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - The Ascent  

Blog link:  http://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/category/surviving-video-game-journalism 

Bonus: Amy’s ever evolving list of awesome SGDQ speedruns you should watch! (Part 2) 

Mass Effect 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNi4AL3i9j8 

Shadow of the Colossus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm3Ol9-rSQk 

GeoGuessr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxBcdmExUyc  

Dragon Age: Inquisition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTO8ArCIocE  

Ghostrunner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTsYYJJQxyY

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

4:12 - F1 2021

23:07 - The Life And Suffering of Sir Brante

44:49 - Dorfromantik (Early Access)

55:10 - Slipways

1:12:40 - Pecaminosa (Review code supplied)

In this week's episode we discuss the latest round of discourse about video game difficulty, Phil Spencer's comments on preserving the history of games, Apex Legends' cross-progression development being slowed by the latest round of hacks & more.

Time Stamps

0:00 - Intro

12:23 - Psychonauts 2 Aims To Be More Accessible With New Invincibility Mode 

28:13 - Xbox’s boss is worried that gaming is losing its history

44:54 - Work on Apex Legends cross-progression slowed by recent hacking problems

50:03 - Valve’s gaming handheld is called the Steam Deck and it’s shipping in December

59:47 - Ubisoft at "high risk" of losing talent after abuse allegations

1:09:38 - Pirates claim Resident Evil 8 crack fixes performance problems

1:15:53 - Netflix reportedly plans to add first games in the next year

1:25:14 - Dispute over a PC version of Lost Judgement may see the series come to an abrupt end

1:31:22 - Ghostwire: Tokyo delayed to ‘protect the health’ of its creators 

1:36:10 - Summer Games Done Quick raises over $2.8m for charity 

1:44:24 - Sony Won't Appear At Gamescom 

1:52:01 - Games Out Next Week

1:56:40 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - Cris Tales

Amy’s ever evolving list of awesome SGDQ speedruns you should watch!

Demon's Souls (2020) - Any% PS Plus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MpspBiCX0

Super Mario 64 - 70 Star Blindfolded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKnDj3wMNik

Super Mario Bros 3 100% Co-op

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrAiLTK2-Bc

Dead Space Any%

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMhnbyWEV8Y

Halo 2 Any%

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqZeIVOivXw

In this week’s episode we discuss the latest update to the Nintendo Switch, the latest news about Assassin’s Creed, Xbox reportedly being close to signing a deal with Hideo Kojima and more

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

12:00 - Nintendo Switch OLED Announced With Vibrant 7-Inch Screen, 64GB Of Storage

19:59 - Ubisoft is working on Assassin’s Creed Infinity, a huge evolving online game 

32:32 - Xbox has reportedly moved closer to signing a new Hideo Kojima game 

45:17 - Grand Theft Auto 6 Release Date Is Still A Long Way Off, According To Reports

55:00 - Apex Legends hackers 'achieved nothing of value,' Respawn dev says

1:06:47 - Humble Bundle will no longer let users donate 100% to charity

1:11:59 - Sony charging £9 for Ghost of Tsushima's PS5-exclusive features

1:29:47 - Codemasters bosses exit developer following EA buyout

1:35:35 - DICE LA rebrands to Ripple Effect 

1:40:36 - Resident Evil Village has sold 4.5m copies

1:45:16 - Mass Effect Legendary Edition Fans Can Now Cuddle Tali With Officially-Licensed Body Pillow 

1:48:56 - Games Out Next Week

1:55:16 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - F1 2021

Amy and Moody are joined by the wonderful Elfy (twitch.tv/elfdaughter) to talk Wildermyth, Overboard and more.

Time Stamps:  

0:00:00 - Intro 

0:03:30 - Wildermyth 

0:31:26 - Overboard! 

0:49:01 - Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance 

1:08:29 - E3 Demos (Cris Tales, Sable, Road 96, Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin)

In this week’s episode we discuss Sony’s approach to indie developers, the state of Cyberpunk (according to CD Projekt), another broken game that’s also still on sale, and more.

Time Stamps:

0:00 - Intro

6:34 - Indies criticize Sony over discount policies, poor communication, more 

23:26 - After 6 months, Cyberpunk 2077's stability is apparently at a 'satisfactory level' 

33:09 - Might And Magic 10: Legacy still broken, still being sold anyway

37:25 - Sony acquires Returnal developer Housemarque

43:32 - PlayStation may have accidentally revealed that it’s acquired Bluepoint Games 

48:20 - Horror developer Bloober Team partners with Konami, the studio behind Silent Hill 

58:41 - Game Publisher Apologizes for Asking Journalists to Shoot People Dressed as Arab Stereotypes

1:10:47 - Nintendo Outlines Its Plans To Make Workplace More Inclusive

1:16:03 - Dead Space 4 speculation heats up, as official YouTube shows signs of life 

1:22:15 - Chris Avellone files lawsuit over sexual misconduct allegations

1:29:21 - Former Dragon Age chief Mark Darrah says 'you are wrong' about game piracy 

1:38:25 - "We want players having fun in Halo, not grind it like it's a job"

1:43:46 - Remedy’s Project Condor is a multiplayer spinoff of Control

1:49:00 - 15 million copies of Among Us were claimed for free on Epic Games

1:50:47 - Games Out Next Week

1:55:47 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

In this week’s episode we discuss a smattering of the news stories we missed while E3 was happening, mixed in with the news of the week.

Time Stamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:10:33 - Cyberpunk 2077 returns to PlayStation Store with a big PS4 warning

0:20:58 - Five Nights At Freddy's Creator Scott Cawthon Announces Retirement After Political Donation Backlash 

0:34:55 - Blue Box’s head has been forced to reveal himself to debunk Silent Hill speculation

0:44:36 - Rumour: EA Motive Is Working On A Revival For An "Established IP"

0:54:08 - God of War sequel and Gran Turismo 7 coming to PS4 as well as PS5

1:04:00 - NPD Breakdown May 2021

1:14:30 - Amy's stories of playing RE7 demos in VR in public

1:21:10 - Among Us' sudden Twitch success left its developer feeling burnt out

1:27:17 - 'Our story is political,' Far Cry 6 narrative director says 

1:34:58 - Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick's $155m pay package approved by shareholders

1:39:05 - New Avengers Patch Shows Player IP Address On Screen

1:49:04 - Final Fantasy 9 is becoming an animated series

1:52:50 - Aliens: Fireteam Elite Gets August Launch Date

1:58:02 - Games Out Next Week

2:01:10 - OpenCritic Head-To-Head - Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny