Nothing sus here.
It’s a new year and that means there’s a new roadmap for the popular multiplayer indie hit Among Us. So, what’s on the agenda for 2023?
Coming soon are user interface and user experience updates. This includes “cleaning up the account merging flow, updating the store to be easier to navigate, making it easier to see how you can report a toxic player” and more.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Activision Blizzard has been charged $35 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “failing to maintain disclosure controls related to complaints of workplace misconduct and violating whistleblower protection rule.”
The SEC shared the news in a press release, stating Activision Blizzard agreed to pay the $35 million to settle its violations, and the charges stemmed from issues dating back to 2016.
“According to the SEC’s order, between 2018 and 2021, Activision Blizzard was aware that its ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees was a particularly important risk in its business, but it lacked controls and procedures among its separate business units to collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct,” The SEC wrote.
Between 2016 and 2021, the SEC stated Activision Blizzard also “executed separation agreements in the ordinary course of its business that violated a Commission whistleblower protection rule by requiring former employees to provide notice to the company if they received a request for information from the Commission’s staff.”
As a result, Activison Blizzard was said to have violated Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(a) and 21F-17(a). The company did not admit or deny the SEC’s finding, instead it just “agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a $35 million penalty.”
“The SEC’s order finds that Activision Blizzard failed to implement necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints about workplace misconduct, which left it without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. “Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”
The SEC confirmed it was investigating how Activision Blizzard handled allegations of sexual misconduct and workplace discrimination in September of 2021. The SEC’s search followed the two-year investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that led to a lawsuit against the company for fostering a “frat boy” culture in which female employees were allegedly subjected to unequal pay and sexual harassment.
This settlment also comes at a time when there is extra scrutiny regarding the $68.7 billion deal that would merge Xbox and Activision Blizzard. Most recently, the merger spurred a formal antitrust warning from the European Union.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
We’re crossing our fingers.
The God of Random Numbers is real, and he’s in your house right now, sniffing all your dice. If you don’t pray to him, you’ll never see a natural 20 again, and all of your card decks will be stacked against you for the rest of time.
Or… RNG is exactly what it sounds like. Random. Mashing B, or A, or whatever button you fancy when the Poké Ball is tick-tocking to one side and another isn’t going to influence the outcome in any way. It’s a placebo, a meaningless ritual that keeps you busy while waiting for the game to arbitrarily decide the result.
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Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games has announced it will be changing the game’s February 23 release date to an early access release date to prevent further delays and to allow fans to jump in and help the studio reach the finish line.
Endnight Games revealed its plan for the Sons of the Forest’s release and development going forward via a post on Steam, and shared it very much wants the community’s help as it did for the original game.
“It’s been a long journey since we first started ‘Sons of The Forest’ development and it’s grown into the biggest most complex game we have ever made,” the post reads. “There is still so much more we want to add; items, new mechanics, gameplay balance and more. We didn’t want to delay again so have instead decided to involve the community in the continued development of this project and keep our February 23rd release date but instead release in Early Access.
“‘The Forest’ turned out to be a massive success, due mostly to the awesome community and the suggestions, feedback, and bug reports the players shared with us,” the post continues. “We are really excited and hope that players want to come on this new journey with us to make this the ultimate survival horror simulator.”
After its initial announcement in 2019, Sons of the Forest, which is a follow-up to 2014’s The Forest, was delayed twice in 2022 to accommodate for the game’s large scope.
We previewed Sons of the Forest in January 2023 and praised its vast improvements to its predecessor’s gameplay, which include sophisticated AI enemies and an impressively responsive ecosystem.
“Sons of the Forest appears to evolve and build on every aspect of its predecessor with a focused goal of realism and developing a flexible ecosystem, and it feels like the building blocks are there to create something truly special,” IGN’s Dale Driver wrote. “But its killer feature is the addition of impressively sophisticated and smarter AI enemies and companions that could not only provide a huge leap forward for the series, but the survival game genre as a whole.”
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
A projector for those ready to go all in.
When shopping around for a new TV, it’s easy enough to know what to look for and what questions to ask. What’s the picture size and resolution? How many HDMI inputs does it have? Does it come with any smart features built-in? Is it HDR-compatible? But what if you’re interested in a projector instead? What do you need to know then?
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The regular person with no unique or weird features, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week’s reset. If you’re looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.
Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he’s got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.
We’ve rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.
Xûr’s location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on February 3 through February 4. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you’ll find the retail monster who inspires us all.
Exotic Engram
Lord of Wolves – Exotic Shotgun
Raiju’s Harness – Exotic Hunter Chest Armor
Doom Fang Pauldron – Exotic Titan Gauntlets
Felwinter’s Helm – Exotic Warlock Helmet
Sadly it’s another week of underwhelming exotic armor rolls, but you should grab Lord of Wolves if you don’t have it already — it’s quite good!
Hawkmoon – Exotic Hand Cannon
Dead Man’s Tale – Exotic Scout Rifle
Both rolls this week are fairly mid, but there’s not anything wrong with either of them if you need a roll in a pinch!
False Promises – Combat Bow
Chrysura Melo – Auto Rifle
Blast Battue – Grenade Launcher
Ignition Code – Grenade Launcher
Nature of the Beast – Hand Cannon
Fractesthyst – Shotgun
The Keening – Sidearm
Xûr’s got a few interesting weapons this week! I don’t have any experience with Blast Battue, but quite like the roll for it, so will be trying it out. My interest is also piqued by the rolls for Nature of the Beast and Ignition Code. Some interesting stuff to try out this week, y’all!
For Warlocks, Xûr is selling the Lightkin set which includes:
Lightkin Gauntlets
Lightkin Chest Armor
Lightkin Helmet
Lightkin Leg Armor
Lightkin Bond
Warlocks didn’t get any worthy rolls this week. Once again, the fault is with Lord Cognito.
For Titans, Xûr is selling the Lightkin set which includes:
Lightkin Gauntlets
Lightkin Chest Armor
Lightkin Helmet
Lightkin Leg Armor
Lightkin Mark
Titans follow in the unfortunate footsteps of Warlocks and don’t have a single piece of gear worth considering.
For Hunters, Xûr is selling the Lightkin set which includes:
Lightkin Gauntlets
Lightkin Chest Armor
Lightkin Helmet
Lightkin Leg Armor
Lightkin Cloak
And Hunters went ahead and made it a complete waste across the board this week. Xur, you have failed us.
That’s a wrap on Xûr for this week, Guardians! Predictions time: who will we face in the upcoming Lightfall raid? Let us know in the comments! For more on Destiny, check out some of the new weapons and gear you can find in The Witch Queen and read about how Sony’s purchase of Bungie fits into its larger plans.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.
Duke Nukem 3D burst onto the FPS scene in the Nineties, young CJ was a bit confused. This Duke wasn’t the purple-shirted acrobat I’d known from Apogee Software’s pair of platformers earlier that decade. He was brash, crude, and and didn’t side-scroll anymore. It wasn’t for me, so I moved on to other games. I still occasionally loaded up those earlier platformers though, wistfully remembering a time when Duke presumably used actual toilets when he needed to answer a call of nature.Remedy Entertainment and Smilegate announced that they will be shutting down CrossfireX on May 18, 2023. This announcement comes right before the game’s one-year anniversary as it was released on Xbox Series and Xbox One back on February 10, 2022.
“Since the launch of the game, we have worked tirelessly to bring it to a point where we can all be proud, and throughout it all we have had the honor and pleasure of supporting our players,” CrossfireX’s development team said in a statement.
It continued: “Coming to this decision was not easy, however, we can proudly say that our players have been amazingly active, passionate, and enthusiastic in working with us to create a game that would be fun and enjoyable by all. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing CrossfireX and being a part of this journey with us.
It is with deepest regret that we must inform you of our decision to terminate our service for CrossfireX. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing and being a part of this journey with us. For full details, please visit: https://t.co/Kx03nYOmLA pic.twitter.com/Gl790Tn38T
— CrossfireX (@PlayCrossfireX) February 3, 2023
Sales for the game on the Xbox Store have already been disabled, and there will be no new content added to the game, including maps, modes, and camos. Additionally, purchases made within the last 14 days as of February 3, 2023, are eligible for a refund.
In the meantime, players can continue to enjoy the game until its shutdown in May. The in-game store will continue to be open, but the option to purchase premium currency will be disabled. Players can still spend their remaining currency.
CrossfireX is the latest live-service game to announce shutdowns this week—Rumbleverse and Knockout City, Crimesight, and Apex Legends Mobile are going offline later this year too.
In IGN’s CrossfireX single-player and multiplayer reviews, we said, “CrossfireX’s pair of single-player shooter campaigns are sloppy, soulless, and mercifully brief,” as well as “CrossfireX’s multiplayer modes aren’t worth the price you’ll pay…and it’s free-to-play.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a…lawnmower?
Game Swing’s OddBallers, a raucous top-down dodgeball party game, has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, having languished in various unreleased forms since it was first announced as “coming soon” a fair old while ago. Now it’s suddenly dropped onto Nintendo Switch and, far from the mess we had thought it might turn out to be, it’s actually a really fun little slice of multiplayer mayhem. However, it’s not without its issues.
Oddballers sees players jump into colourful top-down arenas in order to hurl dodgeballs, chickens, bombs, and lots of other goofy items at one another in order to emerge victorious. The action is then made even more chaotic by a multitude of environmental dangers; lawnmowers, acid bombs, electrical charges, and so on, that keep you on your toes as you charge around looking to wipe out your friends and/or a bunch of the game’s relatively capable bots.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
