In his keynote at the game industry’s DICE convention today, Xbox chief Phil Spencer called on game companies to embrace inclusivity, and to fix toxic biases that make women and minorities feel unwelcome — both working at game companies and interacting in gaming’s online spaces. “We hadn’t done our best work with the launch of Xbox One. But game worlds that fail to embrace the diversity of players will struggle to succeed in a world where more and more people are playing games, according to Spen

Fortnite, the hybrid action building game from Epic Games, will soon enter Season 3. It’s called “turbo building.”Epic announced turbo building in a blog post today. It’s secreted away in the menu settings, but once you turn it on you’ll be able to create structures more quickly. To support rapid building, Epic said that it’s also changing where and how players will be able to build. Previously, when you changed between building pieces that request would be routed through Epic’s own servers.

McDonald’s is gearing up for a second, limited-time offer of its Szechuan sauce, which became a cultural phenomenon last fall thanks to Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. So, come this Thursday, February 22nd, we’ll not only announce when, where, and how much Szechuan Sauce will be returning. We’ll also answer those questions and share those stories via a stranger-than-fiction, three-part podcast series: The Sauce. The decision to do so was spurred on by the success of Rick and Morty’s third season, w

Sonic the Hedgehog will star in a feature film set to debut next year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is expected to hit theaters on Nov. 15, 2019. Later that year, Deadpool director Tim Miller signed on as executive producer, bringing along newcomer Jeff Fowler to direct. Fowler’s best known previous work is Oscar-nominated short “Gopher Broke.”Back then, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie was scheduled for a 2018 release. The most we know about Sonic’s Hollywood debut is that the fil

Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, co-founders of Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games, are leaving the studio behind. He was one of Sledgehammer’s founding members, and previously was a lead designer on all three of its Call of Duty games as well. Its most recent release, Call of Duty: WWII, launched to mixed reviews last November. Sledgehammer’s other two Call of Duty games — Modern Warfare 3 and Advanced Warfare — received warmer responses. Update: Halon had several other notable credit

The day many smaller YouTubers feared has finally come. Lesser-known YouTubers have started campaigning on Twitter through different hashtags, including #DemonetizationDay and #SmallerYouTubers, to bring attention to one another’s work. “Happy demonetization day everyone,” one YouTuber wrote. Although much of the conversation is around the actual demonetization process (and the literal lack of funds they’ll have going forward), there’s a bigger conversation about feeling isolated from the bigger

Close Combat: The Bloody First was originally expected some time in 2014, but went missing in action and was presumed dead. Lead developer Steve McClare said that it all boils down to the decision to move from the Unity game engine to publisher Slitherine’s own home-brewed platform called Archon. The Close Combat series was first launched back in 1996 and it’s always had a purely top-down perspective. Grid View A map set in Tunisia in Close Combat: The Bloody First. If you’re starved for Close C

Close Combat: The Bloody First was originally expected some time in 2014, but went missing in action and was presumed dead. Lead developer Steve McClare said that it all boils down to the decision to move from the Unity game engine to publisher Slitherine’s own home-brewed platform called Archon. The Close Combat series was first launched back in 1996 and it’s always had a purely top-down perspective. Grid View A map set in Tunisia in Close Combat: The Bloody First. If you’re starved for Close C

McDonald’s is gearing up for a second, limited-time offer of its Szechuan sauce, which became a cultural phenomenon last fall thanks to Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. So, come this Thursday, February 22nd, we’ll not only announce when, where, and how much Szechuan Sauce will be returning. We’ll also answer those questions and share those stories via a stranger-than-fiction, three-part podcast series: The Sauce. The decision to do so was spurred on by the success of Rick and Morty’s third season, w

Sonic the Hedgehog will star in a feature film set to debut next year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is expected to hit theaters on Nov. 15, 2019. Later that year, Deadpool director Tim Miller signed on as executive producer, bringing along newcomer Jeff Fowler to direct. Fowler’s best known previous work is Oscar-nominated short “Gopher Broke.”Back then, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie was scheduled for a 2018 release. The most we know about Sonic’s Hollywood debut is that the fil

Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, co-founders of Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games, are leaving the studio behind. He was one of Sledgehammer’s founding members, and previously was a lead designer on all three of its Call of Duty games as well. Its most recent release, Call of Duty: WWII, launched to mixed reviews last November. Sledgehammer’s other two Call of Duty games — Modern Warfare 3 and Advanced Warfare — received warmer responses. Update: Halon had several other notable credit

In late January, two VRChat streamers, Nuts and Chipz, married each other in front of their closest friends and 8,000 people watching on Twitch. Chipz and Nuts’ special day was one of the most anticipated events in VRChat, with the tale of their wedding spreading quickly through the virtual community. Their wedding was more than a gimmick or declaration of virtual love; it was a reminder that interesting episodic stories are being told in VRChat. He eventually stumbled upon a VRChat player who w

An email posted to Twitter by one YouTuber says that, because those who belong to Nintendo’s Creators Program must also be part of YouTube’s Partner Program, people who don’t meet the new criteria will be dropped from Nintendo’s Creators Program. Creators with Nintendo-focused Let’s Play channels are concerned that, if they no longer qualify for YouTube’s Partner Program and are subsequently dropped from Nintendo’s Creators Program, a large portion of their revenue will disappear. However, if yo

Jessica Jones knows sometimes you need to start at the beginning before you can move forward. A new trailer for Jessica Jones’ second season loops in everything that’s happened to one of our favorite superheroes so far. That includes parts of Jessica Jones’ first season and events from Marvel’s underwhelming amalgamation of its Netflix heroes, The Defenders. “Jessica Jones, you are a hard drinking, short-fused, mess of a woman,” Cage says at one point in the trailer, summing up one of Marvel’s m

Jessica Jones knows sometimes you need to start at the beginning before you can move forward. A new trailer for Jessica Jones’ second season loops in everything that’s happened to one of our favorite superheroes so far. That includes parts of Jessica Jones’ first season and events from Marvel’s underwhelming amalgamation of its Netflix heroes, The Defenders. “Jessica Jones, you are a hard drinking, short-fused, mess of a woman,” Cage says at one point in the trailer, summing up one of Marvel’s m

New series, new creative teams, new directions and new beginnings, promises a short announcement video on Marvel Entertainment’s YouTube account today. Featuring Marvel Comics editor in chief C.B. The editor in chief also says the relaunch will feature the biggest line-wide change in artistic talent since 2012’s Marvel Now! The video promises “A Fresh Start” in May of 2018, making it Marvel’s second relaunch in eight months, following September’s Marvel Legacy. Fan and retailer frustration with

Harvest Moon 64 remains one of the most beloved entries in the long-lived farming franchise, even two decades after launch. Matthew Gerry runs Gerry’s Guides, a site dedicated to creating complete, old school-style walkthroughs for retro games; he also creates video guides for old favorite N64 games. His primary undertaking has been crafting a player’s guide for Harvest Moon 64, a game that never received a bound guide back in 1999, when publishers would release official walkthroughs for a pleth

Harvest Moon 64 remains one of the most beloved entries in the long-lived farming franchise, even two decades after launch. Matthew Gerry runs Gerry’s Guides, a site dedicated to creating complete, old school-style walkthroughs for retro games; he also creates video guides for old favorite N64 games. His primary undertaking has been crafting a player’s guide for Harvest Moon 64, a game that never received a bound guide back in 1999, when publishers would release official walkthroughs for a pleth

The day many smaller YouTubers feared has finally come. Lesser-known YouTubers have started campaigning on Twitter through different hashtags, including #DemonetizationDay and #SmallerYouTubers, to bring attention to one another’s work. “Happy demonetization day everyone,” one YouTuber wrote. Although much of the conversation is around the actual demonetization process (and the literal lack of funds they’ll have going forward), there’s a bigger conversation about feeling isolated from the bigger

In 2011, the Supreme Court gave video games the same protection, as works of expression, as literature, art and film. The act of blaming video games for the ills of society has a long, expensive history in the courts. It’s ridiculous to think video games are an issue we need to re-argue, even if it’s just done in the court of public opinion. Making the issue of school shootings about video games isn’t even a lack of moving forward as much as it’s actively taking a step backward. Blaming video ga