Deciding to close the Minecraft Forum, along with a handful of other community websites, wasn’t an easy decision for our company, but we could no longer justify the substantial engineering resources it took to run the properties. It was a sad day in our office when we announced the sunsetting of many beloved sites.
Previously, we weren’t able to entertain selling the sites because they were built on a proprietary platform. It would be a monumental task for an external engineering team to maintain or migrate the communities. Knowing this, we announced the site closures, but just as the sun slowly began to set for these properties, a figure appeared . . .
As of this week, we’ve identified a company with the necessary experience to buy and run these sites (including the Minecraft Forum), so that the passionate communities will continue to have homes on these long-standing sites. With this, we have started to transfer the sites to Magic Find. As for the staff on these sites, it will be up to them and Magic Find to decide how they’d like to move forward.
This isn’t the end for the Minecraft Forum. It’s a new and exciting beginning. We wish Magic Find the best as we say goodbye to several of the properties that helped our company grow into what it is today.
This will be the last update from Curse/Fandom. All future communications will be from the new site owner.
As North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, the automaker looks forward to collaborating on behind-the-scenes content for league fans
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Following a thrilling opening week for the Overwatch League that drew more than 10 million viewers worldwide, a major new brand-marketing partner has signed on to support the league during its inaugural season: multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota.
Toyota will be a North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, and is looking forward to future collaborations around bringing behind-the-scenes content to fans. The automaker plans to have additional broadcast integrations, as well as a vehicle presence at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles.
“Toyota is excited to be a launch partner of the Overwatch League,” said Steven Curtis, vice president, media & engagement marketing for Toyota Motor North America. “We love the passion of esports fans, and the goal of our partnership is to help take the Overwatch League and the fan experience to the next level.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Toyota to the Overwatch League,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment’s MLG division. “When we were building the league, our desire was to create a premium experience for players and fans, and partners like Toyota are helping us do just that.”
The Overwatch League is further supported by sponsors HP® and Intel®, with players competing on cutting-edge gaming hardware including HP’s OMEN gaming PCs, powered by the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors.
About the Overwatch League™
The Overwatch League™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard’s stable of twenty-one #1 games,[1] Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016—and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.
[1] Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the sponsorship arrangements for Overwatch esports, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
Poll: How Would You Like To See Dreamcast Classics Arrive On Switch?
9/9/99. It’ll be a very long time until we reach a cooler date to launch a console (or anything else for that matter). Yes, it was twenty years ago today that Sega’s Dreamcast landed in North America on a date that ranks alongside Sonic 2sday and Mortal Monday in the annals of video game history.
Although it would be Sega’s final foray into the realm of dedicated hardware, Dreamcast was a remarkable machine that pioneered many aspects of modern gaming and truly brought arcade-quality experiences into the home. Its online network and ‘second screen experience’ with its Virtual Memory Units are just a couple of the ways the system was ahead of its time – looking back on the system now without the context of Sega’s history in the years preceding release, it’s almost impossible to imagine how a console with games that good could be the company’s last.
We already took a look at 20 Dreamcast games we’d love to see on Switch back in November last year when the console celebrated its 20th birthday in its Japanese homeland, so today we’re interested in hearing from you. Would you like to see Dreamcast classics come to Switch?…
Actually, scratch that – we’re going to go out on a limb here and assume the answer is ‘yes, of course!’, so instead we’re asking how you’d like to see the games arrive on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Thankfully, developer M2 – the port wizards behind the excellent SEGA AGES series, amongst other things – has confirmed that Dreamcast games are “definitely” coming in the future, although there’s still a question as to the exact form they will take on Switch. Last year Jet Set Radio topped a fan poll of games they’d like to see rereleased, but no promises were made.
Would you prefer some sort of ported compilation along the lines of the Dreamcast Collection? Or would you rather – as has already been hinted – that M2 extends its SEGA AGES line to include the 128-bit machine with a smaller number of choice releases instead? The former would probably result in more titles, although the latter would give developers the opportunity to more easily tweak and enhance the games for a modern audience. After all, twenty years is a long time and even the best games can do with a little spit polish.
So, it’s a classic question of quality vs. quantity. Click your choice below and hit the ‘Vote’ button to let us know your preference:
How should Sega approach releasing Dreamcast games on Switch? (370 votes)
Compilations with as many games as possible – the more the merrier!
47%
Fewer games, but touched up and tweaked for Switch
It’s a tough one – do you think the games stand up well enough already or could they do with a little modern massaging? Regardless, happy birthday to Dreamcast – she went before her time. Feel free to share your memories of Peter Moore, VMUs and Arsenal FC sponsorship below, along with which Dreamcast games you’d most like to see on Switch.
The classic multiplayer roguelike, Risk of Rain, returns with an extra dimension and more challenging action. Play solo, or team up with up to three friends to fight your way through hordes of monsters, unlock new loot, and find a way to escape the planet.
Risk of Rain 2 has been in development by Hopoo Games for almost three years. When we first launched in early access in March on PC, the first question everyone was asking is “when would it come to consoles?” With help from Gearbox Publishing and PlayEveryWare, today we are finally able to answer that question!
For our players new to the franchise, both Risk of Rain 1 and 2 have the same core design philosophy:
Easy to pick up and play, but hard to master
Every playthrough is different
Be enjoyable, regardless of whether you win or lose
Time = difficulty. The longer you play, the harder it gets!
The length of a run in the game can last anywhere from 15 minutes to over a few hours, depending on the skill level of the player. We’re excited to see how long you can last on the planet – show us what you got!
We are very proud of the fact that Risk of Rain 2 has seamless multiplayer to join up with your friends or match with other players around the world. Being able to experience the frantic balancing act of getting stronger vs. not letting the difficulty scale too high is always more fun with friends.
As you progress further into the game, you will unlock new playable characters, items, equipment, and more to help you survive the planet. Some of the most rare and difficult items to obtain will drastically change the way you play the game. Each of these power-ups stack infinitely so the longer you play the stronger you become.
As of release, Risk of Rain 2 on Xbox One will match the PC early access version, including the Scorched Acres update and all previous patches before it. Future content updates will also update as soon as possible after they launch on PC – and yes, they will all be free, for months to come. We will be updating the game with tons of fresh content to keep things exciting for returning players.
Something we’ve been trying very heavily to focus on with Risk of Rain 2 is community engagement and transparency. We want people to know what we’re doing, why, and when it will be done.
We’ve been updating our roadmap frequently to show progress and new information as we progress through early access. In the same vein, we will have a custom console roadmap, with specific timelines for when consoles will receive both content updates and potential console-specific features that we feel would be cool and enhance the players experience.
Thanks for reading. We’re so excited to welcome all our new Xbox One players to the Risk of Rain universe. We will see you on the planet!
Game-focused social video platform Medal.tv raises $9 million
Medal.tv has secured a $9 million dollar investment to boost its service as both a video platform and a social network built around sharing short-form video game footage.
The platform launched back in February and has, according to VentureBeat, since picked up 5 million total users and daily active users somewhere in the “hundreds of thousands” range.
The service allows players to make clips of their gameplay footage, and share them with other users across Medal.tv. Its pitch is essential, in the words of one Medal investor Matteo Vallone, game discovery driven by sharable moments “without the complexity of streaming.”
Previously, the platform had raised $3.5 million from investors. This latest $9 million round is the result of contributions from new investors like Horizons Ventures and previous investors like Makers Fund.
“At Medal, we believe the next big social platform will emerge in gaming, perhaps built on top of short-form content, partially as a result of gaming publishers trying to build their own isolated gaming stores and systems,” explained CEO Pim de Witte. “That drives social fragmentation in the market and brings out the need for platforms such as Medal and Discord, which unite gamers across games and platforms in a meaningful way.”
The Coalition’s Gears 5 includes an expansive list of accessibility options
Gears 5, the latest Coalition-developed game in the long-running Gears of War series, launched this week (or will do so next week outside of Xbox Game Pass) with a refreshing number of accessibility features baked directly into the game on day one.
It’s a move that the developer says aims to make the Xbox One and Windows title a “useable experience for as many players as possible,” and follows the actions of a growing number of developers that have included robust accessibility menus in their own games.
Those features include colorblind options that cover protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia, toggles for camera shake and button taps, text to speech and speech to text for voice communications, gory and mature content filtering, subtitle settings, font sizes for some UI elements, and other options. A more robust list can be found on the Gears 5 website.
Gears 5 also offers support for Xbox and Windows 10’s Narrator for some menus and UI elements in the game. The studio notes that support currently only aids with navigation to the “most vital screens and social experiences” in Gears 5, but that it is “actively working on improving its accessibility offerings and will strive to ensure the experience is improved in further updates or titles.”
Recent games like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, God of War, and Celeste have all likewise included a variety of accessibility features aimed at giving players the option to adjust elements of the game in a way that best works for them.
Organizations like AbleGamers, meanwhile, have also started their own initiatives like Accessible.Games’ APX Portal to give developers the tools and knowledge needed to build accessibility into the design of their games from day one. Xbox has also worked toward creating more accessible experiences of its own accord with its Xbox Adaptive Controller, a highly customizable controller that works with the console itself as well as other platforms like Google Stadia.
Gears 5 Having Rocky Launch But Dev Says Issues Are Being Worked On
Gears 5 has been experiencing server and stability issues since its early access launch, with users seeing frequent disconnects and missing content. Developer The Coalition says it is working to resolve the problems plaguing the third-person shooter.
Gears 5 unlocked for Ultimate Edition owners and Xbox Games Pass Ultimate subscribers on September 5, a few days ahead of its official September 10 launch. Since this is an early access release, the game has been experiencing a number of issues, including long searches and connection errors, players getting kicked from Campaign, missing Ultimate Edition content, and more. The Coalition, in a series of tweets, confirmed that it is aware of these issues and actively working to address them.
The team are continuing to work on a resolution to this issue. We hope to have firm updates to share soon. Thanks for your patience! https://t.co/BgZ6PE7S8P
One solution The Coalition has recommended, especially regarding the missing Ultimate Edition content, is rebooting the game and hard-resetting the device. Doing both should resolve connectivity issues and award the bonus content. Additionally, The Coalition has implemented a number of "server side updates" aimed at improving stability and fixing issues.
#Gears5 Service Update: 1:25am PT Following our latest deployment, we are seeing a dramatic improvement to service stability. The team will now be monitoring the impact of this change to determine if additional updates are needed. Thank you for your patience.
While things look to be improving, The Coalition notes that Gears 5 is still facing a number of persistent problems, particularly around matching and online services. It seems some players are have difficulty connecting--and staying connected--to matches. The developer tweeted that it is "actively investigating the issue" and trying to resolve things quickly.
#Gears5 Service Update: 9:50 am We are deploying an update to improve matchmaking times and lobby dissolves. Players may be kicked out of matches during this rollout. Thanks for your patience. We will continue to monitor and provide details.
Despite the issues Gears 5 is facing, the game has received a rather positive reception. In our Gears 5 review-in-progress we said, "Gears 5 might suffer from some of the same storytelling missteps as its predecessors, and it might not venture far out of the past, but the new ideas it brings to the series are all good reasons for fans to return." We've also compiled a list of other Gears 5 reviews, with the scores tilting toward the more favorable end of the spectrum. The game's even gotten the attention of the series' former lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, who's incredibly happy a woman is on the cover.
