“A friend posted a question on Facebook: are there any game devs who have actually, really retired? And my response: Who can afford to retire? I was only half-joking.”

– Laralyn McWilliams highlights some issues beyond crunch that the game industry needs to address

There’s been a considerable amount of discussion recently about the game industry’s willingness to embrace crunch and if game development unions could make a dent in the harmful habits accepted by many studios. 

But, as longtime dev and Microsoft creative director Laralyn McWilliams argues, crunch isn’t the only problem developers should be talking about.

McWilliams shared her thoughts in a Twitter thread on some of the business-end shortcomings she’s picked up on through her own experiences and interactions with other developers, noting that in many cases game developers are in working situations that don’t provide them with retirement options, healthcare, or financial security.

“Don’t get me wrong: mandated crunch sucks. So does peer pressure crunch. So does sympathy crunch. We should be discussing this and working toward change,” McWilliams tweeted. “But retirement planning/funding and insurance (health, disability, life) are the big Indiana Jones rolling boulders of doom behind every game dev, even if you’re not aware of it yet.”

McWilliams notes that she knows developers that spent the bulk of their career bouncing between game development jobs following layoffs or contract work and, as a result, end up spending whatever savings they’ve built up trying to stay afloat between jobs. Her full thread dives deeper into these issues and offers developers an important look at what she describes as the “long-term” issues in the game industry right now. 

I’m saying this as a dev over fifty, looking around me at other devs going into and through their forties. You may not be there yet… but you will be. And I very much want you to be able to retire, even if that just means going indie and making your own games.

— Laralyn McWilliams (@Laralyn) May 11, 2018

Twitch has filed a counter-complaint against the lawsuit filed by former <i>Counter-Strike: Global Offensive streamer</i> James ‘Phantoml0rd’ Varga, who sued the company nearly three months ago for damages after being banned indefinitely from the platform back in July 2016. 

Varga was banned and his channel was removed after he allegedly failed to disclose his business ties to a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling site (where players could gamble with weapon skins since they had monetary value), which he promoted during his streams. 

In a lesser offense, Varga was warned by Twitch for violating its policy against “sexually suggestive content, content involving self-harm, and content involving racist symbols.”

As reported by Polygon, Twitch’s counter-complaint (which was filed on May 2) says it handled Varga’s ban properly demanding “an award of compensatory damages” for harm Varga brought upon the company and Twitch users. Twitch also stated that any supposed damages alluded to in Varga’s lawsuit are “vague, uncertain, imaginary, and speculative.” 

The counter-complaint also argues that Varga was warned and received penalties a year in advance “for streaming content that violated his contract with Twitch, Twitch’s Terms of Service and its Rules of Conduct.”

Although the rebuttal doesn’t go into how much the company is looking for in redresses, Twitch is asking for compensatory damages and full coverage of legal fees throughout the duration of the case. A copy of the entire counter-complaint can be seen here. 

Starting at 6:00 p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview BETA Ring will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1805.180430-1920). Read on for more about the New Features, fixes and known issues in the latest system update.

New Features:

The following new features are active in this build:

120Hz – Support for More Video Output Options

In this build Gamers with monitors and televisions that support a 120Hz refresh rate can now turn on 120Hz support for 1080p and 1440p output resolutions on Xbox One S and Xbox One X. This high refresh rate option means you can now take full advantage of displays with 120Hz capabilities. High refresh rate support can provide a smoother gaming experience and lower latency on some displays, and games may benefit from reduced tearing and stuttering via 120Hz output.

Connect with Gamers Across Xbox Live and Discord

You can now easily link your Xbox Live account to your Discord account from a Discord app (PC, mobile) and from the “linked social accounts” Setting menu on Xbox One. When you link Discord to your Xbox Live account, your Xbox Live presence will be shared across Discord, enabling friends and users in your same Discord servers to see what you are playing on Xbox Live. Keep in mind that your Presence will be shared with anyone on Discord, independently of your Privacy Settings on Xbox.

Please note for this feature to work you to do the following on an Android or iOS device.  Currently the Beta version of the Discord app on Android and iOS supports the account linking (the PC app in coming soon from the Discord team):

What you need to do on the console:

1. Go to Settings > Accounts > Linked social accounts
2. Select “Link” under Discord
3. Follow the instruction in your screen to start the account linking process:
4. Say ‘yes’ to the MSA consent dialog, allowing Xbox to share your information with Discord
5. A 6 digit PIN code will show up in your console
6. Go to your Discord app and insert the 6 digit code that shows up in your screen
7. Accounts should now be linked and your Xbox presence will start being displayed in Discord
8. If you say ‘no’ to the consent you’ll go back to settings, account won’t be linked

Improvements to the Xbox Accessories App

In this build we’re also modernizing the Xbox Accessories app to make it easier to navigate, and to look and feel more consistent with the rest of the Xbox One dashboard.

More Privacy Options

You will notice a change to the Login flow on the console that only occurs once when you first login. In the privacy settings menu, you can now also specify whether to send crash dump data for games and apps to Microsoft. We’ll also let you know about scenarios where we need to share your data with game developers, publishers, and other third parties so that you can play online. Finally, we’re giving you a way to close your Microsoft account, which will also remove you from others’ friends lists. Please note that these screens are not fully localized and you can move past them.  We will present them to all users again as we flight to ensure they are localized and users are fully aware of the content.

Trim Clips Directly in the Guide

Last month, we added a new sharing feature that helps gamers upload their captured screenshots and videos directly to Twitter. In this build, we’re improving on the sharing experience even further; you can now trim your recent game captures directly from the Guide, so you won’t need to switch to Upload Studio to make a quick cut to your saved clips.

 Fixes:

Apps

• We have fixed launch and activation issues in certain apps such as Hulu, Spotify and Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge

• Stability and performance fixes for Microsoft Edge, specifically when multiple tabs or video are open.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Some users may experience intermittent loss of Audio with certain configurations of AV receivers with ATMOS or with changing audio configurations during console use.
• Some users may experience loss of Audio playing Final Fantasy XV Workaround to allow audio : Change audio settings to Stereo uncompressed, 7.1 uncompressed or Dolby Atmos for Home Theater and play the game

Networking

• Work continues on the stability of the Wi-Fi connectivity.  If you see any issues please report the problems for investigation.

Pi-hole

• Pi-hole users may encounter issues signing in, creating, or recovering accounts upon downloading the 1804 update. This is due to a new configuration file which is downloaded from a URL Pi-hole blocks by default.
• Workaround: Add clientconfig.passport.net to the Pi-hole allowed IP address list.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Privacy Screens at Login not Localized

• The two new screens that present themselves at login are not fully localized and you can move past them.  We will present them to all users again as we flight to ensure they are localized and users are fully aware of the content.

YouTube

• Some users are encountering an issue where their YouTube account is being signed out whenever they launch the app.
  
  • Workaround: Uninstall/re-install the app and sign in with your account again.

We don’t take it for granted that so many of you lovely people visit Nintendo Life every day, yet you probably know a lot more about us than we know about you. Therefore our partners at Gamer Network have put together a readership survey so we can get to know our audience a little better.

Nintendo Life is part of Gamer Network – a network of leading video game websites and YouTube channels such as Eurogamer, VG247 and Outside Xbox – who are also responsible for handling our advertising.

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Any information you submit is anonymous and used to help us build a picture of who we’re talking to. This helps both the editorial team here at Nintendo Life make the site the best it can be, and it helps our friends in the ads team do their jobs, which helps us pay the bills (importantly). As well as telling us a bit about yourself, they’ve asked for some feedback on the games media in general, such as how you feel about reviews, video, and website subscriptions.

We would be honoured if you could spare a few minutes to help give us some vital feedback. Are you up for the challenge of completing our readership survey?

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