Playback.dem 2024-05
Sun Jun 16 03:52:44 UTC 2024 |
Playback.dem
Welcome to another entry of our mini-feature on Frag-Net, where we try to have a
round up of interesting news on the community along with a status report
on our gaming network.
Frag-Net Status Report
Happy early summer! Hope the heat isn’t too bad where you are.
First up let’s address the delay for this month’s entry! Off screen,
we are in the midst of a giant move, plus had tickets to a
convention.
Calendars
There was a very minor hiccup that lead to a very big mistake. Turns
out we had not been properly uploading the 2024 Gaming
calendar! This giant oversight has been fixed. We apologize to
anyone who was using this calendar to not miss the “non-E3” season.
ETC
We always have something cooking behind the scenes, but sadly as
mentioned above, life events and other obligations got in the way. We
hope to give you an exciting summer of new content however!
Our interview article teased a couple months back is nearly finished,
so expect that in June! In addition, our staff eukara
and Xylemon got to release some articles they penned a
while back.
Enjoy the features and stay cool!
Gaming News
Blue’s Stories of Note
Here’s what our favorite gaming news site, Blue’s News has listed as
the top stories for May 2024 that you should be aware of, list is oldest
to newest:
The anticipated Hades II goes Early Access,
Microsoft extinguishes multiple studios, we learn the
same lesson again that copyright laws and digital ownership need massive
reform, Sony goes crazy with Helldivers
2 (read below), and GTA 6 gets a release date.
Another crazy month in these crazy times.
Valve Working On New Game,
“DEADLOCK”
There has been rumors and leaks of a new
Valve game title DEADLOCK, with a US Trademark filing being
the latest indication this game is the real deal. It’s supposedly a
6v6 multiplayer third person shooter, but that’s all we know.
Let’s just say here at Frag-Net, we can confirm we have heard from
people around us there is a semi-private beta test going around, so ask
around for an invite but you didn’t hear it from us!
Or just watch the 90+
leaked videos…
Since we can’t show you the game, here is an artist’s rendering of what the game looks like.
Thanks to Blue’s
News
RIOT Games’ Kernel
Anti-Cheat Causes Mayhem
In another sad tale of perverse anti-cheat methods, players of
League of Legends were
in uproar over the new kernel level rootkit, sorry we meant
“anti-cheat”, called Vanguard. A supposedly small but
vocal minority made allegations that Riot had bricked
their PCs while many more had matchmaking difficulties and so on.
Riot went into full damage control mode, posting a Reddit
megathread and then a follow-up
post:
Overall, the rollout has gone well and we’re already seeing Vanguard
functioning as intended. We’ve already seen a hard drop off of bot
accounts in the usual places, and we will continue to monitor this.
Since 14.9 went live, fewer than 0.03% of players have reported
issues with Vanguard. In most cases, these are common error codes such
as VAN codes 128, 152, 1067, -81, 9001, or 68 that are easily solved
through player support or troubleshooting, and account for the vast
majority of issues we are seeing. There are also a few trickier
situations that have popped up that we’re actively looking into; driver
incompatibilities for example. If you’re running into issues like this
please contact Player Support.
As Blue’s News stated following these posts:
If their claim of 125 million active users is accurate, that’s still
a whopping 37,500 players suffering from problems caused by a rootkit
being installed by a free-to-play game.
Perhaps the real cheaters are companies who force rootkits onto our
systems.
Thanks to Blue’s
News
Microsoft Closes
Multiple Bethesda Studios
Microsoft in traditional “embrace,
extend, extinguish” fashion has closed mutliple studios under
Bethesda, who Microsoft purchased
a couple years back. Blue shared the scope from IGN which had a list of studios affected:
Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team
joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin
has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a
pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update
will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its
servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide
make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.
Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the
team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be
sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to
make any purchases in the game.
Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful
for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi
Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is
today.
Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining
ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many
of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The
Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world
that millions of players call home.
With this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can
invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number
of roles across select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also
be eliminated.
This is the result of a recently annouced plan to cut 1,900 jobs as
IGN also notes:
Layoffs are sweeping the video game industry, with a number of
high-profile studios cutting staff or shutting down. In stark contrast
to a year of blockbuster video game hits, one of the biggest ongoing
industry trends in 2023 was the prevalence of mass layoffs, and they
have continued into 2024. While actual figures are difficult to obtain,
estimates suggest the number of workers laid off in games last year
approached or exceeded 10,000. A recent GDC survey of developers
suggests one-third of all game developers were impacted by layoffs last
year, either directly or by witnessing them happen at their company.
Sure feels like because of those new-fangled language models being on
Microsoft’s mind lately, something else had to give. Sure hope that
won’t bite
them in the ass…
We wish for the best for all those who were laid off, it’s been an
incredibly rough time in the industry.
Thanks to Blue’s
News
HELLDIVERS 2 Goes to Hell
and Back
HELLDIVERS 2 released earlier
this year earlier this year with the PC
port being a huge success. However, it seems everyone but
Sony was unhappy about this. If having a service like
Steam wasn’t already cumbersome enough, a patch came
out at the start of May forcing a PSN
account requirement to play the game.
This did
not go well to say the least. Review bombs occurred (with over
200,000+ negative reviews at one point). And this even resulted in a
community manager getting fired for their alleged role in the review
bombings. Then the community created
a petition to get them rehired.
Sony eventually backed
down on the PSN requirement, but the game was delisted
and remained so in more than 100 territories over this whole fiasco.
Near the end of the month, there was even
a new CEO at Arrowhead Studios and there was a huge player
count drop.
Perhaps this will have greater consequences on the industry going
forward with requiring accounts and alternative launchers, but we shall
see.
Thanks to Blue’s
News
Nightdive
Breaks Promise on Ports Despite Reaching Funding Goals
Nightdive posted a Kickstarter
update that addresses some questions:
Is System Shock still coming to MacOS and Linux?
Unfortunately no, plans for MacOS and Linux releases of System Shock
have been shelved.
This is incredibly disappointing, especially because they made their
funding goals. Let’s be clear, incentivizing people to give you cash for
a port then not doing it is bad. Sadly it’s not the first time
that crowd-funding goals become broken promises. Some of us here at
Frag-Net were burned with Killing Floor 2 doing
the same exact thing.
While you can play the game with Proton (probably)
it sends a message of a company that does not value its customers and
long-time supporters. We hope Nightdive will reconsider
in the future.
Thanks to GamingOnLinux
And of course we have to highlight what’s been going on in the
community!
Mod Appreciation Week
(May 26th - 31st)
For the 9th year in a row, ModDB celebrates the Mod
Appreciate Week, where users are encouraged to share their
favorite mods while sporting the hashtag, “#modlove2024”. You can also
be picked at random chance to receive a free game. While that is great
and all, we say you should just share a mod you love for just the sake
of it. Go revisit and play an old classic or something new, there’s an
almost endless supply of great mods out there!
Thief:
The Black Parade an incredible mod by an industry veteran that won
MOTY last year.
FixTF2 aka SaveTF2 Deluxe
The Team Fortress 2 Community is launching another campagin to get
Valve to address the issues that have been plaguing
TF2 for the past few years now (which is sad as
TF2 player to say). A petition is even hosted on the
site with over 200,000 signatures at the time of writing. An event
happened on June 3rd bearing the familiar hashtag,
#fixtf2. It’s unknown how Valve will react, if they
even will. Here’s a blurb from the site:
Team Fortress 2 is a game that has stood the test of time for almost
17 years. It’s still beloved by millions as one of the greatest video
games of all time. This makes it all the more shameful that Valve has
refused to take substantive measures to eliminate this botting
crisis.
It is wholly unacceptable to let such a beloved IP get ravaged by
nefarious actors intent on destroying the game adored by so many.
TF2 doesn’t need new content updates, it doesn’t need new
microtransactions, it doesn’t need new weapon additions. What TF2 needs
is a solution to the bot crisis.
Enough is enough.
You can sign the petition here.
Thanks to Blue’s
News for the story
DNF 2001 Mod:
Countdown to Destruction Releases
The community that has embraced a leaked prototype of Duke Nukem Forever has produced a set of
updated levels. Specifically the ‘Lake Mead’ chapter. A total of
3 updated levels are available.
Check out the mod here
Vogons User
Creates Voodoo 4 FGPA for Laptops
User sdz on the vogons forum has created a homebrew
clone of the Voodoo 4 for use in laptops. There never
were any official 3dfx Voodoo powered laptops, so this is cool on many
different layers. Utilizing FPGA technology, custom PCB
and other regular off the shelf components.
View the original thread here.
This relatively young HL2 mod has released a lengthy
news post announcing that there will be a demo, but no release has been
set. The post also highlights screenshots of the “Inter-Dimensional
Travel Device”, along with new models, a custom Objectives
System, Experience Points, and even a custom “save” system.
SourceWorld is a self described “ambitious project”
that is centered around procedurally generated levels and “Multiverse
and inter-dimensional travel” being developed by the two person
Bronco Development team.
Read all about it here!
Round ’Em Up
And here’s a bunch more new we couldn’t fit but felt was worth
sharing! Was a big one this month!
April Leftovers
Releases
Big or small, we track them all.
Announcements
Delays
Cancellations
Events
Rumors
Stories
ESA
Once Again Comes Out Against Video Game Preservation Efforts [src]
Deus
Ex creator Warren Spector has “literally dumpster dived” to help with
game preservation [src]
B.C.
program uses video game Minecraft to help children process grief [src]
Supreme
Court decides not to block Texas law that age-gates porn websites [src]
We learned nothing from The New Order.
Somehow
This $10,000 Flame-Thrower Robot Dog Is Completely Legal in 48
States [src]
We really learned nothing from The New
Order…
Intercept
of Kerbal Space Program 2 fame and Roll7 Closures Confirmed
Nintendo
DMCA nukes 8,535 GitHub copies of Switch emulator yuzu If it
was any other company that did this…
Knuckles’
Sets Record for Paramount+ Original Series [src]
Nvidia
streamlines GeForce Now install process on Steam Deck [src]
Microsoft
plans to lock down Windows DNS like never before. Here’s how. [src]
Unity’s
New CEO Nets Millions Months After Layoffs and Scandals. [src]
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/05/uk-government-replies-to-petition-about-requiring-publishers-to-keep-games-working
Tsk tsk.
Valve
graphics dev gets Gamescope working on NVK with Explicit
Sync
QuakeCon
2024 in August; Ticket Sales This Month We wish we could
attend, maybe next year.
RIP
‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere [src]
Steam
review bombing is gaming’s most powerful method of protest- 3 takeaways
from Helldivers 2’s weekend meltdown [src]
PlayStation
Remote Play for Steam Deck app chiaki4deck testing easier
connections
May’s
PlayStation Plus Essentials List [src]
Nintendo
Switch-era profit beats previous 35 years of profit combined [src]
And the roach survived the dinosaurs, pests find a
way.
Destiny
2 Expansion Open Access Month Begins
EA
Financials: Dragon Age Dreadwolf by Next March?
Remembering
Prey (2017), Arkane Austin’s masterpiece [src]
EA
CEO says there’s a “real hunger” among developers to use AI to speed up
development [src]
With comments by people who clearly aren’t
developers.
GUNDAM
BREAKER 4 in August
AMD
takes CPU market share from Intel in desktops and servers, but Intel
fights back in laptops [src]
Devolver
co-founder says large-scale game dev “crushing under its own weight a
little bit” [src]
New
Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees [src]
Hi-Fi
Rush gets reverse review bombed after Microsoft shutters Tango
Gameworks [src]
Xbox
president says studio closures were made to keep business ‘healthy for
the long term.’ [src]
Former
Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider pours scorn on EA’s AI dreams- ’What
they took as excitement was really a veiled wail of despair. [src]
“Being
acquired is a stepping stone to having your studio shut down” Gaming
founders and CEOs speak out on the current state of the industry [src]
Too right.
Fallout
4 Gets New Patches
Bungie’s
classic free FPS ‘Marathon’ is now on Steam
Warner
Bros. won’t delist Adult Swim indie games after all, devs say [src]
EA
is looking at putting in-game ads in AAA games — ‘We’ll be very
thoughtful as we move into that,’ says CEO [src]
We’ve already had ADs, how far are they gonna
go?
Around
30 people laid off in CI Games’ final round of job cuts [src]
Warhammer
40K Inquisitor - Martyr Offline Mode This Month; New DLC This
Year
Ghost
of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT Steam Delistings
NVIDIA
switching to open kernel modules by default in future driver update for
Turing+ About damn time.
Steam
Endless Replayability Fest [src]
New
DOOM Trademark Spied
Canadian
game preservation petition [src]
How
Stop Killing Games Ups the Ante in the Fight for Video Game
Preservation [src]
Report:
Sexual Misconduct Investigation Conducted at EA, Suspects Named and What
They Did Revealed [src]
Marvel
Rivals apologizes for “inappropriate and misleading” contract [src]
Parents
Sue Video Game Makers for Purposely Addicting Their Kids [src]
Proton
Mail still okay with giving PII to cops [src]
Unofficial
PC ports of N64 games could be about to get a lot easier [src]
Marvel
Rivals developer apologies after banning negative reviews [src]
Internet
use is associated with greater wellbeing, global study finds [src]
Space
Engineers Signal Update
This
open source project runs RPG Maker MV/MZ games on Linux
Ghost
of Tsushima single-player only on Steam Deck due to PlayStation Network
features
Tomb
Raider TV Series Greenlit
Epic
€1.1m fined for breaking EU consumer law in Netherlands [src]
AT&T
paid bribes to get two major pieces of legislation passed, US gov’t
says [src]
Trailer
released for DOOM mod, “Call of DOOM: Tarkov”
Monkey
Island creator Ron Gilbert’s next game is ‘classic Zelda meets Diablo
meets Thimbleweed Park’ [src]
Fallout
4 mods are broken again following update [src]
1 In
4 US Teens Say They Play Games On A VR Headset [src]
AR
Glasses Breakthrough Claimed
Ghost
of Tsushima Director’s Cut Declares Crossplay “Beta”
My
whole library is wiped out’- what it means to own movies and TV in the
age of streaming services [src]
What did we talk about earlier?…
Assassin’s
Creed Shadows in November
Proton
Experimental improves Halo Infinite, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger and
more
Twitter
has officially moved to X.com [src]
Please start using the
Fediverse now, thank you.
EA
SPORTS WRC is adding EA anticheat, breaking another game on Steam Deck /
Linux
Mod
Red Alert 3: New Dawn Reveals New Media
Tesla
drops Steam gaming support inside its vehicles [src]
Redfall
Getting Offline Mode in Final Update
“There
will be changes” to Xbox Game Pass when Call of Duty is added, says
industry insider [src]
Why
Piracy Fears are Keeping Some Researchers from Accessing the Games They
Need [src]
Surge
Engine, the open source Sonic-like game engine (and game) gets
upgraded
Netris
is an open-source cloud gaming platform with Stadia-like features using
Proton If you’re into that sorta thing.
If
you hadn’t noticed, these 5 disturbing trends prove we’re in the dark
age of PC gaming - XDA [src]
Microsoft
Destroyed Arkane Austin but the Studio’s Soul Is Indestructible [src]
Cafe
Owner Simulator Farm DLC
Larian
Opens Warsaw Studio
China
approves 96 new video games in May, with market leaders Tencent, NetEase
missing from list
KINGDOM
HEARTS on Steam Next Month
Gordon
Bell, an architect of our digital age, dies at age 89 [src]
Crime
Boss: Rockay City on Steam Next Month
XDefiant
Launch Struggles
“Gibs
is pronounced with a soft ‘g’” - John Romero [src]
“This was settled years ago.” - Blue
Lawmakers
say Section 230 repeal will protect children—opponents predict chaos
[src]
Rolling
Stone Launches Gaming Section [src]
Hunt:
Showdown “New Era” in August
Atari
Acquires Intellivision A quiet end to an insane
chapter.
Mad
Max developer hits back at film director George Miller after
criticism. [src]
Over
90 Deadlock videos have now leaked, but Valve’s still acting like
nothing’s happened [src]
Epic
says it’s bringing Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK
next year. [src]
The
ROG Ally X leaks, with twice the battery of the original and way more
RAM. [src]
The Steam Deck is still a very good deal also.
Bungie
Prevails in Cheating Case
Steam
Deck hits 15,000 games rated Playable and Verified
Warner
Bros. is allegedly “threatening to destroy” a popular YouTube modding
channel over Mortal Kombat 1 videos. [src]
Dark Souls
Re-Remastered is Complete [src]
Larian
Studios’ CEO says, “we did have to do a bit of crunch” making Baldur’s
Gate [src]
Rainbow
Six Siege Adding Paid Membership
Another
US state repeals law that protected ISPs from municipal competition
[src]
Days
of Play 2024 comes to PlayStation Store [src]
The
TikTok ban law will be argued in court this September. [src]
YouTube
is becoming unwatchable for ad block users – thanks to this powerful new
crackdown tactic [src]
The cat and mouse game between Google and its users keeps going
strong.
Team
Fortress 2 Seasonalander Summer 2024 [src]
Square
Enix shutting down two Dragon Quest mobile games [src]
CD
Projekt says it wants to release major games more frequently [src]
Cyberpunk
2077 Development Officially Ends This singleplayer game
“came out” four years ago.
The
World’s Fastest Typist Is 17 Years Old at 300 WPM [src]
Star
Citizen Passes $700M Still no game to show for it, but we’re
sure it paid for a very nice boat.
Call
of Duty Boosting Bans
Activision
Prevails in Cheating Lawsuit (Again)
No
Man’s Sky: Adrift Update
Call
of Duty Season 4 Begins
Garry
Newman of Facepunch comments on the Nintendo takedown of Garry’s Mod
content We disagree with the authors take, Nintendo abuses
Copyright law all the time and the fan content is often fair
use.
Dev
of crowdfunded WW1 survival-horror game CONSCRIPT cancels Linux and
macOS versions Tsk tsk.
Mystery
malware destroys 600,000 routers from a single ISP during 72-hour
span. [src]
PC
God of War Ragnarök Confirmed; Requires PSN I guess Sony
didn’t learn their lesson.
The
Witcher 3 REDkit is now available
Embracer’s
Lars Wingefors on the “brutal truth” of the AAA market. [src]
Federal
agency warns critical Linux vulnerability being actively exploited.
[src]
NSA
Warns iPhone And Android Users To Turn It Off And On Again [src]
Windows
11’s new Recall feature has been cracked to run on unsupported
hardware [src]
FCC
ends affordable internet program due to lack of funds [src]
All in All
And that’s it! We hope you enjoyed our latest entry
in this newish series and have some fun in the sun! Like we said, we’ll
make sure June’s Playback.dem won’t be as delayed.
If you have any news you think we missed, should share on Frag-Net,
suggestions, or even complaints, let us know. You know where to find
us!
Happy Fragging
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