Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has suggested that tipping culture could benefit games, with some “special” single-player games leaving him wishing he could give more money to developers after completing them. Ybarra noted that “most will dislike this idea,” with many consumers already tired of tipping culture coming to other industries.
Ybarra introduced the idea in a tweet, as picked up by IGN, saying he had been thinking about it for a while as he was playing more single-player games.
“At the end of the game, I’ve often thought, ‘I wish I could give these folks another $10 or $20 because it was worth more than my initial $70 and they didn’t try to nickel and dime me every second,'” Ybarra explained.
“Some games are that special,” he added, listing games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Elden Ring among the games he would be tempted to pay a little extra for.
“I know most will dislike this idea,” Ybarr…
Read moreBungie has announced that Destiny 2’s annual Guardian Games event will return next week, featuring new earnable rewards, freebies, and more.
The free in-game event will begin on May 2 and last for three weeks until the end of Season 20 on May 23. The competition will once again allow players to earn medallions for completing a series of activities in Destiny 2, including a class-based version of the PvP mode Supremacy.
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Read moreThe latest set of drivers for Nvidia’s graphics cards are here, improving Halo Infinite and preparing users’ hardware for Icarus, the upcoming co-op survival title from DayZ creator Dean Hall’s studio, RocketWerkz.
Halo Infinite’s improvements come along with new optimal settings in GeForce Experience for Inscryption, Farming Simulator 22, Crab Game, and Ruined King: A League of Legends Story. While what’s being changed in users’ GeForce Experience settings isn’t entirely clear, the result should be a frame rate boost for each game.
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Read moreJournal is a memorable game, but not a particularly good one. This creation of developer Richard Perrin and his company Locked Door Puzzle is noteworthy for its hand-drawn graphics, superb music, and vaguely morose teen-girl atmosphere that stays with you well after you wrap up the brief two-hour story. But the potential impact is watered down with too many after-school-special plot points and a disjointed narrative style that is way too avant-garde for the lightweight material.
Initially, however, Journal is very intriguing. The story centers on a nameless teen girl who finds that all of the pages of her daily journal have somehow gone blank. You start with a metaphysical mystery that might be termed The Case of the Erased Journal, but things veer off on a tangent almost immediately, with the journal being forgotten due to the girl’s many other problems at school and at home. Her mom and dad have split up, windows have been broken, tests have been cheated on, and snow globes …
Read moreFlexwood is a mid-tier resource in Lego Fortnite that is primarily used for making rare (blue) pickaxes. This resource is not easy to find early on and requires you to have a certain level of tool to harvest it. Flexwood is also used for certain village upgrades and for building more advanced structures. Here’s where you can find flexwood in Lego Fortnite and what tools you will need to harvest it.
Where to find Flexwood
Flexwood is found in the dry valley, which is the desert region in Lego Fortnite. Unfortunately, biomes are randomly located when you generate a new world, but there are a few ways to help locate the region. First, it seems like the dry valley is in the opposite direction of the snow region, of which you can typically spot the snowy mountains from the vantage point of your starting village. Once you have reached the point where you need dry valley resources, the NPCs in your village will occasionally mention which c…
Read moreVideo chatting app Houseparty has expanded its livestreaming tools by letting Fortnite players on PC and PlayStation consoles stream gameplay to up to nine of their friends.
The feature is only available for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. There’s no word on if it will become available to other platforms. Epic Games said it will “let everyone know if we’re able to support more platforms in the future.”
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Read moreQueen Studios has unveiled its latest licensed collectible, a detailed replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger as he appeared in Terminator: Dark Fate and packing plenty of battle damage. Not just an incredibly realistic replica, this bust is also massive. Life-size in fact, so if you’ve ever wanted to own Arnold Schwarzenegger’s torso without resorting to grave-robbing in a few decades, this is as close as you’ll get to accomplishing that odd goal in life.
While this replica doesn’t use living tissue over a hyper-alloy endoskeleton to create an uncanny likeness of Schwarzenegger’s T-800 curtain salesman, it does use platinum-cured silicone for the skin textures. That particular silicone is often used to create Halloween masks, and if the item is looked after properly, it can last for decades. Plus, it’s soft to the touch so the Terminator bust will have that extra layer of creepy authenticity. To get the hair looking right, Infinity Studios says that approximately 100,000 h…
Read moreOne of the key executives behind Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, as well as shows like The Walking Dead and The Boys, is launching a video game studio.
Sharon Tal Yguado has announced Astrid Entertainment, a new gaming studio that aims to create “fantastical living worlds that inspire positive, community play” across mediums.
Astrid secured a “high seven-figure” pre-seed investment from companies including NetEase, Stardom, and Tower 26. The company’s leadership team will be announced in the months ahead, but for now, the company said the team is promised of “accomplished and innovative gaming developers” with experience with AAA games and indie titles alike.
“Astrid is building its first fantastical interactive world, grounded in rich lore, environmental worldbuilding and system design to encourage the emergence of multiplayer stories. Players will evolve worlds differently based on their actions and choices,” reads a line from Astrid’s a…
Read moreMario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is the unlikely sequel to the unlikeliest of hits. The original Mario + Rabbids game, Kingdom Battle, was a wild collaboration between Nintendo’s most iconic characters and Ubisoft’s screaming, Minion-like goofballs, all mashed together with a healthy dose of XCOM. Most shocking of all was that it all worked together beautifully. For Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft is experimenting further with free movement more reminiscent of a traditional Mario game, new playable characters like Bowser, and an emphasis on flexibility with its new Sparks system.
“To me, it was a dream project and it was almost unbelievable to have the opportunity to start to work on a game with Mario and Rabbids,” creative director Davide Soliani told GameSpot. “I always respected, as a player and as a developer, [Nintendo’s] IP, but it was very tense for me to go in front of them and to pitch our idea. And since then, we kept collaborating together because we did …
Read moreDisney is set to make a strategic shift in the streaming space as it brings all past seasons of the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy to Hulu, while also maintaining its presence on Netflix. This move coincides with the upcoming official launch of Hulu on Disney+ in March 2024.
This announcement, first reported by Variety, is a result of a new licensing deal between Disney Entertainment and Netflix. Starting in spring 2024, Hulu and Netflix will jointly hold co-exclusive US streaming rights for the preceding 19 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. Only Hulu will offer the entire series, including the upcoming Season 20.
This expansion is part of a US content agreement, where Disney Entertainment will non-exclusively license 14 library series to Netflix. Titles like The Wonder Years, This is Us, and Lost are among the Disney-owned shows making their way to Netflix. You can read the full list of announced titles and their respective release dates below.Read more