Blizzard Bans Thousands Of World Of Warcraft Classic Accounts For Botting

Blizzard announced yesterday that it’s pulled the plug on over 74,000 World of Warcraft player accounts involved in cheating. “The majority of these were found to be using gameplay automation tools, typically to farm resources or kill enemies much more efficiently than legitimate players can,” the publisher wrote in an announcement over on the game’s…

EA says it will ratchet up efforts to crack down on harassment and toxic behavior in its game. This includes making “additional resources and tools” available to its moderation and reporting systems. The publisher says in the past few weeks over 3,500 player-made, in-game assets were removed for being inappropriate and hurtful.

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Studio Ghibli is releasing four films—Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Tales from Earthsea—in Japanese movie theaters later this month. The movies will play at 372 Toho theaters across Japan starting June 26.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker Would Be More Relaxing If Not For The Bone-Crushing Space Capitalism

A growing number of games focus on turning monotonous work, like running a border checkpoint or renovating a home, into compelling gameplay. Hardspace: Shipbreaker, the new simulation game from Homeworld 3 developer Blackbird Interactive, fits that description perfectly. It tasks you with stripping spaceships under the constant gaze of a megacorporation that sees the main…

Some copies of Persona 5 in Japan came with an official recipe card so you could recreate Sojiro’s famous Leblanc curry yourself. So here’s someone doing just that (you can also check out the recipe in full here). And if you’d rather try something a bit less apple in it, you could always try Chris’…

Desperados 3 Is A Modern Stealth Masterpiece

It has been a weird and quiet year for video games this year, both because we’re in a pre-next-gen lull and, you know, everything else. Out of this downtime though has come a pleasant surprise: a genuine game of the year contender emerging out of the long-dormant Desperados franchise. Despite this being the third game…

I’m Loving Pokémon Sword And Shield’s First Expansion So Far

Just a few hours in, I’m already enjoying Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC more than the base game. While much smaller in size, it feels more free flowing and open ended. There’s a lot to explore, and plenty more Pokémon to catch, including a bunch of my favorites that didn’t make the…

The Future Of The Video Game Labor Movement

When I left the gaming labor group Game Workers Unite International in late 2019, I had sent them a letter that criticized how they handled racism, power, and transparency. After two years of intense burnout and unsupportive leadership, I never intended to involve myself with the labor movement again. Then came the revival of the…

The Grounded Demo Is At Its Best When You Leave The Beaten Path

Obsidian Entertainment’s next game, the miniaturized adventure Grounded, received a demo on Steam yesterday. It’s a fun game, if a little constrained by the preview’s 30-minute time limit. Players looking to get the most out of their time with the demo would probably do well to just ignore the story missions altogether. Grounded opens with…

One Week Later, The Bugsnax Song Is Still Looping In My Brain

I’ve had the theme song from Bugsnax stuck in my head since last Thursday’s PlayStation 5 reveal. Its name is never far from my lips and is often the answer I give to completely unrelated questions. My brain’s default resting state has been set to Bugsnax. Is that bad? It doesn’t feel bad. A percentage…

Horizon Forbidden West Heading To PS5 In 2021

Horizon Forbidden West will launch on PlayStation 5 in 2021, according to an announcement made today by game director Mathijs de Jonge. “With the additional power of the PlayStation 5, we can make the world even more detailed, more vibrant, and more immersive,” de Jonge said. “With the PS5’s SSD, there will be virtually no…

That All-Black Pikachu Probably Wasn’t Hinting At Anything

In addition to the surprise reveal of New Pokémon Snap, this morning’s Pokémon broadcast also included an intriguing cameo from an all-black Pikachu plush, which hung out in the background while company president Tsunekazu Ishihara presented on stream. But don’t get too excited; it seems this was just an opportunity for Ishihara to show off…

Pokémon Sword And Shield’s New DLC Finally Lets Pokémon Follow You Around

Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC adds a big new area to explore and a bunch more Pokémon to discover, but by far one of the coolest things in it is a new feature that lets you hang out with your favorite Pokémon out in the wild. Once you hit a certain point…