In The News
Tyler Barriss, the man who’s swatting call ended in Andrew Finch’s death, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. He “pleaded guilty in November to a total of 51 charges stemming from phony emergency calls he made, including one count of making a false report resulting in a death,” NBC News’s Doha Madani reports. “Barriss agreed to serve 20 to 25 years in federal prison as part of a plea agreement, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of Los Angeles.”
Valve:
Valve is pressing pause on Artifact updates so it can “take larger steps, to re-examine the decisions we’ve made along the way regarding game design, the economy, the social experience of playing, and more.”
It also teased the Valve Index, “what appears to be a new virtual reality headset,” Variety’s Brian Crecente reports. “While there have been leaks about a Valve-designed virtual reality headset, the page for the Valve Index only features an image and those words.”
Skyrim Grandma Shirley Curry, 82, “will appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls VI, Bethesda announced. This addition is the result of a fan petition with over 45,000 signatures asking for her to be immortalized into the game,” Game Informer’s Elise Favis reports.
SEGA is releasing the “iconic SEGA Genesis … September 19, 2019, with our lovingly crafted SEGA Genesis Mini for $79.99! Simply plug-in and play 40 of the console’s legendary titles, 10 of which we’re announcing today.”
Deep Silver deactivated a host of “Metro Exodus Steam keys, which were manufactured prior to the announcement of its exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan writes. “The keys were ‘obtained illegally’ and, ‘sold by an unofficial key reseller.’ Deep Silver was made aware of the stolen keys — which had already been blocked — when players made complaints about the game not updating.”
Driveclub has shut down. You can read Sony’s post about it here.
OUT: Humble Bundle co-founders Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham are stepping down.
Interviews: Ubisoft’s Christine Burgess-Quémard (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Turtle Beach’s acquisition of ROCCAT “shows the company is setting its sights on the PC peripheral market, adding keyboards, mice, and other peripherals to its current roster of headsets. The company is also hoping to expand its reach to new markets in the process. Turtle Beach is looking to increase its share of the $4.7 billion global gaming peripheral market. Globally, this market will grow to over $6.0 billion by 2021,” Newzoo reports.
Discover partnered with PAX East as its “first foray into the esports space and includes advertising during the weekend event, largely through Twitch streams,” Esports Insider’s Thomas Lake reports.
Interviews: Meta Threads’ Steve Nabi (TEO), Jung Von Matt’s Toan Nguyen (TEO), Spectacor Gaming’s Tucker Roberts (TEO), Evolved Talent Agency’s Barry Lee (Esports Insider), Olympic Council of Asia’s Jizhong Wei (Esports Insider).
OUT: Weston “Westballz” Dennis is no longer with G2 Esports.
Happy weekend birthday Khoo “Ohaiyo” Chong Xin and Monday birthdays Gustav “s4” Magnusson and Lee “Leenock” Dong Nyoung!