“But all my light puns would’ve brightened your day.”
IN THE NEWS
When someone tells you video games are a waste of time, feel free to let them know how big a part of American culture they’re becoming. Just how big is the industry? Take a look at the stats the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) pulled together:
Around half of the entire U.S. population — 125 million — plays video games. We spent $30.4 billion on the game industry in 2016, and a whopping $101 billion internationally.
These statistics and more are available at areweinyourstate.org.
A Webby for you and you and you. Congratulations to the ESA on winning the 2017 People’s Voice award for The United States of Video Games. Check out the rest of the winners.
Blizzard quietly placed a new software engineer job posting on its website for an unannounced project, according to Dot Esports’ Callum Leslie.
“The role focuses on “Blizzard’s mobile gaming efforts”, and calls for a candidate with experience in developing mobile games,” Leslie writes.
Heroes of the Storm 2.0 kicked off Tuesday, and with it comes one of Overwatch’s sassiest personalities. D.Va is the multiplayer online battle arena’s (MOBA) newest character, reports Venture Beat’s Mike Minotti.
The relaunch features a bundle of free heroes and a new reward system.
Grand Theft Auto V did a really, really good job of recreating the real world. It did such a good job, in fact, that you could probably use it as a replacement for Google Maps in a pinch. YouTube channel Millennium uploaded the video Tuesday comparing the game to Google Maps, according to Venture Beat’s Jeff Grubb.
LEAGUE LAND
Mid-Season Invitational 2017 is live and running on the League of Legends website as of Monday. The play-in stage starts April 28.
Immortals Support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung did a Reddit AMA last night, and the first question is pretty much exactly what you’d expect.
Dota 2 wants your phone number for ranked play, and now League of Legends is implementing a new 20-champion pool minimum for ranked play. Aaron Mickunas at Dot Esports reports that, “As for when all of this is happening, it could be very soon, according to Ben Forbes, a comms specialist at Riot.”
OVER/UNDER WATCH
Remember that time you wept over a moss-covered robot and a cute yellow bird? Well, “The Last Bastion” has officially won a Webby in the People’s Voice category for writing in a film/video.
Dot Esports’ Nicole Carpenter writes that, “Using only beeps and boops, Blizzard is able to tell a moving story about hope and loss—and clearly fans appreciate that.”
Dennis “INTERNETHULK” Hawelka, the former Team EnVyUs player who announced via Twitter that his contract had expired (and shocked a lot of people in the process), is off to South Korea to coach Rogue’s team. He’ll be a free agent, Carpenter reports, and told her a little more about his plans.
The two players let go form Lunatic-Hai have found a new home. Laser Kittenz, the team INTERNETHULK originally said he was going to coach after being released by Team EnVyUs, has snapped up Lee “claris” Keon-Ho and Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-Beom.
“After controversy emerged regarding questionable behavior from both players, claris and Munchkin were both released from Lunatic-Hai,” Carpenter writes.
Overwatch World Cup 2017‘s top 32 nations are determined today. Check it out here.
DOTA-THON
Kiev Major 2017 has its first 2 playoff teams. Team Secret and Virtus Pro, according to Dot Esports’ Sam Nordmark, have clinched playoff spots after 3 rounds of group stage.
Check out GosuGamers and Reddit for updates on winners and losers.
SECRET UNLOCKED
Video games and Congress are quickly becoming a common sight in Washington, D.C.
Multiple members of Congress attended the ESA’s Nintendo Switch launch party Tuesday evening at the Long View Gallery. The walls were lined with Nintendo Switch stations where you could play already-released games and upcoming games like Arms and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Check out some video and pictures of Arms and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in the upcoming releases section, along with a Daily Walkthrough interview with Charlie Scibetta, senior director of corporate communications at Nintendo.
UPCOMING RELEASES
Scibetta didn’t reveal much to TheDW, but he did give some reasons for why those who already own Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U should fork over another $60 and buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch when it comes out April 28.
“There are some new levels and some new features in terms of battle features in the new Mario Kart game. So, the game itself has new features that we think are different, but the main reason I think to buy Mario Kart 8 for the Nintendo Switch is because you can play it in a way you can’t on the Wii U.
“You’ve got the console mode, so you have the ability to play it right there on your TV. You’ve got portable mode where you can then pop it out, take it out to go and the Joy-Cons attach right to the Switch. And then you’ve got tabletop mode, so if you’re at a park bench or on a plane you can kick out the kickstand.
“I can give you a Joy-Con, I can take one and we both have that console-like experience, but the TV comes with it since it’s built right into the Switch. It’s really the way that you can play the game that’s different on the Nintendo Switch than you could on Wii U. It’s a different way of playing it, it’s much more social.”
Arms is another Switch game coming out June 16. Below is gameplay of the upcoming fighting game.
Chris Kohler at Kotaku reports that Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite has an official release date. The fighting game comes out Sept. 19 on “PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and/or PC.”
New additions include Street Fighter’s Chun-Li, Resident Evil’s Chris Redfield, Strider, Thor, Hawkeye, Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, Ultron and Mega Man X’s Sigma.
UPCOMING EVENTS
GamesBeat Summit 2017 starts in 5 days in Berkeley, Calif., May 1-2. You can still grab a ticket if you’re willing to pay $1,995 for the basic option.
Fifty-four speakers will talk about an array of topics from tech to eSports to gaming platforms. Featured speakers include “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” screenwriter Gary Whitta, Oblong Industries CEO John Underkoffler and Roberts Space Industries CEO Chris Roberts.
HavenCon 2017 kicks off Friday, April 28, in Austin, Texas.
PlayStation DevCon 2017 starts May 2 in Coronado, Calif.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A long-time World of Warcraft YouTuber, 26-year-old Haven, has passed away.
Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson reports that Haven lost his battle against epithelioid sarcoma March 18.
“Many of Hayven’s videos were well-researched probes into the hard-to-reach corners of WoW’s history, but he also took time to talk about his battle with cancer and keep his viewers abreast of the situation,” Grayson writes.
If you own an Oculus Rift, you can now get In Utero, the virtual reality experience for Alient: Covenant, for free. In Utero went live today.
Jon Fingas at Engadget reports that “the production shows the terror from the baby alien’s (that is, neomorph’s) perspective as it’s born. The teaser clip doesn’t show much, but it’s already disconcerting — you can hear muffled screams as the humans realize something is about to go very, very wrong.”
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