In The News
Veterans are great and so are the charities that help them. The Call of Duty Endowment, a U.S.-based charity “that helps veterans into work after serving in the military” is expanding to the United Kingdom, GameSpot’s Oscar Dayus reports. It was founded by Activision CEO Robert Kotick in 2009. “Activision says the programme has already placed more than 37,000 US veterans into full time employment. It will now be looking to do the same in the UK.”
Taunt has $1.75 million to play with in its quest to create a “an esports fan competition platform,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. When open on your phone during a game, it offers you and the “room” of people you’re in (random or friends) challenges throughout the game you are watching.
You may have missed this on Reddit — probably not because it was everywhere — but South Park: The Fractured but Whole has a difficulty slider that impacts money and character interactions (not combat) depending on how dark you make your character. The darker your character’s skin color, the harder the game will be. “During the process, South Park stalwart Eric Cartman will comment: “‘Don’t worry, this doesn’t affect combat. Just every other aspect of your whole life,’” Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole reports.
People are pissed about Destiny 2’s single-use shaders. Director Luke Smith sent a series of tweets yesterday explaining the decision to make them a 1-time consumable:
“Shaders are earned through gameplay: leveling, chests, engrams, vendors. We expect you’ll be flush w/ Shaders as you continue to play. When you reach level 20, Shaders will drop more often: vendor rewards, destination play and endgame activities. Shaders are now an ongoing reward for playing. Customization will inspire gameplay. Each planet has unique armor and Shader rewards. With D2, we want statements like “I want to run the Raid, Trials, or go back to Titan to get more of its Shader” to be possible.”
Let’s look at collegiate esports. It has been in the news as of late — mainly due to suspicion surrounding the NCAA’s interest in it. AListDaily’s Steven Wong wrote a long-form piece interviewing key collegiate scene players executive director of esports at Robert Morris University Kurt Melcher, University Of California, Irvine esports acting director Mark Deppe and Georgia State University director of esports Dr. Jay O’Toole.
Get ready for one more digital card game. Magic: The Gathering Arena “is the first title developed by Wizards of the Coast’s in-house Digital Games Studio and promises the original card game’s full rules with ongoing support for new cards,” Polygon’s Michael McWhertor reports. It’ll be out first on PC. “Wizards of the Coast is currently accepting applications for a closed beta test expected to launch later this year.”
Dragon Con (Credit: Mineralbu YouTube screenshot)
Dragon Con has come and gone in Atlanta, but Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett put together a list of some of the great cosplay at the show. Check out the video above by Mineralblu and pictures in Plunkett’s story.
Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli shot into the Street Fighter V spotlight after being the only “American to qualify for the Top 8 in Street Fighter V at the Evolution Championship Series in 2016,” ESPN’s Kieran Darcy writes. LI Joe expanded on his current job, what would happen if the “right” offer came along for esports and why it’s his passion.
Gaming writers can win the new “Best Games Writing” category at the 2018 Nebula Awards, GamesIndustry.biz’s James Batchelor reports. “The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America … has been operating since 1965, has over 2,000 members and its Nebula Awards are among the most coveted for writers in these genres. SFWA president Cat Rambo hopes the award will help identify consumers identify games with quality writing.”