Video Game Coverage

This August Ruslan Sokolovsky recorded himself while playing Pokémon GO inside Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg, after having been made aware such activity within the church could result in jail time...

“How can one offend by entering a church with a smartphone?” Sokolovsky asked. “I decided to just catch some Pokemon in church because, why not? I believe it’s both safe and not prohibited by law. Let’s go.”

Well, fast forward to after Sokolovsky posted the video he was investigated by police, and shortly thereafter charged with inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities. He's being detained for two months, and stands to face up to five years in jail.

What do you guys think, does the punishment fit the crime here?

Gary Dear, owner of Mad Hatter's Ice Cream in Anacortes found himself situated in the middle of a maddening Pokémon GO mecca. Eager players have flocked from miles and miles away to his shop, where there are three Poké Stops located nearby---many end up getting ice cream after their journeying around.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expected it to end up like this," said Dear. "I've never seen anything take off like this."

Dear even estimates that his store's sales have doubled, if not tripled, on certain nights when the Poké Madness runs wild.

What do you guys think? The gym leaders were revealed yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, when hundreds of players also gathered with high hopes that a legendary might be unleashed...no such luck, unfortunately. Some other details covered:

• There are easter eggs that nobody's discovered yet
• They’re planning ways to customize Pokestops
• Pokemon Centers are coming
• There will be more functionality added to gyms, though the specifics aren’t clear
• Niantic says the game is at about 10% of what they want it to be
• They’re still discussing breeding, but nothing concrete in the works yet
• The legendary birds are tied to teams in some way, as the original designs implied
• Yep, they know about the three-step glitch.
• It sounds like we can’t expect legendaries until after the game has been released on all regions, which makes sense

What a time to be alive: a Sacramento based fool has been arrested for sending death threats to Blizzard Entertainment.

Stephen Cebula, 28, is accused of sending messages "over the internet" on July 2 & 3 saying he "may or may not pay [Blizzard] a visit with an AK47 amongst some other 'fun' tools," and "might be inclined to 'cause a disturbance' at [Blizzard's] headquarters in California with an AK47 and a few other 'opportunistic tools."

IF he's found guilty he's looking at a sweet five years in jail, and a $250K fine...Alright, I'm done.

For those unaware, Pokémon GO has all but taken over the planet at this point. Phone batteries everywhere have taken a devastating hit. People wander the streets with lifeless eyes, tired legs (still getting used to the whole walking everywhere thing) on the hunt for another Magikarp (cause you need like 500 of those to get a damn Gyarados).

Seriously. Go outside, look around, and catch at least a dozen folks committed to leveling up, catching 'em all, and hitting every f**king Poké Stop between here and Narnia, while on their way to a potentially perpetual state of unemployment. Like some of us really should be getting back to work at this point...

And now to the hot topic of the day: when you first start up with this game, you've the option to side with Team Instinct, Valor, or Mystic:





Well, an inspired piece of banner artwork from DeviantArt’s Seoxys6 is serving as the rallying point for players out there that have grown tired of the senseless hostility between players on different teams. Team Harmony's message goes:

“Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning lest these three Titans wreck destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water’s Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting alone its song will fail. Thus the Earth shall turn to ash. O, Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three.”

Can this new, 'unofficial' team put an end to all the animosity, or nah? I appreciate the nod to the pokémon storyline -- in the movie Ash and friends have to do something with Lugia in order to restore order between the three legendary birds, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres.



I don't know though; these reactions suggest we might yet be on an endless quest to attain peace between competing factions....

So nostalgia, such wow. Damn. Looks like we're all going to be playing Zelda come holiday season after all, but just not the one we originally anticipated. The mini-NES will be sold at $60, and come pre-installed with 30 classic games. 

It’ll also come ready with an HDMI cable, a power adapter, and what Nintendo's now calling an NES Classic Controller, “patterned after the iconic design of the original NES controller.” It’ll be out in stores on November 11.

This is the full list of games, via Nintendo:

• Balloon Fight^™
• BUBBLE BOBBLE
• Castlevania^™
• Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest^™
• Donkey Kong^™
• Donkey Kong Jr. ^™
• DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
• Dr. Mario^™
• Excitebike^™
• FINAL FANTASY^®
• Galaga^™
• GHOSTS’N GOBLINS^®
• GRADIUS^™
• Ice Climber^™
• Kid Icarus^™
• Kirby’s Adventure^™
• Mario Bros. ^™
• MEGA MAN^® 2
• Metroid^™
• NINJA GAIDEN
• PAC-MAN^™
• Punch-Out!! ^™ Featuring Mr. Dream
• StarTropics^™
• SUPER C^™
• Super Mario Bros.^™
• Super Mario Bros. ^™ 2
• Super Mario Bros. ^™ 3
• TECMO BOWL
• The Legend of Zelda^™
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link^™

HYPE, HYPE, HYPE....

TorrentFreak reported that Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against Germany-based cheating company Bossland (a company that Blizzard also sued over World of Warcraft "buddy bots") for an Overwatch cheating tool called "Watchover Tyrant."

"Defendants' sale and distribution of the Bossland Hacks in the United States has caused Blizzard to lose millions or tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and to suffer irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation," Blizzard said in its complaint.

"Moreover, by releasing 'Overwatch Cheat' just days after the release of Overwatch, Defendants are attempting to destroy or irreparably harm that game before it even has had a chance to fully flourish," it added.

"Defendants not only know that their conduct is unlawful, but they engage in that conduct with the deliberate intent to harm Blizzard and its business," the developer said. "Blizzard is entitled to monetary damages, injunctive and other equitable relief, and punitive damages against Defendants,” the complaint reads."

Get the rest of the story, and read up on the lawsuit over at TorrentFreak.

This is kind of awesome. Redditor Calycae says that two pros bet their very professional careers on the firmly held, and shared belief that 17-year-old Geguri is a plain old cheater in Overwatch. Blizzard reportedly confirmed that Geguri wasn't cheating, and now those two dudes are fresh out of the game..

They just couldn't believe that she's really this good. The young lady's stats are truly astounding. She boasts an 80% win rate, and a KDA of 6.31. 

Korean site, Inven, says that much of the suspicion players hold stems from Geguri's ridiculous accuracy. You can watch her in action, in the clip below:

This Youtuber found a hidden feature in the extras of Prison Architect that allows you to wander through your prison creation in 3D. One of the developers of Prison Architect commented on how long it took to make the discovery.


via @IcepickInTheory

Hey, that's much better than the 23 years it took to find the secret menus in Mortal Kombat. 

Lumberyard is a free 3D game engine for PC, consoles, mobile devices, and VR devices. It's supported by Amazon's cloud services and also features Twitch streaming support. 

The announcement of Lumberyard also includes GameLift, which allows developers access to scaling game servers that grow as player demand does.

Check out the announcement video below:

Nine-year-old Scott Lundy was so excited to receive a PS4 this christmas until he opened the box and found a wooden replica of the system placed there by thieves. To add insult to injury, they included a "crude drawing of male genitals" (missed opportunity for a dickbutt) on the wood and a message that said "from cock and balls with love."

Scott's parents were able to return the console to Target and get a replacement, but Scott's faith in Santa Claus is shaken. I guess Call of Duty: Black Ops III and The Uncharted Collection will be there to carry him through this difficult time.

The official Bandai Namco US Twitter account dropped a casual hint to some kind of mysterious game the company is set to announce on Monday.



The mysterious link in their tweet leads to a mysterious website that features a countdown timer, and occasionally, hints about the project.

So far those hints have included "can you feel the hunger," "the architecture resonates among the weak," "there's no way out," and "the garden of life will blossom in the sky."

There are a lot of theories floating around about what the game could be, but so far the game that's looking most promising is God Eater.


(Aw vnx)