We start off gaming news this week with a tale so ridiculous it could only be true. A game developer who is infamous for releasing a barrage of poor unimaginative games, got the boot from Valve off Steam this week. Nothing strange about that, however the way the full situation escalated is where it gets interesting.
Digital Homicides got kicked off Steam this week because they filed a lawsuit against 100 steam users; these John/Jane Doe have been accused of misdemeanor counts of “harassment,” “stalking,” and “cyber-bullying.” Quite serious allegations, however we must quickly look back at how exactly Digital Homicides has reached this point.
Back in 2014, Digital Homicide got angry at a fairly infamous YouTube game review named Jim Sterling. Insinuating that Mr. Sterling had “mocked” their game Slaughtering Grounds, they issued a copyright notice onto his video, thus getting it temporarily taken down. Jim, after noticing the ridiculous way this particular developer was acting towards a normal game review, began to shed even more light on the otherwise forgettable game. This back and forth “shitstorm” led to Digital Homicide’s boss James Romine, suing Jim for $10 million (£7.7 million). Yes you saw that right, $10 million, for speaking ill about their (ridiculous) game.
Cyber-bullying is always a bad thing and should never be excused, however this developer seems to think suing unknown individuals is the best course of action. It’s not, and trying to subpoena Valve into handing over the identities of their customers was never going to fly. When it all boils down, they are suing any and every one for saying awful things about their usually awful games.
Seldom does a week goes by where Konami does not make headlines news, and this week was no different. One of its former game directors and biggest fan (yes sarcasm) Hideo Kojima, had the opportunity to comment on Konami’s latest entry into the Metal Gear franchise “Metal Gear Survive.” He was asked whether or not he had anything to do with the new game, and in response he said “it had nothing to do with me.” Then jokingly went on to say, “If I had worked on that game, it would have mechs in it.”
Metal Gear Survive is the first “Metal Gear” game to be released after Kojima’s infamous exit from Konami. The game uses most of assets in “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” with an open world design that includes zombies with melee and survival mechanics. Its trailer debut on YouTube currently sits at 21,075 likes to a massive 109,316 dislikes. The reason for this is obvious- most people see this new game as an insult to the original franchise, with Konami just trying to milk the Metal Gear name for every last dime.
Finally we have news for the move beloved Rocket League. The next update for the popular game shall be the AquaDome DLC, slated to arrive in October. The update will introduce an underwater arena set within a dome, which will allow players to look at the sea life while having some fun in the new setting. If one pays close enough attention, you would see the clear hints to the BioShock universe, a nice homage for fans of that game. Psyonix said more information about the update will be revealed closer to release.
Tell us what you think of these three stories down below- for more gaming controversies and gaming updates, stay locked to Zeitgeist Entertainment Magazine.
