Latest news with #GameSpot
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"I hate it": Former Assassin's Creed, Far Cry lead says that with Switch 2 game-key cards, "we're losing some of what made the business special"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Nintendo Not everyone is happy about the Switch 2 's new game-key cards, including former Assassin's Creed and Far Cry developer Alex Hutchinson, who says "I hate it" and that it feels like "we're losing some of what made the business special." Some upcoming Switch 2 games – despite coming with a physical card – won't actually be downloaded onto the card itself and playable out of the box like they are currently on the OG Switch. "Instead," Nintendo explains , "the game-key card is your 'key' to downloading the full game to your console via the internet," and once downloaded, the game is playable when you insert the card. While the good news is that these are better than regular download codes since they won't be a one-use thing ( thanks, GameSpot ), it's not clear how this'll work years into the future if the Switch 2 eShop follows in the footsteps of the Wii Shop Channel and 3DS/Wii U eShops before it and shuts down for good. Needless to say, the uncertainty here doesn't have everyone on board. Speaking to VideoGamer in an interview , Hutchinson – who served as creative director on Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 4 before more recently becoming a co-founder of Raccoon Logic – speculates that "Nintendo is going to get away with it," even though he doesn't like it. He explains: "It just shows you the power of nostalgia in our business that the way they will beat up Microsoft versus Nintendo is just not the same, especially in Europe. It's like, 'oh, Nintendo's doing it, alright we're not gonna say much.'" Expanding on this, Hutchinson says "I hate it," adding: "I just feel like it's getting away… we're losing some of what made the business special. Trading Game Boy cartridges at school, or, you know, DS for the modern audience. There's something nice about that." Although he argues that people aren't "gonna say much" about the game-key cards, it's one of the bits of Nintendo Switch 2 news that's caused some of the biggest uproar from players and devs alike. For example, it's raised concerns about game preservation – Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios (famed for its retro remasters like The Thing and Doom 64) previously stated that "you would hope that a company that big, that has such a storied history, would take preservation a little more seriously."
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fandom Blows Up Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb's future is uncertain following a showdown with parent company Fandom, which also owns GameSpot, over editorial interference. Creative director Dan Ryckert announced on a recent livestream that he would no longer be appearing on the Giant Bombcast and co-host Jeff Grubb confirmed on social media on Thursday that he's no longer with the company. Giant Bomb content is currently on hold while Fandom engages in a 'strategic reset and realignment of our media brands,' it confirmed to Kotaku. 'Well, that was a dream come true. Knew it wouldn't last, though,' Grubb, who joined Giant Bomb in 2022 after a reshuffle that saw the departure of longtime host and cofounder Jeff Gerstman, wrote on Bluesky. 'Out of a job at the moment. But I'll always be doing Game Mess,' he added, referring to a podcast he cohosts with Games Beat reviews editor and Giant Bomb contributor Mike Minotti. 'Needless to say I will no longer be contributing to Giant Bomb,' Minotti wrote in a separate post. 'Nothing but love to all the wonderful people from there and GameSpot. Jeff was a workhorse and a hero for the way he shouldered so much responsibility there, and I am furious with the way execs treated him.' The news follows an ominous 'pause' on Giant Bomb streams at the end of April and the takedown of an episode of the Giant Bombcast from YouTube this week after the hosts mocked apparent 'brand safety' concerns recently foisted upon them by management at Fandom. Then in a livestream on April 30, Ryckert, a member of Giant Bomb between 2014 and 2020 who returned in 2022, announced he would no longer be appearing on the show and had no interest in Fandom's vision for Giant Bomb's future. 'As you know, we've temporarily paused Giant Bomb live streaming and that content is currently available on demand for our audience,' a spokesperson for Fandom told Kotaku in an email. 'We understand this programming pause isn't ideal for our audience, but it's part of a strategic reset and realignment of our media brands. We have some creative ideas for the future of Giant Bomb that we're actively working on that we'll be able to communicate more about soon.' The wiki company, whose business model of monetizing free contributor pages with auto-play video ads and other intrusive website practices has led many communities to depart its network, purchased Giant Bomb and GameSpot in 2022. Less than a year later it instituted cuts to both sites. Fandom's ad business faced scrutiny following a 2024 analytics report that questioned the brand safety of some of the content the company was running ads against across its user-generated wiki pages. The rest of the latest incarnation of Giant Bomb currently includes senior producer Jan Ochoa, general manager Jeff Bakalar, and editors Tamoor Hussain and Lucy James. It's unclear how many will remain amid the current fallout or what the future of the website, which hosts a long-running forum and annual Game of the Year lists from personalities across the gaming industry, will be. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Int'l Business Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Nintendo Switch Firmware 20.0.0 Rolls Out Virtual Game Cards for Easier Game Sharing Ahead of Switch 2 Launch
Check your Nintendo Switch's latest firmware update 20.0.0, and you'll be surprised that a fresh feature is finally here. With the all-new Virtual Game Cards, sharing digital games, DLC, and software is now made easier between consoles. The Big N might be in a hurry for this update ahead of the June 5 launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Of course, this update comes with some limitations. What Are Virtual Game Cards? Nintendo Virtual Game Cards Virtual Game Cards are Nintendo's new innovation to make sharing digital games and content among consoles easier. According to Nintendo, the new system behaves as a digital counterpart of physical game cartridges, making lending and borrowing content directly from one console to another simpler. Players are now able to share downloaded games, free software, and add-ons (DLC) without the former online-only limitations. How Game Sharing Worked Before Before this update, sharing digital content was tedious. Nintendo required users to set one console as the Primary Switch and another as the Secondary. The Primary Switch could play games offline, but the Secondary Switch needed a constant internet connection. This meant limited usability, especially in offline environments. New Sharing Options with Update 20.0.0 With the new firmware, the Virtual Game Cards system offers two distinct ways to share content: Load on Other System This one replicates the original Primary/Secondary configuration but simplifies the linking process. The second console needs to be linked to the original owner's Nintendo account. It still needs some setup, but it eliminates the old, clunkier designation procedure. Lend to Family Group Member For those with a Nintendo Switch Online Family Plan, this option is much more convenient. Through physically having two consoles in close proximity, users are able to wirelessly share content. This is perfect for close groups or families who frequent play together. Major Restrictions and Rules Although this change is significant, Nintendo has put tight restrictions on the use of Virtual Game Cards, according to GameSpot. Game borrows expire within 14 days. During the time a game is borrowed out, the original owner does not have access to that title. A borrower is limited to one game at any given time. One account may lend to three borrowers at the same time. Internet-based borrowing remains forbidden, so consoles have to be situated close to each other. Preparing for the Nintendo Switch 2 Era Nintendo is not timing this for anything. With the Switch 2 set to reportedly launch in June, this update may be a prelude to the more sophisticated sharing capabilities we can anticipate in the next-gen console. It provides players with more options to play handheld, while setting up a smoother migration to a new ecosystem. Originally published on Player One
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Green Minecraft Movie Milk Gets Its Color From Chemicals The Government Wants To 'Eliminate'
Minecraft has milk in it but it's not green. Instead, the 'Creeper milk' going viral on Tiktok arises purely from the marketing geniuses behind chocolate milk maker off of the Minecraft Movie's box office success, the dairy company released jugs of Minecraft-licensed 'Vanilla Green Lowfat Milk' that looks like melted Shamrock Shakes. There's only one problem: they get their Creeper green from petroleum-based dyes the federal government is trying to get rid of. As spotted by GameSpot, the contraband food dye is 'Blue No. 1" and can be found in the Minecraft Movie milk's list of ingredients. It's one of a number of synthetic coloring agents that the Trump Administration is looking to ban over concerns about potential links to behavioral changes in children and even cancer. Foods with certain chemical colorings like Red No. 3 already require warning labels in places like Europe. 'The FDA is fast-tracking the review of calcium phosphate, Galdieria extract blue, gardenia blue, butterfly pea flower extract, and other natural alternatives to synthetic food dyes,' the Federal Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this week. 'The agency is also taking steps to issue guidance and provide regulatory flexibilities to industries.' The plan is to get rid of the synthetic dyes from all foods sold in the U.S. by 2026. As it stands, Creeper milk has been popping up all over social media as people encounter the chilled emerald draughts in the dairy sections of their local supermarkets. 'Found this creeper milk at Walmart yesterday,' one fan wrote on the Minecraft subreddit earlier this month. 'I know you could milk squids before, but milking creepers is beyond me,' another responded. Others have pointed out that TruMoo was also the company behind last year's blue Star Wars milk, a play on the substance fueling a grizzled Luke Skywalker's stoic existence in the most recent trilogy. Star Wars and Minecraft Movie milk might not be long for this world if health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his dead brainworm have their way. And the timing couldn't be worse for lovers of depraved promotional drink crossovers. The next Mario Bros. and Shrek movies are both due out in 2026. Pour one out for the red Mushroom and green Ogre milks that might have been. It might be safer to start staying away from milk altogether in the near future anyway. With unprecedented cuts to FDA staffing, routine safety checks for dairy, meat, and other food prone to bacterial outbreaks are apparently slowing down. Today's Creeper milk might end up being safer than 2026's store-brand 2 percent after all. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Internet Reacts To Trump's War On Nintendo
On Friday, Nintendo announced that players won't be able to pre-order a Switch 2 on April 9. The company directly blamed President Donald Trump's planned tariffs against basically every country on the planet (except Russia and North Korea, weirdly) for the delay. This has led to some people and analysts online to predict a price increase on the $450 console. This was explained in a statement from Nintendo, first obtained by GameSpot: Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged. To be clear: The Switch 2 is currently still priced at $450 and is still set to launch in June. None of that has changed. For now. However, with this news and the ongoing backlash from players over game prices, I'd say a lot of the Switch 2's rollout and pricing is up in the air. Perhaps Trump does what he has done in the past and at the last minute delays some or all of the huge tariffs. Maybe they get doubled in some places out of spite. Maybe he declares video games illegal with an executive order. Folks, anything is possible right now. It's very rare that a major video game company like Nintendo would backpedal this quickly after announcing a date for pre-orders. Even weirder for Nintendo of all companies to directly tie its decision to President Trump by calling out his planned tariffs. But we are living in wild and unprecedented times, something I'm remined of every single time I check social media or the news. As you might expect during such a bizarre moment, a lot of people online reacted to the Switch 2 news. Here are some of the more entertaining reactions, to distract you for just a few minutes For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
