Free games

  • Twitch

    • Tempest

      • 2016
      • Pirate-themed open world action RPG with hundreds of quests and countless ships to plunder. Customize your ship, trade, challenge fellow pirates and face terrible mythical monsters such as Kraken and Leviathan.
  • Epic Games

    • Hitman

      • 2016
      • Third person stealth assassination game in episodic form, taking Agent 47 all around the world to prove he is the ultimate silent assassin
    • Shadowrun Collection

      • Shadowrun Returns

        • 2013
        • Science fantasy cyberpunk turn based tactical RPG based on the tabletop RPG of the same name, with extra custom campaigns available from Steam or third-party websites
      • Shadowrun Dragonfall

        • Originally an expansion pack for Shadowrun Returns, it was released as its own game in 2015 with new missions and other content improvements
      • Shadowrun Hong Kong

        • Another expansion pack for Shadowrun, built on an improved engine and released for free for everyone that owned the original

Updates

  • In new court documents shown in the case between Epic Games and Apple, it looks like Epic has been angling for a special deal with Apple for months now
    • Emails from CEO Tim Sweeney show him asking for special considerations when it comes to the App Store’s 30%, and even going so far as to ask for the ability to make their own app store for iPhones completely separate from Apple’s
    • Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is so far upholding Apple’s right to remove Fortnite from the App Store, leading Epic to incite their players by announcing how they’ll be missing out on new updates and events because of Apple, even though this entire crisis is all because of Epic Games and could be fixed by them just removing the direct payment option they’re trying to use to get around Apple’s payment system
      • And they are really working to incite their players. Their FAQ about the topic is full of rhetoric like accusing Apple of forcing Epic to collude to maintain their monopoly (read: making them follow the terms of their contract) and saying Apple “intentionally sabotages consumer iOS devices” to prevent them from installing apps directly from developers. Which is not sabotage so much as it is how iOS has been designed.
    • Judge Rogers has said that Apple can’t take actions that would affect the Unreal Engine though, so at the moment Epic’s developer accounts are safe since that is somewhat separate from the Fortnite app
    • A full hearing is set for September 28th, and the lawsuit is expected to run for months if not years

An ad agency decided to bypass proper sponsorships and go straight to Twitch stream text-to-speech donations to talk about Burger King

  • The agency Ogilvy tweeted a video showing the results of their campaign that had them donating the price of various Burger King menu items, never more than $5, and using the text-to-speech donation message to talk about the products
    • The streamers’ faces were blurred, and presumably for legal reasons their gameplay footage was replaced by fake games
  • One streamer hit the nail on the head when pointing out a problem with that- they asked “listen, are you gonna sponsor me or not?”, to which Ogilvy replied in the video “We gave you $5!”
    • Considering the advertising budgets that can go in to even something as small and simple as this, that’s complete bull
  • The video wraps up with streamers thanking the Twitch user for their donation, but mainly just because they’re being polite even though their platform was just taken advantage of
  • As stated by RubberNinja, it should probably be investigated by the FTC, because this was a blatant misuse of the stream footage and trying to sneak brand deals in for a pittance is just tacky and borderline illegal
    • Some of the streamers recognized themselves in the video, and have said that they were not approached for consent
    • And many have pointed out that not only does this seem to violate Twitch’s terms of service, it could also interfere with actual legitimate deals that streamers may have had with competing brands

DC and Warner Bros have announced a new Batman game coming in 2021, sans Batman

  • Gotham Knights will star Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Red Hood, all taking on the Court of Owls and stepping up to take care of Gotham with Batman out of the picture
  • The title will hit the PS4, PS5, PC, XBone, and Series X, and is being made by the team behind Arkham: Origins
  • Rocksteady, the developers that made the original Arkham titles, have apparently been working on a Suicide Squad adaptation

Bungie is making interesting choices with Destiny 2, vaulting content that people have paid for as part of the Beyond Light expansion

  • About two years worth of content, including campaigns, areas and story, totalling $95, will simply no longer exist
  • They will be offering new content, but to take away stuff that you’ve paid for and treat a video game like it’s Netflix is a disturbing precedent
    • When you’re playing an MMO you can expect some content will be event or season based, but in this case they’re taking away base Destiny 2 content, two DLC’s, three seasons of content, and two expansions. None of which was advertised as transient or limited-access
  • And on top of questions of ownership, it could also leave a pretty big gap for people looking for a narrative thread. It destroys any kind of cohesive experience in exchange for Fortnite-style seasons

Facebook is warning investors that Apple’s iOS 14 could shave more than half of its Audience Network revenue (and a chorus of angels sang out: “Good.”)

  • The Facebook Audience Network lets advertisers track mobile users with a unique device ID to target ads and measure their effectiveness, but where it’s currently a manual opt-out process if you wanted to keep a semblance of privacy, on iOS 14 users will now see a prompt when they first open an app that wants to track them
    • And of course if given a popup that says “Hey, can we sell your information for advertising?”, most people will click no. And that makes Mark Zuckerberg sad. And it makes me very happy.

This Week In Gaming History

August 22 – 1987 – The Legend Of Zelda – NES

  • The start of one of the most prolific adventure series
  • The game was the first to have an open world where the player had to explore the world and learn the best route to complete the game.
  • The theme, composed by Koji Kondo, is synonyms with adventure to gamers everywhere.

August 23 – 2011 – Deus Ex: Human Revolution – PS3, Xbox 360, Windows

  • Set in the year 2027, Human Revolution focuses on ex-SWAT officer Adam Jensen, who is employed as a security officer for Sarif Industries, a company on the leading edge of advanced and controversial artificial organs dubbed “augmentations”.
    • An attack on Sarif Industries that apparently kills researcher and Adam’s ex-girlfriend Megan Reed also leaves Adam critically injured. To save him, company CEO David Sarif subjects him to an extensive augmentation procedure: six months later, now recovered and possessing advanced augmentations, Adam sets out to pursue his attackers and the shadowy organization behind them.
    • The story explores themes of transhumanism, the growing power of megacorporations, and their impact on social class.
    • It also uses the series’ recurring cyberpunk setting and conspiracy theory motif.
  • Development of Human Revolution began in 2007 with a small team within the fledgling Eidos Montréal studio, after multiple aborted attempts to create a sequel at original developer Ion Storm following the 2003 release of Deus Ex: Invisible War.
    • The two key influences were the myth of Icarus, a thematic element carried over from Deus Ex; and the artwork and ideas of the Renaissance, which influenced the story, graphics, and music, while combining with the series’ typical cyberpunk elements.
    • The open-ended nature of the gameplay was tricky for the team to achieve; as a result, the boss battles were outsourced to another developer due to time constraints.
    • The music, composed by Michael McCann, focused on ambiance and three-layered compositions over character themes and overt melodies.

August 24 – 2020 – No Straight Roads – Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Windows

  • Start a rock band & end the EDM empire in NO STRAIGHT ROADS, a rockin’ action-adventure from the minds of Wan Hazmer (Final Fantasy XV) and Daim Dziauddin (Street Fighter V).
  • Explore Vinyl City & fight musical megastars on your journey to defeat oppressive EDM empire ‘NSR’, in an action-packed adventure that mashes together rhythm-infused third-person combat with a kick-ass soundtrack!
  • Key Features:
    • Discover the world of Vinyl City, meet larger-than-life characters and lead a musical revolution to end the EDM empire.
    • Rock out solo in an action-packed single-player campaign or band up with a friend in couch co-op.
    • Master rhythm-infused third-person combat as Mayday & Zuke, members of indie rock band Bunk Bed Junction, each with their own music-based weapons and attacks.
    • Defeat musical megastars from a range of genres, including a pop-tastic boy band, a globe-spinning DJ, a child prodigy pianist and more on your journey to bring back rock.
    • Fight for your right to rock! Learn awesome new moves, upgrade your abilities and use the power of music to transform props into weapons.
    • Experience an awesome dynamic soundtrack from a line-up of musical talent, including Falk Au Yeong, Andy Tunstall, Funk Fiction, James Landino, Masahiro “Godspeed” Aoki, Az Samad, Clyde Rabatel and the Video Game Orchestra.
    • Partner up with an additional local player to take control of the Elliegator, a secret alligator assistant who can help players in battle by picking up items, transforming props and calling in useful bonuses.
    • Assist Mode lets up to three local players experience No Straight Roads’ music-based action together, only on Nintendo Switch™.
    • Touchscreen Support – Use the Nintendo Switch™ system’s touch screen to transform props and pick up items.

August 25 – 1997 – GoldenEye 007 – N64

  • This game introduced the first person shooter genre to many people
  • It was thought that FPS would never work off of PC, and this was a huge step forward for console gaming.
  • I’ve seen the game many times, and never the movie.

August 26 – 1989 – Game & Watch Multi Screen: Zelda – Dedicated Handheld

  • Game & Watch Multi Screen: Zelda is the fifteenth and last game in the fourth (and biggest) series of Game & Watch games published by Nintendo, also known as the Multi Screen Series, consisting of 15 titles.
    • Unreleased in Japan.
  • The G&W Zelda game mixes the exploration part of the first Zelda game with the combat gameplay of Zelda II.
    • The goal of your quest is to save Princess Zelda by gathering pieces of the Triforce, each hidden in one of the eight dungeons of the Hyrule Kingdom.
    • Each dungeon is crowded with monsters and ghosts.
    • To go from one room to the next you’ll have to choose between two paths, but only after defeating an armed Goblin.
    • When defeated you’ll get an randomized item: the dungeon map, extra hearts, an axe or magic potions.
    • After defeating the dragon in the last room the piece of Triforce is awarded to Link.
  • The upper screen shows all the useful information: the items you own, the dungeon map, pieces of Triforce gathered and the boss location. The lower screen shows all the action that is happening.

August 27 – 2015 – Pixel Slime U – Wii U

  • PIXEL SLIME U is a unique auto-platformer that challenges you to get the LOWEST score possible.
  • Jump, twist, and glide your way through 40 challenging levels while trying to avoid death.
  • This game will keep you coming back while you compete with others on Miiverse™ to have the LOWEST score.m

August 28 – 2000 – Mario Tennis – N64

  • My favorite Mario sports spinoff
  • Choose your favourite Nintendo character and take to the world of tennis.
    • Game types include ring shot (where you must shoot the ball through golden hoops that are suspended above the play area, gaining bonus points as you play), bomb tennis (simply put Tennis with Bombs) and Piranha Challenge (much like the tennis machines which chuck balls at you, but in this case they are replaced with Piranha plants).
    • Of course, there is your normal tournament mode, with up to 4 players in on the action, and some crazy arenas, especially Bowser’s Castle, which is suspended above a lava pit!
  • I was hoping for something more like this game with Aces, but I was sorely disappointed with how Aces felt to me.

Tidbits

  • The debut trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been blocked in China and subsequently edited everywhere else, because it used about a second’s worth of footage from the famous Tiananmen Square protest
    • But I’m sure this has nothing to do with Chinese company Tencent’s stake in Call of Duty owner Activision
  • Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is now officially the most downloaded PS Plus game of all time world-wide
    • The game is a fair bit of fun, too, taking the Takeshi’s Castle and Wipeout formulas and turning them into quick little 60 person battle-royales
  • TikTok parent company ByteDance is suing the US government over Trump’s executive order demanding the sale of TikTok to an American company under threat of being banned from the US
    • It seems kind of ironic that they’re suing a national government because of accusations of not being able to stand up to another national government, but it is what it is
  • The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is apparently next-gen Prince of Persia-like stealth game coming in 2021
    • The game will feature a branching narrative, which could get interesting considering we all know how the story ends for Gollum, but it aims to expand on hints given by J.R.R. Tolkien about Sméagol to make a story that fits along with the books and works in aspects of his warring personalities

 

For more content, Patreon supports get access to upcoming ideas and more!

Thank you Renée, and check out her podcast that Josh works on, Ravage Love.

And thanks to the rest of our ‘fanily’ that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!
And talk to us in the comments!

Free games

  • Microsoft

    • Hitman: The Complete First Season

      • 2016
      • Third person stealth assassination game in episodic form, taking Agent 47 all around the world to prove he is the ultimate silent assassin
    • We Were Here

      • 2017
      • Co-op puzzle game where you team up with a friend or stranger online to escape an abandoned castle, but the twist is you’re split up only able to communicate with and help eachother via walkie talkie
    • Earth Defense Force 2025

      • 2013
      • Arcade-style third person shooter that has you taking on gigantic alien insects with infinite ammo and often-ridiculous weaponry
      • More details in PS2J 238, the history of Earth Defence Force
    • Tekken Tag Tournament 2

      • 2011
      • Tournament fighting game with solid gameplay and a massive cast
  • Sony

    • Batman: Arkham Knight

      • 2015
      • Solid third-person stealth action game in the Batman universe with great combat, fun stealth takedowns, and the addition of a drivable Batmobile, all brought together by Kevin Conroy’s iconic voice
    • Darksiders 3
      • 2018
      • Action-adventure Metroidvania style game that will be familiar to fans of the first two, Darksiders 3 has you taking control of Fury, the sister to War and Death and another of the four horsemen of the apocalypse
  • Epic
    • Celeste
      • 2018
      • Platform adventure game where you have to jump, climb, and dash through each area to climb a mountain and collect strawberries
    • Inside
      • 2016
      • The spiritual successor to Limbo, Inside is another deceptively simple platformer where you control a small boy in a big, very dangerous world
 

Security warning- it’s time to delete the CamScanner app immediately

  • Security researchers at Kaspersky discovered malware in various versions of the Android app, and the iOS app has a history of not being much better despite the protections Apple has built in to their App Store process
    • The malware is set up to extract and run another piece of software that downloads more malware for whatever its creators are up to at the moment, like showing intrusive ads or signing users up for paid subscriptions
  • Lifehacker is recommending Android users switch to a better, more secure app like Adobe Scan or Microsoft Office Lens, or use the built-in scanner in the Google Drive app
    • iOS users can also use the document scanning function built in to the Notes app
 

Speaking of security, after the Siri privacy concerns we reported on back in episode 265, Apple has officially apologized and put a halt to the Siri grading program pending some serious changes

  • It looks like concerns were more founded than I thought, with Apple laying off the contractors they’d hired to review selected Siri conversations to improve the service and completely revamping the whole program later this fall
  • The changes include defaulting everyone to opt out of the recordings, allowing an optional opt-in with the ability to turn it back off at any time, and only allowing Apple employees access to the audio samples instead of using contractors
  • They’ve also released a new Siri Privacy and Grading FAQ that you can check out for more details on the upcoming program: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210558
 

The Apex Legends subreddit became an interesting place this month, with developers logging on to insult players reacting to microtransactions

  • About two weeks ago Respawn posted an apology regarding the Iron Crown event and how they locked some of their cooler skins and items behind paid lootboxes
    • For context, one event item called the Heirloom Axe costs over $200 CAD to get
    • In the future they say they’ll provide more ways to obtain items, and in the meantime they’ve made some tweaks to how the event items are being distributed
  • The comments thread then got pretty heated, as a Respawn employee started engaging with people pretty angry about the situation calling them dicks, ass-hats, and freeloaders
    • The downvotes are currently sitting at -5300, -3500, and -1000 respectively, so they’re going to have to try a lot harder to beat the Battlefront 2 “sense of pride and accomplishment” microtransaction comment with a whopping -670000
    • I’m not sure what’s going on over at EA, but it really seems like they should tone it down with both the lootboxes and the social media responses
  • This time it was handled with a lot more class though- instead of EA’s strategy of “ignore the masses”, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella publicly apologized for the discussion, saying
    • “Some of our folks crossed a line with their comments, and that’s not how we want Respawn to be represented. I apologize to any of our fans that were offended.”
    • “I will always stand behind the team here at Respawn and support them on speaking out against some of the toxic and nasty comments aimed at their families and loved ones,” he continued. “But we shouldn’t contribute to it when we do comment, and add to the very thing we want to prevent. Last week we didn’t do that, going forward we will be better. Having an open, healthy relationship with our community is incredibly important to all of us at Respawn.”
  • All in all it’s a pretty classy response to a bad situation, taking responsibility without throwing anyone under the bus
 

An attempt is being made to bring Telltale Games back from the dead, though with very few of its original parts

  • All the assets were purchased by LCG Entertainment, and the new Telltale will sell some of the back catalog as well as work on new games based on some old associated properties as well as new licenses
  • Apparently some workers from Telltale Classic will be offered freelance roles with a possibility for full-time in the future, but it looks like LCG wants to make a fairly clear distinction between that company and New Telltale
  • It’s been confirmed that New Telltale has the rights to continue The Wolf Among Us and Batman, as well as some original properties, and there are some expired licenses that they’re currently reviewing
    • Unfortunately the rights to release a game based on Stranger Things have already reverted back to Netflix, but there’s still a lot there to work with
  • Fingers crossed they can recapture the magic of early Telltale, before they overreached and started pumping out poorly managed games in a dated, hard to work with engine
 
Good news everyone, the final additions to Shovel Knight, King of Cards and a multiplayer fighting mode called Showdown, are officially coming in December
  • The game is also getting features like new body types, a they/them pronoun option, accessibility features, co-op feats, new language support, and additional cheats that apparently add whole new ways to play
    • It’s been so long since the main campaign released I’ll have to dust off my Vita and check it out this Christmas
  • There’s also a new spinoff coming called Shovel Knight Dig, following Shovel Knight in a Spelunky-type adventure through semi-randomized levels as you pursue Drill Knight and his dastardly crew to the centre of the earth
    • It’s being developed in collaboration with Nitrome, makers of games like Redungeon and Rust Bucket
    • There’s no word on a release date for Dig quite yet
 

More than a year after Zuckerberg promised a Clear History tool for Facebook it’s finally here, and it kind of works?

  • Rather than the previous claims of it deleting tracking information from your account, it just slightly limits data that is collected about you when you’re not on Facebook
    • For instance, how Facebook would present ads based on things you shopped for online
  • It doesn’t even stop the tracking, but rather disconnects it from a specific user- everything is still gathered to build a profile, it just may not be used on you in particular
    • And keep in mind, this only applies to behind-the-scenes tracking- they can still identify you if they have your email or phone number
  • And it only limits data gathering one way, from third parties into Facebook. Nothing stops Facebook from reporting back to advertisers when users purchase a product after seeing a targeted ad
  • All in all it’s kind of a garbage attempt, especially when it was first touted as working the same as as your browser’s Clear History feature- flushing the data entirely
 

In response to WebKit’s announcement that tracking cookies will be treated as a security risk, Google’s now trying to make the argument that blocking them is actually bad for privacy…?

  • For anyone not aware, a cookie is a little piece of info that websites can read and write in your web browser, to do things like keep you logged in when you leave a website, that can also be used like breadcrumbs to see what websites you visit
  • Their first point seems to be that if you block cookies then developers will find other, more secret ways to track users, like building a fingerprint based on things like what device they’re using or what fonts they have installed. Since users can’t manually clear that, it’s apparently worse
    • freedom-to-tinker.comsaid it well: “We see that our town has a pickpocketing problem. But if we crack down on pickpocketing, the pickpocketers will just switch to muggings. That would be even worse. Surely you don’t want that, do you?”
  • And their second point is that blocking cookies that target ads causes content publishers to lose ad revenue because the ads become less relevant. This was, of course, backed up by a study (read, single paragraph in a blog post) run by Google. Who I’m sure is a completely third party wait it’s the same company
    • As long as we’re comparing anecdotes, the international edition of the New York Times recently switched from tracking-based ads to contextual and geographic ads—and it didn’t experience any decrease in advertising revenue.
  • So their strategy is to block fingerprinting (which is good) and improve the classification of cookies to be more transparent about what’s being used to track you (which is kind of neutral? Because in theory any cookie could be used to track you)
 

Creature in the Well

  • A top down dungeon crawler
    • With elements of pinball
  • You play as Bot-C
    • The last of engineer of a robot collective
    • You have to save the town of Mirage from a huge sandstorm by repairing an ancient weather machine
    • But there is a strange creature that is watching you from the shadows
  • The gameplay is hack and slash
    • With puzzles influenced by pinball, breakout and other ball based games
    • You explore rooms rooms to gather energy, which you spend to open doors and upgrade your character
    • Lots of secrets, with different weapons and cosmetic items
    • The town also has citizens that can help you
    • And they coined the phrase Pin-Brawler
  • September 6 for Switch, Xbox One and Steam.
 

Indies for Switch that Josh has

  • Enter the Gungeon
  • Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
  • Stardew Valley
  • The Messenger
 

Josh is interested In getting

  • Cuphead
    • StudioMDHR’s astonishing Cuphead has made the jump from Xbox One/PC to Switch. The port runs wonderfully both in console and handheld mode, retaining all the glory of the 1930s cartoon art style and animations.
    • Cuphead is a challenging game, but it never comes across as unfair. Minimalistic mechanics let you focus on the task at hand — the multi-phase bosses — while enjoying all of the excellent animations and sounds.
    • Cuphead is worth playing for the art style alone, which is as impressive now as it was upon its original launch in 2017. The engaging boss fights and crisp mechanics make it a pleasure to work through, even when the going gets exceedingly tough.
  • Hyper Light Drifter
    • Hyper Light Drifter is an ode to 8-bit and 16-bit adventure games, set in a distinct world reduced to shambles. This top-down adventure features extremely challenging gameplay with a neat gimmick.
    • Your main weapon, an energy sword, has to strike enemies in order to charge your supplementary, ranged weapons. This means you have to master melee combat to have a chance against the onslaught of enemies.
    • Rounded out by a beautiful soundtrack and fantastic animations, Hyper Light Drifter is a moving experience with an understated, but powerful story.
  • Down Well
    • Downwell, a game about a man falling down a well in a park, has been available since 2015 on mobile devices. Rendered in black and white, the premise is simple: Make it to the bottom. Since you’re falling at a rapid pace, you would think you’re already ahead of the game, right? Not so fast. Avoiding obstacles, enemies, and projectiles is an arduous endeavor that forces you to think and move on the fly.
    • As a rogue-like, each time you make your descent, the layout of the well changes. With guns attached to your boots that only recharge when you touch the ground safely, it’s a constant battle between the offensive and defensive. Power-ups are rewarded at the bottom of each stage, but each level ups the challenge. Basically, no matter what you have in your arsenal, you’re always facing an uphill battle (ironic, huh?).
    • A round of Downwell can last anywhere from seconds to a handful of minutes, depending on your skill level. On Switch, it’s a perfect game for quick bursts in handheld mode. The $3 price makes Downwell a steal, but you should splurge for the Flip Grip to play Downwell comfortably with a vertical orientation.
  • Into The Breach
    • From the makers of the excellent FTL: Faster Than Light, Into the Breachsomehow manages to be Subset Games’ best outing. A turn-based tactics game, Into the Breach takes place on small grids filled with only a few units. The name of the game is survival, as losing all your units restarts the game.
    • It’s an interesting approach to the relatively well-trodden grid-based tactics genre. You can, if you choose, take out enemy units, but you must focus on protecting your power grids. Since you only have a limited number of turns, choosing where to place your units at the start of each round is key.
    • Into the Breach has so many surprising layers to it that you’ll learn new strategies even after you’ve cleared the game multiple times. It’s a near perfect turn-based strategy game that should not be missed by any fans of the genre.
 
 

Tidbits

  • A new trailer for The Mandalorian dropped this week, and it looks just fantastic
    • Strikes me as Firefly but Star Wars, and has the titular Mandalorian teaming up with IG-11 in a lot of very cool settings and situations
  • The 2015 MacBook Pro battery trouble is now having some negative effects on travellers, with many airlines banning all 15″ MacBook Pros from checked luggage regardless of the year and warning they must stay off for the duration of the flight
  • Dutch brand ZENS unveiled a wireless charging mat that can charge two devices at a time anywhere on the mat, bringing us one step closer to the cancelled Apple AirPower
    • The mat uses 16 overlapping coils to deliver the power, compared to Apple’s planned 32 coils to charge three devices, and doesn’t have the same kind of software integration, but if it sounds like something you want I hope you have $140 USD to burn. $180 USD gets you a glass version so you can see the coils and circuitry
  • A short-lived Amazon listing for an Overwatch-themed Nintendo Switch case, marked as “officially licensed by Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment”, is fuelling speculation that the team shooter is coming to the Switch sometime soon
    • Between an upcoming Nintendo Direct and Blizzcon this November, the time is definitely ripe
 

Alan recommends Archero

  • You play the Lone Archer in this roguelike dungeon crawl, choosing from randomly assorted skills each time you level up to take on bigger and more daunting challenges
  • It got some interesting gameplay, where each room has a variety of enemies either shooting or charging at you, and you have to take them down while keeping your health bar up
    • The interesting part comes in with your attack- it automatically aims and shoots but only while you aren’t moving, so you have to choose between attack and dodging at any given moment
    • And it has my favourite roguelike mechanic, where there are permanent upgrades you can unlock and level up between sessions, so that even if you’re having trouble at the moment you’re still making progress
  • It’s got some annoying F2P bits to it, but it’s been pretty easy to not drop any money on it so far and I’m about halfway through the campaign
    • They also don’t have any mandatory ads, only putting them in when you choose to continue after dying or keep playing when you’re out of energy
  • Over all I’ve been enjoying it, and it looks like there are some cool updates coming in the near future with unlockable heroes and a battlepass feature that increases the rewards you can get
 

Literally Misleading

MOVIE – After being mistaken for terrorists, protecting intellectual property is now the least of the hero’s problems.
 
If you have a Literally Misleading Description, message Josh directly on our Discord, or Twitter @fushigiyami
 

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Free Games of February 2019

Free Games of the Month!

Security

  • There was a big FaceTime bug discovered this week that lets you listen to audio from the person you’re calling before they pick up
    • If you try to FaceTime someone, then while it’s ringing use the Add Person button to add your own phone number, it will start a group call that includes the person you originally dialled even if they haven’t accepted it- allowing you to eavesdrop on whatever they’re doing
    • Added on to that, if the person on the receiving end hits the power button (turning off the screen and silencing the ringtone without rejecting the call itself) their device will start to send video as well
    • Class action lawsuits about the privacy implications are already in progress in the US and Canada, citing reports that people contacted Apple about this back on January 20th but didn’t receive a response
    • Two things to note here are that:
      • This only works while the device is ringing, so if you reject the call it breaks the connection
      • And some good news- Apple has actually taken the Group FaceTime functionality offline, preventing people from exploiting this bug, until they release an update next week fixing the issue

News

Battlestate Games, the makers of the tactical first-person shooter Escape from Tarkov, is making headlines after abusing DMCA takedowns against two separate YouTube channels

  • Back in December Polygon reported on the nearly 50 DMCA claims against YouTuber Eroktic, wherein rather than claim piracy or unfair use, Battlestate posted the takedowns because of allegedly incorrect info and overall negativity about their game
    • They stated that while only a few of the videos had the misinformation, “negative hype” was present in all of them so they feel justified in their takedown claims
  • Shortly after this article went up on Polygon’s site, they were contacted by another YouTuber that goes by EL_Dee, saying that they too had received 47 DMCA claims
    • The cause of these was apparently because they had Battlestate’s watermark and logo, as shown on Tarkov’s title screen, but many other YouTubers use the same images
    • EL_Dee believes they were also singled out because of “negative hype”
  • Battlestate tried to push blame for the claims on to what they claimed was a subcontractor, but in actuality seems to be a company with many close ties to them and their staff
  • Even more damning is that prior to the claims being filed Tarkov’s project leader and producer, Nikita Buyanov, had requested that the videos be taken down and sent privately. Buyanov said that EL_Dee had the attention of the devs “so it is no reason for all of us to go hostile”
  • Regardless of who authorized the claims they appear to be a clear form of censorship, and they’ve had serious and lasting impacts on the livelihoods of both Eroktic and EL_Dee, losing hundreds of Twitch subscribers and thousands of YouTube views. All over some videos that just weren’t 100% positive about the game

Bandai Namco and CyberConnect2 have announced an upcoming game called Dragon Ball Project Z, releasing sometime this year

  • Billed as an action role playing game, it’s looking to be “the most dramatic and epic telling of the Dragon Ball Z story”
  • There aren’t a lot of details yet, but apparently you’ll be experiencing the story from Goku’s perspective
  • From the looks of their teaser it’s going to be tackling a large part if not all the series’ story, so it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out

You know those shady Android free TV boxes? Turns out they’re illegal! Who woulda thought?

  • The maker of the Dragon Box, build to let users watch video without cable or streaming subscription, has agreed to shut down and pay $14.5M in damages to the plaintiffs
    • Their lawyer initially said the lawsuit would backfire, but when you being sued by a group including Netflix, Amazon, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros their lawyers might know what they’re doing

Piranha Plant

  • Neutral special
    • Ptooie 14% (held), 18% (thrown, early), 13% (thrown, late)
      • The Piranha Plant spits up a metal spiky ball, keeping it suspended by blowing air upwards. The spiky ball can then be blown either in front or behind the Piranha Plant. The spiky ball has transcendent priority, and the move stalls Piranha Plant’s descent if used in the air, making it a very deadly edgeguarding tool. Based on the Ptooie enemy introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • Side special
    • Poison Breath 1.2% (uncharged, center loop), 0.6% (uncharged, edge loop), 2.7% (fully charged, center loop), 1.6% (fully charged, edge loop)
      • The Piranha Plant spews a damaging cloud of poison in front of it. If all hits connect, it will deal a great amount of damage. The cloud itself has no knockback, and deals no hitstun, but it can be countered/reflected. If an opponent attempts to shield against this attack, it will do detrimental damage to the shield itself. The move is chargable, and it can be saved for later use. During execution, Piranha Plant changes its color to match the Putrid Piranha enemy from the Paper Mario series.
  • Up special
    • Piranhacopter 1.2% (hits 1-8), 4% (hit 9)
      • The Piranha Plant spins its leaves in a fashion akin to a propeller, causing it to rise upward. It can be angled to the left and right during the ascent. Based on the Jumping Piranha Plants from Super Mario World.
  • Down special
    • Long-Stem Strike 8.4% (uncharged, close), 12% (uncharged, far), 18.2% (fully charged, close), 26% (fully charged, far)
      • The Piranha Plant retreats into its pot/pipe, and extends outward to bite opponents in the direction aimed. This also extends the character’s hutbox. Piranha Plant gains super armor during the charge, and intangibility on its head during the bite. Likely a reference to Elasto-Piranhas or Stalking Piranha Plants.
  • Final Smash
    • Petey Piranha 49% total
      • The Piranha Plant summons Petey Piranha, who stomps around the stage with his cages from his boss fight in The Subspace Emissary. Opponents that get too close will get trapped in his cages. When the Final Smash is nearly over, Petey Piranha will breathe fire at both of the cages, then slam both of the cages to the ground, dealing heavy damage and knockback to the opponents who were trapped in the cages. It is possible for Petey Piranha to fall off stage, taking any trapped opponents with him, though is not a guaranteed KO if the opponent has leftover jumps, a strong recovery or both.

Tidbits

  • Google+ is shutting down this April due to low use
    • All the accounts , pages, and photos will be deleted starting April 2nd, and rolling out over a few months
    • If you’ve got anything you want to keep, make sure to download it asap
  • The Dragon Ball FighterZ roster is growing again this year with the creatively named FighterZ Pass 2
    • Confirmed are Jiren, Videl (and the Great Saiyaman), Broly, and SSB Gogeta

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A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans that support us.
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Josh brings up quick meal ideas, mostly Kraft Dinner based. Google is trying to make Chrome the next game platform. Josh recommends an artists YouTube channel, Alan has another trilogy for our fans.

For more info, Patreon supports get access to our show notes!

A huge thanks to Dalton, our favourite fan. And thanks to all our Official Fans that support us.
And if you want to support us too, its as easy as clicking this link!

Also, make sure to check out RIPT Apparel for sweet 24 tee shirt designs. And don’t forget to use the coupon code PS2JSHOW for 10% off!

We are a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB

And talk to us in the comments!
Or…

Discord Server
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow
Facebook

Crazy social media company reached out to us, and we are confused. Spiderman has a split universe between Sony and Marvel. Josh recommends an informative podcast, Alan has an anime/manga series he thinks you’ll like.

For our info on this episode, support our Patreon to get all our show notes.

Check out the cool cosplay of Jen, our favourite fan.

Also, make sure to check out RIPT Apparel for sweet 24 tee shirt designs. And don’t forget to use the coupon code PS2JSHOW for 10% off!

 

PS2J has a Patreon and it’s better than ever!

And talk to us in the comments!
Or…
Twitter and Instagram @ps2jshow