Let's get this out of the way: A lot of norms were disrupted in the videogame industry this week. There was news of a writer at a top gaming site allegedly plagiarizing reviews, and also reports that the Chinese gaming market is having troubles. Oh, and Diablo III is making the leap to the Nintendo Switch. Up is down, down is up, and a lot of things are out of whack. So let's expect the unexpected and get right to it.
The journalistic side of the gaming industry was positively rocked this week with the news that Filip Miucin, a now very former editor at IGN, one of the biggest gaming sites in the world, allegedly plagiarized a significant amount of his work for the site. The similarities between Miucin's writing and that of others was discovered after a YouTuber posted a video entitled, "IGN Copied my Dead Cells Review: What do I do?" Once the information hit the internet, IGN investigated the matter, removed Miucin's review, and promptly parted ways with him.
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It didn't end with the Dead Cells review, though. Further investigations found other similarities between Miucin's work and that on other sites. There are some examples on Kotaku, along with more context on the case. It's possible a plagiarism scandal like this has never hit games, and it served as a reminder the industry needs more mechanisms in the hiring and editing processes to root them out.
News broke this week that the Chinese game market is essentially at a stand-still thanks to regulatory shakeups with the agencies responsible for granting licenses to new games. How'd this happen? Basically, every game released in China has to pass through regulatory bodies before it can be released. (This makes it a tough place for foreign developers who want to tap the country's huge market but always run the risk of getting rejected, especially since foreign games receive heavy scrutiny.) And in the last four months, as reported by the South China Morning Post, the approval of licenses in China has completely stopped, affecting all games on all platforms. The situation is too dense to properly explain in detail here, but it seems that instability in the regulatory agencies, along with concerns about gambling-esque mechanics like loot boxes and other potentially objectionable content, is motivating the freeze. Stay tuned.
You won't need to hack your Switch to hack and slash (hehehehehe), because Diablo III, the latest in Blizzard's series of fantasy-based action/adventure games. First released in 2012, the game has seen a number of re-releases, expansions, and updates, giving it a pretty long lifespan. And in the grand tradition of Hey, why don't we put that on the Nintendo Switch? they're putting it on the Nintendo Switch.
Naturally, there will be exclusive Nintendo-ified goodies within. Ever wanted to fight the god of all demons as Ganondorf? Now's your chance.
Recently, Bethesda announced Doom: Eternal, the sequel to id's inventive reboot of the epochal shooter franchise, and it's convinced me to spend some time revisiting it. And, frankly, it's still stunning. What gets me the most, on this particular playthrough, is how much personality there is in every little moment. The game has a distinct set of attitudes and aesthetics, epitomized in the quietly mocking, rebellious and wrathful silent hero. Even some of the best games skate by with barely half as much attention to tone and mood as this title. It's a little unfair, really.
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