Watch Out Tears of the Kingdom Leakers! | Weekly Respawn
Reggie’s Revenge
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives this Friday, but it’d be best not to share posts of excitement until after it officially releases.
Former Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aimé ominously quoted a famous Liam Neeson line in a recent tweet. The tweet itself shared another user’s since-deleted photo-proof of their early possession of the game. While Reggie’s response is likely a joke, Nintendo has made a reputation of bringing swift legal reprimand to leakers. In fact, Nintendo-pirate Gary Bowser was recently given a 40-month sentence for conduct that promoted piracy.
Those that’ve already illegally played the Zelda sequel on emulation software have praised the title. Likely due to their premature adoration, however, Nintendo has recently taken heavy action against these programs and their related applications. In just a few weeks, multiple independent developers behind Switch emulation projects have shared they’d cease development on their projects. Other pre-existing tools for decrypting the console have also received DMCA-strikes or been removed altogether from online sources.
Nintendo has made it clear they won’t stop until their games are played solely on their consoles through legal means. So if you’ve got your hands on an early copy of Tears of the Kingdom, watch out for Nintendo’s wrath.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
Star Wars has made its return to Fortnite in this year’s “Find the Force” event.
For a limited time, Fortnite is offering Star Wars-themed items in its item-shop once again. Arriving for the first time, however, are the new Anakin, Padme, and Clone Trooper skins from the series’ prequel trilogy.
Available this year are special rifts that can be found around the island. Excitingly, these rifts allow players to meet Obi-Wan, Anakin or Darth Maul and train in the Force. Doing so will not only award players a lightsaber, but also grant them the option to use Force abilities. Also available to players is the option to hire their own squad of clone troopers to support them in skirmishes.
The collaboration follows the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and the Star Wars Celebration event recently held in Europe. The “Find the Force” event is live from now until May 23rd.
Counter-Strife: Finnish Offensive
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat is using CS:GO to spread news about the war in Ukraine to Russian gamers. Players can access press clippings, maps, and photos from the fray within a room in the custom map “de_voyna.”
Russia’s government is unfortunately notorious for making it difficult for their citizens to receive independent news about the conflict. Felicitously, “voyna” is the Russian word for “war,” and is, of course, banned in Russian media in regards to Ukraine. However, as Valve’s Steam platform is still operable in the region, the publication saw an opportunity to enact their furtive plan and provide access to uncensored news about the war to Russian gamers.
Editor-in-chief Antero Mukka stated their goal is to make gamers face what’s happening in the war in Ukraine. The map adds to a growing trend of video games being used to share information regarding armed warfare.
New @, Who ‘Dis?(cord)
Discord is making the decision to change its username system, in a way that closely resembles other social platforms. Since its inception in 2015, Discord identities were construed by a username then followed by a # symbol and four numbers. The change will see the company updating usernames to be unique, all-lowercase, and preceded by an @ symbol.
With the change, display names will become Discord’s “most prominent form of identity,” and allow emojis, spaces, and uppercase characters. Users will be notified when they get access to the update as it rolls out in the coming weeks.
Will we soon see Discord outgrow its largely gaming-focused audience and become an even-larger social power-house?
Robot Rhetoric
A clever modder has integrated AI into Skyrim VR’s non-player characters (NPCs), allowing them to freely converse with players. Once gamers activate the mod using a custom in-game spell, NPCs then reply to their unscripted questions with contextual responses.
Amazingly, situational awareness has been coded into NPC replies, such as time of day, player items, and their current locations. In addition to that, NPCs are equipped with a basic memory system, enabling them to carry on previous conversations. The mod is far from perfect, however, as its synthesized dialogue is often strangely delivered.
While it seems like a small step for AI-integration, it definitely leaves us looking forward to the future of gaming.
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