Groovy allowed Discord users to add music to the platform’s chat rooms. Users could install Groovy on a server, add YouTube links to its command centre and then play them for everyone else in the chat room to hear. The app was popular amongst those who organise virtual Dungeons & Dragons events, as Groovy provided the perfect way to create ambience.
The developers of Groovy will shutter the tool on August 30, at which point Discord users will have to look elsewhere for shared music on Discord. Groovy was reportedly installed on over 16 millions servers, which is impressive considering as of May this year there were only 6.7million active Discord groups. This number is not static though, as groups come and go each day.
The bots creator Nik Ammerlaan spoke on Discord about the closure, and isn’t surprised by the cease and desist: “It was just a matter of seeing when it would happen. They probably just didn’t know about it, to be honest.”
“Groovy has been a huge part of my life over the past five years. It started because my friend’s bot sucked and I thought I could make a better one,” commented Ammerlaan. Groovy’s creator also admitted that the bot has been a “huge weight” on his shoulders for the past five years.
A spokesperson for Google spoke to The Verge, who initially reported the closure, about the reasoning behind the cease and desist. According to Google, Groovy violated YouTube’s terms of service by “modifying the service and using it for commercial purposes”.
The lawsuit, which was filed late last month, alleges Activision Blizzard employees face “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments and advances” while at work. In the time since the lawsuit went public, many individuals have come forward with their own stories of harassment at the company, which led to employees staging a day of protest.
The State Of California (SOC) has now added contracted workers to the female full-time employees it is suing Activision on behalf of. Activision Blizzard has also allegedly interfered with the investigation, according to the Department of Fair Employment & Housing.
Axios obtained a copy of the updated complaint, which was filed on Monday. In the complaint, the SOC changes the definition of the group wronged by Activision Blizzard to include employees, contingent and temporary workers.
The video game industry largely operates on temporary contracts and freelance work, which could mean a lot of staff defined by those new terms were also affected by the allegedly toxic workplace.
World Of Warcraft Shadowlands. Credit: Activision Blizzard
The Department of Fair Employment & Housing also alleges that Activision Blizzard has interfered with the lawsuit through NDAs, requiring all employees to speak with the company ahead of contacting the DFEH.
Amendments to the complaint now include a claim that Activision is purposefully limiting the DFEH’s ability to: “investigate, prosecute, and remedy workplace discrimination and harassment violations on behalf of employees and contingent or temporary workers.” The complaint also now alleges that staff at Activision Blizzard shredded “documents related to investigations and complaints”.
Activision Blizzard’s response to the lawsuit was initially combative, refuting the lawsuit and calling the allegations “distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past”. Following a backlash to its reaction, Activision Blizzard attempted to soften its stance, recruiting law firm WilmerHale to assist with allegations. CEO Bobby Kotick also publicly responded to the lawsuit and backlash, stating: “Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.”
World Of Warcraft protests taking place. Image Credit: Blizzard
In other news, Microsoft has announced a Sea Of Thieves and Borderlands crossover event, which involves new themed content in Sea Of Thieves. Players can unlock a Borderlands-themed ship which includes a model of Claptrap.
According to a TikTok creator, Activision banned the console they were playing Warzoneon, signalling a shift in the publisher’s fight against cheaters.
The TikTik creator in question, Rushman360, took to the platform to alert others about the new anti-cheat efforts. Rushman360 talks about how he has been playing with cheats for some time, but goes on to congratulate Activision, saying: “I want to say a big congratulations to Activision, you guys have finally got your shit together. And you have finally banned accounts, I appreciate you doing that.”
Rushman360, who recently shared clips of how cheats work, had all of his accounts banned. Call Of Duty: Warzone is a free-to-play game, so banning individual accounts allows cheaters to make a new account. Activision’s new anti-cheat technology can deliver bans to hardware, meaning cheaters will no longer be able to use that specific machine to play Call Of Duty anymore.
The ban happened only a week after Activision announced its new anti-cheat measures during the reveal for Call Of Duty: Vanguard, which will release later this year. Activision had announced that the new anti-cheat measures would launch alongside the next entry in the series, but it would appear the developer is already making headway on the ongoing cheating problem in Call Of Duty and Warzone.
Activision has remained tight-lipped on the issue, neither confirming nor denying the hardware bans: “We are continuing to target repeat offenders, as we’ve previously stated,” commented a spokesperson. “We’re evolving our programs to ensure repeat offenders do not re-enter Warzone.”
Initially announced last year, Bungie has been working on the next expansion in the Destiny 2 universe for some time. The team will finally reveal The Witch Queen expansion in a live stream later today. We already know some details about the expansion’s story, based on leaks that appeared earlier today (August 24). However, the stream will likely provide even more details about what players can expect.
The Witch Queen is the sixth expansion to release since Destiny 2 launched in 2017. The last DLC, Beyond Light, launched in November last year, following a brief delay because of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Witch Queen follows on from the events of Beyond Light and will set up the events for the next major expansion, Lightfall, which will bring the long-running story arch to an end.
How to watch ‘The Witch Queen’ reveal
Bungie will reveal The Witch Queen expansion later today, with a stream that takes place at 5pm BST. Viewers can watch the stream over on Bungie’s official website, its Twitch channel, or in the embedded Twitch stream below which will start when Bungie goes live.
The hour long pre-show will probably recount the previous season’s events and touch on the teasers Bungie has already shown for The Witch Queen. When the steam officially starts, players can expect a first look at the new story details, the new location for the expansion and all the additional elements like new weapons or cosmetics.
Previous expansion reveals also typically included a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and commentary from the development team. In the 45-minute reveal for Beyond Light, we learned more about the Bungie sunsetting system, which saw the developer vault several weapons and maps. Bungie has not yet confirmed what content could end up in the vault this time around, but Forsaken could likely be the next DLC expansion to be vaulted. Bungie has previously stated that Forsaken will be vaulted at some point.
PlayStation’s Australian storefront has preemptively leaked details of The Witch Queen expansion on pre-order page ahead of the official reveal later today.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen’s deluxe pre-order page went up earlier today – and has since been removed – but it revealed several details about the upcoming addition to the game. Everything from the release date to the story and destination was revealed in the leak.
If the listing is true, The Witch Queen expansion will launch on February 22nd, 2022. There are also several story spoilers, so here’s your warning for those. The Witch Queen expansion will take players deep into Savathûn’s Throne World to uncover the mystery of how she and her Lucent Hive stole the light. Through the new story elements, players will learn the “secrets to crafting new weapons, the new glaive and survive the truth with her web of lies.”
Each new major Destiny 2 expansion typically launches with a new location, and The Witch Queen is no different. Savathûn’s Throne World will launch with the DLC, which features a fragile balance of power between her palace and the swamp surrounding it.
The new weapon crafting system allows players to create custom weaponry with unique mods, shaders and stat combinations. Destiny 2 has previously allowed players to craft weapons through modes like the Menagerie, although players could typically only increase the chances of rolling certain weapon and perk types.
Later today, players who pre-order the deluxe edition will receive instant access to the Throne World Exotic Ghost Shell, the Enigma Exotic emote, and a new emblem. The Witch Queen deluxe edition will include seasons 16 – 19, two new dungeons, an exotic SMG, catalyst, ornament and an exotic sparrow.
Catalysts add new perks to existing exotic weapons in the game, increasing how effective they are. Previous catalysts for guns like Whisper Of The Worm and Izanagi’s Burden made the weapons incredibly popular. The Witch Queen could see exotic weapons like Divinity, Xenophage, or Monte Carlo finally get their own catalysts.
The report published by Viceyesterday (August 23) details how Unity employees are potentially working on military contracts without being told. Unity, which is one of the biggest game development platforms globally, works with the United States government on military contracts.
According to internal Unity documents obtained by Vice, senior management is struggling to explain why employees are creating technologies that could be used in military scenarios. Worryingly, some staff may develop technologies that are directly used in combat without being aware. This implies that some staff may play an active role in developing tools that could cause harm to other humans.
Unity internally attempted to downplay the contracts by changing how management and senior staff refer to them. In an internal memo titled ‘GovTech Projects – Communication Protocol,’ the company told staff to refer to the contracts as government and not military with internal and external stakeholders. The memo states: “We need to be sensitive to the various values & beliefs which people perceive our engagement with the Government, specifically DoD [Department of Defense].”
The memo also details how Unity’s work with the Department Of Defense is focused on how AI can improve training and simulations. It adds that none of the technology developed by staff will “be used in live warfighting.” Unity also mentions that its work with the DoD is dictated by its own ethical principles, which the department outlined in a press release last year.
Valheim is developed in Unity Credit: Iron Gate Studio
Staff have internally criticised the lack of transparency. One member of staff who spoke to Vice said it wasn’t always clear what staff were working on: “Most Unity AI work empowers other government projects, so in this way it can be difficult to gauge one’s contribution to government projects.”
Another staff member anonymously said Unity should be clearer in what the contracts are for: “It should be very clear when people are stepping into the military initiative part of Unity.” One member of staff commented on how the team members shouldn’t need philosophy degrees to work at Unity: “Many of my fellow employees are very talented engineers or artists, but I don’t think that experience necessarily prepares us to be successful in passively identifying the complex repercussions of advancing certain emerging technologies.”
AI and machine learning is a growing element of military defence efforts across the world. The US was criticised last year after a panel of United Nations experts concluded that the country had used an AI-controlled drone to ‘hunt down and remotely engage’ soldiers fighting for Libyan general Khalifa Haftar. This led to a global debate at the United Nations about using AI drones and potential restrictions. While Unity has explicitly stated that none of the technology it develops will be used in “live warfighting”, staff still might feel uneasy when seeing how the U.S. military intends to use AI.
Unity responded to Vice’s report with a statement that one of its goals is to “have applications outside of gaming” and that its contract with the U.S. Military “is not new”. Unity also stated that the work it does with the Department Of Defense does not “knowingly violate our principles or values”, one of which is that work done “does not directly involve the loss of life, harm of the planet, or a person’s right to equity and inclusion.”
It hasn’t been confirmed by developers FromSoftware or the organisers of Gamescom 2021. Still, the official regulations for the show dictate that all games nominated must submit a minimum of ten minutes of footage.
Footage must feature in-game core gameplay mechanics, sections rendered in engine, the actual in-game soundscape and judges must have unimpeded access to the footage. This indicates that FromSoftware might provide the most in-depth look at Elden Ring so far. With ten minutes of footage to fill, fans can potentially expect an extended gameplay sequence.
FromSoftware showed the game in action for the first time at this year’s digital Summer Fest conference. Elden Ring will feature a large open-world, rideable mounts and the ability to engage in mounted combat.
Gamescom is one of the last major gaming events of the year and is followed by the Tokyo Game Show, which will occur during the last weekend of September. Elden Ring will release January 21, 2022, so Gamescom 2021 is one of the last notable opportunities for FromSoftware to show off the game on a major international platform.
Elden Ring is nominated for several awards at the show, including best game across three different platforms, best action-adventure game, and best roleplaying game. FromSoftware’s previous release, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, took the best in show award in 2018. The game, which featured FromSoftware’s popular brand of action-adventure with a setting inspired by Feudal Japan, also won best action game.
Hate raids refer to the act of spamming a Twitch streamer with abuse while they are live. These organised attacks specifically target marginalised Twitch streamers, and use many bot accounts to spam chat with homophobic and transphobic slurs, Nazi imagery, and even the personal details of the individual streaming.
The targeted attacks have become such a problem that Twitch streamer Rek It Raven created the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag, which ended up trending on Twitter. This prompted Twitch to release a statement, in which it admitted that “we know we need to do more to address these issues”
“We’ve been building channel-level ban evasion detection and account improvements to combat this malicious behavior for months. However, as we work on solutions, bad actors work in parallel to find ways around them—which is why we can’t always share details,” added the statement.
Twitter user Cypheroftyr highlighted how another Twitch streamer Pleasantlytwstd was being hate raided for over an hour. This included information about the streamer’s real address and included Nazi imagery.
Y'all @pleasantlytwstd has been getting a NON STOP hate raid since she went live over an HOUR AGO. AN HOUR. Including "raids" from her full name and this BS. CW: Nazi imagery.
— Cypher | Watch Game Changer on #BETHerTV (@cypheroftyr) August 21, 2021
Twitch streamer GlitchKraft has been hate raided on two separate occasions in the last week and a half. The streamer spoke with NME about their experience: “The last occurrence was during a charity event where I was raising money for Stand Up To Cancer. It started with a flood of follows from accounts with hateful messages in their name, then my chat was flooded with hatespeech.”
“They used alt-text so filtered words didn’t get picked up by my automod. When I set my chat to emote-only, the bots quickly filled my chat with emotes. When I limited chat to ‘subscribers only’ they started with hate raiding. What basically happened is that a big group of bot accounts raided me (with 1 viewer, so not “real raids,” where they will actually bring in people) and these accounts had profile pictures of swastika’s so my chat was flooded with those,” added the streamer.
GlitchKraft also discussed how the raid made them feel, with their primary worry being the community of individuals who watch and support them: “I have no problem staying calm during these attacks, but it does mess with your mindset during and after your stream. I found it hard to fully focus on the content I was making and I felt embarrassed towards my community because I didn’t like them having to witness all those hateful slurs.”
“I also felt bad for my mods, who had to deal with banning a lot of the bots. To be honest, I worry more about the effect on others than myself,” added GlitchKraft. The streamer created a short video after experiencing a hate raid that shows how to maintain control of chat, detailing specific apps and tools that steamers can use.
The Twitter boycott will take place on September 1. Streamers are encouraged not to stream on that day, and viewers are also encouraged not to watch. It is hoped that #ADayOffTwitch will encourage the platform to take more decisive action over the ongoing hate raid problem. The hashtag has already picked up support from numerous streamers, including Rek It Raven who’s initial tweet now has over 5,000 retweets and likes.
GlitchKraft has stated their intention to join the day of protest, although they also believe Twitch should have done something about hate raids a long time ago: “Twitch should have acted on hate raids years ago, as they’ve been happening for quite a long time. It’s disappointing that it takes all these people taking a stand on Twitter for Twitch to realize that they’re not doing what they should be doing.”
“There are a few things Twitch could change to prevent bot accounts from being made. Such as changing the account creation process with better authentication methods, and IP registration limitation so that there can’t be many accounts created on the same IP-address. Twitch could also make it so banned accounts can’t view the stream anymore and make them automatically unfollow the stream they were banned from.”
According to a report by The Independent, Love Island: The Game’s new content has been indefinitely delayed amidst the accusations, which include complaints of a toxic workplace and sexist content. Dozens of staff are also supposedly at risk of losing their jobs after raising complaints about how the developer Fuse Box Games treated LGBT+ themes in another one of its games.
Love Island: The Game follows the TV show, releasing a new season of content to coincide with each new season. Fusebox Games has delayed the fourth season of the game, which was supposed to start with the latest season of Love Island at the end of June. The game follows the same format as the TV show, allowing players to take the role of one of several contestants on the show who take part in short, fictional stories.
Staff at Fusebox Games were critical of the developer for how it handled a bisexual storyline in another one of its titles called Matchmaker: Puzzles and Stories. A third-party company wrote a specific storyline focused around a divorced female character who meets a “handsome” man who is perhaps “maybe too young” but who still speaks to the character.
The player character reportedly pretends to be bisexual in order to seem more interesting. The younger male character takes the player’s drink without their consent, and will only return it when the player kisses him. Matchmaker: Puzzles and Stories provided no opportunity to avoid the kiss, which staff felt fetishised those who identify as bisexual.
This storyline caused distress amongst several staff members, who raised their objections to senior management. Staff were told that concerns had been noted and that the storyline would be removed. However, the storyline remained available in the international version of the game.
This development pushed staff to send an open letter in May, which was signed by 31 members of Fusebox Games. One member of staff told The Independent: “This is what upsets me, and just made me cry. I feel so used and hurt. I feel like I put so much love and effort into something and I’m not getting the bare minimum of respect as a worker [that] I should deserve.”
Fusebox Games provided a statement for The Independent, which said that that content in its games are “naturally a subjective area.” The statement also added that its “games reflect the stories that are often shared in the reality shows that we work with, and as such, delivering content enjoyed by players of the game, and fans of the show alike”.
Three weeks after the staff sent the open letter, they were told that their jobs were at risk because the company was performing poorly financially. Staff were also informed that Fusebox Games would place Love Island: The Game in ‘Sunset Mode’, a term typically used to describe a game as being indefinitely delayed.
Fusebox Games has publicly stated the opposite, announcing that the game would launch later this year, and that it is “currently in development to ensure it meets the high standards of the previous seasons.”
Elsewhere, WWE revealed the latest trailer forWWE 2K22 during SummerSlam 2021 last night. The new footage shows off several stars, and also revealed a March 2021 release window for the title.
New No More Heroes 3 footage shows the game’s opening segments, including several narrative-focused cut-scenes, melee combat and the open-world. There’s also an adorable talking cat that journeys alongside the game’s main protagonist, Travis Touchdown.
The new gameplay footage also shows No More Heroes 3’s first boss fight. Mr. Black Hole works directly with the game’s primary antagonist FU, and has the power to create temporary black hole portals that they can teleport through.
YouTuber xPeter’s Archive shared the footage earlier this week, adding to an already extensive number of videos about the game. At the time of writing, the YouTuber has 21 No More Heroes 3 videos that focus on pre-release footage of the game.
No More Heroes 3’s official soundtrack is currently available to stream in full on YouTube for a limited time. The soundtrack features over 20 tracks from the likes of Nobuaki Kaneko, Jun Fukuda and others. It’s available now on YouTube until September 2.
No More Heroes 3 will release globally later this month on August 27, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
In other news, the fan-made Bloodborne PS1 demake is now nearing completion, after its creator showed off new gameplay footage on Twitter. Across the length of two videos, creator Lilith Walther shows off almost an hour of progress (and eight months of work) in just four fast-tracked minutes, ending with a quick boss fight against Father Gascoigne.
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