Hi, I'm Mandrake and I'm a horse! π΄β I've been part of Elekk's community since November 2017. I enjoy listening to #darksynth and mostly post about #indiegames, such as what I've been playing recently and whether there's anything good being given away for free. I also have a collection of every single game I've played on itch.io, which I regularly update with short summaries for each: https://itch.io/c/895727/played #introduction #reintroduction
GOG are giving away Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars for FREE until September 3rd (which you should consider claiming in case EA suddenly decides to delist them again) https://www.gog.com/promo/rerelease_ultima_underworld_and_syndicate
There was a big trans rights protest outside Downing Street earlier today: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/08/06/london-trans-rights-protest/ β
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Offworld Trading Company thoughts
So I've been playing Offworld Trading Company recently after claiming it for free on Epic a few weeks ago. Gameplay-wise, it's a fast-paced RTS about resource production and market profiteering. Most games last about 30 minutes and always end with everyone rushing to buy out each other out. Fairly complex, but the tutorials do a great job at teaching the mechanics.
Thematically, there's this rather cynical and dark subtext where, despite finally reaching for the stars and being offered the opportunity to make a fresh start, humanity instead chooses to replicate the exact same artificial systems of capitalism that it had back on Earth, screwing each other over in the pursuit of obscene profits but in space.
halo multiplayer announcer said trans rights https://twitter.com/tanisthelesbiab/status/1422603580746260483?s=20
This week, Epic are giving away Minit and A Plague Tale: Innocence (one of James Stephanie Sterling's favourite games from 2019)
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/minit
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/a-plague-tale-innocence
Fullbright, toxic workplace
Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma) co-founder Steve Gaynor has stepped down as creative lead (but continues to be a writer) for Open Roads after his controlling, belittling behaviour towards women led to 12 employees leaving the company in two years: https://www.polygon.com/22610490/fullbright-steve-gaynor-controversy-stepped-down-open-roads
Why medieval city-builder video games are historically inaccurate
Apparently Zoom straight up lied about conferences being E2E encrypted, and didnβt tell anyone that they were passing personally identifiable data to Facebook & Google for years.
They have just had their ass handed to them by the FTC, and members of a class action lawsuit will be receiving compensation. Alsoβ¦ maybe donβt use Zoom unless your employer makes you. π¬
Activision Blizzard lawsuit latest
Activision Blizzard is now being sued by their own shareholders for intentionally not telling them that the company's workplace culture was being investigated: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/class-action/activision-blizzard-hid-harassment-probe-from-investors-suit-says
Activision Blizzard lawsuit latest
The ABK Workers Alliance, a coalition of Activision Blizzard employees, has rejected the executive leadership's decision to hire a law firm as a third-party auditor and stated how they themselves will improve their workplace with employee-driven initiatives: https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-employees-abk-coalition-reject-bobby-kotick-law-firm
The Great Ace Attorney is out in the West, so here's a (mostly spoiler-free) interview with Capcom's localization director Janet Hsu about the challenges of localising it: https://www.polygon.com/interviews/22519215/great-ace-attorney-chronicles-interview-translator-localization-japanese-western-audience
Here's a $20 Itch bundle full of short games with worse graphics, each one costing about 71 cents: https://itch.io/b/988/the-shorter-games-with-worse-graphics-bundle-round-2
Blizzard lawsuit - personal opinions
I wrote a blog post titled: "Grieving and a Sense of Betrayal". In it, I briefly went over the main points in the Blizzard lawsuit about the abuse that happened.
I also included personal thoughts about workplace abuse I've experienced, my emotional state after reading about the rot at Activision Blizzard, and how the community has responded.
If you have a Medium subscription, you can read the article over there:
https://bookofjen.medium.com/grieving-and-a-sense-of-betrayal-6682b22eba48
If you don't have a Medium subscription, you can read it on my Book of Jen website for free.
https://bookofjen.net/grieving-and-a-sense-of-betrayal/
Go ahead and boost this
image description: A photo of the Anaheim Convention center during the 2014 BlizzCon by Jen Thorpe.
mastodev, meta
I thought about posting a lengthy thread expressing my thoughts on the problems with the recent "official" app and the overall direction of the Mastodon project, but this blogpost by @packetcat summarises everything I have to say about it: https://asininetech.com/2021/07/31/irreconcilable-differences/
GOG are giving away Wanderlust: Transsiberian for free. It's a choose-your-own-adventure game where you travel through Siberia: https://www.gog.com/game/wanderlust_transsiberian #freegame
Some free games on Epic this week:
Mothergunship, a bullet hell FPS where you craft a massive gun: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/mothergunship
Train Sim World 2, a simulation which includes the Bakerloo Line: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/train-sim-world-2
Activision Blizzard's stock price dropped by 9% as a result of today's walkout, reducing the company's market value by $7.7 billion πΈ π https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/activision-blizzard-stock-lost-8-billion-market-value-discrimination-lawsuit-2021-7
Nearly 500 Ubisoft employees have signed an open letter expressing solidarity with the workers of Activision Blizzard and demanding real, meaningful action within Ubisoft and across the video games industry: https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-employees-say-theyve-had-enough-of-empty-promises-offer-solidarity-to-activision-blizzard/
I've put my PS4 up for auction on eBay if anyone here is interested. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174862634855
I don't actually play the video games my hooves cannot push the buttons π΄