Top Story
Prepare for trouble as Team Rocket sail over Pokémon Go Fest
Yet another big tease from Niantic as a hot-air balloon bearing the Team Rocket ‘R’ happened to glide over fans attending Europe’s first Pokémon Go Fest in Dortmund, Germany. The stunt references the original Pokémon show where Jessie and James chased Ash and Pikachu in a Meowth-shaped balloon.
Leaked source code suggests Team Rocket will play a major role in the next big feature update for Pokémon Go. Team Rocket is a well-connected criminal organization that seeks to use Pokémon to further their own ends, and aren’t fond of wandering Trainers undoing their plans.
Conquering the world, one Pokéball at a time
The leaked code also hints at the return of Shadow Pokémon – familiar from GameCube games Colosseum and Gale of Darkness – which must be ‘purified to escape their trainer’s control. Almost two dozen Pokémon feature ‘shadow’ variants according to the leak.
“We have cool things coming up…” teased Niantic’s Anne Beuttenmüller. “I think you will be happier with the things that are coming…” Fans have been clamouring for more content and features ever since updates grew more bite-sized after friends, gifting, trading and player vs. player Pokémon battles had been introduced.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which of these features are NOT in Super Mario Maker 2?
- Super Mario 3D World levels
- Luigi Assist mode
- Local and online multiplayer
- Amiibo support and Mystery Mushrooms
- Story mode
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
The Last of Us 2 to launch with four editions?
If this rumour out of China is credible, then The Last of Us 2 crowd us with no less than four editions at launch. Apparently there’s a standard edition, special edition, collector’s edition and Ellie edition. We’re surprised they didn’t spring for a Joel edition or how about the Clicker edition? Still, no official release date yet!
People Can Fly hope pigs can too for Bulletstorm sequel
Despite owning the Bulletstorm IP, creator People Can Fly is too busy with other projects to grace us with a sequel to the funny, irreverent and over-the-top shooter. The original game was a bit overshadowed by Gears of War, despite being a very different game. Former Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski thought their ‘crass marketing’ hurt the game’s appeal.
Daily Fact
BioShock had a Nazi problem, and a mole infestation
Did you enjoy bathysphere ride down to Rapture? Well, you could have been blasting out into space if Irrational Games had kept their original concept. BioShock was intended to take place aboard a space station, much like the System Shock games it was inspired by.
The game was originally intended to feature three different factions: Drones who carry resources, protectors who guard the drones, and harvesters who try to rob the drones. The three factions were always the core idea for the game, and eventually evolved into Little Sisters, Big Daddies and Splicers – but they were still missing a central theme.
Would you kindly… rethink your design
The original idea was that the player went to the space station to rescue someone from a cult, fighting mutated monsters along the way. The design and concept turned messy, and didn’t exactly turn out the way Irrational had wanted. Development was almost abandoned – but since people were excited about the rumours of a spiritual sequel to System Shock, they decided to keep going.The drone/protector/harvester dynamic was kept, while the new story concept revolved around a rediscovered WW2-era Nazi science laboratory that had been running amok for decades and developed its own perverse ecosystem. Many of Bioshock’s core concepts were present at this stage of the design, including plasmids and EVE. However, the drones weren’t little girls but moles scurrying around the lab.
The environments were turning out bland and inconsistent, and the team felt they had overplayed the cyberpunk elements. They decided to move the whole thing out of space and down under water. They dropped the Nazi lab idea and developed an entirely different vision: The underwater utopia Rapture, built by the charismatic – but slightly mental – business magnate Andrew Ryan.
Quote of The Week
Dr Disrespect’s E3 Apology & The Aftermath
Dr. Disrespect (née Guy Beahm) is a bit like Marmite. Fans of the successful Twitch streamer lap up his jokes laced with 80s and 90s pop-culture references, and enjoy his fiery, wrestling-inspired ‘heel’ persona. Others reject his larger-than-life character, painting him as a bully using his brand as an excuse to be, well, not very nice. No matter what you think about his act, it’s fair to say that the good doctor has made a few mistakes in recent years.
His most recent breach of common sense and etiquette happened at E3, where he and his cameraman decided to film inside the public bathrooms at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, capturing a number of adults as well as a minor relieving themselves. This is in breach of Twitch’s terms of service – not to mention California state law – so his Twitch account was suspended and his E3 ticket quickly revoked.
On July 1st, Beahm issues a statement where he apologised for his conduct at E3. Here are some choice snippets:
“I’d like to talk about Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban from E3. This was my first IRL stream as the Doc and if it’s not obvious by now, one of the things I try to stay true with is authenticity….”
“When we were walking around filming at E3, we clearly weren’t thinking about the laws/repercussions of filming in the bathroom because honestly, it wasn’t in our mind frame at the time….”
“We had no ill intentions and I feel that was pretty obvious if you watched the entire thing…On behalf of the Dr Disrespect brand, I apologize for this..”
He goes on to say that he wants to move beyond the incident, and acknowledges the great amount of support he has received from his friends, family and community. His apology was met with a mix of forgiveness and accusations that he was hiding behind his brand rather than taking responsibility.
The apology was covered by several games press outlets, but Nathan Grayson’s coverage for Kotaku earned the direct attention of the doctor himself. After Kotaku tweeted about the article, News Editor Jason Schreier and Dr. Disrespect appeared in the thread for some good, old-fashioned flaming. Following the spat, Dr. Disrespect then decided to mock both Grayson and Schreier in front of his followers.
Schreier replied to the insult aimed at him, and plenty of others have joined the fray since then. As usual, there is no such thing as a consensus: People are criticizing Dr. Disrespect for mocking the journalists, and jumped to their defense – and even many of his fans seem to think he has crossed a line and that his brand and character is no excuse for bad behaviour. Others support the Doc’s jabs, relishing in the opportunity to complain about Kotaku in general.
It’s going to be interesting to see Dr. Disrespect attempt to defend his act in the future. While it’s hard to predict how people will respond to edgy characters like his, it’s getting clear that not everyone see him as an entertaining caricature – in today’s political climate, people are just as likely to interpret his act as something more sinister and damaging.
