Deus Ex and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy writer Mary DeMarle has officially been confirmed to have joined BioWare as the senior narrative director for Mass Effect 4.

Director Michael Gamble confirmed the news this week (via VGC), adding that DeMarle would be working on a sequel to EA’s sci-fi series. “I’m really excited to let you know that Mary DeMarle will be joining the Mass Effect team as senior narrative director,” Gamble tweeted. “You’ve seen her work in Guardians of the Galaxy & Deus Ex–to name a few–she’s amazing.”

Oh, hey!
I’m really excited to let you know that Mary DeMarle will be joining the Mass Effect team as Senior Narrative Director. You’ve seen her work in Guardians of the Galaxy & Deus Ex (to name a few!). She’s amazing.

— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) July 4, 2022

The modern Deus Ex games have been well-received since they were released, with many critics and fans praising the storytelling of those titles. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy also earned critical acclaim when it was released, and went on to win the Game Award for Best Narrative at last year’s Game Awards.

It’s still early days for Mass Effect 4, and BioWare has remained tight-lipped on its development so far. “It’s going to be a while before we can talk about it in more detail, but we can’t wait to show you what we’re working on!” the company said in a statement back in April. For more on the game, you can check out GameSpot’s feature on everything that we know about Mass Effect 4 so far.

BioWare is also developing Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, which has seen a few more tidbits of information revealed. One piece of teaser art released suggests that Dreadwolf will see the return of the Grey Wardens for the RPG, which will be an exclusively single-player experience.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

James Cameron has shared new details on his Avatar series, saying in an interview that he’s very excited for Avatar 4, in particular, but he’s not sure it’ll ever be made. Speaking to Empire, the Oscar-winning Titanic director shared some thoughts on where the sci-fi series is headed in the future and what his role in the series may be in the future, should Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 get made.

“Everything I need to say about family, about sustainability, about climate, about the natural world, the themes that are important to me in real life and in my cinematic life, I can say on this canvas,” he said of the Avatar series. “I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces.”

Avatar 3 is already done, so it’s definitely releasing, Cameron said, but whether or not Avatar 4 and 5 get made depends on how well Avatar 2: The Way Of Water and Avatar 3 perform. “I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately,” he said.

If Avatar 4 and 5 do get made, Cameron may not direct them. He said making the Avatar movies is an “all-consuming” process and he has other projects he wants to make. That being said, Cameron hasn’t decided anything yet.

“I think eventually over time–I don’t know if that’s after three or after four–I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”

The Way Of Water also stars Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, and Kate Winslet. The movie hits theaters on December 16, 2022.

The original Avatar, meanwhile, will return to theaters on September 23. That movie holds the record for the biggest box office success ever, at $2.847 billion, outpacing the No. 2 movie, Avengers: Endgame ($2.797 billion).

Ubisoft’s new Avatar game, Frontiers of Pandora, is rumored to be released in November, just ahead of The Way of Water.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

AmazonBasics is a private label of products owned by Amazon. The subsidiary was founded back in 2009 and initially offered only basic products, such as cables and office consumables. More and more products are being added under the AmazonBasics label every day. Today, Amazon retails thousands of products under the AmazonBasics label, ranging from paperclips to living room sets. The only common point amongst all of these products is that they are very aggressively priced, usually selling for significantly less than any other competitive product from an established brand.

In this review, we are having a look at a very popular low-cost UPS that Amazon distributes under the AmazonBasics label, the AmazonBasics Aurora Vista 1500VA. Much like its name suggests, it is a very basic design with minimal features, yet it is very aggressively priced. Taking the renowned Amazon customer service into account, it seems like an amazing deal for that kind of output.

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The gaming industry has seen its fair share of wild stories over the years, ranging from truly bizarre choices that sent companies to liquidation to dangerous and, in some cases, criminal acts. A few of the most unbelievable stories, however, have stood above the rest in our memory, often acting as case studies on what not to do if you’re making video games. We’ve rounded them up below, and be sure to let us know which other unbelievable industry stories you remember in the comments.

Cooking Mama: Cookstar fiasco

Cooking Mama: Cookstar

Cooking Mana is a franchise you probably associate with the DS or Wii, perhaps a game you saw in the collection of the children down the street who weren’t allowed to play anything with explosions or lasers. It was wholesome and pure–which is why the fiasco surrounding the game Cooking Mama: Cookstar was so bizarre.

Publisher Planet Entertainment, which IP-holder Office Create had licensed to release the game, launched Cookstar in 2020 without Office Create’s knowledge. The latter company said it had required correction of a “range of deficiencies” before it would be approved, yet it said the game was released without these issues being addressed. Despite the drama and threats of legal action, the game is currently available for sale–with Planet Entertainment’s name on its website–for both Switch and PS4. Oh, and the PS4 version was never approved by Office Create, with the company having no knowledge it was coming prior to Planet Entertainment announcing it.

Silicon Knights uses stolen Unreal Engine

Too Human

Silicon Knights looked like it was going to be the next major third-party developer, having produced the excellent Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and the remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. The problems started after that, first with Silicon Knights suing Epic over apparently missing features in Unreal Engine 3. In a countersuit, Epic Games accused the company of using an unauthorized version of the engine to produce Too Human and the then-unreleased X-Men: Destiny.

The court largely ruled in Epic Games’ favor, with an order saying Silicon Knights “deliberately and repeatedly copied thousands of lines of Epic Games’ copyrighted code, and then attempted to conceal its wrongdoing by removing Epic Game’s copyright notices and by disguising Epic Games’ copyrighted code as Silicon Knights’ own.”

On top of all of this, Too Human and X-Men: Destiny were both bad.

Hot Coffee

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Video game code is extremely complicated, but if you don’t tell the truth about what’s on your game discs, someone will eventually figure it out. Shortly after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ launch, a minigame called Hot Coffee was discovered that allowed players to have sex with one of the characters. Though clothed, it was still fairly explicit, and Rockstar blamed it on the work of modders.

It’s true the content wasn’t available by default in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but evidence exists that points to the minigame actually being created by Rockstar itself and locked in the code, rather than being the work of the modding community alone. By today’s standards, the content seen in Hot Coffee isn’t actually all that graphic, but it came at a time when Grand Theft Auto’s influence on young people was the talk of US lawmakers, and it didn’t exactly help Rockstar’s case. For a time, production was halted and the game’s rating was changed to Adults Only until the content could be removed, as the ESRB said it was present on the game discs.

CSGO Lotto

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Gambling has morphed drastically since the dawn of the internet, and not only via online poker and sportsbetting. People have also tried to cash in on digital items sales in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and a few YouTube creators found themselves in hot water for their role in one website.

CSGO Lotto was a website that allowed Counter-Strike: GO players to toss weapon skins together into a digital pot that would then be randomly awarded to one player–and third-party services could then be used to sell them for real cash. The problem is that Trevor “TmarTn” Martin and Tom “ProSyndicate” Cassell had been making videos showing them using the website without disclosing that they co-owned it. Martin mentioned that he “found” the site in one video, implying he did not have a stake in it. Because they owned the site, any videos showing them “winning” money had the potential of being staged, as well.

Even worse? The FTC let them off the hook without even a slap on the wrist, only threatening a fine if they didn’t disclose such conflicts of interest in the future.

Intellivision Amico

Intellivision Amico

One unbelievable story that is still ongoing involves a console brand brought back from the dead… maybe. The Intellivision was a game system Mattel produced in the 1980s to compete against consoles like the Atari 2600. It was never a huge hit, but nostalgia is still powerful, and game composer Tommy Tallarico revived the brand in 2018 with plans for a new console: the Intellivision Amico.

What followed was an embarrassment on just about every level. Multiple delays–not of months but of years–have kept the console from actually releasing as of June 2022, and Tallarico has moved away from his CEO role into a different position. An investment campaign earlier this year was halted after only a tiny fraction of the requested funds were raised, and it will frankly be a shock if the Amico actually makes it to preorder backers, let alone to store shelves.

Aliens: Colonial Marines code error

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Aliens: Colonial Marines was one of the biggest gaming disasters of the 21st century. It wasn’t the worst first-person shooter ever made, but it released just months after developer Gearbox Software had launched the acclaimed Borderlands 2. Expectations were high, with studio head Randy Pitchford billing the game as the official, canonical sequel to Aliens, but the game that came out was not worthy of that status. Among its more notable problems was poor AI, and the fix for it was comical: fixing a typo. Modders discovered that enemies behaved far more aggressively after a slight edit to the game’s code.

Bad games happen, and that’s even the case from established developers. However, how much Gearbox Software actually worked on Aliens: Colonial Marines itself isn’t clear. Former employees have said TimeGate Studios actually was the primary campaign mode developer, with Gearbox’s contribution being the multiplayer mode. (Wait, that game had a multiplayer mode?) For his part, Pitchford said Gearbox handled about 80% of development itself. TimeGate shut down just three months later.

Game of War dev arrested, doesn’t pay the price

Game of War

Game of War–that mobile strategy game you probably only remember for the Kate Upton and Mariah Carey commercials that seemed to play all the time a few years ago–wasn’t all that interesting on its own. What was interesting, however, was what happened to one developer when he attempted to travel to Beijing. Back in 2015, FBI agents detained Machine Zone developer Jing Zeng, who they allege had attempted to leave the country with secret company information on in-game player behavior and spending.

The company also said Zeng had attempted to use these files as a bargaining chip for a severance package. However, in the end, Zeng was not actually convicted of any charge–all but one were dismissed before trial, and he was acquitted of the final Computer Fraud and Abuse Act charge in federal court two years after his arrest.

Hatred and the game’s creator

Hatred

The whole “edgy for the sake of it” game hasn’t been cool in a few decades, with franchises like Duke Nukem and Postal coming across as more sad than rebellious today. Hatred, however, is a game with no redeeming values–a generic twin-stick shooter where your goal is to cause as much death and destruction to the population before your own eventual demise. It was created for the purpose of causing controversy, which is precisely what happened, putting even more eyeballs onto a game that just wasn’t very good, tastelessness aside.

What made things really disturbing, however, is that developer Destructive Creations’ CEO Jaroslaw Zielinski had been following a far-right and Islamophobic group on Facebook that has “patrolled” nightclubs in Poland in order to keep Muslims away from women. He said he wasn’t aware of these activities and only used it as a way to see news, but it definitely isn’t the best look when the game is about a white guy in a trenchcoat unleashing his wrath on humanity.

Devotion removal

Devotion

When digital stores are available to people worldwide, there can be unexpected problems. This was the case with Devotion, a horror game made by the Taiwanese studio Red Candle. After launch, an art asset playing up the apparent similarity in appearance between Winnie the Pooh and Chinese president Xi Jingping was discovered, and Steam review bombing from Chinese players followed.

As a result of this flak, Red Candle completely pulled the game from Steam. GOG, a major competitor to Steam, said it also wouldn’t sell the game after “gamers” complained, which definitely didn’t include Xi Jingping wearing glasses and a Groucho Marx mustache. Eventually, Red Candle gave up on finding another distributor and opened its own online store, which sells both Devotion and its predecessor, Detention.

Cyberpunk 2077 pulled from sale

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 was set to be one of the biggest video games ever. It was being developed by CD Projekt Red, whose The Witcher 3 is widely regarded as a role-playing masterpiece, and pre-release trailers showed a sprawling and futuristic city packed with characters to meet and interact with. At launch, however, it was clear the game had been nowhere near ready, resulting in graphical bugs, poor performance, crashes, and a variety of other issues that affected consoles the worst, especially PS4 and Xbox One.

The problem was so severe that retailers began offering refunds on a scale we’ve almost never seen. The PlayStation Store even completely pulled the game from sale, not putting it back up until six months later and carrying a warning. The disastrous launch delayed subsequent content updates and expansions for Cyberpunk, the bespoke new-gen versions were delayed, and the public’s faith in CD Projekt Red was seriously damaged.

PSN LulzSec shutdown

PS3 online play was unavailable for more than three weeks

It’s hard to imagine in 2022, but there was a period of 23 whole days in 2011 when the PlayStation Network was taken down because of a cyberattack. The short-lived hacking group LulzSec, which had also targeted the CIA and other video game companies, was able to breach Sony’s security so severely that the company was forced to take PSN completely offline as it worked to create a fix and ensure users wouldn’t be vulnerable in the future. But this is something we think of taking a day or two. In an era of so many live-service games, such a wait would spell doom for game companies.

To its credit, Sony did offer a variety of free games and other bonuses to those who were affected. An attack of this severity has not been seen since in the gaming industry, perhaps because the would-be-hackers don’t want to risk having their own Destiny or Fortnite access revoked.

Ubisoft’s incredibly dangerous Splinter Cell stunt

Splinter Cell Conviction

Splinter Cell Conviction is a gritty, action-focused stealth game that saw protagonist Sam Fisher on the run–the government agency he once worked for now wanted him dead, and he was considered an armed and dangerous criminal. For some reason, Ubisoft took the game’s premise and decided to work with an outside firm on a guerrilla marketing event in New Zealand. That consisted of… an actor pulling out a fake gun and threatening people in a pub.

The police were called, and no one was injured, with the marketing firm Monaco Corporation saying it “was by no means an attempt to get cops” to show up to the event. Most New Zealand police do not carry firearms by default, but they do still use them in certain circumstances, so the fact that everyone walked away unharmed is nothing short of a miracle.

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Epic is partnering with Kaws to create the Kawspeely outfit that’ll be available on July 2. Kaws is a New York-based artist who is known for his sculpture work on characters and themes. The new Fortnite skin will be another in-game variant of Peely, a well-beloved character.

The Kawspeely outfit will feature the following:

Kaws Companion Back BlingFar From Home GliderRipe On Time Wrap

This is the second Kaws outfit, which previously came with other pieces like the Kaws Back Bling. Those pieces are returning but will now feature the option to change their colors such as the Grey Days style and Noir Nights, in addition to the original style.

The Kaws Skeleton Outfit will also return to the Fortnite item shop alongside Kawspeely. Kaws Skeleton comes in four colors which include:

GreenPinkBone-ColorOrange

Kaws will also have an island in Fortnite’s Creative mode that’ll be a recreation of the Kaws and Serpentine Hub that launched earlier this year at London’s Serpentine North Gallery. The hub will feature an art gallery full of Kaw’s work, including the “Kaws New Fiction” art exhibit. The exhibit will also feature paintings, sculptures, and augmented reality artworks developed with Acute Art by Kaws. Players can visit the Kaws and Serpentine Hub inputting the island code 9441-7852-6686.

For more Fortnite news, check out these stories:

Friday ‘Nite: Fortnite’s Reality Tree Shows Nostalgia Comes In Many FormsWhere To Get Fortnite Grapple Glove – Locations, Stats, And How It WorksFall Guys Crown Clash Challenges: How To Unlock Free Fall Guys, Fortnite, And Rocket League RewardsRead MoreGameSpot – Game News

Some games make you work hard for their DLC, sometimes making you progress hours in the main game before granting you access. Others let you in right from the start. Luckily for fans of Cuphead, the long awaited Delicious Last Course DLC is an example of the latter. Here’s how to reach the new bosses and adventure within minutes of starting a new save file.

Beat the first Run & Gun

After talking to Elder Kettle and completing the optional tutorial, head out the door and across the bridge. Make sure to talk with the Apple on the way, who will give you your first three coins which can be used to purchase new weapons and charms.

Complete the first Run & Gun level to unlock the bridge and get across the river.

On the other side of the bridge, you’ll see a white and red circle on the ground. This is your first Run & Gun challenge, Forest Follies. Dash and shoot your way through the killer foliage, grabbing all the coins you can along the way. Return to the map after completing the level, and there will be a new bridge leading you across the river.

Beat the first Mausoleum

Beat the first Mausoleum to meet the new NPC.

Take the bridge across and head down to find your first Mausoleum. The Mausoleums are all quite quick and painless to beat. Just parry all the pink ghosts before they reach they reach the urn; no need to shoot. At the end, you’ll free Ms. Chalice from the urn, who will reward you with your first Super Art, the Energy Beam.

Agree to depart with the NPC to enter the DLC.

Head back to the map, and a new NPC will appear with a boat. They will tell you that the Legendary Chalice needs your help in a far off isle. Agree to depart with them, and voila! You’re off to the DLC.

Note: If you’re accessing the DLC in a previous game file that you’ve already made progress in, simply head to the any completed Mausoleum location to find the NPC waiting for you.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

While The Sims 4’s most recent DLC pack offered players a more supernatural experience, its upcoming expansion is a return to the series’ more normal content as well as the most tumultuous part of a young sim’s life: high school. The Sims 4: High School Years hits PC, Mac, and consoles on July 28 and adds thrift shopping, milk tea shops, extracurricular activities, an overhaul to the series’ in-game social media, plenty of new actions and character creation options, and the location of Copperdale High School.

According to the expansion’s press release, The Sims 4: High School Years allows players to “live out their high school dreams as they make the most out of being a teenager, explore their identity, attend high school, and test boundaries through choices and growth.”

“Sims will learn to juggle school and extracurricular events, form lifelong friends, and experience big moments like prom,” lead producer George Pigula said in the press release. “They can even develop their own fashion likes and dislikes with the new Trendi app with clothes designed by Depop sellers. High school is an incredibly formative time, and we wanted to give players the chance to create and customize their own, personalized high school experiences before their Sims reach young adulthood.”

While all these additions are exciting enough, The Sims’ team also partnered up with fashion resell company Depop to expand in-game fashion. Sims will be able to purchase clothing items in-game designed by real-world Depop sellers Jeremy Salazar, Sha’an D’Antes, Lapoze McTribouy, Selena Williams, and Bella McFadden at the local thrift store. Once your sim is over their look, they can then resell that clothing to other characters for some serious simoleons as they work their way up to becoming a “Simfluencer.”

When not in school or posting pictures of their fits on their perfectly curated social media profile, teen sims can also hit up the local milk tea shop, ThrifTea, go on dates at Plumbite Pier, sneak out, and plan their perfect promposal. Honestly, the blunder years have never looked quite as fun.

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Respawn Entertainment’s free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, has always stood out from the crowd. Compared to other hero shooters and battle royales, Apex Legends’ fluid movement mechanics and powerful hero abilities make for a game which appeals to a large audience. But what truly makes Apex Legends stand out in an ever-growing sea of battle royale games is the level of care the narrative team puts into writing and creating the game’s characters. While plenty of games have characters with interesting backstories, very few live-service shooters features as detailed a lore, with individual stories that curate believable and organic characters.

Every legend is unique–each of them has highly detailed backstories, motives, desires, and pet peeves. Respawn further develops its characters by introducing relationships between the legends themselves. Some of these relationships are romantic, while others are platonic, but the ever-evolving state of each character’s interpersonal relationships gives the legends an added layer of depth, with in-game voice lines that change from season to season based on plot developments from previous seasons.

From day one, Respawn has made it quite clear that it values diversity and inclusivity, and seeks to foster a similarly diverse, inclusive community among its playerbase. The game launched with an openly gay character (Gibraltar) and a nonbinary character (Bloodhound). As the game evolved, so did the roster, with later seasons introducing LGBTQ+ characters Loba, Fuse, Valkyrie, and Seer.

Other LGBTQ+ legends were lurking in plain sight. Despite being in the game from the very beginning, Bangalore was not officially confirmed as lesbian until Season 13. But the revelation didn’t come out of nowhere–players had spent months watching Bangalore and Loba’s initially antagonistic relationship slowly blossom into romance, coming to a head in Season 9 when Loba’s near-death experience scared Bangalore enough that she refused to take their relationship further–or even admit that they had one.

Instead of just telling players that Bangalore is gay, Apex’s developers put together a story that blended multiple aspects of Bangalore’s personality into a plot development that didn’t seem forced. Bangalore’s trust issues, PTSD, and generally guarded demeanor all came together in a manner that made her coming out story fit seamlessly into the game’s current storyline. By the time her sexual orientation was officially confirmed, few (if any) players were surprised, because everyone had gotten to know Bangalore, similar to the way many people sense that a close friend may be LGBTQ+ long before the person has come out officially.

Respawn doesn’t just dabble in surface-level representation–the studio is committed to creating realistic characters who aren’t tokenized or reduced to their sexuality, gender, or race. Loba is a perfect example–when she arrived on the scene in Season 5, there was no announcement regarding her sexuality (or that of Bangalore, who would enter a “will they, won’t they” back-and-forth with the enchanting thief in the following seasons). Instead, players were given little hints about Loba. One of her intro quips is “I’m a maneater and a ladykiller–I enjoy variety,” and Loba often refers to all the legends (save Revenant) as “beautiful” when talking to them. Her sexuality informs how she talks but doesn’t define who she is.

And, brilliantly, Respawn used a character who was so confident in her sexuality to tell a compelling coming-out story for Bangalore. Bangalore’s unique dialogue with Loba betrayed the former IMC soldier’s interest in the bewitching thief, evolving to reveal that Bangalore’s stoic heart had feelings for a woman. When Loba and Bangalore’s romance became somewhat official in Season 9, it didn’t feel forced or artificial, mainly due to Respawn’s excellent character development over the course of four seasons, which primed players to expect a potential romance between the two legends. Season 9’s real surprise wasn’t the revelation that Bangalore and Loba had feelings for each other, it was that the arrival of Valkyrie posed a threat to that relationship.

So how does Respawn manage to juggle a story with, as of Season 13, 21 main characters, all of whom have unique, intricately detailed pasts, personalities, and preferences? We decided to go to the source, emailing Apex Legends lead writer Ashley Reed and narrative director Manny Hagopian. Those questions and their responses are transcribed below.

Do you ever regret introducing canon relationships into Apex Legends, queer or otherwise, between the playable characters as opposed to just having the legends date NPCs?

Hagopian: I don’t regret much in our writing. If we make a choice, we follow through with it until we are able to make another choice in a different direction. The best thing about Apex is that we are able to try new things and change them if needed in a natural and organic way. Life itself is full of wrong choices, so it’s only natural that our characters experience the same. We’re just as imperfect as our characters, that’s what helps make them real and relatable. That said, I think the power of keeping our characters interacting with each other as opposed to NPCs outside of the games allows us to keep the conversations active in the moment and further define the relationships among our Legends.

Reed: Where’s the fun in that? I was admittedly cautious about introducing relationships in the early days, when people (including us) were still trying to understand what Apex was and where it lived in our universe. But after the Broken Ghost quest, that all changed–we dipped a toe into more dramatic interpersonal storytelling, and we had a lot of fun writing those squabbles and will-they-won’t-they scenarios right along with the action. The audience liked it, too, so we knew we were onto something. Now it’s another tool in our toolbox–we want to tell all kinds of stories about these characters, from their lowest moments to their most dramatic victories, and romance has a place in that. We still want to leave room for fans to have fun and imagine their own scenarios, and to introduce important characters who aren’t playable (it would be weird if the Legends only ever interacted with each other–go outside, make some friends who don’t shoot at you!). But this is another facet of our characters that we can explore.

Are relationships between legends, queer or otherwise, planned out from the beginning, or do some of them happen organically while the story is still being developed?

Reed: A bit of both–and that’s the story of writing in general, especially for an evolving narrative like ours. We’ve had a lot of plans that have come to fruition mostly like we envisioned, and plenty of others that were left by the side of the road in favor of something else. Character relationships are the same way–there are some you think are perfect at first that fall apart as time goes on, and others that you didn’t even consider flower before your eyes. Ultimately, we have to be flexible–if something isn’t working the way you planned, or something else is taking off in a way you didn’t expect, don’t be rigid. Watching a storyline naturally unfurl because it fits so perfectly into what you’ve already done is the best feeling.

Hagopian: Ashley has been more in the trenches with this and that’s because as the story and game grows, the characters grow with each new Legend. When we first shipped Apex, we did not plan ahead of time any romantic relationships or even had plans for such things, but as we developed the characters and discovered the connections they had with each other, those relationships naturally emerged. It’s important to note that we don’t have a box to check that reads: “Relationship Status” or “Which Legend to Ship With.” We don’t force these developments, we discover these developments. Our writers’ room often leads to these discoveries and if we feel passionate about them, we explore them further.

Some characters are revealed to be queer the day of their addition (like Gibraltar and Seer), while others go a long time before the Apex Legends team officially confirms it (most notably, Bangalore). How do you determine when is the right time to disclose that information to the playerbase, especially given fans’ desire to not be queerbaited?

Reed: Like you said, it varies per character–we knew Gibraltar was gay early on, and we didn’t want to spring it on people later and make it feel like an afterthought. For Bangalore, that developed over time–it was only when we saw how well she played off Loba that we went “Oh…” Some characters are very open with that information–Loba and Valkyrie casually mention it in some of their dialogue–versus a character like Bloodhound who doesn’t feel the need to bring it up much. Just like with real people, some are more forward than others. Our goal, above all else, is for them to feel genuine.

Hagopian: We treat our characters like real people in our world. Some are open about their sexuality and some are not. As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t have boxes to check in terms of what we cover for a character, but instead approach our character development with what the writer is gravitated towards through collaboration with other departments.

How has Apex Legends’ diverse cast of characters had an impact on the team’s creative process when it comes to making more legends? Apex Legends has a far more diverse roster in comparison to the characters seen in both Titanfall games.

Reed: Titanfall was more about a war and how the people caught up in it reacted to those circumstances–it isn’t the kind of story where you delve into the characters’ personalities and get to know them over months or years. Apex is based entirely around the characters, and the Games are a jumping off point for their adventures. It made sense to create a diverse group of people with different experiences, histories, struggles and ambitions–otherwise you’d get bored of playing them, and we’d get bored of making them! We always try to think about what each new Legend can bring to the table that’s unique to them, while still feeling like a full and complex human being.

Hagopian: These are two very different games that live in the same universe. The approaches are very different with different goals. Apex Legends is a character based game, so the strong development of unique characters and their point of views was a key pillar to creating the game. Whereas Titanfall focused more of the greater stakes of the world and the war that took control of these people’s lives. The approach to Titanfall was to create compelling characters for one off moments like our bosses Kane or Slone, but not characters you’d build relationships with (except BT) and develop over the course of the game, which doesn’t leave much room for elements of their personal lives.

However, thanks to Apex, we’ve been able to further delve into some of those stories like Ash and Viper and hopefully more in the future! That said, I can’t say that we haven’t been growing as a company and an industry over the last 10 years and we’ve certainly hit some bumps along the way. To answer the question about how our diverse cast of characters has had an impact on the team’s creative process, well, by focusing on characters more than we ever have, the process has grown to give ample time for our team to get each element to the best it can be. For one-liner NPCs, you could create them in a week or even a day, but for our Legends, we take the time and care they deserve to accurately define a personality that lives in our world—it’s very fun!

Does the team look to any other hero shooters for inspiration when it comes to figuring out the dos and don’ts of designing queer characters?

Reed: I’d go broader here–we’re always looking around at other stories to see how they handle different kinds of content and how it makes us feel as audience members. If we see a revenge story and feel inspired by it, we ask ourselves why–what about that stood out to me, and how can I replicate that feeling in my own work? The same goes for the opposite–“Oh no, I hated that. How do I avoid doing anything like that?” We look at portrayals of queer characters the same way, though not in isolation–input from queer folks is critical. Who better to say if a portrayal is positive or negative than the person being portrayed?

Hagopian: I can’t imagine a world where we don’t care about the exciting and wonderful work our colleagues at other studios are doing. Of course if something is received poorly, we’ll learn from that mistake, but that’s us as a whole in the industry. I’d hope that other studios look at us as well for the lessons we’ve learned. I have a lot of friends who are writers for other games, not necessarily shooters, but we all support each other and learn from each other. This is also something outside of games, I have great friends in the worlds of TV/Film and we are always trying to help each other get better and work together to support up and coming new voices.

Even after their falling out, Bangalore feels compelled to check on Loba’s new girlfriend when she is injured in Season 13’s launch trailer.

How do you think Apex Legends’ diverse cast of characters has had an impact on the culture of players who participate in online gaming, if at all?

Reed: I hope so! The dream is that seeing a diverse cast like this–different people with vastly different experiences–opens players up to a wider world. Maybe they don’t know what it means to be non-binary, then they meet Bloodhound. Or maybe they’re non-binary themselves and seeing Bloodhound makes them feel welcome. We hope that our cast can make more people feel at home in our game, or more aware of all the different kinds of people who could be joining them on a server.

Hagopian: I’ve received many messages from fans in our amazing community who have told me beautiful stories about how important our cast and characters are to them and how they finally feel represented or even grown to understand themselves a bit more because of our characters’ own stories. There’s unfortunately toxicity that shows up, but my focus is on the positive. I see and hear those voices and stories and that is the true community that we’re fortunately a part of. I, myself, have learned so much from them and continue to learn.

How does gender play a role when it comes to designing the character model, mannerisms, and clothing of non-biological characters like Revenant and Ash, if at all?

Reed: That depends on context. Ash and Revenant are both simulacra–a human whose consciousness has been moved into a mechanical body. Their designs reflect the gender they were when they were human (because that’s the gender they still are) and how they express that. That’s not necessary for a character like Pathfinder, who could have easily been either or neither and still had the same model. It really depends on the personality of the character and what suits them best.

Hagopian: Ashley’s answer fits. They are formerly human characters, whereas Pathfinder, BT, and DOC are not. This is also more of an art direction question since the purpose for a lot of how a character looks has to do with their silhouette for gameplay purposes.

How does the team tackle unfamiliar gender identities or sexualities? What’s y’all’s process for working through that?

Reed: Talking with real people who identify with those genders or sexualities is a must. In the early stages, that can be someone we know, someone we work with, or even ourselves–someone who can speak from experience we’re trying to share. We have an open collaborative process, and respect experts in their fields both internally and externally. When we feel we still need guidance, we work with consultants to really dig in on those portrayals to make sure we’re getting them right.

I won’t go into it at length here, but our writer Sam Gill recently gave an interview [at IGN] on the kind of work we do with authenticity readers–for Mad Maggie in his case, but it’s indicative of our process for Legends’ past, present, and future.

Hagopian: Same as Ashley, but I’ll add that it’s important to have more than a singular voice as well as involvement early in development.

Are there plans to include additional gender identities in Apex Legends one day? I’d love to see a transgender character added to the Apex Games.

Reed: I will say that we don’t go into Legend development with a quota of any kind–we want to discover who these characters are organically, so we don’t go in with the idea we have to check X amount of boxes. We never quite know what the future holds for that reason, but we know we want to keep exploring and creating characters with all kinds of different backgrounds and experiences.

Apex Legends is free-to-play on console and PC.

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Final Fantasy XIV’s Patch 6.2 will drop in late August and will include the highly anticipated Island Sanctuary feature. In a new live letter, the FFXIV devs revealed more about what activities players can expect.

Island Sanctuary is like a mini-farming sim within FFXIV. Players can create buildings, take care of creatures, and grow crops–all without having to level up gathering and crafting classes.

These areas will essentially act as a “base of operations” that players can create and customize. Players can also collect materials on the island and create tools. These tools will help players grow and cultivate crops on the island that are different from estate crops–plants you can grow if you own a house in-game. Materials will also be limited to the island and reside in a separate inventory space.

For the crafting element, players can create “handicrafts” that can be exported for island-specific currency. Earned currency can then be exchanged for special items.

For those without houses, Island Sanctuary is a pretty exciting development. Players can also visit each other’s islands, and for the interior decorators among the players–it is a customizable venue. It also looks like Island Sanctuary is a completely separate feature from the rest of the game’s economy, so there shouldn’t be any major Marketboard fluctuations. Estate crops being entirely separate from Island Sanctuary’s crops is a surprise, though.

In other live letter announcements, Patch 6.18 releases on July 5, and players will be able to travel between Data Centers after the update. Patch 6.2 will be called Buried Memories and include relic weapon quests. They will be tied to the infamous Hildibrand quests, an optional set of side quests. But for those looking to get the new weapons, getting started on the rather long Hildibrand quest line now would be a good idea. We’ll likely get another detailed Live Letter before 6.2 drops, so stay tuned for more details.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is set to get one last major content update, Patch 8, prior to leaving early access. Patch 8 looks to be a fairly substantial update, nearly doubling the size of Larian Studios’ upcoming RPG.

“Patch 8 is drawing near, and it’s going to be roughly 40 GB (so make sure you have space free!), bringing the total install size for Baldur’s Gate 3 to approximately 104 GB,” Larian Studios writes in a Steam blog post. “As with our previous patches, saves made on Patch 7 or prior will no longer be compatible when updated.”

Larian Studios is also using Patch 8 to do a little “digital house-cleaning,” as the update will remove the ability to download Patches 1-5. “Patches 6 and 7 will remain available for download, but we encourage all players to update to the most recent version of the game in order to get the latest fixes and content updates,” the studio writes.

If you’d like to continue your Patch 7 save file when Patch 8 comes out, follow these steps:

Right click on the game in your Steam librarySelect propertiesClick the BETAS tabIn the list under “Select the beta you would like to opt into,” select Patch 6Close the properties menu

Larian Studios also notes that you should remove any installed Baldur’s Gate 3 mods before updating the game and downloading Patch 8.

Though Larian Studios has not confirmed whether it will add any more playable classes to Baldur’s Gate 3, the studio has added new ones with the past few major patches–the Barbarian class was added in Patch 7, for example, joining Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Larian Studios seems to be pulling from Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition for inspiration in the design of Baldur’s Gate 3’s classes, so Patch 8 could see the addition of the Bard, Paladin, or Monk.

Even though this is the last major early access update for Baldur’s Gate 3, the game won’t launch in 1.0 this year. Baldur’s Gate 3 is set to leave early access in 2023. The finishing touches–such as the conclusions to companion romances–are being saved for the 1.0 build.

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