In Gaming: Rise of Cultures Marks Five Years

 

 

Just a note, one of the games I play, Rise of Cultures, marked it's fifth anniversary. It did so with an inworld event, and on it's Discord. Since doing the review two years ago, I continued to play, though took breaks when I was extra busy. By now, I've gotten to the Feudal Age, or about 1000 AD. Of this level, your allies are Vikings. So some of the resources you need to progress can be acquired only from their pillaging, "We didn't steal it, it was just there and we took it." 

 

Rise of Cultures can be played on both compatible webbrowsers and some smartphones. Making "RoC" jokes, "I'm a RoC star," "Upon this RoC I stand," are optional.

 

Bixyl Shuftan. 

 

Cat Face Gaming

 

A friend told me about a gaming place located on the SL mainland, "Cat Face Gaming." Located near "The Shelter," it offers a large variety of games. Bixyl Shuftan went over to check the place out. 

 

Read more in Places. 

 

Steam Gaming Service Removes A Number Of Adult Games Following Pressure By Credit Card Companies, Paypal Blocks Steam In Much Of The World

 

If you're a fan of game with mature themes, there's been a development on Steam that will likely leave you worried and/or upset. It seems following pressure from credit card companies, Steam has taken a number of adult-rated games off it's list for sale. 

 

In a PC Gamer article, Value, which owns Steam, was reported as saying, "We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks. As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store."

 

Earlier, Steam had enacted a new, and vague, rule about banning "Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers."

 

An article in The Guardian stated the pressure by the credit card companies was due to pressure on them by "Collective Shout," a group seeking to ban adult content from Australian Internet access, saying the corporations were "facilitating and profiting from rape, incest and child sexual abuse game sales."

 

The result has been a backlash. On change.org, a petition was started protesting the censorship of the games, "not because they're illegal, but because they offend the personal values of executives or activist groups," going on to say, "These same payment processors allowed platforms like OnlyFans to operate with minimal oversight, despite multiple credible reports and lawsuits alleging the presence of real sexual abuse content involving real-life minors. That is a criminal failure of responsibility. Yet, when it comes to entirely fictional depictions, these same companies act swiftly — shutting down creators, restricting access, and acting as global censors." 

 

So far, the petition has gotten over a quarter million signatures. One who left a comment identified himself as a member of the LGBTQ community, "Banning sexual content never stops there, it always include non-sexual things. As such the fight to protect people’s right to sexual expression is vital for protecting my right to exist." 

 

Mastercard eventually responded, but denied making any pressure on Steam, "Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations."

 

To add to Steam's troubles, Paypal became unusable in most of the world as an option to pay for Steam purchases. It was reported in The Gamer only users in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, and countries which use the Euro can still do so. At first, Valve offered no reason as to why, but later would explain, "In this case, one of PayPal’s acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions, which cut off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies"

 

As of now, it is unclear when the delisted games will be restored, or when Paypal will be fully useable again. 

 

Sources: PC Gamer, The Guardian, The Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun 

 

Bixyl Shutan 

 

Conflict of Nations, As Kazakhstan

 

Among the free to play strategy games out there is "Conflict of Nations." A sequel to "Call of War," you take the role of one of a number of nations (or states depending on the scenario) fighting for victory. Giving it a try a few years ago, in one game I decided to have some fun and was playing for chuckles as well as to win.

 

Read Bixyl's story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

 

 

"Our Holiday Gift To You" Linden Lab Announces All Residents Get Six Months Free of Madpea Unlimited

 

Madpea has long been providing games for the residents of Second Life to play. Years ago, one could play them for free, such as Virtual Medical Doctor from 2011. In more recent times, they've been making more detailed and challenging games that they've been charging fees to play. They've operated independently from Linden Lab. But a few days ago, the Lab would announce they had made a deal with them, and the result being every resident from basic accounts to Premium Plus would be getting a free six month subscription to Madpea's Unlimited game package.

Get ready for an amazing treat, Second Life community! We’re thrilled to announce that all Second Life residents are receiving six months free access to MadPea Unlimited - the acclaimed and popular subscription service from MadPea Productions. Valued at an incredible L$12,000, this gift unlocks a world of engaging Second Life content and surprises including exciting story-driven games and hunts, exclusive gifts, and fun experiences to play alone or with friends. 

 

The Lab would go on to say that the free service doesn't start right away, but takes effect on Wednesday January 1st.  Also, residents don't need to do anything to activate it. 

For more information, check out the Lab's blog entry (here), and the page on the Madpea website:

https://madpeagames.com/unlimited-2025/

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Commentary: Game Company GREED

 

If you're a gamer, you've probably seen a promising game in development, a "beta" version, gotten it because of what's promised in the future, and in the weeks and months ahead while there's some development it doesn't come close to the hype when you forked over your money. Nydia Tungsten has seen this happen time after time, as well as other occasions of "bait and switch" in the gaming industry, and decided it was time to write something about it. So what did she have to say?

Read Nydia's commentary in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

So That's What You've Been Playing: Planet Crafter, Girl Genius, Palia

 

Besides Second Life, yours truly has been playing a few games. There's Planet Crafter in which instead of blowing things up, you're trying to make a world habitable for people. There's Girl Genius: Adventures in Castle Heterodyne, in which you take on the role of an online comic heroine. And there's Palia, one of the new "cozy MMOs," in which you win over the locals at a village as well as building a house to impress your fellow gamers.

Read the reviews in Other Grids, Games and MMOs.

Nintendo Sues Palword's Owner Pocketpair, Claiming Game Violates Patent Rights

 

Some of you may have heard about the game "Palworld." Palworld has some survival game elements, such as base-building and weaponmaking. But you also go out and tame critters, and have them combat player-owned critters. That you can arm the creatures has gotten the game the nickname "Pokemon with guns." The game was an overnight success, and brought the small indie company millions. But Nintendo wasn't very happy, and recently announced it was filing a lawsuit, saying the game violated a number of patents. 

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games. 

Bellisseria For Life

 

Bellisseria has it's own Relay event this week: Bellisseria For Life. And so Bixyl Shuftan, and his trusty alt Rezzdammit, went to check it out. There were a number of fun games, and a stage for music events. 

Read the story in Events.

 

Discontinued City of Heroes MMO Private Server Gets Official Status From NCsoft

 

Some gamers, especially fans of superhero comics, will remember the "City of Heroes" MMO. It got attention partially for it's genre, being a superhero game when most MMOs at the time were science-fiction or Medieval fantasy, and partially for being the subject of a lawsuit by Marvel Comics, saying players were creating characters that infringed on it's copyrights. In 2012, it was shut down despite pleas from it's fans that NCSoft keep the game running. 

 

So what were the players to do? Many went to private servers where the game was kept running for those who wanted to keep heroing. Among these was one called Homecoming. One thing that was different about it was instead of trying to avoid attention from the game's corporate owners, from the start it was making an effort to negotiate with them. Finally on January 4, Homecoming made the following announcement in it's forums:

We’d like to thank you all for your patience over the past few years, and we’re incredibly thrilled to announce that it’s paid off: NCSOFT® has officially granted Homecoming a license to host City of Heroes™.

They went on to say that this meant the player and character accounts were now officially safe, there will continue to be more game content, and the game will continue to be free to those who want to play, "We will continue to be funded entirely through donations."

At a time in which corporations are quick to go to their lawyers, this is certainly a welcome development in the gaming world.

Sources: Wikipedia, Homecoming, Massively, Kotaku, Videogames.SI.com   

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of The Day: Gaming Bad Roll

 

 

 While playing a game, someone did a fainting gesture. This wasn't quite the exact conversation, but it was a little funny.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

EOTB: "Games Made in Second Life - The Crone "

 

 

“I have done it again,” says Second Life veteran and self-described polymath of creation, Loki Eliot, with utmost confidence. 

And that self-confidence is warranted indeed: just in time for Halloween weekend, Loki has opened “The Crone”, an utterly scary and truly immersive puzzle game, on his home island of Escapades.

For a nominal fee of L$100, the player becomes an investigative reporter, searching an abandoned cabin for clues to find missing townspeople … and the horror begins to seep in quickly: a dark and vast labyrinth of underground mines has to be explored, with only a torch as aid … or weapon against a ghastly occupant perhaps? 

Beware of the crone wandering the cave system, guarding what can only be described as the most horrible secret Second Life Residents might be able to imagine … but if you or your fellow explorers should find it: do not spill the beans before the big day of October 31st … or the crone might be none too pleased!

Will Loki Eliot stop working his imaginative magic in Second Life anytime soon? A legitimate question, as he is often seen wandering other worlds, not unlike the protagonist of his current game. Fear not, he says, because SL is very special to him indeed: “People are still finding new ways to do things because there are so many options in SL and I've been here for over 15 years and I still don't know all the options. You can still do really cool stuff!” 

Video by Draztor Despres, blog entry here.

 https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Escapades/141/110/3641/

 

The Fantasy Faire Winds Down

 

Sunday May 8 was the last of the daily events at the Fantasy Faire, the final ones being late into the evening. Yours truly happened to catch the endgame party of the Tabletop Gaming by Chuu Hikari Akamine at The Carnelian Archive. 

Alright everyone, i would like to have one last speech before we end this little party. As of right now we have concluded the official schedule for Tabletop Gaming programs at Fantasy Faire 2022. It was an honour and a whole lot of fun with you guys ♥ I hope you have had as much fun playing with us as we have organising it with you guys. From all of my team, Chuu, Nyza, Remnant, Alesia, Chi, and Heather. We thank you all for your amazingness ♥

But while this may mean the end of the parties, it isn't the end of the Fairelends. The sims stay up until sometime late into the evening on Wednesday May 11. So those still doing the Fairelands Quest still have some time to finish up.

Following the end the the Faire comes a few events, such as the Relaystock, Bid the Lindens Bald, the Sunbeamer Air Show, and others. Then next month comes the high points of the Relay season with the Fivs Days of Relay, and the Relay Weelend.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Announcement: March 31 Campaign

 

Hi everyone,

I am launching a campaign to get 31,000 Russian troops to cross the border into neighboring countries, such as Poland or Turkey. The idea is to incentive them to drop their arms and walk to safety.

The name of the project is March 31. This means that, until the date of March 31, the troops from Russia that walk over peacefully will be given a gaming console (Playstation, XBox, Nintendo Switch)  each. So, on top of normal donation, we will somehow finance 31,000 consoles ready to give out. We will harness the power of the free Internet.

Our united clubs will work with all our guests to set social media ablaze with 'MARCH31' sayings and logos and calls for MARCH31. With these consoles, we will also give them food, drinks and perhaps some beer and friendly attention.

These soldiers are mostly 16-30 and do not want to be killed for Putin. Let's help them.

Please, reach me and add me if you want to be part of his historic effort.

Misticia Moonwall
 

Call of War

 

Some of you may have seen advertisements for a comnat game called "Call of War." It is a World War Two themed stragegy game played on one's browser. Players assume control over one of a number of countries on the map, build units and structures to make the units, and launch attacks and defend against them. Yours truly took a look at it. So is it a good game?

Read the review in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
 

Microsoft Announces It's Buying Activision/Blizzard

 

In what would be the biggest computer gaming business acquisition in business history, yesterday on Tuesday January 18 Microsoft announced it was buying Activision/Blizzard. The deal would be at 68.7 billion US dollars, or about $95 a share.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella would state, “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

Activision/Blizzard is best known for the well-known MMORPG World of Warcraft. But has also been successful in games such as Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo, Starcraft, and Call of Duty.

Microsoft had already been a company heavily invested in gaming such as with it's X-Box and having acquired the popular Minecraft some years ago. The deal would make it the third largest gaming company. It is notable that while Minecraft's maker Majong was acquired while both the game and company were doing well, in recent months Activision/Blizzard has suffered a series of blows, most notably a rash of sexual harassment allegations. It's stocks have sunk more than 37% since it's high last year. Activision/Blizzard's CEO Robert Kotick would continue for now, though is expected to step down once the deal closes, which may take as long as a year and a half to complete.

Sources: Microsoft, Reuters, The Verge

Bixyl Shuftan
 

"Pandemic" Game Pulled From Steam By Developers

 

"Pandemic," an online game by Asmodee Digital, has just been taken down from Steam at the request of the developer. There was no official announcement, though one player posted on Reddit that contacting the company he was told "we are taking the Pandemic app off the stores. We have worked hard over 4 years on Pandemic and withdrawing it from the stores has not been an easy choice. This decision was made with a heavy heart for a multitude of reasons that we cannot disclose."

Jody Macgregor would write, "When a planned Pandemic giveaway on the Epic Games Store was canceled in 2020, it was assumed to be a matter of sensitivity given the Covid-19 pandemic was in its early stages. It seems a bit late to follow up for the same reason, so presumably there's something else behind this delisting."

The game has been taken down from the developer's website, so the page is accessible only through the Wayback Machine.

Source: PC Gamer
 

Bellisseria Gaming Club

 

Bellisseria offers much to it's residents. But what about a place to play games? In the Zwischen sim, I came across one, the Bellisseria Gaming Club. It's actually a Linden Home repurposed into a social center with lots of games from traditional ones like chess to SL favorites like Greedy and "Cheesy." So how many does it have? 
 
Read more in Places.
 

New Firecracker Arcade at Montecito Bay

 

It was almost a year ago when the Newser first reported on the Firecracker Arcade, a place at Montecito Bay in which one could play dozens of video games like at the arcades of the 1980s and 90s. But recently, the neon pink has closed and the games moved out. They've been moved to another, somewhat larger arcade in another location in the north end of the sim.

The new Firecracker arcade looks a little like a converted warehouse building, with the word "Arcade" in big letters on the side. The ground floor has the "carnival" games, with the largest one "Slime Squish" located outside along with a bull-riding game and some other novelties. Walking inside, straight ahead is the bowling game in the middle, with some other games at the walls such as Wack-A-Mole, and the dancing game Freestylers Groove.

The second floor is where the video arcade games are, and there are many dozens. Some are actual arcade games such as Pac Man and Altered Beast. Others are home video games that in real life never were in coin-operated machines, such as Sonic and Mega Man. A few such as Sailor Moon R I'd never heard of a video game adaptation of. One, Sim-City, seems an odd fit as it's a strategy game and not an action one. But one can make a quick town with it (not sure how one can save their progress here).

It's recommended that you appear outside the club rather than making a landmark inside as the information from the machines can take some time to load, especially if you have a slower computer and appear next to a number of arcade games. But the place is well worth going to, especially for those with fond memories of video arcades. So be sure to come by and get your game on.

SURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Montecito%20Bay/127/222/22

Bixyl Shuftan
 

China To Restrict Children and Teens' Video Game Time to Three Hours A Week

 

On August 31, it was reported that by order of the national government, Chinese game players under 18 would be limited to playing video games to three hours a week. This time is limited to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at one hour each day. This law replaces an earlier one that limited game time for minors to 90 minutes a weekday.

The reasons given for this action by the Chinese Communist government depend on who one asks. State media has reported concerns about videogames being "spiritual opium" harmful to the young. But it's widely believed the law is not so much about protecting the young but controlling what they see and hear, as the Chinese government is increasingly concerned about Western influences on children.

In the recent past, some in the gaming industry have gone through great lengths to appease the Communist government, such as when Activision-Blizzard was quick to ban a Hong Kong gamer who made a brief statement in support of protestors.

Sources: BBC News, foreignpolicy.com, Washington Post, 

Image credit: Kotaku

Bixyl Shuftan