Justin W

If only there was a game called The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall by Bethesda Softworks that came out 30 years ago

Thinking about how Pillars of Eternity’s attribute setup is an ingenious Rube Goldberg machine of mathematical perfection

Bob Odenkirk on Labubu: ‘I’ll kill him’

Today, IGN Entertainment announced that it would be laying off eight members of the IGN Creators Guild. This is 12% of our bargaining unit, and comes just days after our sister union, the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, underwent similar layoffs impacting 15% of their members. It also comes just months after our multibillion-dollar parent company, Ziff Davis, instituted a company-wide buyout that shrunk our unit numbers, with the express intent of avoiding future layoffs. And it comes just a little over one year after three of our members were laid off almost immediately after our union went public. The company has told us that the reason for this layoff stems from a Ziff Davis-mandate to cut costs despite several quarters in a row of year-over-year revenue increases, to which IGN Entertainment responded by coming for our members' jobs. This is perplexing to us, as we are told again and again that IGN Entertainment has had a tremendously successful year thus far thanks to their hard work. In just the last few months, our members have been absolutely essential to major events and livestreams, including San Diego ComicCon, Summer of Gaming, and IGN Live. Every single person impacted today was involved in and critical to the success of those events. Meanwhile, IGN Entertainment continues to spend money on costly acquisitions, only to turn around and gut those companies in the same way it is cutting away at IGN itself. For instance, last year, it acquired Gamer Network, and almost immediately laid off a number of staff critical to making those sites successful. The company has not responded to the union's questions about whether its budget for future acquisitions is being reconsidered as a cost-saving measure alongside these other apparently necessary personnel cuts. At a time when it is more necessary than ever to support its creators, IGN Entertainment is choosing to eliminate the individuals who ensure IGN remains competitive as generative AI

threatens our reach. We have been told that expert opinion pieces, original interviews, and work that leverages our staff's deep knowledge of gaming, tech, and entertainment are all essential to combating AI summarization and regurgitation of our work. Management has responded by cutting several individuals who do that exact work, as well as others whose job it is to ensure that these written and video pieces are published in a speedy manner — another component of combating AI we're told is critical. This continued cycle of repeated, aggressive cuts to our staff and being asked to do more with less, only for management to continue to spend on new business it isn't interested in sustaining cannot continue. We will enforce our interim agreement that guarantees better severance and other protections to laid off members, as well as demand additional support for those impacted. We will continue to bargain over our first contract with the aim of enshrining even better protections against further layoffs, working conditions continuously degraded by understaffing, and the encroachment of generative AI. And we won't stop fighting to ensure IGN remains the best destination for trustworthy, original, exciting, and creative work covering video games, entertainment, and tech. While IGN Entertainment management may not value us, we value one another and the incredible work we can do together. Behind the articles, videos, social posts, playlists, and maps of IGN are human beings, not just numbers on a spreadsheet to be pushed around when some number at the top isn't big enough. Without us, there is no IGN.

Today, IGN laid off eight extremely valuable members of our union and workforce via directive from our parent company, Ziff Davis. This, after two incredibly successful live events IGN Live and SDCC, and yet another corporate acquisition.

Please take a moment to read and share our full statement:

Realizing that the premier contemporary life sim in 10 years may still just be The Sims 4 (with several hundred dollars' worth of additional DLC) is like being stabbed in the face one million times

Take video games seriously or don’t, there’s no need to hallucinate some objective ontology that validates your love of Red Dead Redemption 2 or w/e. Great art, for that matter, usually isn’t grappling with low self esteem over its own legitimacy

Every time I see the “are games art” debate on my timeline I’m nonplussed by how long this conversation has persisted. Most positions just come down to “They are/aren’t/are sometimes art because I personally define ‘art’ as including games to that extent.” Ebert really struck a nerve evidently

My guinea pigs, the hogs of war.

Monk is done so well in Mists of Pandaria. Peak of Serenity is a great trade off for not being a hero class—just a shame they nerfed leveling into the dirt the expansion prior. With them willing to drop LFR this time around, I hope one day we might see a progression server without LFD at all.

Mage dead at level 17 in Westfall. Note to self, don’t even bother going into Gold Coast Quarry on a hardcore character. One pyroblast crit and that turkey is roasted

O shit

Very exciting! Hoping it leans more toward the spectacle fighter style rather than the more patient, slow-paced fights in 3.

If there’s really demand for Legion Classic and the like, maybe that’s a sign that people just want rewards for playing in old zones and raids. Don’t know if we need a whole server to make that happen

It’ll be interesting to see where Mists of Pandaria Classic goes after Siege of Orgrimmar. WoD had good instances but it’s hard to imagine ‘Warlords of Draenor Classic’ going over well with people. At what point do they just offer a character transfer or boost on live servers?

motherfuckers

I always find this particular accusation funny, because a publisher approaching me for a bribe is 10 times the scoop some paid-for, fluff review would be.

The sheer thought of someone being like “I need to get rich quick… I know! I’ll tell the internet my thoughts on Mario Kart World!”

What bothers me too is that, frankly, AI chat bots seem to affirm and validate everything the user says, which is the most useless feedback imaginable unless you’re a lonely narcissist

YouTube video by Game Developers Conference How I Got My Mom to Play Through Plants vs. Zombies

The Plants vs. Zombies news is really exciting, hope the remaster is as good as the game deserves. I have PvZ and designer George Fan to thank for one of the best GDC talks I've seen. Really changed the way I think about tutorialization, 'yellow paint' and the like.

youtu.be/fbzhHSexzpY

Final Fantasy XI's chocobo raising system is kicking my ass (positive). It's a whole ass tamagotchi that takes irl months of work to make as good as a standard mount. But hey, it plays the music when you ride around on it!

Thank God for decade-old forum guides.

Hoping this becomes a multiplayer standard so I can expect it in Dota, Battlefield, Chess dot com, etc.

Looks like an unearthed big box classic. Astounding trailer!

Glad they’re expanding on the multiplayer, it’s absurdly fun. If you like Peak or Overcooked, you’ll find rolling a katamari together encourages about as much yelling

Out of the blue: How a Quake blog turned PC gaming news site has stayed a haven from 'internet enshittification' for nearly 30 years All the carnage that's fit to post. No more, no less.

Trying the sequel to Twitter since that app was so fun to be on

Here's an example of me writing stuff. It will happen again

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