In the wake of yet more examples of toxic harassment, we recently contacted a selection of large games companies once again, to ask if they’ve addressed this problem. Unfortunately, we found the majority of game companies remain neglectful about protecting their employees from social media harassment. The company’s actions were widely condemned by game developers as a craven reaction to a social media mob. But few other game companies — even large companies that have faced harassment issues — se

Riot Games Sydney was an amazing, collaborative workplace where women were treated fairly and equitably. Beck and Merrill are currently working on the development of new titles in Riot Games. Riot Games has also announced that it is planning on bringing in external consulting and investigation agencies during this process. Riot Games will also be making changes to recruiting and training — including bringing on diversity and inclusion staff in executive roles. Riot Games has grown immensely, but

A new, white version of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller, Microsoft’s official high-end gamepad for the Xbox One, hits retail this fall, the company announced Wednesday. It’s joined by a white console as well: the “robot white”-edition Xbox One X, sold exclusively as part of a bundle with Fallout 76. The white controller will be the first new color option available for the Elite controller, which was released in October 2015 for $149.99. Photos of a rumored successor to the Elite controller le

PlayStation Plus members are getting one of 2017’s biggest games as part of their subscription next month. Sony revealed September’s PS Plus giveaways, a list that includes Destiny 2 — just in time for its new expansion to arrive. With Destiny 2: Forsaken, the game’s latest add-on, launching Sept. 4, Sony is doing curious Destiny newcomers a favor. Still, no one can complain about getting a game like Destiny 2 with their PS Plus subscription. The full list of PlayStation Plus games for September

At this year’s E3, EA and DICE offered long apologies for the state of Star Wars Battlefront 2 at launch, among other things, but also teased that new content for the game was still on the way. While an improved squad system and new appearances for existing characters are coming in September, the big news is the schedule for new heroes, locations and vehicles. “Countering General Grievous, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is reinforcing the light side of the Force in November,” the Battlefront 2 team

First teased in 2017, Spelunky 2 is the upcoming sequel to the beloved platformer. Its first new trailer since then has more information, including a 2019 release window and a look at gameplay. New hero Ana Spelunky (daughter of the OG) journeys through randomly-generated tombs, caves, planets and more with a cast of new friends throughout Spelunky 2. The gameplay footage highlights the online multiplayer, where players can chose from a selection of colorful characters (including spunky pirate g

Big Mouth, Netflix’s coming of age animated series about a group of teens going through puberty, will return for a second season on Oct. 5. Netflix debuted a first look teaser for the new season today, and it picks up right where the first season left off. Also, the hormone monsters have returned and are even cruder. Big Mouth was created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg (Family Guy), Jennifer Flackett (Beverly Hills, 90210) and Mark Levin (The Wonder Years). Big Mouth gives its characters an enti

The latest, Yakuza Kiwami 2, is a modernized remake of Yakuza 2, made in the new Yakuza 6 engine. The world has changed in the time between Yakuza 2 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 — as much as the game itself has changed between iterations. Yakuza Kiwami 2 functions as a sort of “greatest hits” in terms of gameplay. The Yakuza games, ranked The Yakuza series is having a moment right now, thanks to Sega’s breakneck localization of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and the freshly released

Marvel’s Spider-Man is coming to PlayStation 4 on Sept. 7, and not longer after, a trio of add-on episodes will be released for the game, developer Insomniac Games said today on the PlayStation Blog. Spider-Man’s episodic DLC, The City That Never Sleeps, will be released in three parts. “The Heist” will add new missions and challenges, a new enemy faction and three additional Spidey suits, Insomniac said. Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps costs $24.99. The DLC is also included in t

Nintendo held a Nindies showcase to show off a number of independent games coming to the Switch for the rest of this year into 2019. Games that had previously been announced for the console — Hyper Light Drifter, for example — were given release dates, while still a handful of titles were both revealed and dated. Into the Breach, for example, from the developers behind FTL, was both announced and given a release date of… well… today. The stream culminated with Nintendo announcing a news chan

Doctor Who alumni Matt Smith is the latest actor to join the lineup of Star Wars: Episode IX, Variety reports. Though Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker died at the end of The Last Jedi, he is set to make an appearance in Episode IX — whether as a Force Ghost or a flashback or something else is unknown. It was also reported earlier this summer that unused footage of the late Carrie Fisher, who famously played Leia Organa, shot for The Force Awakens will be used in Episode IX. Billy Dee Williams is als

Fortnite has achieved monumental success, the rare game to crossover into mainstream pop culture. Inspired by the Japanese thriller Battle Royale, Brendan Greene developed a battle royale mod for Arma 2, inspired by the zombie survival mod Day Z and the Japanese thriller Battle Royale. Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds paved the way for the battle royale genre in America. The favored project was an online battle-arena game called Paragon, but they were hard at work on a little project called Fortni

When I started playing Horizon Zero Dawn last year, I was struck by how powerful I felt using the bow. So I reached out to the devs at Guerilla Games to dig into the inner workings of Aloy’s bow. I wanted to understand the decisions that were made along the way, and the tools that they used to make sure the bow felt good to use. Director Mathijs de Jonge and principal sound designer Anton Woldhek were able to pinpoint how players are led by sound and animation to feel like the bow makes a real i

I was playing SCUM, the latest in a long line of PC-based survival games. SCUM is leaps and bounds more complicated than any other survival game that has come before. That, in turn, changed the size and shape of my player avatar right before my eyes. In short, it turns the well-worn survival game loop into more than just hunting and killing other players. That makes stalking other players, even those who are more heavily armed and armored than you are, a viable tactic in SCUM.

That’s the goofy name Samsung gave to the stylus that is held in the body of the phone when not in use. It slides in and out with a very satisfying click sound, and the phone makes a very pleasant sound when it’s deployed. You can select your colored pencil or paintbrush or whatever, pick a color and just color. The virtual pen makes a lovely skritch skritch skritch sound as you color, and any mistakes can be touched up with the little virtual eraser. And the phone has pretty good speakers, so t

In addition to Mac and Windows PC, Australian studio House House’s upcoming Untitled Goose Game will make its exclusive console debut on Nintendo Switch. The game will be published by Panic Inc, which also published Campo Santo’s Firewatch. The premise of Untitled Goose Game is simple: “it’s a lovely morning in the village and you are a horrible goose.” The goal is to cause as much chaos as possible. Players control a goose wandering around a tiny farm, looking for trouble while trying to avoid

This Forsaken pre-patch includes many of Destiny 2’s various quality of life changes, including the weapon slot changes the studio promised months ago. This pre-patch adds even more to the game, with buffs to class abilities, exotics and changes to the overall direction. Here are the 10 things you need to know about the Destiny 2: Forsaken pre-patch before you log in. A few class exotics are getting buffedIt wouldn’t be a Destiny patch without some exotic updates, and these new ones are pretty d

Bungie has outlined what the future of Destiny 2 looks like in a new Forsaken Launch ViDoc. “Season of the Outlaw” is season 4 of Destiny 2, and it starts off with the campaign of Forsaken and the Gambit multiplayer mode. Rather than simply unlocking entire expansions on a specific day, like it did for Year One, Bungie is planning to role out new Destiny 2: Forsaken content updates slowly over the course of each season they belong to. Bungie was also able to shed a little light on content update

Most of Forsaken’s end-game will take place in a place called, the Dreaming City, as the developers have previously said. A new trailer introduces the city as a once spectacular place overtaken by some kind of mysterious evil. Once players finish the main story line of Forsaken, they’ll be tasked with saving the Dreaming City from whatever is controlling it. Finally, the trailers shows us exactly where the first raid of Forsaken will take place: the center of the Dreaming City. Dreaming City wil

Organizers of live gaming events and esports competitions are reviewing security plans, following the fatal shooting of two men at a Madden NFL contest in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday. Various organizers have issued statements in the past two days, focused on assuring the public of their security measures. Most gaming events take place at informal locations, such as bars and hotels. Pressure on esports and gaming event organizers to improve security is likely to increase. A spokesperson for m