Author: Jasmine Henry

A Canadian man has been accused of using spambots to flood Twitch chatrooms with abusive messages. Brandon Lukas Apple, 20, faces a charge of “mischief in relation to computer data” and a civil order restraining him from creating “any robot, bot, crawler, spider, blacklisting software or other software” as a result of actions taken between…

The first season of the Blizzard-hosted eSports tournament) Overwatch League has now begun. With it, hundreds of skins based on each League team’s colors are available for players to unlock in-game. You get one free, but the rest will cost you. When players unlock one of these Overwatch League skins, the game will play a…

Call of Duty: WW2 is an awkward game. Its campaign strives to be serious (at one point touching upon the horrors of a concentration camp). On the other hand it offers frenetic multiplayer gameplay and an absurd Nazi Zombie mode. This bizarre juxtaposition has lead to calls for the game’s three distinct modes to get…

There’s no such thing as a good loot box, all of them are capital ‘B’ for Bad no matter which way you slice them. We’ve established that much: so what are we going to do about it? As NPD analyst Mat Piscatella outlined to GamesIndustry.biz, for all the furore and the calls for boycotts, the…

Over the last few years, we have seen a steady increase in LGBTQ characters in games both as little-known NPCs and as characters at the forefront of the action. Tracer, the most well-known Overwatch character (she’s the only hero on the box art) is a lesbian. Destiny 2 NPC, European Dead Zone vendor Devrim Kay,…

In the last few weeks, much has been written about video game loot boxes. The articles and social media posts have raised some pertinent questions: ‘are loot boxes gambling?’ and ‘is it right that children have access to them?’ being just a couple of examples. But time and time again I’m seeing the argument come…

As reports and complaints about Middle-earth: Shadow of War‘s loot boxes abound, criticisms of the game’s core content are beginning to do the rounds too. Monolith Productions’ fantasy RPG features ‘orc slavery’ as a key component of the game. Player character Talion (along with Celebrimbor, the wraith that cohabits his body) must bend and break…

This just in: making video games is hard. Breaking news, I know! Each year thousands upon thousands of games, big and small, hit the physical and digital store shelves, promising to entertain, move and infuriate us. The amount of games released and their varying price points may lead you to think otherwise, but let it…

The EA press conference wasn’t…great. The use of influencers and the unclear commentary during the Star Wars Battlefront 2 gameplay portion led many to deem the presser ‘unnecessary.’ Many also argued that the best part about the whole shebang was Battlefront 2 star Janina Gavankar. Gavankar’s incredible Star Wars-themed dress was a runner-up. But one…

Battlefield 1, Watch Dogs 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Each of these games tackles political issues in a big way.  DICE’s first-person shooter of course, is about World War 1.  Watch Dogs 2 explores themes of gentrification and privacy in the digital age (amongst other things).  Meanwhile, the player character in the latest Dragon Age…

Second only to the controversy caused by the game’s supposedly wonky animations, most of the talk surrounding Mass Effect Andromeda has been about its romances.  Fans were speculating on who they could get in the sack (and who they could live happily ever after with) since even before BioWare’s sci-fi RPG was released. But is…

Earlier this month, when the Bolivian government demanded that the French government take action against Ubisoft over Ghost Recon: Wildlands, a good many people laughed.  The South American country was disgusted at its portrayal as a territory solely comprised of cartels and cocaine empires and considered legal action. Ubisoft, for its part, admitted that it…

A commonly heard excuse when explaining why a game couldn’t feature playable female characters is that it’s ‘too much work.’ It’s why Ubisoft found itself in hot water in 2014 when it trotted out the line to explain why Assassin’s Creed Unity only lets you play as men. But flipping that narrative right on its head,…

When discussing making games with characters who aren’t white, straight, male or cisgender, a phrase often used is ‘diversity.’ When publishers and developers disclose the demographics of their workforces, these are often called ‘diversity reports.’ And for the most part this terminology works. Video game characters and the people who make them are still homogenous.…

Out of everyone, I have been one of the most skeptical when it comes to Overwatch‘s LGBT characters. I’ve been very vocal about my doubts that Blizzard would ever make good on its promise to confirm which characters are LGBT, even expressing concerns that the company had changed its mind for fear of angering bigots. But boy, did…