Oli Christie’s Post

As many of you have noticed, Helldivers 2 has been on fire over the weekend. Sony, the publisher of the game, notified that the grace period on PC for linking your PSN account to your Steam account is coming to an end on Friday. Not a big deal, right? Well… 200K+ negative reviews later on Steam, you could say that it was rather a big deal. The main crux of the issue is that in regions where players bought the game, you couldn’t create a PSN account. That does not sit well with me, as the game was indeed sold in those regions well before this. So they actually pulled the game from those markets. Honestly, this isn’t evil big corporation stuff; I think that they just didn’t think about this at all. Sony is still relatively new in the realm of PC publishing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if no one looked at A) countries where Steam sells games B) Countries PSN is available. Another part was the mania within the community. It seemed that no one had thought this one out, or let the community team know what the scenarios are here. They were really caught off guard, leading to very poor knee-jerk reactions. That being said, community managers truly are only people working a job, and they did own up to their mistakes. That is more than fair; everyone makes mistakes. So give or take 48 hours later, Sony has communicated that they will not be going through with planned PSN linking and that they have heard the fans. A few things here that are worth noting. Firstly, it feels that there is a lack of communication between the publisher and developer. This should have been planned out, maybe even done in phases. Not published on a Friday, definitely. Secondly, it just proves how fast the fortunes of highly popular video games change. It took just 24 hours for all the goodwill created over the past months to evaporate. It can (and should) be built back, but it’ll take a while. Lastly, I really feel for the community team of Helldivers 2, as the tones and content online were not gentle. What also makes it just a bit worse is that the community team does not make these calls. They only deal with the outcomes of those calls. I hope they get some time off because they have had probably one of the worst weekends you can have in games. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but it would have made the most sense to keep the PSN linking optional, and even incentivize it with in-game assets for those players who do it. That would have been just as effective in pumping up those PSN sign-ups, and the players would have been okay with it. Those who could not, well, they’d have one armor set less than others. While the events of the past few days have been tumultuous for Helldivers 2 and its community, they serve as a stark reminder of the importance of foresight, communication, and flexibility in the gaming industry. I guess the industry keeps learning. If you made it this far, share your favorite Helldivers memes in the comments! 

Root is one of my favourite boardgames, though I wouldn't play it with everyone. Because it's unsettling when you first discover it. Because it can be scary to start playing a game only to realise that every player (faction) plays totally differently. You see, in this game, the only things that all factions share are the board, some cards and items that could be crafted using said cards. And given that this game is a race for points (the first player to get to 30 points is the winner), it may be tempting to lay out the perfect strategy. In Root, some factions (e.g. Marquise de Cat) start with a strong presence on the map and need to build stuff to make points. Others (Eyrie Dynasty) start in one corner of the map and need to expand to their former glory. Yet another faction (Woodland Alliance) doesn't even start with pieces on the map, but will use Sympathy tokens to force other players to give them cards so they become more powerful... while the fourth faction we played with the other day (Riverfolk Company, see picture below) just sells their services to the other players. Some people - when they play a game - love to design their strategy based on their understanding of the rules, and expect their fellow players to follow similar rules. And so, even when they play a game for the first time, they may be on the lookout for the best possible strategy to win. In Root, I usually recommend first-time players to try and understand how their own faction works and makes points before bothering with the others. And for that, one needs a couple of turns... It may be frustrating, but understanding one's own system can later help adjust to player strategies. In the game below, we were nearing the end of the game. I was playing the Riverfolk (teal otters), leading with 22 points. The Marquise was getting closer to me with 16, followed by the Eyrie (14) and Alliance (12). Looking at the map, we could imagine that the Alliance (green pieces in the corner) weren't in a strong position to win. And this is where the game is really brilliant in my mind. Because appearances can be deceiving. Because everyone plays differently (not only strategy-wise, but also due to the rules being different for every faction). We didn't realise that the Alliance was quietly brewing a plan to overthrow us all. We were all so focused on looking at board presence, and battling in some fox clearings that we forgot that the Alliance is a faction that schemes and plays most of their game outside of the board... which led to a surprise race and victory by the Alliance, using a special powered card that they bought from me early in the game. Root is a very elegant game that rewards experimentation and letting go of full control. And this can be hard. We need to understand our own system first before we can discover the flow of the game. Perhaps there's a bit of systems thinking in there?

Get Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for Free – With a Catch Released in January 2024, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League quickly disappointed, failing to retain its player base and losing interest shortly after launch. Recently, its second season was unexpectedly delayed, leaving few remaining players disheartened and ready to abandon the game. For those curious about experiencing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League firsthand, there’s an opportunity coming up. Amazon’s Prime Gaming will be offering the entire game for free—but there's a catch. Act Quickly Prime Gaming's promotion during Amazon’s Prime Day on July 16–17 will grant subscribers a chance to snag a free copy of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Despite costing Warner Bros. Discovery a staggering $200 million, you'll have just 48 hours to claim it and keep it forever. The promotion also includes other games like Chivalry 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, significantly more popular titles, making it a well-rounded offer. This means you can test Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League risk-free, avoiding any financial investment. To put its popularity in perspective, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League peaked at 13,459 concurrent players on Steam at launch but has dwindled to an average peak of only 239 users over the past month.

This is how I unwind… One night a week, about a dozen of us get together in the back room of a local pub to drink beer and play board games. Usually, we start at 7:00 pm and finish at 11:30 pm. Once a month we start at 3:00 pm so we have time to play one of the meatier board games that wouldn’t fit in a typical 4-hour game night. I also meet up with a couple of board-gaming friends on a Friday night for some RPG-style board gaming. And, with enough badgering, I can convince the family to play some lighter #boardgames at weekends. We don’t play Monopoly and Cluedo. We play modern games like Carcassonne, Brass, and Scythe. We deliberate over moves, push bits of cardboard around haphazardly joined tables, and fervently celebrate victory points. Is it sad? The furtive smirks of pub regulars would suggest so. So too would the sniggering of the pub’s employees when we’re playing Blood on the Clocktower, sitting in a circle and pretending to be asleep. But, as sad as it might be, the hobby is growing in popularity. The UK board gaming market is worth nearly £300 million a year and is expected to grow a further 10% p.a. That pales in comparison to the £8bn UK video gaming market, but board #gaming is following a similar path. In the 70s and 80s, arcades were social meeting places. Crowds would gather to try and beat one another’s scores on Pacman and Defender. But by the 1990s, the image had changed. Video gamers were basement trolls. In the 2000s, video games started to become cool again. And as 2000s kids grew up, they brought their video games with them. Video gaming is now mainstream. To the extent that the video gaming market is worth considerably more than the film industry and music industry combined. Board games and parlour games were popular in Victorian times. The Landlord’s Game, which was the forerunner to Monopoly, was invented at the turn of the 20th Century and became a dinner party and family Boxing Day favourite. By the 1990s, playing board games made you something of a social outcast. But thanks to the nostalgia of Stranger Things and driven by celebrity fans like Vin Diesel, #tabletopgames have become acceptable again. And it’s dragging board games with it. The group I’m a member of has at least doubled in size in the past year. Our numbers are so swelled that we have booked out a youth hostel for a full weekend of gaming. And there are board gaming cafes, as well as local groups like ours, popping up in most towns and cities. Apps like Tabletop Simulator and websites like Board Game Arena enable gamers to play online without the need to convince friends to invest in dice trays. Games can be bought in Waterstones and Game, and occasionally appear on shelves in Tesco and Asda, although typically down the children’s games aisle. I love that board gaming is coming out of the basement. It means more games to play. And I hope it means I’ll find a position as head of content or content writer in the board gaming industry.

Okay, I’ll confess…..as a teenager I loved playing video games. I’m going to date myself a bit, but I was a teenager in the 80’s (still THE BEST DECADE EVER!!). In those days we had some game consoles that people played in your home, but I’m referring to the old arcade games….the big games that were in bowling alleys, convenience stores, and arcade centers. And as shocking as it may seem, you had to pay to play…a whole quarter! The game consoles of today were still a few years away from being commonplace. I suppose it’s worth admitting that occasionally I would become obsessed or addicted to some of the games. I found it infuriating when I would “lose.” I just KNEW there was a way to beat the gorilla and save the girl (“Donkey Kong”), blow up all the spaceships (“Space Invaders”), accomplish the mission ("Spy Hunter"), get the high score, and immortalize myself in the RAM of the arcade game! (Of course, that was by my initials only, but hey….I was 13!) I’ve reflected on why I was so obsessed with playing those archaic games. Why was it such a big deal for me to keep playing and somehow “win” at something so meaningless? I believe it was an inner drive and determination to find a way to win! With a few more years behind me, I still have a competitive drive inside me that doesn’t like to “lose.” Now, however, that inner drive or resilience plays out in different ways, including business. We all know, of course, that life will present setbacks, and businesses aren’t excluded! We’re going to experience setbacks and perceived failures, but from my vast video-gaming experiences I can promise one thing: there IS a way, there IS a solution, and persistence, patience, resilience, and determination WILL bring you to the winner’s circle–however you choose to define that. So don’t quit. Adjust, take a step back, reevaluate, and recommit. But don’t quit! (At least until the quarters run out!) Photo: Timeline

From ARS Technica: Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of its ongoing effort to stretch the definition of " #entertainment company," recently told a solo indie developer it would be "retiring" his 2016 dreamlike puzzle adventure game Small Radios Big Televisions from the Steam and PlayStation stores. The developer, in response, has made it free to download for PC, giving us a rare chance to actually experience the thing that a giga-corp has determined to be not worth your time, before it is wiped from the archives. In an interview with Game Developer, Deery clarified that the game will be pulled in the next 60 days. Deery noted that Adult Swim Games "hasn't really been a thing for many years now" and that most of the people he worked with had moved on. "When you're working with purely digital products nothing is going to stay around for very long," Deery told Game Developer. The reason given by Warner Bros. Discovery, as seen in the notice that Game Developer also reviewed, was "internal business changes." Warner Bros. Discovery executives said late last month during a financial call that its #gaming business was due for a "tough" year-over-year comparison. That is largely due to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a live-service shooter that arrived to largely indifferent reviews from critics and failed to grab its audience from the numerous other live-service shooters currently running. Warner saw great success in 2023 from the long-running success of Hogwarts Legacy. Adult Swim Games does not appear to have published a full game since Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time in 2020. At a higher level, the merged Warner Bros. Discovery entity has shown no hesitation when it comes to folding known names and removing content. The firm killed the fully produced Batgirl and a Scooby-Doo #film prior to release as a reported tax strategy. It struck the HBO and Discovery Inc brands from its merged #streaming offering, " HBO Max," and may have sought to push users toward its new app by pushing Sony to strike more than 1,300 seasons of content from its Playstation Store. The firm has seemed eager to cleanse its archives of recently canceled shows and adored animation and kids' shows. WBD most recently dropped a head-scratching attempt at a merger with similarly debt-laden firm #Paramount, while also initiating a 2024 crackdown on password sharing.

New Post: Why ‘Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth’ isn’t coming to Game Pass - https://lnkd.in/gFzxssdH - Both SEGA and RGG Studio have been big supporters of Xbox Game Pass. Back in 2020, they released Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 into Game Pass. Eventually, the whole series (now rebranded to Like A Dragon) made its way onto the service and is still available to this day. But, you may be wondering if a Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Game Pass release is planned for the end of January. READ MORE: ‘Like A Dragon – Ishin’ review: over-the-top excellence The eighth mainline title in the series takes you to Hawaii, as Ichiban Kasuga and his pals take a vacation. But, before long he crosses paths with Kazuma Kiryu, “a broken man facing down his last days”. The game is set to be the biggest entry in the series yet, with the main story alone clocking in at more than 70 hours. Add on top of the usual assortment of minigames and the new DonDoku Island location that lets you build the island of your dreams and you are going to be spending a lot of time with Ichiban and crew. However, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth will not be available on Game Pass as “there are no plans”, according to producer Masayoshi Yokoyama. This was confirmed in an interview with Automaton Media and marks a large diversion from what RGG Studio has done in the past. Although, Yakuza Like A Dragon (Yakuza 7) didn’t originally launch on Game Pass, but it did come to the service about seven months later. So, this isn’t the first time the series hasn’t launched a game onto Microsoft’s subscription service. Notably, Yokoyama went on in that interview to discuss why Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name was released on Game Pass back in November. “For Gaiden, I thought of Game Pass as a way of ‘handing overseas users our business card’ – in other words, letting players new to the series enjoy the game and get to know Kiryu. Game Pass proved to be a very good method to invite new users to interact with the series.” This makes sense as Like A Dragon Gaiden serves as a bridging point between Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, telling the story of what Kiryu has been up to between the two games. It also reintroduces Kiryu in a solid way for new fans, with a smaller, more bitesize experience. Overall, reception to the game was positive, with it sitting at a 78 on Metacritic. Finally, Yokoyama mentioned Larian Studios’ decision to not put Baldur’s Gate 3 on Game Pass, saying: “I understand the reasoning behind their decision very well. I think each title has its own goals and befitting ways of being provided to users.” Therefore, it seems that because Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth is the next mainline game, its main goal isn’t to bring in new players to the series so a Game Pass release doesn’t make sense initially. However, there is always a chance it could come to the serv

“Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” This is a quote from the book, The Catcher in the Rye. But most of us get lost in these rules. And in the process, we forget what game we're playing and what it means to play or win at this game. Let me explain. When we started school, we were all taught a particular set of rules. These rules were based on merit: grades, papers, presentations, tests, and eventually degrees. Then the rules become a little more complex: the rules of adulthood require certain jobs, salaries, promotions, and stability. And soon, the rules start to evolve. It started to include a partner, kids, a home, and vacations, and soon we found ourselves teaching our kids the same rules. The promised perks and rewards of following these rules are that after age 65, you get to reap the rewards and "win" by doing whatever you want. Only then can you finally enjoy the happiness, fulfillment, peace, and freedom you've been working so hard for. The most unfair thing about this set of rules is the list of conditions it requires for us to win this game. We shouldn't wait until 65 or older to feel like we have finally won. And one of the biggest lies that a capitalistic system and world taught us is that we were meant to play this game alone. And that winning, required us to beat, step on, or even exploit other players. The moment I realized all of this, is the moment I realized I didn't want to play that game anymore. I want to create my own game with my own rules, where winning means that I also get to do whatever I want starting now. And that I also can enjoy happiness, fulfillment, peace, and freedom, starting now. I learned that even though it is a single-player game, I didn't have to do it alone And there are other players, allies, and communities I can lean on, learn from, and play together. I learned that there are enough resources for all of us to share, even though the world makes us feel like we’re always operating from scarcity And there is a way where we can all collectively win together. The first step is to radically imagine that this world is possible and one we deserve. The next step is to define your path and your role in building it. And that’s how you can find and start doing your life’s work. Would you like to join me? -- 👋 Hey there, I’m Andrew Tsao, a Mindset & Creativity Coach. I help founders, creatives, and professionals at crossroads to find their path.      ▪️ Follow me to learn how to overcome your limiting beliefs, unleash your creativity, and build life on your terms.    ▪️ DM or use link in bio to learn more about working together!