Tag: President

Blizzard Makes Statement Now That It’s Closing Time On Friday


It’s 8:30p.m. on Friday here in New York, which means the folks at Blizzard HQ in California are about to go home and most Youtubers are probably polishing off their nightly news videos. So much like Daybreak choosing to lay people off, Blizzard naturally picked this as the best time to release their response to the week’s controversy following the suspension of Hearthstone player Blitzchung.

For those who managed to avoid the news completely, Blizzard suspended Blitzchung from the Hearthstone Grandmaster tournament and forfeited his winnings after he made a pro Hong Kong statement during an interview. Both interviewers were fired as well. The firestorm on the internet has been massive with a Blizzard boycott trending on Twitter, players posting their account cancellations/deletion, and a social media campaign that inexplicably saw Mei becoming a front for the Hong Kong movement.

Blizzard President J. Allen Brack has officially commented and the response is exactly what you would expect out of a company hoping nobody will see their statement at 5:30 on a Friday. The statement naturally denies any influence from China or motivation to appease Chinese benefactors. Brack continuously cites the Blizzard mantra “every voice matters” in his statement defending silencing a person based on their political view, and claims that Blitzchung was punished not for his statement but for the “divisive and deliberate way” he expressed it.

Brack also notes that Blizzard will give Blitzchung his winnings and reduce his suspension to six months. The casters are also suspended for six moths. Brack provides absolutely no reason for why the casters were suspended. Activision head honcho Bobby Kotick has remained silent.

And remember; Every Voice Matters at Blizzard*.

Source: Blizzard

*Not every voice matters at Blizzard

Curt Schilling Is Running For President


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If you thought presidential politics wasn’t crazy enough, just wait until you see who is stepping into the ring. Curt Schilling, former Red Sox pitcher and head of defunct game developer 38 Studios has announced his plans to run for president in 2024, or possibly in 2020 should Hillary Clinton be elected by some means (which Schilling refers to as an ‘amazingly illegal event.’). Schilling’s comments were made on his Facebook page in a discussion with another user.

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Schilling has been involved in a lawsuit for the past few years after his game developer 38 Studios went belly up, leaving a bill of over $100 million in an unpaid loan on the plate of state taxpayers. The lawsuit alleged that several parties, including 38 Studios, Schilling, and Wells Fargo, were fully aware that the loan would be insufficient to cover the cost of development and hid that information from investors.

The charges against Schilling, which he has referred to as a ‘fake ass witch hunt,’ were dropped late last month. Schilling was fired from his job at ESPN after a Facebook post led to complaints over transphobic commentary.

As for this election, Schilling is backing Republican candidate Donald Trump.

[Less Massive] Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Has Passed Away


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Nintendo of Japan has announced with heavy heart that President Satoru Iwata has passed away today at the age of 55. Iwata has been with Nintendo since the early days of the Famicom, moving up to the position of director in 2000 and president in 2002, before becoming CEO in 2013. Unfortunately Iwata fell ill with a bile duct growth, forcing him to miss last year’s E3.

The announcement posted by Nintendo of Japan:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.

Satoru Iwata will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and coworkers.

(Source: Nintendo.jp)

City of Titans in Full Preproduction


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City of Titans is one of the spiritual successors to City of Heroes currently in development. In a recent announcement, Missing Worlds Media revealed the new board elected to oversee operations and ensure that the project makes its way to completion on schedule.

To serve on Missing Worlds Media’s board, we have chosen five highly qualified and capable people: Sara “Firefairy” Quinn, Chris “Warcabbit” Hare, Cameron “Segev” Johnson, David “Terwyn” James and Jennifer “Petalstorm” Bolack. The board is the executive management of the company itself, overseeing all operations and making sure all is going according to plan.

Nate “Doctor Tyche” Downs will be taking the helm as President of Missing Worlds Media with Tim Ross as Vice President. City of Titans is in full pre-production which, as Doctor Tyche puts it, is not the most exciting time and doesn’t have much to show. The aim of focusing on pre-production is to avoid the pitfalls of development hell that seem to trap so many games, as well as to involve the fans in the creation process.

By focusing on pre-production, we can test and evaluate early on, when changes are easier to manage. We can also involve you, the fan, in the pre-production process. When we post ideas here, we listen to the feedback. Sometimes our ideas strike where we believe they will. Sometimes, they just don’t ring the way we had hoped. We listen to both, so we can refine and improve.

You can check out the City of Titans updates at their Kickstarter page linked below.

(Source: Kickstarter)