Turks and Argentines are Steamed

Steam recently made changes that left gamers in two countries quite unhappy. Plus the latest Fortnite event is announced and Modern Warfare 3 developers answer questions (but not all of them) on Reddit. Here we go. 

The Big Bang

Fortnite announced its next live event, The Big Bang. 

The in-game event begins Saturday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. ET, and features a performance from Grammy winner Eminem. Apart from his performance, an Eminem skin will also be released for in-game purchase. 

The Big Bang will signal the end of Fortnite OG, a return to the original look and feel of the game. Creator Epic Games says The Big Bang event “marks a new beginning for Fortnite and features.”

Will you check out The Big Bang? Let us know.

The end of Steam

Valve, the company that owns the popular gaming storefront Steam, made it significantly more expensive for customers in some countries to purchase games, raising some prices 2,900%.

In a move made earlier this month, Steam announced on their website: “starting on November 20th, Steam will change the currency used for sales in Argentina and Turkey to USD.” They cited the volatility in the exchange rate in these countries for the change. 

With this currency change implemented last week, gamers in these countries saw the prices on Steam jump significantly. On Reddit, users pronounced “today is The End Of Steam for both Turks and Argentines.”

As PC Gamer reports, Argentinians also have to pay extremely high taxes on games as well. With Steam unlikely to revert to the old currency model, more users in these countries will likely change their Steam settings to other countries, or find other ways to acquire games. 

Our Duty

Developers from Sledgehammer games, makers of Modern Warfare 3, did a Reddit AMA this week to discuss the latest Call of Duty game. You can read the full thread, but here are some of the highlights:

• Developers disabled and are working on a fix for the Gaia Operator outfit, also known as the Groot skin. The skin makes a player harder to spot, giving them an unfair advantage in multiplayer games. 
• Developers ignored questions about skill-based matchmaking in MW3. Previous Modern Warfare games have the feature, which makes it easier for casual fans to play multiplayer games. 
• Some features developers are working on include weapon balancing and “non-disbanding lobbies with a cohort of players to determine the performance of such a change.”
• They also say the negativity towards MW3 helps the team stay motivated. 

Skipping this version of the game? Reports suggest the 2024 version of Call of Duty will be Black Ops set during the Gulf War in the early 1990’s.

Side quests (more stories worth reading)

🏆 The nominees for the 2023 Game Awards were released. What is your game of the year? 

📱 83% of mobile games fail in the three years after launch, while 43% are canceled during development.

🏷️ Advertisements in Assassin's Creed? Ubisoft says it’s a technical error, not a sign of things to come. 

🐉 Luke Gygax, son of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax, is creating a fantasy-inspired shoe line as part of his gamer lifestyle brand. 

⚔️ Boyfriend Dungeon, the video game where you date your sword, will soon have its own tabletop RPG. 

📱 Roblox mobile apps have nearly 1 billion downloads and $7 billion in player spending. 

🌐 The existence of Borderlands 4 and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands 2 may have leaked on LinkedIn. 

🏆 Team Vitality won the Blast Premier Fall Finals Counter-Strike 2 tournament.

💵 In response to Unity’s price hike, game engine GameMake announces its fee structure will be free for non-commercial use, or $100 for developers. 

⚖️ Niantic, the maker of Pokémon Go, is being sued for sexual bias. 

⚖️ Meanwhile, Sony faces a $7.9 billion lawsuit over PlayStation Store prices.

🧟 Left 4 Dead 2 was developed quickly because the original game was broken, according to one of the developers.  

✍🏻 Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn books series is being turned into a deckbuilding board game, while his Stormlight Archives series becomes a tabletop RPG. 

📹 Yahtzee Croshaw and other journalists who recently left The Escapists formed Second Wind. 

🏆 Disney Illusion Island won Game of the Year at the TIGA Awards.

🎮 CD Projekt Red announced Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, which includes the Phantom Liberty Expansion, and releases on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC December 5.

🐉 Tabletop RPG Pathfinder’s new rulebook removes all traces of Dungeons & Dragons. 

New Releases this week:

11/28: Last Train Home (PC)
11/30: Gangs of Sherwood (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
12/1: SteamWorld Build (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
12/1: Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Switch)

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