Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem Mobile Games In Belgium

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Nintendo is pulling Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes from app stores in Belgium due to the "current unclear situation" in regards to the nations anti-gambling laws directly affecting loot boxes and in-game currency.

Nintendo released a statement on their official website:

"Due to the current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models, we have decided to end the service for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium. It will therefore no longer be possible to play and download the games from Tuesday 27th August 2019.

"Players who still have orbs and /or leaf tickets in their accounts can continue to use them until the service ends.

"In addition future Nintendo games with similar earning models will no longer be released in Belgium.

"We would like to thank all players in Belgium for playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes."

Both games use a form of in-game currency. Fire Emblem Heroes uses Orbs to buy randomized heroes from the Fire Emblem franchise. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp uses Leaf Tickets to decrease wait timers.

Screengrab from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

While there are ways to earn in-game currency in both titles, the amount players can earn are very limited and players are to buy orbs or leaf tickets, especially if an item or hero is rare and will only be available for a limited time.

Screengrab from Fire Emblem Heroes

Last year, Belgium courts declared that loot boxes are a form of gambling after investigating multiple games including Overwatch, FIFA, and Star Wars Battlefront 2. EA was the only publisher to dig in and openly opposed the ruling, stating that they did not agree with the court's definition of gambling. Realizing they were in a losing situation, EA removed FIFA points from FIFA 2018 and FIFA 2019 in Belgium.

It appears that the United States is following Belgium's example and is currently trying to pass a bill to regulate loot boxes in the senate called the "Protecting Children From Abusive Games Act." The author, Senator Josh Hawley, is accusing the video game industry of knowingly exploiting children by exposing them to addictive gambling practices.

“When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Senator Josh Hawley said in a press release. “And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

Neon Comet Gaming asked Nintendo if they would pull Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes from U.S. app stores if the bill was passed, or if they would simply remove the ability to purchase in-game currency from their mobile games. Nintendo has not responded.

Nintendo isn’t the only publisher pulling games from Belgian app stores. Square Enix also pulled three of their mobile games, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, Kingdom Hearts Union X, and Mobius Final Fantasy, out of Belgium.

Belgian players will be able to purchase Orbs and Leaf Tickets from until August 27th, 2019. After that, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will no longer be available for download in Belgium.

Pokemon Sword & Shield May Be Compatible With Pokémon Go

Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

A rumor is spreading that the new Pokémon game, Pokémon Sword and Shield, will somehow be compatible with the popular phone game, Pokémon Go.

The rumor began when dataminer, Chrales, discovered the "Koala_setting" in Pokémon Go's 0.143.0 update. Niantic and Pokémon Company are known for using the names of real-life animals as codenames for Pokémon games. For example, Pokémon Let's Go was codenamed beluga and Black and White was codenamed Swan. So it seems likely that Koala is a codename for Sword and Shield.

Chrales has had a credible record of datamining Pokémon Go. They are responsible for uncovering information on the change team medallion, lucky friends, and much more.

If the rumor is true, then it's likely the Pokémon Go integration in Sword and Shield will resemble the phone games compatibility with Pokémon Let's Go, by allowing players to transfer the Pokémon they caught on their phones into their game on the Switch.

Although it was quite a step away from the traditional Pokémon games, there's no arguing against Pokémon Go's success. With frequent updates and it's attachment to newer Pokémon games, the mobile game is predicted to have a long lifespan.

However, Pokémon Go's success doesn't detract the popularity of the traditional RPG style games we all grew up with. Pokémon Sword & Shield, set to release in late 2019 for Nintendo Switch is predicted to be the most successful yet, with new Pokémon and new in-game functions that will make it a must-have for Switch players and Pokémon fans.

Continuing the theme of basing the maps of Pokémon games on real world locations, the latest edition to the popular game franchise will be set in the new Galar region, based on the United Kingdom. The player will be able to choose a grass, water, and fire type starter Pokémon from the region: Grookey (grass-type) Sobble (water-type) and Scorbunny (fire-type).

Sobble (left), Scorbunny (center), Grookey (right)

So far, the in-game Pokédex hasn't been released and we only have information on the three starters. No further information has been leaked so I guess we're going to have to keep catching Pokémon on our phones until we get more information.

Epic Games Store Epically Fails On Their First Mega Sale

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

In an attempt to compete with Steam's Summer Sale, the Epic Games Store has thrown their hat in the ring and is challenging Steam's Summer Sale with their own Epic Mega Sale!

The Epic Mega Sale includes $10 off any game $14.99 or or higher at checkout. Upon checkout, the game will appear at full price but the $10 will be immediately returned to your account upon the completion of the purchase. That sounds like a genuinely great deal and makes Epic look like serious competitor to Steam's PC dominance. Fortunately for Valve and Steam, it's the Epic Games Store and they have no idea what they're doing.

Apparently, Epic didn't clear the sale with developers and began selling their games at a discounted price without their permission and, as a result, developers began pulling their games from the storefront. When confronted on the subject, chief of sales Seregey Galyonkin denied the accusation claiming that developers and publishers were informed about the sale, but backtracked moments later, stating, "after a little investigation, it turned out I was wrong."

One such developer was Paradox Interactive, who pulled their game, Vampire: Bloodlines- The Masquerade II from pre-order on the EGS when they realized their game was being sold at a discount.

“If a developer or publisher chooses not to participate in our sale, we will honor that decision,” Epic Games said in a statement to Kotaku, “Paradox Interactive has chosen to not participate in the Epic mega sale and the game has been temporarily removed from sale if you purchased Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines II during the period when the discount did apply at the time of check out, Epic will honor that price.”

On the same day, Klei Entertainment also pulled their crowdfunded game, Oxygen Not Included, from the store.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter promoting the sale and hyping up that customers could pre-order Borderlands 3 for $10 off, only for 2k Games to pull Boderlands 3 from the sale three hours later.

Randy Pitchford has since deleted the tweet.

Unable to remove their games from the sale, developers and publishers were forced to remove their games from the store entirely and buyers are now met with a page saying "No results found."

An Epic Games representative explained on the Russian site DTF that game developers are still getting a return for the full value of the game. The $10 off is “Courtesy of Epic,” meaning that Epic is losing money during the sale.

However, Unlike Borderlands 3, Vampire Bloodlines and Oxygen Not Included aren't Epic exclusives and the Epic Mega Sale discount may force developers to set even lower prices on discounts or DLC. Furthermore, Paradox already adjusts the prices of their games to be affordable in regional markets, meaning that some regions would be getting the game at a 70% discount before it's even released.

As if developers pulling their games out of their store wasn't enough, another issue facing the Mega Sale is Epic Games own harsh anti-fraud rules. The Epic Games Store doesn't have a shopping cart, so you have to buy games one at a time. When you try to make multiple purchase too quickly, the anti-fraud measurements detects it and shuts down your account. So now, you are being punished for being too good of a customer.

Senior PR rep Nick Chester explain that this was due to Epics "aggressive fraud rules" designed to "protect" customers, not to prevent them from being customers.

"This was a result of our aggressive fraud rules," Nick said in a statement to Gamer Revolution, "If players run into this issue, they should contact player support so we can investigate."

Epic Games got into this mess by trying to compete with Steam's summer sale, where customers can buy bundles of games for ridiculously low prices. However, it's starting to feel like some weird Alex Jones-level conspiracy where Epic is controlled opposition to Steam so Steam can look like an even more intimidating competitor to other online PC game stores.

Steam has been awfully quiet about the Epic Games Store's rise to fame. Probably because the notoriety Epic is receiving doesn't put the online store in a good light. But if Valve doesn't start taking the competition seriously and call out Epic for every mistake they make, the Epic Game Store could evolve into a serious contender in years to come. After all, Steam didn't become the dominant storefront for PC gaming overnight, and they've certainly had their own fair share of mess ups over the years.

If they're not careful, Valve could lose their thrown to the Epic Game Store.

Adobe Warns Users That They May Be SUED For Using Older Versions Of Photoshop

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Adobe sent out an email last week to users who operate on older versions of Adobe apps, primarily Photoshop. In the email, Adobe informs users that they are no longer licensed to use older versions of Adobe apps and continued use may result in claims of infringement from an undisclosed third-party.

"We have recently discontinued certain older version(s) of creative cloud applications and as a result under the terms of our agreement you are no longer license to use them." The email reads, "Please be aware that should you continue to use the discontinued versions you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third-parties."

While the email does not name the third-party, Appleinsider believes it to be the company Dolby, who is currently suing Adobe for copyright infringement and breach of contract.

Appleinsider sent a request for comment to Adobe and Adobe responded that they aren't allowed to comment on third-party claims due to "ongoing litigation."

"Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and we provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions," An Adobe spokesperson said, 

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third-parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement as it concerns ongoing litigation."

Upon receiving the email, many Adobe users who use the now unlicensed versions of Adobe software took to Twitter to voice their outrage.

In a bold move, Adobe Photoshop competitor Pixlr has been posting under these complaints for people to try out their photo editing app.

Given Adobe's current legal dispute, the situation doesn't seem entirely as if it's Adobe's fault. Regardless, many didn't like being threatened for using software they paid for and are choosing to unsubscribe from Adobe Cloud. If you are one of those seeking to make a switch, make sure that you can afford Adobe Cloud's $60 minimum cancellation fee.

There are quite a few alternatives out there for you to chose from, so pick the software that works best for you as a content creator.

Petition To Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 Gets Over 1 Million Signatures

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Tomorrow's episode of Game of Thrones is the last in the series and, needless to say, this season hasn't been the epic finale that everyone anticipated.

So far, this season of Game of Thrones has destroyed the prophecy of the Price Who Was Promised, ignored eight years of character and plot development, and has reverted the show to a stereotypical fantasy drama that George R.R. Martin wanted to avoid.

Writers Benioff and Weiss claim that they were trying to subvert expectations, which many critics (professional or not) are claiming is an excuse for lazy writing.

One disgruntled fan took it a step further and made an online petition. Dylan D. made a Change.org petition calling for HBO to remake the eighth season of Game of Thrones with different writers. 

"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on," The description reads, "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen HBO!"

In less than a week, the petition has garnered over one million signitures and, as of writing this article, the petition is sitting at 1,023,738 signatures.

Online media site Forbes was able to contact Dylan and asked why he made the online petition. Dylan responded, 

"Really it was a combination of Episode 3 and 4's failure that brought me to the point of writing the petition. There were many, many qualms I had with the episodes, but I'll mention a couple. The Battle of Winterfell was a strategic disgrace. I mentioned in my long update that the show suffered from 'everyine is stupid' syndrome. I'm sure there is a better word for it, but when the plot is intense and dramatic simply because every character involved is an idiot, that is not a great thing. You had some of the wisest, most experienced individuals in Westeros all in one room, and THAT was the defense strategy? As for episode 4 I had many lamentations, but the specific one that made me facepalm the hardest was how Rhaegal died. Easily one of the cheapest deaths of the whole series. I could probably go on for a long time about it, but that'll do for now."

The petition has recieved a great deal of attention from online media, even catching the eye of Jacob Anderson, who is celebrated for his role as Greyworm.

Anderson felt insulted by the petition, calling it rude and that it discredits all of the hard work the crew and cast put into it.

"I think its rude. Obviously, the show feels to people like it belongs to them. That's really good," Anderson said in an interview, "I think it's really important when people take something into their heart and it means something to them. However, it doesn't. I just mean that in the sense that I was there and the crew, in particular, are like the hardest working people I've ever met. I think to trivialize their work in that way - I find it quite sad."

Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm

While Jacob Anderson makes a valid argument for the crew and cast doing their jobs, most who signed the petition signed over their discontent with the season's writing, not efforts put in by those who work on set. The scenery and graphics are stunning and past seasons have shown the casts quality acting. However, a poor script can ruin a show, regardless of how outstanding the actors are.

It's doubtful that HBO will respond to the petition and invest more time and money to remake season eight. But perhaps they'll listen to the fan outcry and respond with spin-offs that will truly subvert all expectations.

Sonic Director Listening To Fans, Vows To Change Sonic's Character Design

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost

Since its debut, the Sonic movie trailer has been met with fierce criticism over the character design of everyone's favorite hedgehog. With his creepy human teeth and small human hands, can you really blame anyone for not liking it?

Even Yuji Nake, the creator of Sonic, found the new character design distasteful, stating, "Looking at this Sonic's full-body visual, it makes me realize the importance of the character's head-to-body ratio and the roundness of his stomach. Couldn't they have created a design with a better balance than this?"

Sonic trailer

The trailer on YouTube is currently sitting at 300k likes and over half a million dislikes.

In a surprising turn of events, Sonic Director Jeff Fowler responded to the intense criticism over Sonic's design on Twitter and vowed to change it.

"Thank you for the support. And the Criticism," Fowler tweeted, "The message is loud and clear... You aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the best he can be..."

This was a shock to everyone that someone from Hollywood was actually listening to the fans of an already established franchise. This was great PR move has already gone a long way to renew the interest of established fans.

Fans are praising Jeff Fowler for being open to criticism and have been posting their own edits of Fowler's design to represent what they believe could replace the current design.

And naturally, the memers needed to show their auti- I mean artistic skills as well. Their interpretations of Sonic's character design have been interesting to say the least.

At least they didn't lew- never mind...

While fans are excited to hear that Sonic's character design is being put back on the table, there's still a concern that the animation team would be working themselves to the bone to remodel Sonic before the movies release in November. 

Fans have made it clear that they wouldn't mind if the movie was delayed if it meant they would be getting a quality design of one of Sega's most iconic characters.

Thank you Jason Fowler for listening to the criticism your movie has received and we're all excited to see Sonic's new look!

New Pokemon Pass App Bringing A New Pokemon Experience

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustnPost1

A rumor was spreading that the Pokemon Company International was creating a new phone app. Now it seems that rumor was true because the Pokemon Company has just released a new app called the Pokemon Pass.

Official Pokemon YouTube Channel

The Pokémon Pass app notifies users on Pokémon related events in participating retailers. When visiting a retailer, use your phones camera to scan the code on the poster to receive prizes such as shiny Pokemon for Pokemon: Let's Go, Evee! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!

 App permissions include turning on your GPS and allowing the app to use your phones camera.

You'll also need a free  Pokémon Trainer Club account.

The app is available in the Google Play and IOS stores. It has 10k downloads on Google Play with a 3.3 star rating by 102 users.