ZombiePie

@bigsocrates: At the end of the day, Songbird isn't going bankrupt because of this. They understand the retro demo scene and usually only manufacture repro carts for things after they get enough guaranteed pre-orders. Also, with Tempest 3000, there is an almost cult-like mystique to the game as it is considered the best game of the Nuon platform.

So, there's an odd precedent to this. Songbird's niche is re-releasing video games on repro carts for consoles associated with the demo scene as well as consoles that have open source OSs. They primarily were known for releasing games for the Jaguar on repro carts. In that case, long story short, Atari made almost every single one of its console and PC OSs open-source. This started in 1999 when Habro released the patents for the Jaguar into the public domain and Atari even officially endorses the BigPEmu Jaguar emulator which was painstaking made by Rich Whitehouse to coincide with the release of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. Between this and the fact the OS is entirely open-source, the demo scene for the Jaguar is shockingly in-depth.

Jaguar emulation isn't just "solved" playing games via emulators is the best way to experience the games and Atari encourages you to do it. Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer, one of the few RPGs on the Jaguar recently was released on repro carts last year.

Hey everyone! Jan and others worked on and looked at the issue for a significant amount of time and it seems there's something very wrong with the video archive uploader. The issue was not resolved before the start of the weekend, but it is a priority. When things improve I will try to get an update.

In an announcement that caught some by surprise, Blizzard suddenly announced this week that the 2024 edition of BlizzCon is cancelled. Citing that the company is approaching 2024 different than its previous years, Blizzard announced the cancellation but affirmed that it would have games and announcements for the future. The most notable possible announcements being World of Warcraft: The War Within and Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV's first expansion pack. Likewise, the company's press release stated that the event will still be planned for the future. Blizzard has cancelled BlizzCon prior to the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of compelling game announcements in the past. For example BlizzCon 2012 was not held for that exact reason.

However, this will be the first time the event has been cancelled while Blizzard is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. It is not exactly "breaking news" that BlizzCon has been a passion project of Blizzard's senior management and staff and been a loss leader almost every single year it has been held. For example, way back in 2009 Tor Thorson, who passed away in 2021, reported that BlizzCon 2009 incurred a 'substantial loss' even with massive sponsorship deals and excitement for StarCraft II at an all-time high. Furthermore, in-person developer-led fan events are a bit of a dying breed. QuakeCon is still going strong, but that event has a tournament to hitch itself to, whereas BlizzCon errs more towards an enthusiast-oriented event. It doesn't help that last year's event was poorly received and Blizzard's portfolio of upcoming releases are not as compelling as you'd hope. And with Microsoft already writing off about $120 million thanks to the demise of the Overwatch League, you can also imagine that this year's BlizzCon might have been on the chopping block at the start of 2024.

Also, let's not deny that developers and publishers just aren't excited about hosting or attending in-person conventions anymore. E3 is dead and Nintendo is pulling out of Gamescom, one of the few remaining industry pillars in the convention arena not aligned with Geoff Keighley. So, do you even buy Blizzard's promise that there will be a BlizzCon 2025? For how long did we hear out the ESA promising that E3 would be coming back even though we all knew it was completely dead in the water?

People don't maybe understand how big Asmodee has become in the tabletop and boardgaming industry. That division being its own entity makes a lot of sense and it will likely be fine financially after this finalizes.

Sony Pictures, outside of Spider-Man, has largely been coasting as a brand as Universal, Warner Bros., and Disney have become the titans of the film industry. They have, however, put growing interest in releasing their films and TV shows across multiple streaming platforms. Most Sony titles began streaming on Disney+ two years ago and they even have agreements with Disney to have Sony Pictures Animation works and even Crunchyroll licensed titles float on Hulu and other sites. If this deal goes through, and it is not a guarantee it does, the likelihood that this openness is re-examined is all but guaranteed.

In a slight shocker of a move, Sony Pictures appears to be in talks to buy a commanding share of Paramount with the assistance of an American asset management firm named Apollo Global Management. The joint bid by Sony Pictures and Apollo doesn't have a hard price tag as of now, but Apollo previously placed $26 billion offer for Paramount without the help of Sony and before offered a $11 billion bid for film division and studio lots. As a result, there's some speculation that Apollo is the one that approached Sony Pictures and not the other way around as the previous most likely candidate to buy Paramount was Skydance, but its offer is bound to fail to close before the end of the month. As such, Apollo's supposed join bid is a final attempt to drive up the price of Paramount Global in hopes Skydance ducks out.

There is one complication when it comes to seeing the Sony logo on CBS and Parmount+ properties. Because Parmount and CBS are considered "traditional media," the are Federal Communications Commission rules that greatly restrict foreign ownership of broadcast TV stations. For Sony's end of the bargain, they likely are not going to inherit any of CBS and Paramount Global's television presence, which would be required to be managed by Apollo, and would exclusively gain ownership on the Paramount+ and film side of the business.

Now, if you are itching to ask about the previous one of these I posted a while back about Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to buy Paramount, then your memory is better than most. Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav was definitely exploring a merger with Paramount, but the talks ceased after Warner Bros. Discovery experienced a stock drop to a new 52-week low. Some industry insiders have pointed to Zaslav's shedding of assets and properties under Warner Bros. Discovery's portfolio being the primary driver of this stock drop. On the other hand, Paramount and CBS have been in a perpetual downward trend since the passing of Sumner Redstone, who's passing sparked a vicious corporate tug-of-war between his children for his media empire, ViacomCBS.

In the end, Paramount+ is bound to get subsumed into a different streaming service that is not YouTube or Netflix and worldwide media appears destined for less competition. Also, with the Halo TV series being a Paramount property, it sure would be funny living in a timeline where a PS5 copy of Call of Duty emblazons the Microsoft logo and a Halo property the Sony logo.

The core thesis of this blog has me thinking about this take from @jeanluc, and I don't think they are as far off as some might think:

So, the first season of the Fallout television series is here and to everyone's surprise, it has been almost universallywell-received. As someone who has been watching the show on and off again, I tend to agree, though my praise is not nearly as effusive as most. It definitely deserves huge props for capturing the spirit of the first two games, which mixed 50s and 60s Americana with an overtly dark post-apocalyptic setting. The acting is definitely top-notch and the writing strikes a nice balance between having fun references that only make sense to those familiar with the games as well as providing narrative scaffolds for those completely unfamiliar with the show's source material.

The in-jokes that only fans get are incredibly clever. As you can see in the Tweet below, someone on the writing staff knew they should make a joke about encumbrance, and the solution they devise is downright hilarious.

However, I do find myself agreeing with many of the quibbles brought up in GameSpot's positive but also critical review of the show. The Fallout T.V. series seems to continually fumble the ball on building the actual world of Fallout and it sure is banking a whole lot of its first season's on payoffs on an almost endless series of open-ended questions that previous marquee TV shows have completely screwed up. Nonetheless, only time will tell if this will be issues that persist as Amazon has examined the initial numbers for the first season, and even before it ended, announced that there will be a second season. That's a pretty impressive mark of confidence.

Have any of you seen the show? What are your impressions and are you surprised to see it achieve such popular and critical success? Also, special shoutout to @aurahack for maybe my favorite "hot take" about the Fallout TV series and the state of the Fallout fandom (i.e., she's not wrong):

I like Panzer Dragoon and enjoy that 2011 Yar's Revenge game for PC/XBLA. It's better than Crimson Dragon.