An interesting way to close out this week occurred in the surprise revelation that the Federal Trade Commission is still investigating Gawker. Not only that, but a Freedom of Information Act has also revealed that Gawker is still under investigation by other law enforcement agencies. They just can’t cut a break… which is really good for a certain movement about ethics in journalism.
The Gawker stuff didn’t quite overshadow another big announcement that occurred this past week… that of the PS4 Pro, Sony’s new mid-gen refresh. The upcoming console packs slightly more power than the vanilla PS4 but does not feature a 4K UHD drive despite allowing for 4K media playback. You’ll either have to load 4K content from USB drives or stream it from online. Oh yeah, and Ethan Ralph from the Ralph Retort was arrested. These stories and so much more in this September 10th, 2016 edition of the Weekly Recap.
Another Metroid 2 Remake Updates Hit With DMCA
Nintendo has gone and done it, shutting down the one 30th anniversary tribute from the fan community for Super Metroid by having the game hit with a DMCA and ultimately barring the developers from releasing anymore updates. Shadow Warrior 2 finally gets an official release date. There’s a series of fatalities showcased for the upcoming Friday The 13th game that might make squeamish folk squeal. Ubisoft also recently released a highly under-promoted game called Champions of Anteria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFgqllxBrg
Ralph Retort’s Ethan Ralph Goes To Jail
Not entirely related to his free speech antics, but Ethan Ralph from the notoriously popular Ralph Retort, was taken to jail on disorderly conduct and assault charges. He’s being held without bail and it doesn’t look good for the online muckracker. Not to be outdone by Ralph, Brianna Wu did a piece accusing #GamerGate of being in league with the Alt-Right, claiming that they are Socialist Bernie Bros and Neo-Conservative reactionary Alt-Right supporters. Two opposing political factions all rolled into one! A new game book called The Wicked Wizard of Oz is seeking Kickstarter funds to bring a dark, dieselpunk twist to the classic Wizard of Oz tale. And a new video for Sonic Mania shows that it’s the sort of side-scrolling Sonic title that we’ve all been desperately waiting for.
Warner Bros. DMCAs Their Own Websites
In an effort to curb piracy, Warner Bros. Entertainment has deemed some of their own websites as piracy enablers. Well, technically that’s not the case… the reality of the situation is that they had a bot file a bunch of DMCAs against a wide-sweeping amount of websites and ended up blocking their own site in the process. Google, however, spared them the humiliation of removing the official links from the search engines. The release date for Batman: Return to Arkham has been set for October 18th, but sadly the game has been hit with downgrades coming from the PS3 to the PS4. And Destructoid’s owner actually thinks that #GamerGate has done some good after all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuQuRIlzZrc
PlayStation 4 Pro And PS4 Slim Announced
Two new SKUs from Sony are set to arrive this November, with the PS4 Slim taking on a $299 price point and the PlayStation 4 Pro set to deliver 4K media playback at $399. Various media outlets are now claiming that the “leader” of #GamerGate has been jailed after Ethan Ralph was put behind bars for assaulting police officers. New footage of Mass Effect: Andromeda has been released, giving gamers three minutes worth of gameplay in 4K. And Prospero 15c has successfully managed to get Greenlit for Steam.
Crash Override Network Had Direct Access To Wikipedia
Chat logs from the Crash Override Network Skype group revealed that the members had direct access to one of the editors from Wikipedia, allowing them to make changes to various hot-button topic articles on the online encyclopedia at a moment’s notice. Need help getting the trophies in Destiny: Rise of Iron? A Trophy guide has popped up listing what you need to do and how you need to do it in the new expansion pack. New details have been revealed for Samurai Warriors: Sanada Mura courtesy of the official website being updated. A video from David Pakman further revealed that YouTube’s enforcement of their demonetization efforts is not an old policy at all.
Gawker Under Investigation By Law Enforcement
It turns out that #GamerGate was right and that Gawker was in violation of various Federal Trade Commission standards. A FOIA reveals that the media conglomerate had various undisclosed affiliate links stashed throughout their articles in hopes of selling goods without getting caught. Well, they got caught. No Skyrim or Fallout 4 mods will be made available for the PS4 due to Sony blocking Bethesda from making it possible. Tough break for the Sony Defense Force. Speaking of the SDF, there was nothing that could save the Sony Ponies from the harsh reality that Microsoft brought down upon them when it was revealed that the Xbox One S helped the green brand win the month of August on the NPD charts. New Doom updates are on the way introducing Deathmatch and Private matches, along with a new Arcade Mode. And Mass Effect: Andromeda will not run at 60fps on the PS4 Pro but will instead be relegated to only 30fps.
