Weekend Discussion - December 11, 2021

What a week it has been. There's plenty to talk about this week so let's get into a jam-packed edition of Weekend Discussion!

Star Wars: Eclipse announcement at The Game Awards makes earlier statement about workplace safety hard to take seriously.

We got a few announcements during Thursday's The Game Awards presentation that truly surprised me in a good way. And I wish that I could gush about them. But instead, I have to take a moment to discuss the disappointment I felt after watching the trailer for Star Wars: Eclipse only to see the studio developing the game was Quantic Dream, a studio known for it's photorealistic visuals and decision making gameplay mechanics but also it's reliance on racist tropes and halk-baked storytelling fueled by a crude mysoginist and overall creep, David Cage.

Geoff Keighley started the show by addressing the audience and stating that there is no tolerance for harrassment in the industry. This statement came after The Game Awards faced criticism for allowing Activision-Blizzard games to be a part of the show. 

Thank you @geoffkeighley. #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/WHT69agBQH

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 10, 2021

While I can point a finger at Geoff for putting the Star Wars: Eclipse reveal on the show, which is extremely hypocritical after making the statement above, I think that this is also a prime example of how much work is still left to be done when it comes to the entire gaming industry. The fact that a lot of money is being spent to make something like this happen and that nobody higher up stepped in is very telling. Even before the actual show, news came out of more reports of misconduct at Bungie, with the company's CEO releasing a statement trying to get ahead of the controversy.

Also, as pointed out by others, the advisory board for The Game Awards is a list of people that were complicit when it came to the reports of abuse and harrassment from within their own companies. 

Oh I got it! It is the next member of #TheGameAwards advisory board! https://t.co/bPOxe6ZzEc pic.twitter.com/Zb5q2gFNsj

— Productive Citizen ✌🏾💙🙏🏾👊🏾 (@technosucks) December 10, 2021

I want to maintain a positive outlook about the work being done and I am happy that people are standing up to the terrible workplace culture that has remained unchecked for so long. When it comes to events like this moving forward, I need more than just a statement by the head honcho before getting into the fun stuff. The industry needs to do better, and that doesn't mean just speaking on uncomfortable situations when it is convenient. Walk the walk and be consistent. Integrity is still important to some of us and I'm sure that the people working at these studios are watching. If you want to be a part of this ongoing change, consider supporting ABetterABK, the community of workers from Activision-Blizzard who are currently on strike.

We at Shacknews stand in solidarity and will continue to report on the movement in 2022.

In Case You Missed It...

I do want to say that there were plenty of great new games revealed at The Game Awards by incredible developers. We have plenty of reveal discussion from the Shack crew for this week's Shack Chat!

Also, DOOM turned 28 this week and our very own David L Craddock put together an awesome Twitter thread with links to his Shacknews long read about the classic game.

Happy 28th birthday, @DOOM! To celebrate, here’s my annual #thread of #Doom (and Doom-adjacent) long reads I’ve written @shacknews. (As always, thank you @technosucks for the opportunity to tell these stories.) #longreads @Longreads #longread #gamedev #gamedevelopment pic.twitter.com/WbnchK9Mut

— David L. Craddock (@davidlcraddock) December 10, 2021

• The Game Awards 2021 winners, announcements, & trailers
• Bungie CEO responds to allegations of sexist, toxic workplace
• Kane Hodder confirmed as Leatherface in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre game
• US bill targets PS5, Xbox Series X, & further bot resellers
• The Long Dark Creator Raphael van Lierop on Blackrock and the future of Survival mode
• Solar Ash review: Black hole run
• Creator of the NES Masayuki Uemura dies aged 78
• ABetterABK announces strike, opens GoFundMe
• Star Trek: Resurgence from ex-Telltale devs revealed at The Game Awards 2021
• GameStop (GME) Q3 2021 earnings results show larger than expected loss as revenues beat
• Sakurai's post-Smash Bros. Ultimate future might not include creating more games

Halo is back and definitly worth your time. Watch our video review from Greg Burke & Sam Chandler above.

And now...The Internet.

Sonic is back and I gotta say, the new movie actually looks prety good! Knuckles looks amazing and I'm glad that they brought in the voice actor for Tails. What did you think of this first look at the sequel? 

This is kinda meta but another variant has been discovered so I guess we are heading into global pandemic Season 3. 

pic.twitter.com/0edAfisJ8V

— laura with the red nose and the antlers (@freezydorito) December 9, 2021

Shout out to Shackpets! 

We can't believe @Shackpets is FREE either! pic.twitter.com/JPwPECBQFK

— Shacknews (@shacknews) December 10, 2021

Keanu had some interesting comments recently during an interview, including some thoughts on Facebook's Metaverse and NFTs.

one more Good Keanu™ moment about Facebook (sorry Meta) and the history of the concept of a metaverse pic.twitter.com/YEhuWQoBFi

— David Zhou (@dz) December 10, 2021

Kermit needs to be in a fighting game at some point. 

Funniest and most random shit I ever seen 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/t30izBviN5

— Mike (@blocboydeku) November 28, 2021

Don't let the innocent look fool you. 

Hello Kitty has killed Sonic and now wears his skin as a onesie 😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/3v5iYy59XX

— boss senpai (@favoritesenpaii) November 28, 2021

Totally been there.

pic.twitter.com/hGzXLqoFLl

— Stein (@steinekin) December 10, 2021

Pot guy was one of the best parts of the night. Surprised that Kojima didn't pop out of there and announce Death Stranding on Switch. 

Awkward moment off camera at the awards last night, when the Elden Ring pot got too drunk and had to be escorted out by security. pic.twitter.com/ROSk9Yz4oC

— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) December 10, 2021

Weekend Vibes

Kanye and Drake came together on a Thursday to free Larry Hoover. 

Well this situation was not on my 2021 bingo card but here we are. In case you were under a rock on Thursday night, Kanye West and Drake performed live on Twitch and Amazon Music in front of 270,000 online viewers and a stadium full of fans. These two were definitely vibing out on a stage that slowly started to look more and more like a Dune deleted scene as the show went on. Is the beef officially squashed? Only time will tell. 

Tierra Wack is back!

Tierra Wack delivers some new visuals and a flow that was reminiscent of Andre 3000 at his peak. She's a very creative artist and she's dropped a few tracks with videos from her new "Pop?" EP. 

Alright that's going to do it for me this week. We've had quite the week as the Shack crew focused on some high-spirited Game of the Year deliberations. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next week for a special edition of Weekend Discussion. Feel free to drop us a Mercury subscription if you like this content!

Dennis White

Community Manager

Denny is the current Social Media & Community Lead for Shacknews. He loves to be part of the conversation with readers and the gaming community as a whole. Denny is very passionate about making the game industry and associated media spaces more inclusive. He's also a huge fan of fighting games, hosting live tournament events with some fun color commentary. When he’s not gaming, you can find him diving into the discount comics bin or enjoying a horror movie with the lights off. He’s also been a content creator on Twitch since 2015 and has spoken live at Twitchcon, C2E2, and several other events along with providing D&I consulting for up and coming brands in gaming.