NEWS | Week beginning August 31st | Slave Tetris?!, Jimmy Kimmel causes a stir & Steam Malware

Good evening guys, and welcome back to another video game news round-up! Let's begin, shall we?

Slave Tetris?!

First up, the supposedly educational game 'Playing History 2: Slave Trade' has had to push out an update removing a slightly(?) controversial mini-game simply called 'Slave Tetris'.

Playing History 2: Slave Trade was originally released in 2013. Much like most games, due to its size, the game didn't gain as much traction as it would have liked. However, back n 2014, Playing History made its way through Steam Greenlight and eventually made it onto Steam itself. The only reason that this game is gaining traction now is because developer Serious Games tweeted saying that the game was live on Steam and was launching with a 25% launch discount. Serious Games then received a multitude of negative tweets about the game and its contents. Victims of their own demise?

Yup, this is it...

The mini-game requires players to pack slaves into a slave ship. Much like Tetris, there are different shapes and you have to fit each shape into the necessary gap. The mini-game was supposed to teach players how cramped these slaves ships were, and how the slaves in these ships suffered. 

Due to the media backlash that followed the tweet, Serious Games decided to re-edit the trailer for the game, removing all trace of the Slave Tetris mini-game, as well as pushing out a patch for the game, which removed the controversial mini-game, however, they didn't seem too happy about it. Serious Games later tweeted out saying:

"The game and trailer was updated Monday. Slave Tetris has been removed as it was perceived to be extremely insensitive by some people."

It seems like they're trying to blame us, the consumer!

I can see what Serious Games were trying to do. As were intending to create an educational game covering a period in history, it's important that you cover all angles to ensure you are covering every aspect. However, the way they went about it may have not been the best way to do so!

Jimmy Kimmel causes a stir

Next up, the American TV host Jimmy Kimmel has caused a stir this week following the launch of YouTube Gaming. Kimmel aired a sketch on his show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", framing his jokes around the launch of YouTube Gaming, a service that allows users to stream themselves playing games live, a move made by YouTube to compete against rivals Twitch, a similar streaming service.

The sketch made by Kimmel simply asked the question, "where does it end?". Basically, he doesn't understand why people watch over people play games. He is also confused by the fact that people watch others play games, by saying that:

The man behind the controversy...

"To me, watching another person play video games is like going to a restaurant and having someone eat your food for you.".

I personally don't understand that comment. I mean, why watch Kimmel talk to a camera when you could just do that yourself? 

As you can imagine, the gaming community became rather flustered by these comments, and sent some comments back of their own, most notably containing death threats and other forms of negaitivity, such as "Get cancer", "Go hang yourself with that fat string of baconin the kitchen you f*cking degen" and "Jimmy your a f*cking egg". Us gamers can be a lovely bunch, can't we?

I obviously disagree with Kimmel's comments, as I myself own and run my own YouTube channel (check it out here!). I enjoy making content for people to watch and enjoy, and I do hope that you watch and enjoy my videos! However, people like those who leave hateful comments give us gamers a bad image and reputation. If you're unhappy by what somebody says, either accept it as somebody else's opinion and move on, or just leave some constructive feedback! No hate is needed!

I'll leave the sketch below. What do you make of it?

Steam Malware

Finally, another Steam Greenlight game has been causing gamers problems this week. The game, called 'Dynostopia' offered buyers a beta to download and play. The only problem is that the available beta contains a type of Malware.
Once you have installed and begin playing the beta, the the game will use your Steam profile to upvote the game on Steam and leave some positive feedback on your Steam profile, without any permission from you required.

The install adds a background task to your PC that not only posts some good feedback on your behalf, but also accesses your webcam, tracks your keystrokes and can even lock you out of your computer. Sounds like a bargain of a game!

Did this game have potential?
We'll never know...

Fortunately, this issue was tracked and found out pretty swiftly, and the game has been not only removed from Steam, but refunds are also being offered to any unfortunate souls who purchased the game.
Due to the use of Malware within the Dynostopia's installer, developer Matt Harding has been bombarded with some pretty negative comments and feedback, and as a reuslt, it seems he has locked up his YouTube account. Any gameplay footage from Dynostopia has been made private so it can no longer be viewed.

Sometimes, developers can go a little too far when creating and marketin a game. This is just one of many examples!

So what did you think of this week's video game news round-up? Was Slave Tetris a good idea, or just plain stupid? Where you offended by Kimmel's comments? Have you ever been affected by a virus in a video game?
Let me know in the comments down below!

As always, thanks for reading!

Connor :)