12-14-2018

12-14-2018

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The Game Awards 2018 

With over 26 million people streaming The Game Awards, the awards also has become an event with reveals.  Such reveals include Smash Bros Ultimate will gain Persona 5’s Protagonist, Mortal Kombat 11 announced, and Rage 2 has a release date of May 14.  God Of War took home the big prize, Game Of The Year.   

South Korea Criminalizes ‘boosting’ with New Law 

Boosting — basically one person playing on another’s account to rank them up — is going to be a criminal offense in South Korea with some stiff punishments awaiting the booster.  

The new measure comes courtesy of an amendment to the country’s one year old Game Industry Promotion Act, reports The Daily Dot. This new measure was developed in collaboration with the video games industry in the country and will punish boosters with a fine of up to 20 million won, which is roughly $18,000. They also get a two-year suspended prison sentence. 

U.S. based companies will benefit from the law as League of Legends, StarCraft, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are all popular in the country’s robust scene. Riot Games gave a mostly neutral statement — “this law will help us catch them even better once it’s passed” — to ESTNN. 

Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland Event is Now Live 

It’s that time of year again — Blizzard Entertainment has activated its annual Winter Wonderland event in Overwatch thru Jan 2, 2019. There are no new game modes this year, but Yeti Hunt and Mei’s Snowball Offensive make their return, and the Hanamura, King’s Row and Blizzard World maps are all frosty and winter-themed now. There are six legendary skins and three epic skins for players to unlock with the update. 

Epic Will Let Other Game Developers Use Fortnite’s Cross-platform Tools for Free 

Epic Games announced this week it’s opening up the underlying software infrastructure and tools used to run its cross-platform hit Fortnite to other game developers for free. The tools include the ability to sync a player’s profile and in-game purchases across multiple platforms, to provide cross-platform voice communication, and to allow cross-platform partying and matchmaking, among other features.