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The Last of Us Part II (2020)

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In a 2021 interview with The Washington Post, the game's director Neil Druckmann revealed that the scene where Abby murders Joel using a golf club was inspired by a real-life incident. When Druckmann was 16, he was accidentally hit in the head with a golf club by a friend at a driving range, which resulted in him needing 30 stitches and left him with a permanent dent in his skull. Druckmann initially planned for Abby to paralyze Joel with a knife, but feeling that this attack was more suited for Ellie than Abby, he decided to use a golf club instead, as he wanted something different and personal.

After the scene was discovered when hours of content from the game leaked online months before release, it became the subject of much controversy and criticism, with some fans of the game feeling that it was gratuitous and unnecessary, especially when the next gameplay segments after watching the "fan-favorite" main protagonist of the first game get murdered force the player to control the murderer as a new protagonist. Players also criticized the game's overall anti-violence and pro-forgiveness message as being "too on the nose". Druckmann responded to the controversy on Twitter by replying with various golf-related GIFs to specific tweets or by "making offhand golf club jokes". Later on when the golf club's real-life origin was revealed, he joked that the game's detractors were correct about him having "brain damage" from the incident.

He went into more detail about the character and players' reactions to her scenes in a 2020 interview with Eurogamer prior to release, stating that he wanted players to hate Abby and eventually empathize with and forgive her upon learning the rest of her backstory. He called the "dehumanis[ing]" and "horrifying" player reactions to Abby "completely human. It's what we do", and that his goal was to make players reflect on "the other perspective" when feeling intense emotions like wanting to take vengeance in real-life incidents. During development, Naughty Dog staff were similarly divided about the scene, with Druckmann commenting in 2024 that there were people who "got it" and a that there was a "minority" of people who were "stuck on how violent it is, and how dark and quite cynical it is about mankind."

Abby's actress, Laura Bailey, initially defended the character's choices before release, claiming she knew the scene would receive backlash and that the leak had caused players to form "barriers" without fully understanding the character. However, upon playing the game at release, she expressed more empathy towards players that hated Abby, questioning the way she portrayed the character and "why she was cast", before eventually going on to "acclimatize" to her. She also commented on negative emotions while filming Abby's scenes that were "very heavy on loss and grief", and how they were difficult to leave behind after filming. On the other hand, her favorite scenes to film as the character were more "joyful" moments including flashback scenes with Owen, or those that developed Abby’s relationship with Lev and Yara.

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Here’s why Abby uses a golf club in ‘The Last of Us Part II’:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/03/03/golf-club-the-last-of-us/

The Last Of Us 2: Abby & Joel's Golf Club Scene Inspired By Real Story:
https://screenrant.com/last-us-2-abby-joels-golf-club-scene/

TLOU2 Abby Voice Actress Breaks Down Divisive Role:
https://screenrant.com/last-of-us-2-abby-laura-bailey-role/

A spoiler-heavy interview with The Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann:
https://www.eurogamer.net/a-spoiler-heavy-interview-with-the-last-of-us-part-2-director-neil-druckmann

Director For The Last Of Us Part 2 Says Abby Using A Golf Club Was Inspired By A Real-Life Accident:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-2-abby-golf-club-why/

Inside The Last of Us Part II's devastating plot twist: ‘People were stuck on how violent it is’:
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-last-of-us-part-2-remastered-joel-death

The Callisto Protocol (2022)

subdirectory_arrow_right Striking Distance Studios (Company)

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On January 9, 2023, a report was released by GamesIndustry.biz revealing that over 20 developers who worked on The Callisto Protocol were not included in the game's end credits, including multiple full-time developers and other key contributors. The decision to leave out these developers was described as "egregious" by one unnamed employee, while another accused the game’s developer, Striking Distance, of "playing favorites" and only crediting those that "they liked or had some sort of relationship with". The report also highlighted the intense work culture at Striking Distance with a controversy involving the studio's director Glen Schofield in September 2022, where he made a tweet about his employees working "six-seven days a week" for "12-15 hour days". At the time before the report's release, this tweet about the crunch culture at the studio was roundly criticized; it was later deleted and Schofield issued an apology, stating that the studio valued "passion and creativity, not long hours." In June 2023, an update was released for the game that added the names of over 50 previously uncredited developers to the credits, a notably higher head count than the numbers in the original report. These credits were added to the "Miscellaneous" group, which originally had only 18 names, and was also now renamed to "Additional Development".

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Callisto Protocol developers left out of credits:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/callisto-protocol-developers-left-out-of-credits

Glen Schofield back pedals Callisto Protocol crunch comments:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/glen-schofield-back-pedals-callisto-protocol-crunch-comments

The Callisto Protocol Reportedly Left Around 20 Devs Out Of The Credits:
https://www.thegamer.com/the-callisto-protocol-left-20-devs-out-of-credits/

Developers left out of The Callisto Protocol credits accuse Striking Distance of "playing favourites":
https://www.eurogamer.net/developers-left-out-of-the-callisto-protocol-credits-accuse-striking-distance-of-playing-favourites

Callisto Protocol update restores omitted developers to credits:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/callisto-protocol-update-restores-omitted-developers-to-credits/

Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System

subdirectory_arrow_right Mattel (Company)

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In a rough time span from 1987 to 1988, a commercial for the Nintendo Entertainment System - often colloquially referred to as either "Scary Nintendo Commercial" or "We Are Nintendo, You Cannot Beat Us" - was aired on Australian television by Mattel, the region's Nintendo distributor at the time. The commercial featured primitive CGI renditions of antagonists from different NES games (Smick from Gyromite, Bowser and Lakitu from Super Mario Bros., and the laughing scent hound from Duck Hunt, lead by an original character resembling Max Headroom, a dystopian TV character who was being used to market Coca-Cola at the time) mocking the viewer with the phrase "you cannot beat us", set to the ominous castle music from Super Mario Bros.

This commercial has sustained a decent viral popularity, often being featured on listicles and review videos related to bizarre 1980s or Nintendo commercials, but it is not as well known that the advert was part of a larger Nintendo campaign, and that "you cannot beat us" is a variation on another, more frequently-used Nintendo slogan from the country - "it can't be beaten!" This phrase was used in a series of significantly less frightening live-action commercials showing children playing the games while doing imitations of the voice from the CGI commercial, winning, shouting "Beat 'cha!", and then having a hazard from the game enter their room (a tennis ball while playing Tennis, a martial artist while playing Kung Fu, and a generic effect where their chair blasts into the sky for Super Mario Bros.) while a filtered voice announces "We are Nintendo, we do not like losing!"

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The "You cannot beat us" commercial:
https://youtu.be/FybA0SaL0nI

The "It can't be beaten" commercials:
https://youtu.be/_ohtTXbY3w0
https://youtu.be/APhANEj4S-Q
https://youtu.be/USskxMlWmkQ

Dying Light 2: Stay Human (2022)

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In June 2020, the game's writer Chris Avellone was publicly accused of sexual assault and harassment by two women in the video game industry on Twitter claiming to have been victims of his behavior. Avellone denied the allegations, stating that he has never sexually assaulted or harassed anyone. Techland, the developer of Dying Light 2: Stay Human, later announced that the two had agreed to let him go from his work on the game, with Avellone also losing work on other games. However, in March 2023, after Avellone brought on a libel lawsuit, the women retracted their statements claiming that they were misinterpreted, and paid Avellone a seven figure payment as part of the settlement. In a joint statement, the women said that Avellone "never sexually abused either of us. We have no knowledge that he has ever sexually abused any women", and they "believe that he deserves a full return to the industry and support him in those endeavors."

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person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 25, 2023

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Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone accused of sexual assault and harassment:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200622211330/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/365244/Dying_Light_2_writer_Chris_Avellone_accused_of_sexual_assault_and_harassment.php

The game and comics industries are grappling with widespread allegations of harassment and abuse:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/25/21302341/video-game-tabletop-game-comics-allegations-harassment-abuse-racism-metoo

Fallout Writer Chris Avellone’s Accusers Settle Libel Case For Seven Figures:
https://kotaku.com/fallout-new-vegas-avellone-sexual-misconduct-libel-1850270184

Chris Avellone resolves sexual misconduct allegations, claiming a "seven-figure payment"
"There are still many very real challenges that we face but am confident we can face them together.":
https://www.eurogamer.net/chris-avellone-resolves-sexual-misconduct-allegations-claiming-a-seven-figure-payment

Final Fantasy V (1992)

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The translation group RPGe's 1998 English translation of Final Fantasy V is considered to be one of the most widely-played and influential fan translations in video game history. It gained this reputation because it released before Squaresoft's first official translation in Final Fantasy Anthology in late 1999, and despite RPGe primarily consisting of inexperienced teenagers, it was regarded as a better translation than the official one, leading many Western players to first experience the game through it.

The first translation attempts stemmed from widespread confusion over Squaresoft not releasing three FF games in the West: Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and FFV. Their decision to release Final Fantasy VII internationally under its original numbering after Final Fantasy VI was released in the West a few years earlier as the "third" game in the series also contributed to this.

The co-creator of RPGe, named Shadow, was inspired by an incomplete FFII translation by users Demi and Som2freak (the latter having later lent Shadow tools to work on FFV), and started translating FFV by making flashcards for which hex code corresponded to each Japanese and English character in the game's data. He promoted his efforts online using photoshopped FFV images and recruited other users to create RPGe, including translator David Timko, and a computer engineering major named Hooie who also asked Japanese instructors at his university to help translate some enemy names. RPGe's plan was to directly edit their English script into the text files of a ROM of the Japanese version, but their work was slow and tedious due to them having little experience with fan translations and being out of touch with fledgling emulation communities. This lead to technical issues with their text and sprite editing software, and English characters being poorly displayed under conditions that were originally designed for larger Japanese characters. The group also suffered from internal factionalism, and since Shadow promoted himself as the public face of the project, he found that he could not handle the attention and controversy that came from how seriously he took the project and RPGe itself, seeing the translation effort as a vital service to the Squaresoft fan community. After Demi published a lengthy post parodying Shadow, he "snapped" and left RPGe. The co-founders of RPGe would also eventually step down, but other users would take over and start their own work.

A user named Myria, who had argued against RPGe's hex editing approach to no avail, split off from their efforts beforehand to work on a separate translation. Sharing similar setbacks to them, she gradually parsed through the code used to handle the text files, and edited it so it could recognize English characters of different sizes and fit more in a dialogue box. Som2freak helped translate the script for a time, but then left the project after bringing on a new editor, named harmony7, who started heavily revising Som2freak's translations to his chagrin despite seeing several issues with it.

One of the most controversial aspects of the translation was the main character's name. Squaresoft's later English translation named him "Bartz", but RPGe's translation named him "Butz", which many joked sounds like "butts". Myria claimed that Butz was the most accurate translation based on documents and official merchandise using it "the way we'd written it" (for reference, the Romanized version of the Japanese name "バッツ" comes out as "Battsu"). However, Butz is used in real life as an actual German surname with a different pronunciation, the vowel being an "oe" sound like in the English words "put" and "good". Therefore, Bartz would make more sense to match up with the vowels in the Japanese name than Butz, and also fits better as a German first name since Bartz is a pet name for Bartholomäus (Bartholomew).

The bulk of Myria's technical work ended in October 1997, with harmony7 still working to revise the entire script until something unexpected happened. An early version of the fan translation mysteriously appeared on a Geocities website with others taking credit for it. This prompted RPGe to release their work up to that point as "v0.96" on October 17, 1997, with the final patch eventually being released in June 1998. The translation patch received acclaim for its technical aspects and near-professional writing quality, and influenced other players to become translators, including Clyde Mandelin who would later create the English fan translation for Mother 3. Squaresoft never contacted RPGe about the translation, and while their 1999 localization of the game was seen as inferior to RPGe's, Myria would later opine that Square Enix's 2006 localization in Final Fantasy V: Advance was better than theirs. Myria continued hacking and reverse-engineering games and eventually earned a job at an undisclosed major video game company.

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2017 Kotaku article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428183534/https://kotaku.com/how-three-kids-beat-the-odds-and-translated-final-fanta-1794628286

2021 IGN article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210508152802/https://www.ign.com/articles/the-untold-drama-and-history-behind-final-fantasy-5s-fan-translation

Butz surname pronunciation:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Butz#Pronunciation_2

Bartz pet name source from Ancestry.com:
https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=bartz

Final Fantasy Chrome Figure Collection wiki articles:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Chrome_Figure_Collection
https://ffmerchandise.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Chrome_Figures_Collection

Ebay listing for Final Fantasy Chrome Figure set including Butz:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275540207811

Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections (2023)

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The game has received criticism for the poor quality of its English dub and some questionable voiceover lines, leading to accusations that the game was made using AI manipulation. The English voice actor for Kawaki, Michael Schwalbe, reacted negatively to select clips of his voice that were chosen for the game, but did not directly accuse the developers of using AI. He stated that since the game's voice cast was unionized, generative AI could not be used in the game while "unknown to the talent involved" without violating union agreements. Bandai Namco Entertainment later issued a statement confirming that the lines in question were not AI generated, but the result of inconsistent issues during the editing and mastering process.

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person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 17, 2023

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New Naruto fighting game receives backlash for questionable redub, raising eyebrows over potential AI voiceover: "I can guarantee I did not say that line that way":
https://www.gamesradar.com/new-naruto-fighting-game-receives-backlash-for-questionable-redub-raising-eyebrows-over-potential-ai-voiceover-i-can-guarantee-i-did-not-say-that-line-that-way/

Naruto game accused of using AI voice-over is just sloppy editing, admits Bandai:
https://www.polygon.com/23978516/naruto-ai-voice-over-controversy-sloppy-bandai-admits

War Thunder (2013)

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Starting in 2021, War Thunder's official forums became notorious for being the center point of multiple leaks of export-restricted or regionally classified military documents from around the world detailing how various weapons and transportation equipment like tanks and fighter jets are built. The leaks are attributed to the fact that the game strives to depict the minutiae of warfare as realistically as possible, leading to players with military connections, or access to resources that are publicly available in other regions, sharing the documents on the forums in order to prove points regarding what would or would not be accurate in-game. Despite the forum moderators quickly removing these posts and issuing multiple warnings about them breaching international law, the issue became so prominent and recurring that laypeople began spreading rumors that the United States military had to start filtering out War Thunder players during the recruitment process, which American weapons contractor RTX Corporation denied.

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person VinchVolt calendar_month December 13, 2023

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Full list of leaks from 2021-2023:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2924096000

AeroTime article about the leaks:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230117121047/https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/another-war-thunder-leak-player-reportedly-posts-restricted-f-16-documents

Axios article about the leaks:
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/20/pentagon-leak-war-thunder-discord

Sports Illustrated article with RTX Corporation's comments:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230124193915/https://videogames.si.com/news/war-thunder-national-security-risk

Super Mario 64 (1996)

subdirectory_arrow_right Mario (Franchise)

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A popular internet joke upon the release of Super Mario 64 was "What happened to Super Mario 4 through 63?" If one is to calculate every Mario game released before Super Mario 64, including outliers such as ports and titles not released on Nintendo hardware like Mario Teaches Typing, the game would be the 113th title on the series. However, if you were to only count games released on non-devoted Nintendo hardware and remove ports, the title would be, very anti-climactically, the 63rd Mario game.

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 9, 2023

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Article analysing the Mario numerical placement:
https://kemono.su/patreon/user/12809227/post/21844567

Note: the article concludes at Super Mario 64 being the 62nd game. However, this article's rules are "No games with the same name", not "No ports", which doesn't account for 1994's Donkey Kong on Game Boy, which was marketed as a remake, but in reality a completely unique game.

Pizza Tower (2023)

subdirectory_arrow_right Antonblast (Game)

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In response to fans of Antonblast and Pizza Tower attempting to start an arbitrary rivalry between the two games, Anton creator Tony Grayson tweeted "Why not both?" with an illustration of Anton and Peppino kissing.

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 8, 2023

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Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993)

subdirectory_arrow_right Bubsy (Collection)

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 30, 2023

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Beelzebubsy's posts:
https://aminoapps.com/c/bubsythebobcat/page/user/beelzebubsy/33xp_lViMf7dR2vJa7zoYX7DlWq0er2xRRCV

Example of SqrlyJack's infamy within the Bubsy fandom, not the subject of the fact, but moreso just backing up that she is a controversial figure to Bubsy fans:
https://tsknew999.tumblr.com/post/179917221391/who-wrote-this-stuff

Xindictive's claim in the comment section of a Slope's Game Room video on Bubsy that presents the fake concept art as real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jea5BBMIA0A&lc=UgwIn_sCDJ1pf0goZ214AaABAg

Tweet from Xindictive about the forgery, a reply shows a magazine scan that one of the forged images was traced from:
https://twitter.com/TSKNew999/status/1140301796201529344

Advertisement for the now-closed Discord server claming that Berlyn was on it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/the_Bubsy/comments/mq1xda/long_overdue_update_post/

Examples of Ken Macklin's real signature:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/YWFZ1P8/2fd8ba45

Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog

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On March 17, 2019, in response to a post on the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account celebrating St. Patrick's Day, YouTuber Jacksepticeye jokingly asked if he could voice "Irish the Hedgehog", to which the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account responded:

"Absolutely.

(We just need to create him first.)"

A year later, they made good on this promise, releasing a video titled "Irish the Hedgehog" on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel. According to Sega, the character was designed by artist Mark Hughes, and the video included a "folksy" remix of the song "Escape from the City" from Sonic Adventure 2 made by Hyper Potions and Jun Senoue.

A few years afterwards, Jacksepticeye would return to the Sonic franchise to voice another character: the appropriately-named Jack from the "Sonic Prime" episode "It Takes One to No Place".

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person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 27, 2023

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Jacksepticeye comment:
https://twitter.com/Jacksepticeye/status/1107366313645826053

Irish the Hedgehog video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQCJea92vF4

Article about Irish:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/17/21183384/sega-sonic-irish-the-hedeghog-st-patricks-day

Sonic Prime role:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUIYVRfuMBk

TimeSplitters Rewind (TBA)

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Partly in response to a petition for the release of an HD version of the original TimeSplitters trilogy, a group of fans were given permission by Crytek to develop a TimeSplitters mod using CryEngine 3. Project lead Michael Hubicka stated that while TimeSplitters 4 was their ultimate goal, they first had to convince Crytek that there was "sufficient demand for the series through [an] HD Collection." The game (titled TimeSplitters Rewind) would combine "greatest hits" elements from across the series, and that although the engine would give the game a modern look they "didn't plan on fixing something that isn't broken.", featuring both story and multiplayer modes and being free of charge on PC. Additionally, there were originally plans to develop the game in Unreal Engine 4, but these were dropped due to concerns that the Unreal version would be unable to use the TimeSplitters IP and would "likely have to rebrand".

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Petition:
https://www.polygon.com/2012/11/29/3707228/facebook-group-receives-cryteks-blessing-to-remake-timesplitters

Crytek support:
https://www.ausgamers.com/news/read/3257940/crytek-offers-support-behind-a-cryengine-timesplitters-mod

TimeSplitters Rewind details from The Escapist:
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/timesplitters-rewind-to-release-with-feasible-amount-of-content-to-start/
https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025244/https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122678-TimeSplitters-Respawns-Onto-PC

Unreal Engine plans:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/timesplitters-rewind/timesplitters-rewind-fan-game-cryengine

Sonic's Edusoft (TBA)

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The existence of Sonic's Edusoft was first exposed to the public not with a prototype release or old magazines, as most cancelled games come to be known through, but rather a mysterious, unsourced Wikipedia article with a single screenshot. The combination of the article's lack of quality and the sheer quality of the game's graphics for a Master System title made many believe it was an elaborate hoax, as was common on Wikipedia at the time, up until an anonymous programmer for the game visited the Sega Master System fan forum SMS Power! and provided further information and screenshots, before privately giving Sonic fan wiki Sonic Retro access to the ROM, confirming the game to be real.

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 23, 2023

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Cuphead (2017)

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On August 24, 2017, a video was uploaded by gaming news outlet VentureBeat where lead writer Dean Takahashi, who specializes in general industry articles, strategy games and first/third person shooters and normally does not cover platformers or sidescrolling action games because by the outlet's own admission he was extremely bad at them, recorded a gameplay demonstration of him playing the Gamescom 2017 demo for Cuphead due to him being the only one on staff at Gamescom. This footage is notorious for the first two and a half minutes where he struggles to complete the game's tutorial, before struggling to play for another 23 minutes under conditions that were made intentionally easier for the game's demo such as increased health and instant access to some stronger unlockable charms like Spread. VentureBeat knew the footage was bad, but uploaded it anyways and drew attention to Takahashi's poor gameplay in the video title, calling it "shameful". However, VentureBeat initially did not explain the full context of the footage in the video description, and due to Gamescom being held one month prior to Cuphead's release, the clip was passed around out of context leading people to believe he was doing a full review of the game and trying to make a point of it being too difficult. In reality, the video was posted alongside an article about the demo by Takahashi to VentureBeat that regularly acknowledges his poor skill at the game; he also called Cuphead a fun game that showed "why making hard games that depend on skill is like a lost art". Regardless, the footage still drew extreme negative backlash and harassment towards him and claims that he was unfit to be a game journalist. Takahashi's response to the controversy spurred more controversy after he accused people attacking the footage of being connected to the 2014 #Gamergate movement, when one week prior to responding, he published an article promoting the idea of a "leisure economy" that stems from game journalists among others being paid to play games, and promoting the fact that he had been reviewing games for 21 years up to that point.

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person Kirby Inhales Jotaro calendar_month November 23, 2023

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Cuphead Dean Takahashi Gamescom 2017 footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk

Earliest archived video page prior to description updates:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170902001715/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi Cuphead article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170909095947/https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/24/cuphead-hands-on-my-26-minutes-of-shame-with-an-old-time-cartoon-game/

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi leisure economy/experience article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170901192804/https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/01/the-deanbeat-the-leisure-economy-where-we-all-get-paid-to-play-games

Earliest archive of Dean Takahashi Cuphead response article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170908155049/https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/08/the-deanbeat-our-cuphead-runneth-over

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (2018)

subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Shield (Game), Pokémon Sword (Game)

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When Pokémon Sword and Shield were announced, they inspired a slew of memes from British internet users who found humor in the influences their culture provided towards the games. One meme, made by Twitter user Callum O'Dwyer, depicts a PokéMart from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! edited to show the logo of Greggs, a UK bakery chain. After the tweet proved viral, O'Dwyer reached out to Greggs to ask if the tweet was "worth a couple of [steak] bakes" as compensation for the free advertising. In response, Greggs gave him a £10 coupon and told him to "have a steak bake or three on us".

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 21, 2023

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Original tweet:
https://twitter.com/callumjodwyer/status/1100761586661289984

Article on Greggs' response:
https://archive.news.stv.tv/north/1435978-gamer-scores-free-steak-bakes-from-greggs-after-tweet.html

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 19, 2023

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Reddit thread looking into harrassment claims:
https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/8uqmfl/was_sakurai_actually_harrased_over_not_adding/

Haru tic-tac-toe users blocked by Sakurai:
https://twitter.com/SymboliNegative/status/1240683276706000898

Elf Bowling 1 & 2 (2005)

subdirectory_arrow_right NStorm, Inc. (Company), Blockdot (Company), Elf Bowling (Collection)

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The Elf Bowling series has been the subject of multiple bizarre and unprofessional Wikipedia edits by individuals involved with the franchise, something considered poor conduct on the website.

Elf Bowling co-creator Dan "Ferg" Ferguson created a Wikipedia article under the name "Itzaferg" and inserted self-aggrandizing information about his history with the franchise to its page, as well as adding articles that were soon deleted for his company Blockdot and its lesser known, non-Elf Bowling works.

After this, Matthew Lichtenwalter, who bought the rights to Elf Bowling in 2001, attempted to claim that the portable compilation, Elf Bowling 1 & 2 was "unauthorized" using Wikipedia as a platform, writing a signed quote from himself on the Wikipedia article for Elf Bowling, as well as saying that he "created the series [after]" he bought it out.

"The DS and GBA versions were not approved or authorized by NStorm and were extremely poor copies of the code and art by original creators Ferguson and Bielinski. Myself, along with millions of fans all over the world loved the original artwork of Ferguson in all its pixelized glory and this unauthorized release caused sever [sic] harm to the brand that took several years to recover from." ~ Matthew Lichtenwalter, Commotion Interactive

It seems highly unlikely that the Elf Bowling ports were actually unauthorized, as no legal action was taken, nor did any of the developers or publishers of the release attempt to hide their work on it at any point.

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Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)

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The four paintings in Spyro: Year of the Dragon's Midday Gardens are signed with the signature "Parvinder". This was the name of the deceased mother of Redditor TheChronoShadow, who was a Spyro fan, and was added in response to a campaign from Shadow asking for Activision to provide an early copy of the game to play with his mother before she passed away.

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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 17, 2023

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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog

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On August 21, 2021, Ken Penders (a former writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics) announced plans to license out various characters from the comic that he has claimed ownership of (Prince Elias, Geoffrey St. John, Queen Alicia, etc.). Notably, this list included Scourge the Hedgehog (originally known as "Evil Sonic"), much to the bewilderment of Sonic fans as the character was depicted as an alternate reality version of Sonic (Scourge's original design was, visually speaking, simply Sonic wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses). When asked about this, Ian Flynn stated that (in his opinion) Sega and IDW wouldn't think it was worth the trouble to license side characters from a third party, particularly due to the former's desire to move away from referencing the 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog animated series (commonly known as "Sonic SatAM", and a major influence on the Archie Sonic comics), and that it'd be easier to just make new characters. However, due to an inaccurate secondhand account of Flynn's response, Penders released an outline of the licensing deal insisting that he "really is easy to deal with", and accused Flynn of not wanting to work with non-game characters, despite that not being what Flynn said. The deal itself was criticized by fans due to both its steep asking price ($10,000 up front against royalties for a two year license) and for padding out the list of characters with obscure extras (Lt. Smiley, DYNAMAC-3000, etc.). Further complicating matters, the IDW Sonic spinoff miniseries "Imposter Syndrome" was announced, introducing the character of Surge the Tenrec, who many compared to Scourge due to their similar names and designs. Ian Flynn would later reveal that he had always intended for Surge (and her companion Kitsunami the Fenrec) to appear in the comic since the beginning.

On November 15th, RUSH! Comics announced that in association with Ken Penders, Scourge would receive a four-issue miniseries titled "Scourge the Speed Demon". The comic was immediately hit with backlash from fans due to Penders not only licensing out Evil Sonic, but his Scourge persona specifically, as Penders had no involvement with that version of the character (it was conceived by Mike Pellerito and Patrick Spaziante, and developed by Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley), as well as continuing to blame Penders for the character's removal in the first place. The creative team behind the comic (which did not include Penders, as he merely licensed the character) also came under fire from the fandom: their previous comic, Rush! (for which the company was named after), had included a sexual harassment scene where the hero strips a pair of female villains nude in public because he thought they were hot. More concerningly, the lead artist was discovered to be following a large number of far right accounts (such as Breitbart, PragerU, Steven Crowder, and the Trump family) and had liked some controversial tweets from them (i.e. an Islamophobic tweet from far right activist Paul Joseph Watson), leading many to accuse the artist of being a white supremist. When asked about this, Penders responded:

"I didn't check the political leanings of the people I'm doing business with as I didn't think that was relevant. Nor did I think being a fan of Ian Flynn was relevant when taking on someone to do a job for me. I'm a "give a person a chance" type of guy."

The team would later release a statement in an attempt to clarify the situation, though it did not help. Likewise, "Imposter Syndrome" #1 was released, leading many to believe that Scourge was no longer needed due to Surge existing. On November 19th, it was announced that the comic had been cancelled a mere four days after its announcement due to the backlash from the fanbase. Ironically, it's worth noting that while Ken does own Scourge, he's forbidden from making new stuff that looks too similar to Sonic in order to avoid brand confusion. Scourge's design in the cancelled comic looked noticeably similar to Sonic's design (specifically the design from the Paramount films), meaning that by cancelling the comic, RUSH! Comics may have been able to avoid a potential lawsuit from Sega for copyright infringement.

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person chocolatejr9 calendar_month November 17, 2023

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Full story:
https://thankskenpenders.tumblr.com/post/668408799676252160/scourge-the-speed-demon-a-summary

Ian Flynn statement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKCfCR4Qojs&t=1651s

Licensing deal outline:
https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/1430048623778144260

Example of Scourge-Surge comparisons:
https://www.tumblr.com/dootdootboopedsnoot/660612495212462080

Ian Flynn's original plans for Surge:
https://twitter.com/IanFlynnBKC/status/1461140967692677128

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019)

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As a reward for contributing a $100+ donation to the game's Kickstarter campaign, backers could choose to join a clan of their choice to appear under in the game's credits. Six "Sword or Whip" Clans (connected to a vote on if Miriam's personal weapon should be a sword or a whip) were dedicated to voting on which Sword or Whip weapon would become the most powerful weapon in the game (the winner being Clan Katana with the Grand Izayoi sword), while the remaining eighteen clans were Community or YouTube Partner Clans, who would receive a code for a clan-specific item.

The Community Clans were represented by two Castlevania fan communities: the Dungeon clan (The Castlevania Dungeon forums), and the Operation Akumajo clan (a Castlevania Facebook group spun off from The Castlevania Dungeon dedicated to promoting the series following its 25th anniversary in 2011). The YouTubers and other companies who participated in the last clan group were associated with Fangamer, a video game merchandising company who managed the Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. To unlock one of the Community/YouTube Partner Clan items, you must enter its respective code as the name for your save file, and as such only one clan item can be unlocked per save file. The participating clans and their codes include:

Community Clans:
•The Castlevania Dungeon: DUNGEONITE - unlocks the Dungeonite sword
•Operation Akumajo: Akuma - unlocks the Dominus sword

YouTube Partner Clans:
•ProtonJon: EGGFARM - unlocks the Guardian Egg Helm (a reference to a line spoken by Albert Wesker in Resident Evil 5)
•chuggaaconroy: chuggaconroy - unlocks the Space Helmet (a reference to the helmet worn by Olimar from the Pikmin series)
•NintendoCapriSun: INTHEBATHROOM - unlocks the Dumping Helmet (a bathroom-themed in-joke from his content)
•JoshJepson: JEPSON - unlocks the Clockwork Blade (origin unknown)
•StephenPlays: STEPHENPLAYS - unlocks the Sicilian Slicer (a pizza-themed sword, Pizza both being the name of his dog and a recurring subject of vlogs)
•SwimmingBird941: swimmingbird - unlocks the Plague Doctor Face (possibly a reference to the anime "Cowboy Bebop", as series protagonist Spike Spiegel is referred to as "Swimming Bird" by a Native American medicine man named Laughing Bull)
•Far From Subtle: AWESOMEVIDEOGAMES - unlocks the Big Mustache (an in-joke from their series VideoGames AWESOME!)
•The Speed Gamers: TheSpeedGamers - unlocks the Final Hour sword (a speedrunning-themed sword)
•Egoraptor: Egoraptor - unlocks Hey I'm Grump (a helmet of Arin Hanson's stylized head from Game Grumps' intro)
•Game Grumps: Grumps - unlocks I'm Not So Grump (a helmet of Dan Avidan's stylized head from Game Grumps' intro)
•Mega64: Jarvis Meower - unlocks the Mega64 Helmet (a collage of various recurring in-jokes throughout Mega64's run)
•Kinda Funny Games: TEAMFAT - unlocks A Kinda Funny Mask (the company's logo, the code being a reference to the #TeamFat in-joke from one of their series)
•The Zaibatsu Clan (Super Best Friends Play): BULLFIGHTER - unlocks The-Baz Mask (a mask based on an original character created by Super Best Friends Play who has made cameo appearances in various indie games)
•AlphaOmegaSin: ALPHAOMEGASIN - unlocks the Darkness Descends sword (possibly a reference to the studio album of the same name by American thrash metal band Dark Angel, which AlphaOmegaSin has described as "one of my go-to albums")
•Game Sack: 8MEGAPOWER - unlocks the Game Sack Strip sword (a reference to an in-joke regarding various novelty power strips)
•Vinesauce: SPONGYVINE - unlocks the Vine Sword (a sword themed around Vinesauce game glitch/corruption content with a green mushroom [Vinesauce's logo, the "Vineshroom"] as the sword's helm). The name of the code is derived from Sponge, a recurring in-joke character from their streams who is depicted as the depressed third Mario brother.

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Bonus codes video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjDISF6e4YM

Gallery of all Credits Clan items:
https://imgur.com/a/DRIyHuU

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Kickstarter page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night weapons vote results:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/1258115

ProtonJon Let's Play of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow with intro about being selected to contribute to Bloodstained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOJLCMAgNik

Operation Akumajo sources:
https://www.facebook.com/operation.akumajo/
https://bloodstained.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Operation_Akumaclan

AlphaOmegaSin tweet:
https://twitter.com/AlphaOmegaSin/status/867957402003361792

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