Overwatch Overview: Blizzard’s Biggest Failure to Billion Dollar Franchise - "A Future Worth Fighting For"

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Overwatch Overview: Blizzard’s Biggest Failure to Billion Dollar Franchise - "A Future Worth Fighting For"

Five years after its release, Overwatch has registered 60 million players. Blizzard continues to build its world with the announcement of the highly anticipated sequel — Overwatch 2. In honor of its anniversary, we’re taking a look back at where Overwatch began and how it became Blizzard’s newest billion dollar franchise after the cancellation of one their biggest projects.

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Castle Crashers and The Behemoth: Storming the Video Game Industry - "It felt like we were knocking down some barriers"

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Castle Crashers and The Behemoth: Storming the Video Game Industry - "It felt like we were knocking down some barriers"

The Behemoth is among one of the first successful independent video game developers. Thanks to their breakout out game, Alien Hominid, they showed the video game industry that independent developers were just as capable as the big budget studios. Their much anticipated follow-up, Castle Crashers, saw a wider release with the advent of digital stores such as The Xbox Live Arcade — a new platform that changed the way games were released.

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Kanye West Unreleased Video Game: Only One - “Anything I drop, people lining up”

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Kanye West Unreleased Video Game: Only One - “Anything I drop, people lining up”

Kanye West is not only one of the most influential artists of this generation, but one of the most influential people in media. Kanye continues to push boundaries in music and fashion with 21 grammys and a superstar family. Even when the album doesn’t drop, the shoes go platinum — accomplishing a childhood dream of designing sneakers, but did you know he also wanted to make video games?

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Plants vs. Zombies: The Little Game That Did - “My Initial Mission in Coming to PopCap was to Make the Best Games I Could”

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Plants vs. Zombies: The Little Game That Did - “My Initial Mission in Coming to PopCap was to Make the Best Games I Could”

From a tower defense game to a multi-media franchise with sequels and spin-offs, Plants vs. Zombies is a little game that grew far beyond anyone’s expectations. Even 10 years after its launch, the original PvZ is still an endearing, timeless adventure, full of humor and charm.

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Avicii Invector: A Well-Deserved Encore - "Thank you for letting me fulfill so many of my dreams”

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Avicii Invector: A Well-Deserved Encore - "Thank you for letting me fulfill so many of my dreams”

Avicii was one the biggest influence in electronic dance music (EDM) during the 2010s. His iconic mega-hit single, Levels, helped EDM reach mainstream success while also introducing a new generation of fans to the genre. His natural talent for creating uplifting melodic music took him from his bedroom where he remixed bootlegs to headlining the main stages of the biggest music festivals in the world.

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Pokémon Go’s Fourth Anniversary: The Journey Continues - "Pokémon Go is at its best place yet with much more in store for the years ahead"

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Pokémon Go’s Fourth Anniversary: The Journey Continues - "Pokémon Go is at its best place yet with much more in store for the years ahead"

Despite what some people may think, Pokémon Go is still around and it’s thriving. It’s been a long four years since the game’s release—with a couple of hurdles in the beginning, boring people out of the game. Even with its flaws, many have continued to support the game to this day. New content is regularly added, yearly revenue continues to increase, and the game continues to evolve.

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Cinco de Mayo: Guacamelee Highlight - "Mexico, Mexicans - they love being represented in media because we are underrepresented"

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Cinco de Mayo: Guacamelee Highlight - "Mexico, Mexicans - they love being represented in media because we are underrepresented"

When it comes to media featuring different cultures, it’s usually (and laughably) inaccurate. Most depictions often fall into stereotypes, which are then repeated throughout various media, however, there have been a few pieces of media that respectively approach depictions of other cultures around the world in TV, movies, and video games — providing a small window into someone else’s culture.

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The Start and State of Video Game Cheats - "Sometimes people just plain forgot to take codes out"

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The Start and State of Video Game Cheats - "Sometimes people just plain forgot to take codes out"

While some people frown upon video game cheats, others see them as an alternative way to enjoy video games. Cheats codes in video games have come a long way from giving the player additional lives, big heads, and even flying cars. Some cheat codes give the user an advantage while others have simple novelty effects, but they weren’t always meant for the player.

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LVL UP EXPO 2020 - “You’ve arrived at the number one video game, technology, comics, and anime convention in Las Vegas“

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LVL UP EXPO 2020 - “You’ve arrived at the number one video game, technology, comics, and anime convention in Las Vegas“

The LVL UP EXPO is one of the biggest conventions centered around video games, anime, and technology in Las Vegas, Nevada. The annual event features a variety of entertainment and interactive experiences. Everything from retro games, video game tournaments, virtual reality, pro wrestling matches, vendors, voicing anime, cosplay, and special guests.

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Video Game Movies Through the Years - “We're not trying to look like a video game, which is a mistake some video game movies make”

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Video Game Movies Through the Years - “We're not trying to look like a video game, which is a mistake some video game movies make”

Video games haven’t received the best movie adaptations. Historically, they’ve been budget movies that either don’t understand the video game or try too hard to be like the video games they’re based on. Generally these movies have been negatively received by critics and fans while bombing at the box office but a few have managed to stand apart from the “video game movie curse.”

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PlayStation 25th Anniversary: The Development of the PlayStation - “The old guard was scared it was going to destroy the brand”

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PlayStation 25th Anniversary: The Development of the PlayStation - “The old guard was scared it was going to destroy the brand”

I may have missed the actual date of PlayStation’s 25th anniversary but it’s never too late to celebrate the great memories and video games Sony has given us. A perfect occasion to take a look at the development of the PlayStation and its successors’ milestones in the video game industry. A lasting legacy in the industry that all began with the vision of Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation.

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Nintendo and the Video Game Crash of 1983 - "Now You're Playing With Power"

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Nintendo and the Video Game Crash of 1983 - "Now You're Playing With Power"

While younger gamers may not be familiar with the Video Game Crash of 1983, some people at the time weren’t aware of the situation either. Atari was at the top while the video game market was on the rise before crashing. Competitors oversaturated the market with too many consoles and unlicensed games. The market crashed when Nintendo was ready to introduce their Famicon video game console to American consumers. Releasing a console during this time seemed like a terrible idea by market analysts but against all odds, Nintendo launched their Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States, and restored the video game market.

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Veyeral Games in Development: Steam Early Access - "Steam can help a game out but can also doom it"

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Veyeral Games in Development: Steam Early Access - "Steam can help a game out but can also doom it"

While most major video games are made by teams of hundreds of people, independent video games can be made by as few as just one person. These games are usually passion projects. Indie video games have become a breath of fresh air in the oversaturated market of big budget shooters filled with microtransactions. Angel Polanco of Veyeral Games shared his experience of working on his game, The Void Rains Upon Her Heart, as a solo developer.

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Pokémon Go Fest 2017: How Niantic Dropped The (Poké) Ball in Its First Real-World Event - "What a waste of time"

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Pokémon Go Fest 2017: How Niantic Dropped The (Poké) Ball in Its First Real-World Event - "What a waste of time"

Niantic developed Pokémon Go in partnership with The Pokémon Company through Nintendo. Summer 2016 saw the release of Pokémon Go and quickly became the most downloaded game of the year. Niantic looking to further monetize the millions of players on its game introduced Pokémon Go Fest Chicago in 2017, a real-world event. Its overwhelming success became a burden on the servers. The game was nearly unplayable during the event upsetting over 20,000 trainers in attendance.

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Music and Video Games: When Industries Collide - "Video games have not only helped the music industry survive but thrive on entirely new levels"

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Music and Video Games: When Industries Collide - "Video games have not only helped the music industry survive but thrive on entirely new levels"

Music has been used in video games in a variety of ways such as trailers, intros, soundtracks, and even key moments in games. I just wanted to take some time to appreciate all the musical goodness in video games and breakdown some of my favorite uses of them in video games. This has become a way for gamers to be introduced to new and old tracks while also creating memorable moments enhanced by the joy of music.

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Plants vs. Zombies: Monetization in Video Games - “I would've fought to keep it pay-once-and-play”

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Plants vs. Zombies: Monetization in Video Games - “I would've fought to keep it pay-once-and-play”

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower-defense game developed by PopCap Games. PvZ originally released on the PC before making its way onto mobile. The game had a smooth transition from the PC’s mouse to touch-screen controls on mobile. Due to PopCap’s major success with mobile games, Electronic Arts bought the studio. This shifted the focus at PopCap games to free-to-play games and implemented it into their long awaited sequel, Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time.

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The Demand For Raimi's Spidey-Suit - "Just know things take a LONG time sometimes (months and months!) and even then go down to the literal wire"

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The Demand For Raimi's Spidey-Suit - "Just know things take a LONG time sometimes (months and months!) and even then go down to the literal wire"

Marvel’s Spider-Man developed by Insomniac Games for PS4 is not only one of the best superhero games, it’s also one of the best games of 2018. Spider-Man had a lot to live up to after the movie tie-in, Spider-Man 2 was regarded as the best Spider-Man game for some time and the Batman: Arkham series set the standard for superhero games. Despite all its pros, fans’ anger escalated over the exclusion of the Sam Raimi “webbed” suit from the films.

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Geoff Keighley and The Game Awards - "I wanted to build something for a gaming audience with the support of the gaming audience"

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Geoff Keighley and The Game Awards - "I wanted to build something for a gaming audience with the support of the gaming audience"

When it comes to award shows, motion pictures have the Oscars, music has the Grammys, and TV has the Emmys. The video game industry has a few award shows but the ones that really matter are the Design Innovate Communicate Entertain (D.I.C.E.) awards and the Game Awards. Video game award shows have had their ups and downs with the Spike Video Game Awards but now are being regarded as the future of entertainment award shows with 2018’s Game Awards.

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Video Games and Protected Speech - "The basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary with a new and different communication medium"

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Video Games and Protected Speech - "The basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary with a new and different communication medium"

In 2011, it was a landmark year for video games, not because of great video games but because the Supreme Court addressed the topic of video games for the first time ever. The Supreme Court acknowledged that video games, like books and movies, communicate ideas and are entitled to first amendment protection. Although this was a win for the video game industry in the U.S., it is not the same worldwide, and other countries, such as Germany, have only recently followed suit.

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The Success and Failure of Mighty No. 9 - "I own all the problems that came with this game"

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The Success and Failure of Mighty No. 9 - "I own all the problems that came with this game"

Keiji Inafune had a helping hand in developing the character of Mega Man. After leaving Capcom in 2010, Inafune set out to release a spiritual successor to Mega Man in 2013. His project, Mighty No. 9 became the most successful Kickstarter with $4 million toward its goal. Fans thought Capcom had poorly treated the Mega Man series and Inafune was going to be the savior with his new game.

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