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Topics

Stop Killing Games… Dead?

Link: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIfRLujXtUo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ahH6HrtTc

Stop Killing Games has yet to hit its goal yet the deadline is approaching. MANY attribute this to PirateSoftware, a content creator and part owner of an indie publisher, railing hard against it with what many consider to be a misinformation laden video.

Xbox Layoffs

Link: https://bsky.app/profile/georgebsocial.bsky.social/post/3lsi27oqdos2f

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-24/microsoft-plans-major-job-cuts-at-xbox-gaming-division?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1MDc3Mjc0NiwiZXhwIjoxNzUxMzc3NTQ2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTWUQ0VkxEV1JHRzAwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.iMkVuxzB6m6hT_Rpwa-NQCTCvDapSt1DaRfpnGaqUSw&leadSource=uverify+wall

Reports suggest that 1-2 thousand people may be laid off, and entire studios killed.

Sony Faces Dutch Lawsuit over “artificially high” PlayStation prices

Link: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-faces-dutch-lawsuit-over-artificially-high-playstation-prices

A Consumer Group claims that Dutch consumers pay too much for digital games. The foundation has discovered that consumers on average pay 47% more for digital than physical titles. This combined with Sony’s push towards a Digital Only future means that Sony is pushing towards overcharging.

Ready or Not facing censorship as it prepares for a Console Release

Link: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1144200/announcements/detail/526472884483260568

Ready or Not is about to be released on consoles… but the PC port is also getting some changes in line with the console ports, including censored imagery. They maintain that this was necessary to facilitate crossplay and because maintaining multiple versions of a game is difficult. Ready or Not does contain a lot of imagery and themes that are quite disturbing and are equally disturbingly realistic. Some of the changes include changes to gore, nudity, and other disturbing imagery involving ingame children.

Mario Kart World patches out the ability to pick mostly 3-lap courses

Link: https://www.resetera.com/threads/nintendo-updates-mario-kart-worlds-online-removes-the-only-guaranteed-way-to-play-normal-3-lap-races-with-randoms.1228638/

People REALLY dislike the intermission courses, which are courses that have to driving from one course to another. Players online would select the “random” course option which was a semi-effective way to guarantee playing traditional 3-lap courses. Now Nintendo has patched this and people REALLY don’t like the intermission courses.

Steam’s Spam Issue & Stolen Games

Link: https://www.gamepressure.com/newsroom/steam-is-dealing-with-spam-valves-platform-has-been-flooded-with/zb811a

https://kindanice.itch.io/dire-decks

Steam is dealing with a glut of spam and games stolen from Itch.io. The Switch eShop also has a similar issue. The big question is how do you deal with it?

Steam’s Summer Sales

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/

What are YOU buying?

Gacha game denied release on Steam, brings up greater questions in regards to Steam’s approval system

Link: https://forum.nexon.com/bluearchive-en/board_view?board=3028&thread=2982148&allBoard=1

Visual Novel fans have suffered due to Steam’s inconsistent approval policies when it comes to Visual Novels and other anime adjacent games.

Fedora 32-bit drama

Link: https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f44-change-proposal-drop-i686-support-system-wide/156324

Fedora proposed the removal of 32-bit library support from their distro. This would have serious knock-on effects for the likes of Steam and also Bazzite. The founder of Bazzite Kyle Gospodnetich left a comment saying this proposal would mean the end of Bazzite and the lack of Steam next. After some discussion, they were able to come up with some solutions to the problems posed by the proposal.

I spoke with Kyle this week about the news. We ended up having a conversation 45 min conversation. He laid to rest many of the myths about this proposal.

It looks to me like Bazzite is the fastest growing Fedora-based distro, with over 1,000 unique contributors, and over 700 TB of image downloads (not including torrent distribution).

Windows is getting rid of the Blue Screen of Death after 40 years

Link: https://www.theverge.com/news/692648/microsoft-bsod-black-screen-of-death-color-change-official

• Microsoft is replacing the traditional Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error message in Windows with a new Black Screen of Death (BSOD) design.
• The new BSOD will have a simplified black screen design, dropping the blue color, frowning face, and QR code of the old BSOD.
• The new BSOD will still provide information on the stop code and faulty system driver, allowing IT admins to more easily diagnose issues without needing to analyze crash dumps.
• Microsoft says this change is part of a broader effort to improve the resiliency of Windows, especially after the CrowdStrike incident last year that left many Windows machines booting to a BSOD.