Less Screen Time, More Modders

Kids in China are now restricted to just 3 hours of online gaming per week.
China has cracked down on the gaming screen time of people under 18 years old. New rules imposed this Monday require Chinese gaming platforms like Tencent and NetEast to limit online gaming access for minors to just three hours per week. It’s not even any three hours but specifically one hour, from 8pm-9pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and any public holidays. They apply to computers, consoles, and mobile phones. Previous restrictions limited kids to 1.5 hours of screen time most days of the week. The move is motivated, in part, by a desire to fight online gaming addiction amongst kids and to “protect the physical and mental health of minors”.  China is the world’s biggest market for video games so it’s no doubt these new restrictions will deal a blow to the gaming industry. While it’s practically impossible that similar rules would be implemented in Australia, many parents outside of China shared their support for the system online.

Overwatch changes character names in light of ongoing trouble for Activision Blizzard.
Over the weekend, the Overwatch team announced that the character of Jesse McCree, who was named after a Blizzard employee who specifically came under fire in the controversy, would be having his name changed to distance him. It isn’t yet clear what the gunslinger’s new name will be, but they have promised “something that better represents what Overwatch stands for”. Additionally, the team stated that “Going forward, in-game characters will no longer be named after real employees, and we will be more thoughtful and discerning about adding real world references in future Overwatch content.”  The case against Activision Blizzard itself is still ongoing with the state of California having recently expanded the lawsuit against them. They are now including temporary workers to the female full-time employees it’s suing the company on behalf of.

New hope for Cyberpunk2077 as CD Projekt Red hires Community Modders.
Its come to light that CD Projekt Red has recently been bringing members of the Cyberpunk 2077 modding community onboard the team to work on the game’s back-end. This was revealed by modder Hambalkó Bence in an announcement on the game’s modding community Discord Server. About their new role at CDPR they said, “We will be working on various projects related to the Cyberpunk 2077 backend and the game’s modding support,” the update said. “We are really excited for this, and we really hope we can help to bring Cyberpunk 2077 to the next level.”  It’s a positive move for the game but, this long after its initial release, it’ll be hard to build beyond the stigma it carries.

This week in gaming releases:

• Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – September 3
• Family Trainer [Switch] – September 3
• Kitaria Fables [PC, PS5, XSX, PS4, XBO, Switch] – September 3
• The Medium [PS5] – September 3
• Bus Simulator 21 [PC, PS4, XBO] – September 7
• Chernobylite [PS4, XBO] – September 7
• I.S.T: Forged in Shadow Torch [PS4] – September 7
• Sonic Colors: Ultimate [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – September 7