Gaming

A Japanese company tried doing work meetings in Animal Crossing

WFH just got better

Published

April 6, 2020

Luigi Leonardo

Image source: Livedoor

Today, New York City banned the use of Zoom in schools and universities. In the past few weeks, the city trained its teachers and employees in using the platform to maintain some sort of semblance amidst the pandemic. However, after numerous reports about Zoom’s security, the world is quickly changing its perspective on easily accessible teleconferencing software.

Naturally, with Zoom’s quick exit as the world’s most reliable platform, everyone is looking for an alternative. In Japan, a company tried a meeting in the cutest possible place today, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Over the weeks since its debut, Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the world by storm. In short order, the adorable simulation game invited friends to virtual desert island paradises from all over the world. It replaced a sense of community lost in today’s pandemic.

Reported by Livedoor, a Japanese publication, the Japanese company tried the game as a platform to work from home. According to the report, an employee invited its editorial staff to a single desert island. Besides meeting, the staff even went on a fishing trip together.

Image source: Livedoor

Though fun, the experiment was less than stellar. After concluding the meeting, the writer listed down the few but critical disadvantages at working in Animal Crossing’s island paradises.

For example, the game can’t facilitate file transfers or private person-to-person chats. Also, usernames are almost impossible to recognize. Adding contacts on the island involves alphanumeric codes assigned to each Nintendo Switch user. And, of course, it’s hard to focus on actual work with island chores always lurking in the background.

As an adorable game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons fails as a productivity pusher. That said, the game is one of the most relaxing gaming experiences on this side of the pandemic era.

Related Topics:Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch

Gaming

PG 5 sneakers gets the PlayStation 5 colorway

It just makes (dual) sense

Published

May 5, 2021

Rodneil Quiteles

Nike and PlayStation are collaborating once again for the signature sneakers of NBA star Paul George. For its fifth iteration called the PG 5, these basketball kicks are going to get the PlayStation 5 treatment.

On the PlayStation blog, Paul George notes that Nike and the PlayStation designers including Yujin Morisawa took inspirations from his game to bring this collaboration to life.

What to expect:

The tongues of the shoe have the PG and PlayStation logos
The colors of the shoe are heavily inspired by the industrial design of the PS5 with references on the sock liner and outsoles.
Iconic PlayStation shapes are integrated and can be seen along each shoe in the same pattern as on the DualSense wireless controller.

The P5 G PlayStation 5 colorway also comes with a special hangtag to celebrate the partnership.

The PG 5 PlayStation 5 colorway drops in select regions starting May 14, 2021. Specific pricing and availability details have yet to be announced.

Entertainment

League of Legends’ animated Netflix show is coming soon!

Out by this fall!

Published

May 4, 2021

Leez

The new animated series is titled Arcane. And, it’s coming from the League of Legends (LoL) publishers themselves: Riot games. Despite releasing countless animated shorts, Arcane is a first for the League franchise. Riot Games partnered with Fortiche Productions to develop and produce this series; keeping character designs and art close to home.

Since the first hint of it in 2019, fans have been waiting patiently for this release. And if you want the series now, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. It’ll be out on Netflix and on Tencent Video in China by fall this year.

We follow two iconic League champions, their origins, and the power that tears them apart. The backdrop to the story is the utopian region of Piltover and the oppressed underground of Zaun.

Riot Game’s Global President of Entertainment, Shauna Spenley said, “Arcane was created as a love letter to our players and fans, who have been asking us for more cinematic experiences that dive deeper into the worlds and champions in League of Legends.”

Netflix’s video game animated series

Arcane is just one of few new video game adaptation slates in Netflix’s lineup. Which, spells good news for fans and players of games. One recent release was Dota: Dragon’s Blood, an animated series inspired by Valve’s multiplayer online battle arena (moba) game DOTA 2. Other Netflix series based on the video game realm include Assassin’s Creed, Castlevania, Cuphead, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and Assassin’s Creed.

Gaming

Discord, Sony team up to integrate the app in PlayStation consoles

Xbox lost the game!

Published

May 4, 2021

Shivam Vahia

Sony is partnering with Discord to integrate the popular online communication app with the built-in social media tools of the PlayStation consoles. The instant messaging app is top-rated in the gaming community and is specially designed for gamers.

While the exact nature of the partnership is still unclear, Sony says that the two companies are “hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network.”

The Japanese console maker already has a host of in-built tools, but their capability is limited, and nothing can reach the potential of Discord. We also don’t know whether to expect the complete Discord app within the PlayStation system or just a few bare minimum bits of it.

As part of the deal, Sony is also investing an undisclosed amount of money into Discord as part of its Series H investment round. Keep in mind, Sony is a minority investor and hasn’t acquired the app directly.

Interestingly, Discord already has a partnership with Sony’s arch-rival, Microsoft’s Xbox. Although, it’s limited to profiles, and there’s no link between Xbox Live party chat and Discord’s audio chat.

The announcement will surely hurt Microsoft, which was reportedly trying to acquire the chat app for a whopping US$ 10 billion a few weeks ago. The talks ended inconclusively, and Discord decided to continue as an independent company.