Games have become a lot more accessible over the past few years. Custom control schemes are available as are different colour schemes and modes with closed captions.

"However certain types of games or characters lead themselves better to players with certain play styles or requirements.

This article "Games need more roles for players with disabilities" by PC Gamer discusses the fact that players are often forced to play certain roles in games.

Should this be the case?

Should games have to offer facilities to allow access for all users?

How does this impact on the creative freedom of the developer?

This is a great move by Microsoft who have shown a lot of commitment to enabling players to be able to play their games anywhere and with any control scheme or a range of visual effects to allow for the different accessibility needs of different players.

https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-is-making-one-of-the-most-positive-moves-for-game-accessibility-in-years/

GameStop's share price has been increasing rapidly due to investors putting in a large number of orders for stock, more than there is stock available.

This higher demand for stock over supply has led to the share price increasing on the US stock market.

The Guardian Article

https://youtu.be/IfRxVU0dHHo

The government message has been scan, scan, scan. This has been an attempt at social engineering to encourage people to scan.

This instruction does not accurately describe what people need to do. People respond well to positive encouragement. The government message doesn't include this and then subconsciously people feel guilty for not scanning in.

NZ Herald article

Sony has announced that they are delisting Cyberpunk 2077 due to problems with how the game plays on base PS4 hardware.

This is a massive step and means that people can continue to play the game if they own it. No more copies can be sold however. A similar issue happened with the PC version of Batman Arkham Knight.

Delisting a game means that is remains available to those that have purchased it to receive updates and redownload the game. However no new copies can be sold. The process also means that customers can obtain refunds for their purchase of Cyberpunk 2077 more easily.

Removing a game from the store like what happened to P.T in 2015 results if the game being removed from all users accounts.

CD Projekt Red announced that they would offer refunds earlier in the week but that customers had to go to the company that they purchased the game from to obtain the refunds.

Sony Press Release - Delisting Cyberpunk 2077

What are the impacts of this for Sony and CD Projekt Red?

Is it the right thing to do?

Should the game have been released in the state it currently is?

Do you think that releasing the game in time for Christmas played a part? Why / Why not?

Microsoft Windows will set the default applications for commonly opened file types.

This will often be the Microsoft option such as Microsoft Edge for the www browser.

To change the default applications open the start menu and type: Default apps

Select this option

You will now see a list of the default applications used for certain key activities on the computer.

Click on an option and choose your preferred application.

You have now customised the application used.

Try clicking on a link that uses that type of application and the new default should open.

Customising applications for specific file types​

You can also customise applications for specific file types.

Go into default apps like before.

Scroll to the bottom and choose Choose default apps by file type.

You can now see all the file extensions and what application will be used to open it.

For example here I'm changing .pdf files to be opened with Google Chrome rather than the full Adobe Acrobat.

AMD has just released their RDNA2 based cards, also known as Big Navi.

It has been many years since AMD has produced a Graphics card that has been able to complete with let alone outperform nVidia at similar price points.

It appears that with the Radeon RX 6000 series AMD has finally re-entered the competitive field. This builds on the RX 5700 XT and the first iteration of the RDNA architecture.

This now means that AMD is competitive in both the CPU and GPU areas.

RDNA2 based graphics architecture is what is included in both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X

Click here for more information from AMD.

As part of the launch for PS5 in the UK and Europe Sony has partnered with TfL the iconic London Underground roundel with the Square, Triangle, Cross and Circle.

https://twitter.com/PlayStationUK/status/1329010412948508672

What other game marketing events have you heard of?

Undersea cables are used to transmit data around the world. Most data sent over the internet uses these cables as they are faster than using satellites.

Watch the video about the history of Undersea Communication cables below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T96P2d2UVsQ

Video games can be used to simulate and model real world pandemics. This happened with the Corrupted Blood incident with World of Warcraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTGHSpgp5mc&ab\_channel=TheGameTheorists