GYGO: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Gets a Documentary

Howdy, GYGO fans! Welcome again to your weekly news roundup. This week I was both delighted and distinctly undelighted by some of the biggest news stories. So let’s dive in:

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Documentary Premieres Saturday

A documentary about the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series of video games will premiere this Saturday, February 29, at the Mammoth Film Festival in California. The documentary’s title is Pretending I’m a Superman, a phrase taken from one of the tracks from the first game’s soundtrack: “Superman” by Goldfinger. I grew up playing the THPS games, and my taste in music was undeniably shaped by the games’ soundtracks, so I’m very excited for the opportunity to see behind the scenes.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Rehires Mr. Resetti

Mr. Resetti is an icon of the Animal Crossing franchise. Perhaps not as notorious as Tom Nook, but far more cantankerous, Mr. Resetti was introduced in the very first Animal Crossing in 2002, to suspiciously oversee players using the reset function in order to exploit the game. But since the Nintendo Switch has an autosave function, Mr. Resetti was officially “laid off from his position,” according to lead developer Aya Kyogoku. However, there’s hope for Resetti—Kyogoku promised to find him another job, and in the latest Nintendo Direct, New Horizons announced a new “rescue service” wherein players who get stuck or don’t want to walk all the way home can be picked up by a helicopter that looks very familiar.

Sony Gets Nasty by Utilizing Gamer Sweat

Sony recently patented a new DualShock controller design featuring a new sensor that can detect your emotions via heart rate and—you guessed it—sweat. The patent has a “biofeedback sensor attachment for a controller,” comprised of several sensors that would be in contact with your hands while you play and gather biometrics.

The patent says the sensor attachment will gather biometric feedback including heart rate measurements and “electrodermal activity measurements,” or how much you might be sweating and thus causing skin conductance. The patent says this information could then be used to, for example, modify game parameters like lighting in a horror game for players who seemed too afraid to continue. But I do not want my gamer sweat used for anything, thank you very much.

Coronavirus Continues to Affect the Gaming Industry

Overwatch League owner Blizzard Entertainment has canceled three weeks of matches in South Korea amid the coronavirus outbreak, “in order to protect the health & safety of our players, fans, & staff.”

Earlier in February, Blizzard rescheduled a number of matches originally planned to be played in China but relocated to South Korea due to concerns about coronavirus. These matches, as well as the Seoul Dynasty homestand event, have been halted and are planned to be rescheduled for a future date when coronavirus concerns have been alleviated.

Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions will also not be attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC) this year due to concerns about coronavirus.

In Other News…

• Natalie Flores explains how Animal Crossing: New Horizons marks Nintendo’s next step toward inclusivity in a beautiful piece on the series’ racially exclusive past
• Esports company Tempo Storm has raised $3.3 million in funding to expand into game development
• Bungie details a bunch of nerfs coming to Destiny 2 next season
• Minecraft School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has a playable alpha now
• How Rob McElhenney’s Minecraft movie fell apart
• Microsoft unveils Xbox Series X specs
• After confessing to playing 300 hours of Breath of the Wild, St. Vincent realizes she’s played 300 hours of Breath of the Wild
• And then there’s this: