GYGO: Even More COVID-19 Cancellations, Joy-Con Lawsuits, and Sports Game Weirdness

Hello, and welcome to GYGO! I’m Kael, your local socially distant gamer, and while I still have to go into work I’ve certainly been spending a lot of my off-hours locked in my apartment. This means I finally got a chance to get back into The Outer Worlds. It’s fun to shoot things good, and less fun to think about the presence of capitalism in space. A good experience all around.

Last night I also went on my twice-weekly binge of PS2 game Wikipedia pages, where I learned Tri-Ace really did name a Star Ocean protagonist Edge Maverick. I know that’s not news, but it sure is something.

Speaking of the news:

Those Experiencing Joy-Con Drift Are Valid, Says Judge

US District Judge Thomas S. Zilly rejected Nintendo’s request to dismiss their recent class action lawsuit regarding Joy-Con design. The lawsuit alleges that Joy-Cons (and the Nintendo Switch Lite) are defective and prone to developing drift over time. Drift is a tendency for a joystick to perceive input where there is none, usually causing a character or camera to move persistently in one direction. Personally, I just thought that I broke mine after too many heart-pounding attempts to get my farmer to bed before 2 AM in Stardew Valley.

Nintendo also won a separate Joy-Con lawsuit this week, which lead to some confusion while I was collecting news. Nintendo won a patent claim against the Joy-Con design from Gamevice. Gamevice, a company that manufactures detachable controllers for smartphones, claimed the Joy-Con’s detachable design is too close to their own. However, The US Patent and Trademark Office found that the underlying technology between devices (and the Joy-Con’s inclusion of wireless support) proved that the two were different ideas entirely.

E3 and Overwatch League Matches Join COVID-19 Cancellations

For the first year since 1995, E3 will be absent from the convention circuit. A few days before the official cancellation rumors abounded with outlets reporting on the potential cancellation with information anonymous sources and some developers cryptically hinting via Twitter. On March 11th the ESA officially declared the conference canceled and said they would be reaching out to attendees and exhibitors for refunds.

All Overwatch League events occurring in March and April have also been canceled. Initially all Chinese matches had been moved to South Korea, but as the COVID-19 pandemic crossed international borders, the league has moved towards unilateral cancellation. The league makes it clear that it is only the public events themselves are canceled. Game schedules and formats will likely change, but the league promises they will be played in some form.

Sports Games Are Getting Weird to Flatten the Curve

NBA 2k20 is an unexpected victim of COVID-19—specifically, a feature that produces stats for living basketball players using a simulation based on their performance in real basketball games. Following the postponement of all NBA matches in response to the novel coronavirus, these features are starving for data. The lack of data ended up causing the game to crash earlier this week.

It seems the problem is fixed, however, as basketball team Phoenix Suns are using NBA 2k20 to continue playing this season. The Suns are joining a group of sports teams turning to Twitch to keep their fans engaged. Truly it seems none of us are immune to the need for content.

ICYMI

• Sources at Naughty Dog told Kotaku the studio has been in a period of intense crunch to make The Last of Us Part 2.
• Supporting the Nelson & District Women’s Centre can get you a PDF copy of The Quiet Year, and #Feminism, and help empower their community.
• The Uncensored Library Minecraft server hosts banned articles for countries where journalism is censored but Minecraft is not.
• Nvidia has called for gaming PC owners to use their GPUs to help researchers understand COVID-19.
• Pokemon GO is adjusting various mechanics to make the game more accessible from home and make social distancing easier.

Kael Langdon

A genderless eldritch beast bound to mortal flesh. Interests include games, gardening, magical realism, and the complete restructuring of America’s political and economic systems. Frequently orders too much food at restaurants. Tweets @unnnez.