From a monthly newsletter published by “CREATE.me” on Substack.
Welcome back to this month’s issue of LVB, where we bring you the best and most nerdy news about games, entertainment media, musicals, movies, and books.
VIDEO GAMES:
The Long Water-Walk presents the harrowing journey of a family of Pacific Island climate refugees as a narrative and choice driven visual novel with survival mechanics. Designed by a team of two Pacific Islanders from Fiji, the game has been lauded for its moving portrayal of the refugee experience but criticised for its overt political messaging by some critics. (GOG Link)
Breaking the Habit, an “interactive audiovisual experience” based on the music video for the song of the same name by Linkin Park, releases to critical acclaim but has been taken down from Steam and itch.io via a DMCA request due to accusations of copyright infringement. (Archive link)
The satirical anti-capitalist first person shooter Corpo Muder Zone 3000 reaches 5000 downloads on Steam. The developers promise that all profits will be donated to charity after development costs have been recouped. (Steam link)
A number of prominent video game publishers (alongside companies like Microsoft) question recent proposed reforms to labour legislation in the EU targeting the use of underpaid workers from the Global South as quality control or customer support. A Microsoft spokesperson argued that the proposed legislation would cut down on hiring from the Global South especially in areas like India, reducing “opportunities for economic advancement” within the region. (Statement from Microsoft EU legislation proposal)