Month: April 2020

As COVID-19 (coronavirus) forces people around the world to stay inside and practice good hygiene, many celebrities are taking it upon themselves to create PSAs asking us to stay safe. While the cast of Watchmen advised us to wash our hands, and the stars of Contagion explained what they learned making the film, Larry David’s new PSA takes a different, far more caustic approach.

In a tweet made by the Office of the Governor of California, Larry David–the co-creator of Seinfeld, and creator and star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm–encourages people to stay indoors and to not give into their worst instincts if they’re idiots.

“I basically want to address the idiots out there, you know who you are,” David opens. “You’re going out–I don’t know what you’re doing, you’re socializing too close, it’s not good, you’re hurting old people like me…well, not like me, I have nothing to do with you. I’ll never see you.”

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Last month, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was released as a part of the roll out of Halo Master Chief Collection on PC. While there isn’t another main title release this month (apart from the Halo 2 beta test), we did get a big developer blog update with everything going on with the re-release of Halo 2: Anniversary for PC as a part of the collection.

On PC, the MCC is an ever-evolving platform, with titles in the franchise being released over time and updates constantly being reworked in conjunction to community feedback.

The Halo 2: Anniversary beta/flight content is going to be packed with an all-new challenge system, customization options, theater mode, and campaign missions all being revamped for the eventual PC release. Those who have opted in for the early access play sessions, and are selected, will be able to play the beta or “flight” editions of the title releases before the full edition release dates. For more on how to opt in to this program check out the community website.

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Death Stranding developer Kojima Productions has sent its developers home to work remotely after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. A March 30 memo from the Japanese developer confirms that the affected staffer was at home since March 20 and had not been in the Kojima Productions office since then.

The developer said it has been working closely with public health officials who informed the studio that because this person did not display symptoms until they were at home, away from the office, the rest of the developers are not labeled as “close contacts.” Therefore, officially, Kojima Productions could stay open. However, the studio has itself decided to close down and shift to a work-from-home setup in the interest of keeping its developers and the community safe.

As such, the Kojima Productions office is now closed. Additionally, the company is sanitizing its office. “Kojima Productions will continue working closely with our public health authorities and enact additional precautions as necessary to prevent further spread in any way possible,” the developer said.

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In March, Halo developer 343 Industries released a gigantic update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The update was 60 GB, which makes it much bigger than some brand-new games. Some people expressed frustration over this. After all, even a blazing-fast internet connection would require quite a while to download such a large update.

The studio has now shared more insight on why that update was so large and what fans can expect in terms of file sizes going forward. Design director Max Szlagor said said in a blog post that the studio is always trying to make file sizes smaller, but it’s not always possible.

“With such a large surface area of game, and the scope of changes that need to be made this can make them rather large,” Szlagor said. “Whenever core game data files are updated, this usually means a larger update. We manage this process very carefully to minimize the amount of times this happens. But it is one of those things that can come up.”

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