FAIRHOPE, AL—Exploiting the popular online game platform for his own perverse ends, local Roblox user Rodney McKinney, 68, was accused of grooming 56-year-old Roblox user Walter Rhodes, sources confirmed Wednesday. “For the past several months, Mr. McKinney, a 68-year-old Roblox user, used the game as a means to foster an inappropriate relationship with an impressionable young 56-year-old that was sexual in nature,” said officer Mike Cavazos, noting several obscene messages in which the baby boomer offered the much younger Gen X user Robux in exchange for lewd images of Rhodes’ flabby, mature body. “It was clear from their correspondence that Mr. McKinney knew the victim was 56, as he stated in chats that he was ‘old enough to be [Rhodes’] supervising manager.’ And though he claimed that messages inviting the victim to move off Roblox to a more private LinkedIn chat were innocent, we believe otherwise.” At press time, authorities claimed McKinney attempted to conceal his indiscretions by warning Rhodes not to “tell your mom, if she’s still alive.”
Photo: The Game Awards / Summer Game Fest / Kotaku (Getty Images), Image: Bungie / Sony, Supergiant Games, Screenshot: Ninja Theory / Claire Jackson / Kotaku
It’s summer, but just because it’s nice out doesn’t mean we stop playing games. It’s almost time for Not-E3/Summer Game Fest, and several major studios are planning showcases and reveals during the upcoming week. We break down what you can expect.
We also help you beat the final boss in Hades 2, and find all of the totems, or lorestangir, in Hellblade 2. You’re welcome.
We bet you’d forgotten about sort-of-Intellivision’s disastrous attempted console, the Amico. Revealed in 2020 as this super-cheap, super-exclusive, family-friendly gaming machine, replete with exclusive $8 games, the following years saw the business go through clusterfuck after clusterfuck. And yet it seems it’s still somehow not dead. There’s an attempt to rejuvenate interest in the wholly undesirable project by releasing an app for your telephones. Not one telephone, no. You need at least two. Oh, and wait until you see the prices. Let us take you through the whole sorry tale.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
The Amico, much like the also-disastrous but at least briefly extant Ouya, is an Android-driven console that was hoping to surf on people’s nostalgia for the late ‘70s Mattel home gaming device. Its initial fundraising effort saw it raise an astonishing $11.5 million. But since then, it’s been one colossal mess after another.
A year after the initial announcement, the Amico’s intended price had increased by 50%, its game prices were up to $20 and no longer exclusive. In the meantime, Intellivision’s former CEO, Tommy Tallarico—who bought the rights to the name Intellivision and its games in 2018—had been very online in increasingly unhelpful ways, including following a range of white supremacists on Twitter.
This non-releasing of a console reached what appeared its nadir in October 2021, when the company tried selling NFTs (remember them?) alongside physical RFIDs of games that didn’t exist for a console that didn’t exist. By this point, those game prices had increased from the proposed $8 to $150 for eight. And you couldn’t play them.
Jump almost a year onward to June 2022 and everything got a whole lot worse. In February, GI.biz reported that the shambling zombie corpse of the once-loved Intellivision brand was in big financial trouble, saying it was going to struggle to make it to July. In June, emails were sent out to those who had pre-ordered the ethereal machine and were increasingly frustrated about the lack of news: in this it was revealed that another attempt at fundraising had gone (not unexpectedly) disastrously, falling short of an attempted $5 million by $4,940,000.
This came with “significant” job losses, attempts to hawk the IP elsewhere, and remarks about how they were struggling to keep up with an “influx” of refund requests.
Since then, both Intellivision and Tallarico have been much more quiet. Neither’s X accounts have updated since April 2022—for the latter, that’s likely an advantage, but for the former it’s not a great look. The official website for the “console” has had one news update since October 2021, which happened in May this year. This took the form of a screed from new CEO, Phil Adam, which instead of saying, “Here’s why we haven’t released the console we pretended to unbox last year,” rather opted for meandering nonsense about being “in the business of creating a living room experience that brings people of various ages together in group play…”
The post went on to claim the imminent announcement of a “string of new partnerships,” once again suggesting they were just about to—any time now—start licensing out the IP. No further information on that has appeared.
Extraordinarily, the post about having still failed to ship a hardware console went on to say, “We cannot solely be dependent on a traditional hardware console business model.” And then as if that weren’t enough, these incredible words appeared:
We want to assure our fans that shipping a console remains a part of our product strategy.
For “fans” one can presumably read, “the few people who haven’t demanded a refund.” It’s hard to imagine anyone among them who wasn’t thrilled to read that getting the thing they’d paid for would remain “part of” the company’s plans.
It’s in this post that Adam first reveals the intention to “bring the Amico experience to other hardware platforms, starting with mobile devices.”
“Amico Home,” he said, “will dramatically reduce the hardware footprint needed to enjoy Amico games.” No shit! Putting out Android games on Android phones sure doesn’t require a whole other console, although does perhaps somewhat fall short on the promise of its bespoke controllers and family-focused living room euphoria. (Although that footprint isn’t as reduced as you might think…)
“Those who supported Intellivision early on,” he said, “helped set the foundation for all that we have been able to achieve.” Sadly he didn’t find room to list exactly what those achievements might be.
What’s Amico Home like to use?
And now we can bring things entirely back to where we started, and an update on the Amico’s fundraising page that appeared on Tuesday, November 22. (Thanks Brandon Sheffield!) Not shared on the official site, nor on social media, Phil Adam brings the news that the mobile app he promised was arriving in “the coming weeks” some six months ago is finally here! Sort of! In beta!
Leap to your non-Apple (for now) electronic telephone and you can now install Amico Home (Early Access) for Android. I just did, and let me tell you, this is one janky piece of crap. Before I could even click on one of the plain-text options, a screen called “TIPS AND TRIVIA – Cool things you might like to know” appeared to inform me that “Amico Home requires a separate controller per player to operate. Use mobile devices running the free Amico Controller app or real Amico controllers.” And then stayed there. Impossible to close.
Because, seriously, to use this you need another Android phone to act as a controller. I swear to God, I did this for you. And to be fair, it hooked the two phones together without even having to ask for permissions or run any setup. (Is that good? I’m really not sure.) However, I cannot tell you how stupid it feels to control the screen on one phone by moving a virtual analogue stick on another phone. Nor how unbelievably frustrating and fiddly those controls are.
Image: Intellivision
According to the update page, a whopping two games are available to play right now, with an eye-watering two more due soon. Yes, that’s four games. Currently available are Astrosmash and Missile Command, which yes, you’re right, are original Intellivision games from 1981 and 1980 respectively, with reworked graphics that look like freeware from around 1998. And of course, both are free to play during this early beta perio… HAHAHA! I was joking! THEY’RE $15 EACH!
Sorry, but that was my limit. I’d take a photograph of how stupid it looked spread across two mobile phones on my desk, but I’m already using two mobile phones so don’t have a camera to hand.
Astonishingly, this increasingly embarrassing attempt to keep their nightmare alive has driven someone to the point of writing these words:
For many households that already have a family tablet, Amico HomeTM is an affordable way to enjoy family gaming entertainment. We are delighted to invite you to join the family gaming revolution today with Amico HomeTM!
This is, to be clear, bullshit. It’s not affordable to create a system where you need to have a tablet and a telephone in order to be able to play a port of a 40-year-old arcade game, and then charge fifteen bucks per game! If you’re a family with a tablet, I’ve good news for you: the Google Play Store has fifty squillion free games you can download and enjoy right now, and you don’t even need to use your toaster and fridge to control them.
(Those who bought into the NFT idiocy will be able to redeem those RFID chips against games for this clumsy app nonsense, you know, when those games are released.)
But there’s good news! According to this rambling update, “The release of Amico HomeTM [sic] puts us on a better footing to attract such investment or to eventually fund manufacturing from the proceeds of Amico HomeTM game sales.”
Oh my god, no. No it won’t. This bewilderingly idiotic two-phone system for playing four-decade-old games at $15 a pop, that isn’t being advertised anywhere outside of an update to the remaining marks who backed the project (who should get the games free anyway), isn’t going to make any money at all. This company has managed to make releasing Android games on Android phones into something unmanageably complicated, expensive and unpleasant. It’s going to be a disaster. As has every other aspect of this years-long debacle.
Oh, you can still “pre-order” an Amico! Incredibly, it’s—um—free to do so. Although when it definitely comes out, it’ll now be $290 with one controller (and presumably a bit empty space on top) or $340 with two. I wouldn’t!
We have, of course, reached out to Amico, and will be delighted to update when they get back to us.
Two weeks ago, hundreds of Roblox players jumped into a custom game that let them take part in a pro-Palestine march. The game, which appeared to have been organized by Malaysian Roblox players, was made in response to the escalating violence in the Middle East. On October 7, the Islamic political and military organization Hamas, attacked, kidnapped, and killed around 1,400 Israeli citizens. Since that day, Israel has reportedly dropped more than 18,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip, the six-mile wide piece of land that is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold
Roblox is a game creation system that allows players to build their own shareable games for others to enjoy online, and the pro-Palestine march gained a lot of attention. People took to social media to share their stories, with one person saying their young cousin attended the virtual march because they were too young to drive to one in-person. Others said this march was a sign that the “kids are alright.” The game featured Palestinian flags and a large, open square with the words “Solitary Untukmu” (Malay for “Solidarity for you”) on one end.
On November 5, an X (formerly Twitter) user named Qaali Husseinshared: “My daughter just told me that all the marches are gone…because they were reported for hate speech and antisemitism,” he wrote. One commenter responded, saying that the two Roblox games they had played that featured pro-Palestinian marches were also gone. “The one in the video got taken down first then the second one got privated,” they allege.
A Roblox spokesperson told Kotaku via email that one of the experiences referenced is “still live” and can be found at this link. However, the spokesperson notes, “the experience is set to private mode, which is a setting that was selected by the creator of the game.” When asked about the reports that additional pro-Palestinian experiences were taken down, the Roblox spokesperson could not confirm nor deny without specific details of the game itself, which I could not find online.
The same person who alleged that one pro-Palestinian game was taken down did receive a warning from Roblox for saying “FREE PALESTINE.” They shared a screenshot of that warning on X, which shows why the warning was issued (“political content”) and what the “offensive item” was (“FREE PALESTINE FREE PALESTINE”), but the moderator note seems somewhat at odds with the current Roblox community standards. The note reads: “Roblox does not permit support for current political candidates, parties, associated flags or symbols.”
However, a spokesperson for Roblox clarified the situation over email, writing that “the phrase ‘Free Palestine’ is compliant with Roblox’s Community Standards and is indeed allowed for use on our platform. It is considered an expression of solidarity as allowed by our Community Standards and is not recognized as prohibited political content.”
It’s not clear why the original poster’s statement was flagged.
Update 11/06/2023 7:00 p.m. ET: Updated story with a new quote from Roblox spokesperson.
In the midst of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine, gamers who can’t attend protests in real life are turning to digital spaces to show their support for those suffering as a result of the conflict. The latest venue? The ultra-popular tween hit Roblox.
The Anime Series With Better Metaverses Than Meta, AKA Facebook
A dramatic increase in regional violence came about after Hamas, the Islamic political and military organization that governs the Gaza Strip, launched an all-out attack against Israel on October 7, kidnapping civilians and killing around 1,400 people. In response, Israel has been ceaselessly raining bombs down upon Gaza, the cordoned-off home to over 2 million Palestinians, nearly half of whom are children. At the time of writing, the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 5,000.
On October 23, an X (formerly Twitter) user shared a post that read “y’all my cousin is 15 and couldn’t join a protest so she just went to one on roblox bro i’m crying.” In the replies, people posted footage of the Roblox protest, which boasted hundreds of players waving Palestinian flags walking down a massive, red brick road lined with more Palestinian flags. The protest ended in a large, open square, with a massive sign depicting a Palestinian flag-colored ribbon emblazoned with the words “Solitary Untukmu” (Malay for “Solidarity for you”). The Singaporean flag can also be seen, both flying high on a flagpole and being held by some of the Roblox player characters.
Roblox is an online game platform and game creation tool with blocky character models and more otherwise rudimentary graphics that encourages players to create their own “games” and then share those codes so that other people can join. It has, quite controversially, courted a rather young playerbase.
In the years since it first launched, Roblox has been accused of profiting off of child gambling, faced the ire of Kim Kardashian after an in-game, player-made experience referenced her sex tape, and been widely debated among parents as to whether or not it’s really a child-friendly game option. But now, someone has created a Roblox game that allows players to attend pro-Palestinian protests. According to the original X poster, their cousin couldn’t drive to a local protest because they are unlicensed, so they instead went to one in Roblox.
The replies to X and TikTok videos of the in-game protest are largely positive, with commenters saying “the kids are alright” and asking for the Roblox code so they can join. A Malaysian streamer who shared a video of themselves attending the protest was live on TikTok while I was working on this piece—when I asked for details in the comments he said that his friend built the game and thanked me for my support.
A spokesperson for Roblox Corporation commented:
We are deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy unfolding in Israel and Gaza, and our hearts go out to those who are impacted in the area or who have loved ones, family and friends in the region. While our Community Standards allow for expressions of solidarity, we do not allow for content that endorses or condones violence, promotes terrorism or hatred against individuals or groups, or calls for supporting a specific political party. We have an expert team of thousands of moderators along with automated detection tools in place to monitor our platform and will take swift action against any content or individuals found to be in violation of our standards. We also encourage anyone to report content or behavior that may not comply with our Community Standards by using our Report Abuse feature.
Interviewing for a job isn’t fun. Today, so many companies make candidates jump through numerous hoops and several interviews just to get a chance to work for them. And now, the company behind the free-to-play online game Robloxis preparing to take the next, horrible step: interviewing people in-game.
The Anime Series With Better Metaverses Than Meta, AKA Facebook
Roblox is a giant online video game/content creation platform that allows players around the world to create and sell their own games and in-game items to others. Millions of players log in every day to play Roblox, though some reports suggest the whole thing might be pretty shady and not a safe place for creators or kids. Now it seems Roblox Corporation wants to use its own massive video game to help find new employees and even host interviews in its corporate metaverse.
On August 10, Roblox revealed its new “Roblox Career Center,” an in-game location created by the company as a way to provide “early career candidates” with a “firsthand” look at what it’s like to be a part of its workforce. The Career Center includes an Innovation Lab where candidates can see what’s coming next for the game, and a Podcast Lounge where you can listen to the company’s Tech Talk show hosted by co-founder & CEO Dave Baszucki. Also included is The Library, which holds a “curated selection of books and other reading materials” that job seekers can look over and read before their interview.
Roblox says its new Career Center will let the company “reach early career candidates across the world” while removing “geographic constraints” from the process. I feel like an email, video call or phone conversation can also remove those kinds of limitations, but okay. What is worse and more nightmarish is the hint, buried in Roblox’s blog post, that it will start interviewing people in the game itself in the future.
“Coming soon, we’ll be inviting candidates to conduct certain initial interviews directly within the experience,” teased Roblox, like a person with a spray bottle threatening a dog. Thankfully, it seems these in-game interviews will initially be “opt-in”, according to Axios.
Why Roblox is using its game to find employees
Roblox says its in-game career center is designed for candidates and applicants who have likely grown up playing Roblox and who will feel comfortable looking for work and interviewing in it.
Look, I get that this might seem like it’s breaking down barriers and letting more people be interviewed by Roblox. Yet, the idea of directly looking for employees from the pool of young people who play your game a lot inside that very game seems a little predatory and very weird.
And as mentioned already, there are already so many pre-existing ways to interview and talk to people around the world. If only one good thing came from the covid pandemic, it’s the realization that many more people can work remotely and more places should support remote work in order to bring more diversity to their workplaces. Instead, what if desperate job seekers might one day be forced to download Roblox or some other awful metaverse, then forced to jump through another hoop in the hopes of finding employment to support themselves and their family? We continue to live in the worst timeline.
![Roblox Players Say Pro-Palestinian Games Are Being Taken Down [Update]](https://reportwire.org/wp-content/uploads/https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200/22498167e49bc80a1958744f8351cff8.jpg)
