Ubisoft to raise awareness for climate change by burning in-game maps

By Cristina Alexander July 1, 2022

As part of the United Nations’ Playing for the Planet initiative, Ubisoft has announced it will host in-game events in Riders Republic and Skull and Bones to raise awareness for climate change.

In Riders Republic, it will teach players the consequences of wildfires by setting the outskirts of the game map on fire. Ubisoft won’t announce when exactly that will happen. Instead, when booting the game, players will be greeted by an orange sky, their avatar equipped with a gas mask by default, and parts of the map being closed off due to nearby wildfires rendering them unbreathable. In other words, they’ll be immediately immersed in a wildfire in order for Ubisoft to point out how quickly wildfires ignite and spread without warning.

Players will be tasked with participating in collaborative activities to reduce the risk of wildfires across Sequoia National Park by identifying the most fragile and flammable areas of the forest using photo mode and protecting the Sequoias by various methods, such as placing aluminum foil on tree trunks and “cleaning” the forest path. The event will take place sometime between the end of 2022 and early 2023, but Ubisoft won’t say exactly when.

Skull and Bones, which curiously doesn’t have a release date yet, will have a few environmental awareness events too. As the themes of the game are piracy and naval warfare, the first event will address resource exploitation — specifically, the overfishing of sharks as a result of the high demand for shark fins.

Ubisoft said it will be one of the first seasonal live events in Skull and Bones, with players being encouraged to participate in community challenges and earning rewards depending on the turnout. Once the event is over, the company said it will work with marine conservation NGOs for other environmental awareness events.

Ubisoft’s environmental campaign announcements come on the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling saying the Clear Air Act doesn’t give the EPA broad authority to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

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Cristina Alexander

Gaming/Mobile Writer

Cristina Alexander has been writing since 2014, from opining about pop culture on her personal blog in college to reporting…

Gaming

One year later, Marvel Snap is my favorite mobile game of all time

Marvel Snap card list.

One year ago today, I gained access to the closed beta for an intriguing mobile collectible card game called Marvel Snap. I’d flirted with collectible card games (CCGs) like it before, but had dropped off titles like Hearthstone and Legends of Runeterra due to problems with their structure, monetization, and complexity. Within a few matches of Marvel Snap, I saw how disruptive it was into the CCG genre, circumventing many of my problems with it. I’ve been hooked ever since.
In the year since I first played Marvel Snap, rarely does a day go by where I don’t log in. On the first anniversary of its beta, I’m confident enough in the game to declare that it has become not only my preferred CCG to play, but my favorite mobile game of all time.
Why Marvel Snap stands out
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That’s even the case if you’re using the same deck for a while. For quite a long time, I was using a Patriot and Mystique deck that powered up cards with no abilities. As developer Second Dinner continued to introduce new cards, I started to experiment with different types of decks, like a Morbius/M.O.D.O.K. discard-focused deck, a Collector/Devil Dinosaur one where the goal is to get as many cards into my hand as possible, and most recently, a High Evolutionary/Hazmat setup that unlocks the secret abilities of some cards and greatly debuffs the enemy.
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Ever since the GTA franchise became what it is today with Grand Theft Auto 3, Rockstar has packed their worlds full of colorful and rich characters. While we've only been able to control male characters up until now (though that is set to change if the GTA 6 rumors are true), they have all had distinct and interesting personalities and stories. That said, sometimes it's the side characters that can steal the show too. Looking back at the entire series, we've come up with our picks for the best GTA characters of all time.
Carl 'CJ' Johnson -- GTA: San Andreas

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Tommy Vercetti -- GTA: Vice City

Gaming

Alan Wake 2: release date, trailers, gameplay, preorder, and more

Alan Wake.

The original Alan Wake is a game that went through quite a troubled development before it was finally released. After many iterations and changes in scope and direction, the final product was initially a cult hit but didn't hit the mass market it needed -- at least not initially. After two DLC episodes, a sequel was in the works to build upon the first game and revive some of the elements that had to be cut from the first in order for it to ship, but this was ultimately not meant to be. The sequel was canceled and a smaller downloadable game, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, was released instead.

Since then, we hadn't heard from our intrepid writer until he showed up in a very unlikely place. Featured in the AWE expansion for a completely different game, Control, Alan was back in the picture. With a remaster of the initial game catching everyone up on his first appearance, now was the perfect time to announce that the long-awaited sequel was back in development. We haven't found all the manuscript pages yet, but here is everything we know about Alan Wake 2.
Release date