A Plague Tale: Requiem Revealed

Former Sega of America president and Sony Computer Entertainment America founder Bernie Stolar has died at 75. Below is an obituary written by Steven L. Kent, author and gaming journalist, sent to Game Informer for use, in full:  6/22/2022, LOS ANGELES, CA--Bernard “Bernie” Stolar, a former top executive at Atari, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Sega of America, passed away at the age of 76. “Bernie was a low-key guy. He kept his ego in check,” remembers Vince Desi, founder of Running with Scissors. “I’ve known Bernie for a long time, and I’ve never heard him raise his voice. He was a gentleman in an industry where there really aren’t many.”  Stolar’s introduction to the video game business came with the 1981 release of an arcade game called Shark Attack. Created by Pacific Novelty and manufactured by Game Plan—an Illinois-based pinball manufacturer, Shark Attack was a game in which players controlled a white shark as it ate its way through groups of skindivers.  Stolar was given the unenviable task of informing Universal Studios CEO Sid Sheinberg about the project. After released the movie Jaws in 1975, Universal claimed a certain ownership on shark-themed entertainment, and Sheinberg was notorious for suing companies he felt had infringed on his studio’s intellectual properties. (In 1982, Sheinberg would unsuccessfully take Nintendo to court claiming Donkey Kong infringed on his studio’s version of the movie King Kong.)   After negotiating for permission to manufacture 1,000 Shark Attack machines without paying royalties, Stolar built 990 machines and pulled the plug on the project.  Over the next decade, Stolar never strayed far from games. He opened a successful San Francisco arcade called the State Street Arcade then took a job with Atari’s coin-op. division. He was still at Atari in 1984 when deposed Commodore Computers founder Jack Tramiel purchased the company.  Tramiel, a Polish-born Jew who survived a Nazi concentration camp, was well known for his mercurial personality and ruthless business practices. He openly derided any show of weakness, cycled through executives, and alienated almost everybody who worked for him. Despite Tramiel’s reputation as a “boss from hell,” Stolar thrived under his leadership becoming the president of Atari from 1990 through 1993 when he decided to risk his career by taking a job with a relative lightweight in the video game industry named Sony.  Hard as it is to imagine today, Sony Computer Entertainment looked like a longshot in the early 1990s. Sony’s early efforts at publishing games, generally sold under its Imagesoft label, included such forgettable games Super NES, Genesis, and SegaCD as Cliffhanger, Bran Stoker’s Dracula, and the poorly regarded ESPN sports series. Sony’s most notable game. prior to the 1995 PlayStation launch, was a Disney-licensed adventure called Mickey Mania. It was during his three-year tenure as Sony Computer Entertainment America’s executive vice president in charge of business development and third-party relations that Stolar took on a more public persona. Small-time coin-op. manufacturers and arcade owners may fly under the proverbial radar, but both the gaming press and the mainstream media kept a careful watch eye on console manufacturers like Nintendo, Sega, and eventually Sony.  “I met Bernie in 1995,” remembers Rob Dyer, chief operating officer at Capcom U.S.A., Inc. “I was the vice president of international operations (at Crystal Dynamics) doing deals, selling products, and getting Crystal Dynamics products placed with distributors overseas, and Bernie had just started as the head of third-party for PlayStation here in the U.S.”  “Bernie was larger than life. At the time, PlayStation was nothing, but he came in with his larger-than-life attitude that said PlayStation was going to be something. He told us that we needed to make games for Sony.  “We had failed on 3DO. We had failed on Saturn. Then we made it on PlayStation.  “I did a ton of deals with Bernie over the years… especially when I became president of Crystal. He was a mentor of mine.”  A lot of noise has been made about Stolar’s decision not to pursue role-playing games for PlayStation. In truth, Stolar focused on creating the launch lineup that would lure the biggest possible market share away from Sega and Nintendo as quickly as possible. With that in mind, Stolar likely made the right short-term decision.  Despite a few notable exceptions, RPGs were not particularly big sellers in the U.S. market. Stolar elected to concentrate on fighting games and other genres with a bigger following. The six-month exclusive he arranged with Williams for the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat III helped Sony establish an early lead in the U.S. console market.  Stolar’s indifference toward RPGs remains controversial. Critics point to the 1997 release of Final Fantasy VII as proof he was wrong. While FFVII would become the best-selling game of 1997, Sony and Square spent a combined $100 million marketing the game to insure its success.   During Stolar’s tenure at Sony, the company’s marketing budget was focused on launching the PlayStation itself. At the time, Sony didn’t have $100 million to spend on one particular game.  In July, 1996, Stolar replaced famed console warrior Tom Kalinske as the president and COO of Sega of America.  Stolar’s critics have unfairly accused him of killing the Sega Saturn—Sega’s fifth generation game console. In truth, Saturn was ill-conceived from the start. Hard to program and designed to specifically to support arcade ports, Saturn took an early lead over PlayStation in Japan based on the popularity of an arcade port-Sega’s Virtua Fighter.   While Virtua Fighter was a hit in U.S. and European as well, the arcade business was dwindling outside Japan, and western consumers weren’t nearly as excited about game. Sega further alienated retailers and customers alike by quietly launching Saturn in a few select stores five months ahead of schedule with only a handful of games and a price of $399.   By the time Stolar joined Sega, Sony had already knocked Saturn out of the way and was preparing to overwhelm Nintendo. Some of that success came from plans Stolar had put into place such as the Mortal Kombat-exclusive.  When Sega pulled the plug on the Saturn in 1998 and announced new hardware, Stolar worked feverishly to create an aggressive marketing campaign that would cut into Sony’s growing grip on the U.S. market. Under his leadership, Sega teased its new Dreamcast game console, arranged an unprecedented 18-game launch line up, and hired Reebok’s senior vice president of sports marketing, Peter Moore.   “I thank Bernie for my start in this industry, a career that has lasted 20-plus years,” says Moore. “None of that would have happened without Bernie believing in some shoe guy who could take skills for marketing sneakers and use them to market video games.   Asked what impressed him about Stolar, Moore said, “He was feisty, combative for all the right reasons, and wanted to do the right thing all the time for the customer.”  Moore would go on to run Xbox, EA Sports, and Sega of America. In August, 1999, with the Dreamcast launch just one month away, Sega sent Stolar packing and replaced him with Moore. With Stolar’s plans in place and Moore at the helm, the September 9th, 1999 U.S. launch of the Sega Dreamcast’s was an incredible success even though the console itself was doomed from its inception.   Electronic Arts, the most influential game publisher in the United States refused to make games for it. Square refused in Japan. Without the two EA and Square, Sega scrambled to create games that could compete with the likes of Madden NFL and Final Fantasy. Sega couldn’t compete with well-oiled Sony’s hype machine and the public’s fascination with the PlayStation brand. By the time Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft had launched their new systems as well, the market all but forgot about Dreamcast.  As for Stolar, he remained a game industry icon. He ran Mattel Interactive for three years, worked as an advisor for such heavy hitters as Cisco and Golden Gate Capital, and was the interim CEO of a company that marketed digital advertising space in video games called Adscape Media which launched in February 2006. When Google purchased Adscape one year later, Bernie became the net giant’s games evangelist.  “My first impressions of Bernie were that he was arrogant and rude,” recalls Eva Woo Slavitt, who worked with him at Adscape Media and continued working with him after the company was purchased by Google. “Underneath that external persona was a genuinely kind and caring gentleman.  “Bernie was a relationship builder, and I cherish the time that we worked together.”  Stolar remained active in games right up to his death. In 2014, he was named the executive chairman of Zoom Platforms and became a personal mentor for Jordan Freeman, the company’s young founder.  “I shouldn’t have been able to reach a person like Bernie,” remembers Freeman, “but he took my call and asked to look at a business proposal.”  Sherry McKenna, the CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, describes Stolar as gruff, honest, and unfalteringly loyal. Having first met him in the 1970s, McKenna had lost touch with Stolar until she left a successful career in the movie business to co-found Oddworld Inhabitants. “Lorne (co-founder, Lorne Lanning) and I were just starting out at Oddworld Inhabitants and had just moved to new offices in Los Osos (California) when I get this message across my desk that says ‘Vice President of Sony Bernie Stolar.’”  Like Freeman, McKenna phoned Stolar not expecting him to take her call. Instead, he took her call and mentored her, enabling her and Lanning to sign a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America.  “When Bernie believed in you, he absolutely believed in you. There weren’t any questions, he just helped you succeed.” The staff at Game Informer extends their condolences to Stolar's family.  

Nintendo has revealed that a Direct Mini: Partner Showcase is happening tomorrow.  As many have predicted and expected, Nintendo is hosting a Direct tomorrow, but it's not the typical Direct many were hoping to see happen sometime this month to coincide with the rest of the big June gaming showcases. That's because it's a Direct Mini that's also a partner showcase. This means it will be a smaller-scale Direct (see: mini) focused on third-party titles. However, this doesn't necessarily mean we won't see anything from Nintendo's first-party studios because surprises can happen – just don't go in expecting it.  "A new Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase is on the way! Watch on-demand via our YouTube channel beginning Tuesday, June 28 at 6am PT for roughly 25 minutes of info on upcoming third-party Nintendo Switch games."  A new #NintendoDirectMini: Partner Showcase is on the way! Watch on-demand via our YouTube channel beginning Tuesday, June 28 at 6am PT for roughly 25 minutes of info on upcoming third-party #NintendoSwitch games. Subscribe & turn on notifications here: https://t.co/SZA1P3RSHS pic.twitter.com/8hmCJ1p5EX — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 27, 2022 Not much else is known about the direct, and there aren't too many rumors swirling around this partner showcase in regards to specific titles or announcements. Fortunately, we don't have to wait long because we're less than 24 hours away from this Direct Mini.  While waiting for tomorrow, read about how Shigeru Miyamoto initially cringed when he saw the art style of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.  What do you hope to see during tomorrow's Partner Showcase? Let us know in the comments below!

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a beloved game in the long-running Zelda series, but when it was first revealed, the reception was mixed. Some were completely on board, ready for this new take on the franchise, while others weren’t too happy about the visual style of the game. The latter party apparently included Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto.  According to a translation of an old issue of Nintendo Dream Magazine by DidYouKnowGaming, Wind Waker director Eiji Aonuma said Miyamoto “literally cringed” when he first saw the game’s visual style, as reported by Video Games Chronicle.  “If I had gone and talked to him from the very beginning, I think he would’ve said ‘How is that Zelda?'." Aonuma said in the magazine. “Miyamoto had trouble letting go of the realistic Link art style until the very end. “At some point, he had to give a presentation against his will. That’s when he said something to me like, ‘You know, it’s not too late to change course and make a realistic Zelda.'”  Miyamoto is a legend, obviously, but it might’ve been a good thing that Aonuma trusted he and his team’s instinct and continued forward with Wind Waker’s art style – the game’s all the more memorable for it.  For more about Miyamoto, read how he wants to make the world a better place and then check out this story about how the latest Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 (or whatever its sequel ends up being titled) has been delayed out of 2022 and into spring of 2023.   [Source: Video Games Chronicle] What are your thoughts on Wind Waker? Let us know in the comments below!

The Boys is one of the most popular shows on television right now, with Season 3 currently underway. It’s a brutal show, with hilarious satire and multiple wild characters, but it seemingly didn’t hold the interest of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima.  That’s because he quit after watching three episodes of Season 1, but the reason might have to do with more than just interest in the series. In a new series of tweets first spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Kojima has revealed that at one point in the past (likely 2019, which is when the first season of The Boys aired), he was making something similar in concept to The Boys. In fact, he put it on hold because of its similarity.  “The Boys, which I quit after 3 episodes of Season 1. I thought I’d watch the rest of the show. Actually, I watched a few episodes that were delivered at the time when I was about to start a project that I had been warming up for a long time and put on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks). A buddy (male/female) thing with a special detective squad facing off against legendary heroes behind the scenes. I was thinking of Mads as the lead.”  1/2 "THE BOYS," which I quit after 3 episodes of season 1. I thought I'd watch the rest of the show. Actually, I watched a few episodes that were delivered at the time when I was about to start a project that I had been warming up for a long time, pic.twitter.com/UpI00pUIHQ — HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 26, 2022 2/2 and put it on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks). A buddy (male/female) thing with a special detective squad facing off against legendary heroes behind the scenes. I was thinking of Mads as the lead. — HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 26, 2022 As you can see in the tweets above, it seems Kojima was making something (presumably a game but you never know with him) that ended up being too similar to The Boys. However, there are a lot of Kojima and fans of The Boys that really want the director to return to this idea, including Homelander actor Anthony Starr, who replied with “Second that notion” to a tweet from The Boys writer and producer, Eric Kripke, that says “please come make a The Boys game. We can team up and conquer! Huge fan, btw.”  Kojima is currently working on some kind of project for Xbox at the moment, and apparently a sequel to Death Stranding as well, but perhaps after those, he can take another crack at this Boys-like game. Or maybe even make a game for The Boys – one of its stars and its writer are on board with it, at least.  [Source: Video Games Chronicle] Do you want to see Kojima make this game? Let us know in the comments below!

With its approachable gameplay and chess-like complexity, Into the Breach has been an incredible strategy option for PC and Switch owners. With its upcoming Advanced Edition expansion, new content is getting pumped into the mech tactics games where it can already be played. Even better still, mobile versions are landing the same day with the new DLC bolted right in from the start. Subset Games, which also developed the space-faring rogue-lite FTL, is releasing the Advanced edition on July 19. It comes new units, weapons, pilots, abilities, and more. For expert players, there will be a more challenging difficulty mode to contend with, along with new bosses and enemies to learn to defeat efficiently and effectively. Here are some bullet points of what to expect in Into the Breach's Advanced Edition Update: Five new mech squads Nearly 40 new weapons Four new pilots and new pilot abilities New enemies, bosses, and missions More challenging difficulty mode Seven new languages New music from Ben Prunty Into the Breach will be making its mobile device debut on July 19 as well, but these editions are only available for Netflix subscribers. Subset Games promises there are no ads or in-app purchases involved with the mobile app. All you need to access it is to be a Netflix subscriber, and the game is free to access on your iOS and Android device. These versions include a revised touch interface designed to function better on a smaller screen like a cell phone. For those who like to collect, Into the Breach is going to have a physical edition on Switch courtesy of Fangamer. Preorders are live now, and the boxed copy will be released later this year. This tactile copy of Into the Breach will include the Advanced Edition content listed above but will also come with other physical goodies like a poster, inside cover box art, an instruction manual, and sticker sheets.