Husband. Father. IGN UK News Editor. Former Eurogamer editor. Chelsea, Street Fighter and journalism. wesley_yinpoole
@ign
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This is absolutely terrible. Permission to be human : to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.
I’m thrilled to announce I’ve joined IGN as UK News Editor! I'm working with a world class news team led by the brilliant
@The_Katbot
. IGN has done some fantastic reporting in recent years, and I’m really excited to get stuck in
Some personal news: after 13 wonderful years, today is my last day at Eurogamer / Gamer Network / ReedPop. I have a brief break to spend some time with my family before embarking on a new adventure I’m extremely excited about. More on that soon!
I wrote a huge, oral history of Perfect Dark for the game's 20 year anniversary.
Martin Hollis! Dr. Doak! Ken Lobb! Mark Edmonds! Brett Jones and more!
They’re all here, speaking candidly about the making of an against-all-odds masterpiece:
10 years at Eurogamer. I've had some fantastic moments with this team and made the best of friends. Proud of my work over the last decade, but I'm most excited about the work we continue to do and what's next ❤️
SCOOP: EA is set to make a big change to its controversial money-spinner FIFA 21 at a time of increased scrutiny around the impact of Ultimate Team on children
Sony making the trial timer start as soon you hit download is one of the most braindead video game company decisions I've seen in a long time. Why not just have the time expire during gameplay, like, you know, every other trial? There's a workaround, but how many will see it?
Still amazes me that Sony has found itself with the console exclusive on Baldur's Gate 3, one of the biggest games of the year, without lifting a finger
I've spent the past month or so digging into Starbreeze's dramatic collapse. How did it all go wrong so quickly? This feature is an attempt to find out.
I've been working on getting this interview for ages, and is afaik the first time in recent years an EA exec has been directly challenged on FIFA's loot boxes. Fair play to EA for stepping up for an interview with me on this topic, which I obviously have strong feelings about
A day after the credibility of our profession takes a huge knock with the IGN plagiarism disaster, Kotaku publishes an investigation of the highest order. For all the cynicism and ethics in game journalism crap, we truly are in the golden age of video game journalism
Alright, I’m done. DONE.
I deleted my kids’ Roblox accounts, and recommend you guys do too.
I just spent six hours playing the games meant for 5-year-olds and it was freaking awful.
Something is very wrong with Roblox Corp.
Screenshots/video to follow.
What IGN is hearing from inside Creative Assembly this morning: the entire Hyenas studio now faces redundancy, but staff expect massive cuts across the company
Feel a bit uncomfortable with people encouraging their followers to attack journalists for reporting on plans that were perhaps accurate at the time but changed. Game journalism certainly has issues. This isn't the answer
This is a bad look for both Capcom and Microsoft. Reinforces the growing feeling that Xbox consoles aren't worth investing in because they might not get some super cool multiplatform releases
One of the key marketing messages for Starfield is that it includes over 1000 planets to explore. Now, one player has actually surveyed them all. How did they go about it? And do they think Starfield nails exploration? I had a chat with them to find out:
As a fat man, fat mockery in video games has always depressed me (The Duke from Resident Evil, etc). God of War's Thor delights me. Thank you, Santa Monica Studio
All this EA hate over Star Wars and Anthem / BioWare whatever and the real bad thing they’re doing is happening in FIFA, which still goes criminally under reported.
I’ve been banging this drum for a few years now. Ultimate Team is pay to win at its core, includes ethically dubious promotions, is built on loot boxes and, worse of all, normalises gambling in a game millions of young people play.
As part of my new role I'll be working on
@eurogamer
of course, but also supporting
@digitalfoundry
and leading news reporting across our entire network of websites. I'll get to work on developing our incredible teams of journalists, mentoring and celebrating the great work we do
This is a fantastic and sobering analysis of the game industry: "The result is clear and unavoidable: there will be many, many gaming companies closures over the next two years — unable to raise capital and thus complete the games they’ve begun (and probably budgeted too high)."
NEW: The Tremendous yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024
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If you’re a player or casual observer, the video game industry seems to have it all. Yet growth is now illusory, layoffs abundant, and game/studio shutdowns common. Why? How might things change?
Just a quick note on how BBC News verifies deaths in order to report them
Yesterday I was assigned the death of online star Lil Tay
A statement on her Instagram page said she, along with her brother, had died
I contacted her management to double check it was true
Tim Sweeney: "It proves not that the Epic Store is awesome - it's that games come first, and that a great game will succeed wherever it's sold. It proves that developers have the real power in the industry, and that where developers go customers will go with them."
An "insider" has leaked internal FIFA 21 marketing documents that reveal the push towards Ultimate Team. I don't think this is any surprise. More interesting is putting EA's response under scrutiny. I had a go at doing just that
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
People are saying this tweet spoils Village because it has a screenshot of the boss fight in question. Except it doesn't have a screenshot of the game. It's an image from the film, which, I guess, says something about the similarities between the two monsters
Under increasing pressure from governments, children's welfare groups and gambling charities, EA has today added the ability to see what's inside FIFA loot boxes before you buy them. My story:
Staff were told the news this morning at the same time Sega issued its statement. The cancellation of Hyenas so close to release came as a surprise to staff, although internally there was concern the game would fail to do well
Street Fighter 6 rights the wrongs of its predecessor while dragging the famous fighting game franchise kicking and screaming into the modern era.
Our review:
Fast, exhilarating start to life at IGN. Everyone's been so welcoming and helpful. And there's a wonderful, energy to news here that's got me excited for the future. Tonight though, a little breather with my family. South coast always the perfect place for a refresh
I'm so proud of the Eurogamer team, and the promotions are all so, so deserved
@tomphillipsEG
,
@Crazyreyn
,
@Stormscribe
and
@ChrisTapsell
are world class talent and the best at what they do. I'm really really excited for the site in 2022 and beyond!
Gearbox's statement also takes credit for Troy Baker's success.
"We also believe strongly in hiring local voice actors whenever we can which is why we're thrilled Troy's career really took off after working with us."
Why are they like this?
More people play FIFA than EA’s Star Wars games and BioWare’s games combined. It’s a game for everyone, which means it’s a game for children. If you’re looking for an actual EA bad story, it’s right there.
Going through old photos and found pictures of GAME in Barnsley early summer 2003. Worked there through university, and can still smell the shrink wrap machine. Picture quality obviously crap, and struggling to make out some of the games. First Splinter Cell is top of the chart!
Halo Infinite's gameplay debut showscases an open world and dynamic lighting at 4K/60 fps. So why is the internet talking about "flat" graphics? In this video I look at the technical reason behind that, technical lighting design, and much more. Enjoy!
Larian tells IGN why it won't put Baldur's Gate 3 on Game Pass: "We made a big game, so I think there's a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay"
YouTube live chat on this Microsoft thing is disgusting. Game companies should just turn chat off for these things if they're not going to moderate them
Finished The Artful Escape last night. Lovely, perfectly-paced experience with fantastic music. Was lost in it from start to finish! Well worth a shot via Game Pass if you've got it. Here's my Francis Vendetti
Had an extremely normal taxi ride home last night. Bad vibes when the driver said he'd prefer I pay in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency I'd never heard of rather than card. He said, 'you don't have bitcoin?' as if I was weird for not being able to pay him with it. Odd start