Another day, another cruise through the news in an attempt to bring you the most interesting topics!

Let's dive right in!

US Army Esports Team

It seems that the US army has hit quite the slump in recruitment. It isn't hard to see why, with the state of the country and the recent war.

A Staff Sergent decided that the best way to be relatable and to reach the youth... is to get involved in the world of eSports. Fortnite, to be specific. I am not quite sure what makes the army think an eSports team that gets no winnings or higher pay than any of the other soldiers would be enticing to their target audience. Chances are, most would rather attempt to audition for a normal team without the possibility of being literally killed in action.

It is a bit a transparent move that most kids are going to have no issue seeing right through. It's an attempt to be hip and to make the army seem "fun".

As to if this will bring in new recruits, time will tell. But I am betting on a solid no.

Breakthrough for Blind Gamers

Not too long ago I talked about accessibility to games for the hard of hearing and why proper subtitling was so important for player inclusion.

Well, gaming heads have been made aware that there is a whole audience of people that not only are they missing out marketing to but that they are kind of excluding. They were made aware of forums that listed games that were friendly for the visually impaired, like Need for Speed which has audio clues.

Since this discovery game developers are focusing on perfecting Racing Auditory Display, or RAD, which let's blind players know when obstacles or curves in the road are coming. Also, the sound mimics a gearbox giving them a sense of speed!

In some tests, the blind players actually played better than those that could see!

If the RAD is more developed there is no reason that more complex auditory cues could be used for a myriad of other games and possibly even eSports competitions!

It would certainly take a lot more skill!

Blockchain Game for PS4

For the first time ever, Sony has approved a video game for release on their consoles that has it's own internal blockchain driven market.

The Ethereum based game, Plague Hunters, will be a turn-based RPG that is free to play! (But of course, there are going to be plenty of extras that might cost you a penny or two if you absolutely must have them)

The teaser trailer reminds me a bit of the Warhammer Videos "If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device". Of course, it is probably just very poppy and quirky marketing on their part and I expect the gameplay to look significantly different.

Here is the trailer:

Plague Hunters is estimated to drop on PS4 by March of 2019, and if you aren't Playstation type, there are also plans for it to come to PC and Switch!

This will certainly open the door for many other Crypto games to come flooding in!

Is any of this news to you? Let me know in the comments!

Stay tuned for more similar content and e-sports!!

Have a fantastic day,

@SammoSK