I am here with a post and well, the spire crumbled, the moon is made of cheese and Outworld has officially frozen over. Before I talk about what happened recently, I want to talk about one thing that I have enjoyed.
The Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls Open Beta became a blast. I even came up with a team that consists of Magik, Star-Lord, Ms. Marvel and Green Goblin and that's gonna be my initial team for when the full game launches. But it's probably gonna be on PC since not only PlayStation is ending discs for games that release in 2028 in a way to shift to an all-digital format, but not for games that release prior to 2028. PlayStation Plus is a bit more expensive now. That driven me to get the PC version since PC versions offer free online multiplayer and true ownership rather than revocable licenses. In fact, Valve has no monopoly at all. However, the PC version has some gameplay and performance issues during the Open Beta like the stuttering in logos.
The funny thing about this is that I made Magik the leader of my team because she is a combination of Es from Xblaze and BlazBlue, and Annie from Skullgirls. Seems like an uncanny creation, don't you think? I mean, there's no evidence of that.
Then when I was playing the Marvel Tokon Open Beta, I have came across something that shocked me. This is in regards to the situation in Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, an Aquapazza-like fighting game that is developed by Gameplay Group International. You might know that they are the same developers that made Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age. The PS5 and Steam versions are available to play, but the Switch 2 and Xbox versions are coming later. The Switch 2 version will release later on this year with the Standard Edition only. For the Xbox side of things, it has been delayed to September 3 due to unforseen circumstances.
Avatar Legends became the source of scrutiny earlier this month when Paramount Games confirmed that they found someone who is accused in the past working at Gameplay Group International as an individual contributor. Guess who Paramount found. Mike Zaimont. That is ridiculous. There's no way an accused individual like Mike Zaimont would have a future in the game industry after he destroyed Lab Zero with his refusal to leave the company, right? Well, I decided to go even deeper.
Lab Zero Games posted a joint statement saying that Mariel Cartwright, Francesca Esquenazi and Mike Zaimont have agreed to resolve the lawsuit relating to the events at Lab Zero in 2020. The lawsuit was aborted and Mike remains passionate about game development and looks forward to continuing to create new games and contribute to the community through Lab Zero. I just can't wrap my head around this! I thought Mike Zaimont is not supposed to have a future in the game industry! Not especially since he sexually harassed his fellow employees. But how is that even possible?! There is one person who is responsible of this. That person is Christine Christina Seeyle. What did she do? Let's get to something juicy.
Back in 2023, three years after Mike was accused of sexual harassment, Seeyle was pressed by PC Gamer about his work on Diesel Legacy. Do you know what Seeyle has done? She approved Mike Zaimont's continued involvement in the game industry and his employment and defended her decision, acknowledging the validity of past allegations and went on to say that he "wanted the opportunity to have the redemptive arc that's in so many stories they love." I just can't believe this... I just can't... Can you excuse my G-rated rant because there are a few words to express how shocked I am about this.
During the One More Once stream in 2020, Mike Zaimont has made an "I can't breathe" joke following the death of George Floyd and people has uninstalled Skullgirls in making calls to get it off Evo, until he apologized about making a much too soon joke. I understand what he meant by much too soon because he should've waited until the stream is over before making that sadistic joke. Then he sexually harassed the two gamer girls. But I don't want to put a slant on them because sexually harassing those who are not a part of the game industry is something I understand. Then he did that to his fellow employees! That caused his fellow employees to leave Lab Zero and establish Future Club in September. That's how extra stuff were scrapped for Indivisible.
Then Hidden Variable made a statement saying that they are no longer be working with Lab Zero Games and they plan to work with people who left Lab Zero to bring future Skullgirls content for years to come. In fact, Skullgirls stays alive because of the fact that a publisher like Autumn Games is the holder of the Skullgirls IP, which is a safe method. And despite the allegations, Mike Zaimont was involved in the development of the rollback netcode patch for Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus and was suspended from it.
Three years later, do you know what happened? Christine Christina Seeyle given that blasted dirtbag a second chance in the game industry for redemption and defended her decision to do so! No wonder he is involved and employed in the development of Avatar Legends! How dare she use a redemption stick on a person who was accused of sexual harassment in the past! She should know that those who are accused of sexual harassment and destroyed the company SHOULD NOT be given a second chance at the game industry, period! This is bull! I can't believe this! That woman defended her decision to give a garbage person a second chance in the industry, like we're gonna forget about the part where he sexually harassed his fellow employees at Lab Zero? This is some messed up garbage fest right there!
You can compare and contrast the part where Mike Zaimont sexually harassed his fellow employees and the part where Joey Cuellar, former Evo president, was exposed a pedophile after he paid young boys tokens to take off their clothes and jump in water hazard pools in the miniature golf joint and Mikey $20 to show his... donkey in the restroom. Hearing Mikey's allegations made players and supporters to withdraw from Evo Online in solidarity with those who has spoken out against abuse, like MANE6, NetherRealm Studios, Capcom and Bandai Namco. It shows that pedophiles are way worse than those who conducted sexual harassment towards their fellow employees since pedophiles don't deserve a second chance that they are more dangerous. Oh yeah! Joey Cuellar is way worse than Mike Zaimont!
I can't believe Seeyle defended her decision to give an accused individual like Mike Zaimont a second chance despite allegations of sexual harassment! It was a horrible move to make! I just don't understand why Seeyle given the sexual harasser a second chance in the game industry. This is the unforseen circumstances Gameplay Group International was referring to. People are returning this game and the game's Xbox release had to be delayed just hours before release because they found out that Mike Zaimont, of all people, is involved in the development of Avatar Legends. They are not playing this game on his behalf. Not even me.
Seriously, how could she defend her decision to give that garbage person a second chance in the game industry after being pressed by PC Gamer? I know he didn't abuse a single minor like Joey Cuellar did, but still. Where is her freaking honor? I mean, there are a lot of people who are never ousted from the industry like Isaiah Turner, Tom Cannon, Seth Killian and any of the other treasure trove of virtuous individuals that never sexually harassed anyone, but she turned around and employed that dirtbag like Mike Zaimont to work on Diesel Legacy? God!
I gotta calm down because that part I came across got me mad. I am basically passionate about this situation. Seeyle is responsible of giving Michael Zaimont a second chance and defending her decision. People are returning this game and/or not playing it on his behalf. I refuse to support that dirtbag. I don't care he is not as bad as Joey Cuellar. However, I do have a scintilla of interest in getting Avatar Legends. It's three reasons.
One is because of being an Aquapazza-like fighting game. I played Aquapazza before. It was a really niche game for the PS3 with characters from the Aquaplus visual novels and I loved it. Avatar Legends became an Aquapazza-like fighting game in terms of gameplay and selecting playable and assist characters.
The second reason is an opportunity to play this game on the behalf of people who are never accused. Since this game is making a first appearance on Evo France like Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is, they will be playing it there, but not on Mike's behalf.
The third reason is to add this game and Marvel Tokon to my streaming arsenal with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and 2XKO. I am investing in an Ethernet cord to provide a lagless online experience so that I can play my matches well in these games without experiencing any lag with the exception of the lag from the ISP. See, I realized why I kept on experiencing the error screen in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds because I was using Wi-Fi and investing in an Ethernet cord remedies that. I didn't sign up for the Avatar Legends Closed Beta, but I did sign up for the Marvel Tokon Betas. The Open Beta was a blast that I even get to have my team of Magik, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord and Green Goblin.
The point is... *sigh* they need to understand that those who are alleged of sexual harassment and killed the studio should not be redeemed. When I said that if a player like... I don't know... Hikari could win back to back Evo titles in a row, then anything was possible, I didn't mean Mike Zaimont showing his face in the game industry again, which he shouldn't. Not after he killed Indivisible with his refusal to leave Lab Zero that made everyone left to form Future Club.
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