Activision Blizzard had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2018 despite reporting record profits. Sadly, 2019 is not shaping up to be better. Almost every move Activision Blizzard made in 2018 was a misstep. To sum up the damage:

• BlizzCon 2018, reveals a beloved franchise, Diablo is going mobile with Diablo: Immortal, causing outrage and a petition signed by 45,000 to cancel the project

• August 2018, released latest World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth, widely held as a step backwards from Legion.

The highly anticipated teen Netflix series out of Columbia attempts to tell an exciting story of romance between a beautiful slave girl and her wealthy Spanish-American slave-owner. We’re going to need a glass of wine for this.

By now, anyone who has ever been a fan of DC Comics is aware that early Wonder Woman comics had some bondage themes. This was largely, in part, due to William Marston’s BDSM and polyamory lifestyle.

BDSM has been practiced in various forms since ancient times. One of the earliest known references to the practice of bondage is The Tomb of Whipping near Tarquinia in Italy. The tomb’s walls depict scenes, said to have been influenced by followers of the Greek god Dionysus.

Elvine was just one among 169 people arrested “during an 11-day investigation into human trafficking throughout metro Atlanta leading up to the Super Bowl.” The goal of investigations such as Operation Interception is to, “rescue any children or young adults.” Elvine was charged with using a computer service (the Whisper app) to seduce, solicit, lure or entice a child to commit an illegal act, which is a felony offense.

We gamers are humans and many, if not most, are sexual beings (we love our Ace friends, though).

But the inaccurate info from guys in a World of Warcraft trade chat let us know just how much our male counterparts need to learn about sex and the female body. What’s sad is that these same guys will also make the most sexist and ignorant remarks. But that’s a topic for another day. Right now, we just want to our nerdy guy friends, young and old, learn something about our bodies and dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about sex. So let’s start from the beginning, shall we.

Green Man Gaming is offering a 16% Discount on Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 pre-purchase.

Elvine and 20 others were arrested in an undercover Super Bowl sex-crimes operation.

 The Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted an undercover investigation ending in the arrest of 21 people over five days for child pornography and sex trafficking crimes. The GBI issued a press release.

Since its release in 2016, Blizzard Entertainment’s critically acclaimed Overwatch has only increased in popularity, even as its embattled parent company Activision shifts its focus to mobile gaming.

Blizzard is known for creating the immersive, addictive epic MMO World of Warcraft as well as the cult favorite RPG, Diablo and the digital card game Hearthstone. But in 2016 Blizzard took a risk in venturing into first-person shooter territory with the release of Overwatch, the FPS with some MOBA tendencies.

World of Warcraft’s in-game cinematic director, Terran Gregory writes a heart-wrenching good-bye to a very dear friend and close work colleague, being careful not to reveal the person’s name.

People flocked to streaming services because of the exorbitant pricing of bundled cable and satellite television services. These bundles forced consumers to pay upwards of one-hundred dollars for 5-10 channels that they actually watch because services bundled those handful of channels to only be purchased with the addition of 200+ other channels. Not only that, but Netflix offered consumers convenience. Soon, other streaming services followed suit and illegal downloads fell. So what happened?

Just before Christmas, Ellie was signed to Overwatch minor leagues, Overwatch Contenders with Second Wind. After receiving threats of doxxing, Ellie stepped down from the league after only 11 days.

On December 21, a professional female gamer, Ellie, tried out for Overwatch Contenders and made the league. Three days later, Ellie tweeted “screenshots that had been passed to her showing a coordinated effort in a Discord room to doxx her.”

What does this mean for Blizzard’s falling numbers?

On December 31, 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that Chief Financial Officer, Spencer Neumann had been placed on paid leave and intended to terminate his contract if he could not demonstrate why he should keep his job. Although Activision Blizzard says Neumann’s termination had nothing to do with falling declining share value, he was replaced with Activision Blizzard veteran Dennis Durkin.

For a very limited time, you can get BioShock: The Collection for only $12.59 from Fanatical.

Ken Levine’s BioShock is arguably one of the best game series of all time. ALL TIME. Irrational Games released the first game in the bizarre first-person shooter in 2007. BioShock was set in 1960s but actually took place in an underwater metropolis called Rapture built in the 1940s by Andrew Ryan in an attempt to escape the tyranny of government. While Jack, the protagonist, is tasked to stop Ryan, he must fend off hideous creatures such as Big Daddies who were accompanied by creepy little children called Little Sisters. Little Sisters harvest the bodies of corpses and how the game ends depends on how you interact with the Little Sisters.

The adult film industry has always been operated by and catered to White men. Thems the facts, Jack.

Let’s face it. Porn for women is nothing new. Neither are female filmmakers in the porn industry. But there’s still something left to be desired. For some reason, filmmakers think that porn for women equals girl on girl or some super mushy, boring sex scene. Filmmakers like Erika Lust and Shine Louise Houston are taking a different approach, creating adult indie films that are diverse and hot.

Representation of women superheroes in starring roles is finally catching on. Now, let’s turn our attention to Black female superheroes.

Disclaimer: I originally wrote this for a now defunct publication

Most superheros on the big screen and on television are either male or white. And that's cool. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (except for Iron Fist. He whines too much). But let's be honest. We ALL know most of the time it's the women kicking just as much, if not more ass than the male protagonist.

6 Gift Ideas (minus all the t-shirts)

The holidays are fast approaching people! I know this can be a stressful time and that none of us want to be caught running to CVS or Walmart to buy a last minute gift of a frying pan and a bag of chips. I myself have been a victim of that last minute purchase, and the reason? “I didn’t know what to get you.”

On the morning of Novembr 12, 2018, Stan Lee passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, a family representative told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 95.

Born December 28, 1922, Stan Lee was a real-life superhero, beginning his career in 1939. His revolutionary method of creation, dubbed “The Marvel Method” allowed Lee to transform the comicbook world with character depth that had yet to be seen.

At Blizzcon 2018, Blizzard unveiled a new Overwatch hero that no one knew they were even working on. Ashe, who leads the Deadlock Gang, is typical of the Western cowgirl villain. Ashe looks to be a fun hero to play who will likely be able to counter Pharah, Widow and Genji. Cool.

Tom Chilton headed Blizzard’s World of Warcraft for 13 years. For two years, he’s been leading a super secret project that is drastically different from anything Blizzard has ever done.

Speaking with GamesBeat, J. Allen Brack, Blizzard Entertainment’s new president, told Dean Takahashi that Chilton is working on a passion project. From the sounds of it, this project has been in the works for a very long time. “He and I started up a new project that was not something like Blizzard has ever done before.”