The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined three video game companies, including heavy-hitters Nexon and Netmarble, for employing deceptive loot box practices. 

As reported by The Korea Herald, Nexon Korea — the publisher behind Lawbreakers, MapleStory, and the Korean version of Counter Strike — was hit with a $882,700 penalty and a $5,200 fine, the biggest among the three. 

Star Wars: Force Arena and Marvel: Future Fight publisher Netmarble was handed a $42,300 penalty and $14,100 fine, while Destiny Child creator NextFloor received a fine $4,700. 

All three have been asked to review and reform their monetization practices, with the Korean FTC specifically taking issue with way randomized loot crates are being promoted.

Indeed, the commission believes the offending outfits have been employing ads that display incorrect or misleading odds for loot crate drops.

For instance, it claims Nexon’s promotion campaign implied all loot crate drops had an even chance of dropping, when in reality the odds of receiving certain items were as low as 0.5 percent. Nexon has since spoken out against the decision, claiming the FTC misinterpreted the wording of its ad campaign. 

“In our puzzle event, we used the phrase ‘random provision’ to suggest the items would be provided at random, and that the odds of obtaining each puzzle piece were different,” said the company. “However, the FTC interpreted the phrase as suggesting equal odds. We plan to work on obtaining an additional review of this issue in the future.”

The Korean FTC isn’t the first organization to take issue with the use of loot boxes. Politicians and officials from around the world have been reviewing the “predatory” monetization method, with some calling for the controversial mechanic to be banned outright. 

Last month we debuted our first episode of Inside Xbox, our monthly premiere Xbox broadcast show. We shared news, such as support for Freesync displays in the upcoming Xbox Spring Update, went behind-the-scenes with our friends at Rare to celebrate the launch of Sea of Thieves, enjoyed an update on all things PUBG, watched the internet enjoy a healthy laugh at Major Nelson’s white-glove treatment of our giveaways, and even created an impromptu Twitter Moment thanks to Seamus Blackley and the Hyperkin Duke controller, plus much more.

We had a blast, and we hope you did too, but more importantly, we learned a lot from what you enjoyed in the show and what you’d like to see more of in the future. Don’t forget to use #insidexbox to not only participate in the show but to send us your questions and feedback as well. We’re always listening.

We are pleased to announce that the next episode of Inside Xbox will air Tuesday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m. PDT / 6:30 p.m EDT, and while we can’t reveal all our goodies just yet, we hope the video above will whet your Xbox appetite.

One of our most common requests is for Original Xbox Backward Compatibility news, and we’ll be starting off the show with a big update on just that.

Stay tuned next Monday for a full breakdown of the news and content you can expect on Inside Xbox. Mostly full that is, as we reserve the right to keep a moment or two fully under wraps for a proper surprise. We look forward to seeing you on Mixer.com/xbox, Twitch.tv/xbox, YouTube.com/xbox, Facebook.com/xbox, and Twitter.com/xbox as we celebrate another great month in the world of gaming and look ahead at some exciting new games and announcements.

Once upon a time the FMV was all the rage in video games, especially back on PC in the ’90s. Well, it’s having something of a comeback on Switch. First, there’s the recently released The Bunker, and now Japanese handheld owners are getting another live-action romp in the form of horror outing, Closed Nightmare.

Mixing live-action sequences, exploration and other in-game challenges, the game follows the unfortunate journey of a kidnapped woman attempting to escape a gruesome experiment. Heroine/victim Maria Kamishiro also has her left arm paralyzed, although we don’t know how that will affect gameplay (if at all) just yet.

It’s due to hit Nintendo Switch in Japan on 19th July. No news yet on a western version. So what do you make of this unusual offering? Do live-action segments still have a place in modern gaming? Have your say below… 

Indie developer Eric Barone, the man behind studio ConcernedApe and hit farming simulator Stardew Valley, has just offered a new update on the game’s upcoming multiplayer mode. In a post on Twitter, Barone confirmed he’s, “still making good progress on fixing bugs,” and that, “if all goes well it should be ready in about a month.”

Barone revealed the mode back in January, also confirming that the co-operative feature was now his sole focus. Fingers crossed all that hard work means you and your friends can farm together once more in (potentially) only four weeks time. We still love a bit of Stardew Valley here at Nintendo Life so we’re all for teaming up with some mates to tend the soil.

Question is, what do you think of this upcoming Stardew Valley addition? Will it tempt you back, keep you playing even longer or not interest you at all? Comments at the ready!

THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’97 GLOBAL MATCH is Now Available on Steam!

KOF ’97 is the final entry in the Orochi Saga, the original storyline of the KOF series, which is still played by enthusiastic fans around the world. KOF ’97 makes a return with new features such as online matchmaking, a new gallery mode, and custom menu BGM settings!

You’ve already seen the header image. Do we even need to say anything else?

A full changelog for the Snapshot can be found on Minecraft.net.

• New entity: Dolphins
• New block: Conduit
• New block: Blue Ice
• New item: Heart of the Sea
• New item: Nautilus Shell
• Icebergs now generate in frozen oceans
• You no longer have “night vision” effect underwater
• Water now has different colours based on the biome
• New video option: Biome blend distance
• Going in and out of swimming should now feel smoother
• You can now swim through 1×1 holes! Again!
• Fog colour underwater now changes much smoother between biomes
• Optimized fog rendering
• Light now goes much further through liquid blocks

DOLPHINS

It’s happening!

• Spawns in any ocean that isn’t frozen
• They’re just cute, okay?
• Dolphins are very playful and love floating items
• They also love to chase after boats
• If you upset one, you upset them all
• More behaviours coming soon

Blubb blubb blubb blubb

• Water now only blocks 1 light per block, instead of 3
• This only affects newly placed water – we will relight all chunks in an upcoming snapshot
• Every ocean biome has a unique water colour, and swamps are icky and gross
• In newly generated chunks, you’re less likely to find frozen ocean next to warm ocean (and similar)

CONDUIT

?????

• ????
• I’m not sure.
• What is this?
• Where are we?

To get snapshots, open your launcher and go to the “launch options” tab. Check the box saying “Enable snapshots” and save. To switch between the snapshot and normal version, you can find a new dropdown menu next to the “Play” button. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (In the “launch options” page).

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com.

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds. 1.13 will have a lot of experimental snapshots that may break everything and smell funny. This may be one of those snapshots. This is what happens when Mojang are changing all the things! 

Share your thoughts on how 1.13 is shaping up in the comments below!

The video game hardware company Razer has opened up a new online shop to handle the sale of digital games on PC.

The Razer Game Store isn’t an entirely new platform. Instead, the company is selling keys for existing platforms like Steam and Uplay, sometimes with ‘Razer exclusive’ discounts, and letting customers count those purchases toward Razer’s existing loyalty program in the process.

With enough points, that program will turn back around and offer discounts and other perks to players that regularly use the storefront to pick up digital copies of games.

Razer takes special care to note that the keys being sold through its platform are legitimate and obtained through partnerships with developers and publishers,  likely to avoid the reputation some online key retailers have for obtaining game keys through unscrupulous methods.