Rockstar Games has apologized for the shoddy quality of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition. It plans to fix “the unexpected technical issues” and improve the three games in the collection.

“We want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games,” the publisher said. “The updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect.” The first update is scheduled to arrive in the coming days and it will “address a number of issues.”

It didn’t take long for players to start sharing clips of bugs and glitches on social media after the remastered collection of GTA III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas arrived last week. Digital Foundry took a deep dive into GTA III and found there were “issues that are so blatant and jarring and ridiculous, it’s hard to understand how the game made its way through quality control.”

What’s more, Rockstar pulled the PC version of the bundle soon after launch to “remove some data files that were unintentionally included in the new versions of these games” (those are believed to include files related to the infamous San Andreas “Hot Coffee” mod). The collection was available to buy again a few days later. Rockstar Launcher services were unavailable for over a day too, making the collection and the PC versions of Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online unplayable during that time.

Soon after Rockstar announced the release date for the trilogy in October, it removed the original versions the games from digital storefronts. Now, the classic versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas are returning to PC as a bundle on the Rockstar Store. Players who buy the remastered trilogy on PC by June 30th will receive the originals at no extra cost.

Meanwhile, Rockstar has asked everyone to refrain from attacking developers on social media. “We would kindly ask our community to please maintain a respectful and civil discourse around this release as we work through these issues,” it said. Grove Street Games, which is behind ports of several other Rockstar titles, worked on these remasters.

Source: Engadget – Rockstar apologizes for broken GTA remasters and pledges to fix bugs

Female employees at Tesla’s Fremont factory in California face “rampant sexual harassment,” according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday. In a complaint with the state’s Superior Court in Alameda County, Jessica Barraza, a production associate with Tesla, said she was subjected to “nightmarish” working conditions over the past three years. Barraza’s lawsuit describes a factory floor that looks more like “a crude, archaic construction site or frat house” than the site of advanced EV production.

Barraza’s allegations against Tesla are numerous. In one incident, the suit alleges a male co-worker stuck his leg between her thighs when she went to punch in after a lunch break. Amid the harassment, Barraza says her complaints fell on deaf ears. In one instance, she says a supervisor did nothing when she complained of a co-worker staring at her breasts. “Maybe you shouldn’t wear shirts that draw attention to your chest,” her supervisor told her, according to the suit. Barraza told the man she was “wearing a work shirt provided by Tesla.”

“After almost three years of experiencing all the harassment, it robs your sense of security — it almost dehumanizes you,” Barraza said in an interview with The Washington Post, which was the first outlet to report on the suit. We’ve reached out to Tesla for comment. The company does not typically respond to media requests. 

The suit comes one month after Tesla was ordered by a federal court to pay $137 million to a Black employee who said they were subjected to daily racist abuse at its Fremont factory. “We continue to grow and improve in how we address employee concerns,” the company said at the time. “Occasionally, we’ll get it wrong, and when that happens we should be held accountable.” Tesla is appealing the award.

Tesla also isn’t the only EV-maker accused of fostering a toxic workplace for women. Just days before its IPO, Rivian was sued by Laura Schwab, one of its former executives. In her lawsuit, Schwab alleges the automaker fired her after she complained of a “toxic ‘bro culture’” that saw her excluded from meetings and more. “The culture at Rivian was actually the worst I’ve experienced in over 20 years in the automotive industry,” Schwab said at the time.

Source: Engadget – Tesla factory employee alleges ‘rampant sexual harassment’ in lawsuit

The first previews for the Halo Infinite campaign have arrived and it’s looking like an exciting step forward for the series. Unfortunately, players will have to wait even longer than expected to play the mode with their friends.

Developer 343 Industries announced in August that Halo Infinite won’t have campaign co-op (a stalwart mode in the Halo series) or Forge custom games when it arrives on December 8th. It plans to add campaign co-op when season two starts, which was initially supposed to happen three months after launch, with Forge to follow in season three.

However, 343 Industries revealed this week that season one will run until May. The studio’s head of creative, Joseph Staten, confirmed to Eurogamer that means campaign co-op won’t arrive until May at the earliest, and Forge will arrive even later.

That’ll likely come as a disappointment to fans, but 343 Industries’ decision to focus on the campaign and multiplayer might have been the right one. It already delayed Halo Infinite by a year, so getting the two core modes right was critical.

Fortunately, the free-to-play multiplayer component, which 343 Industries surprise launched three weeks early on Monday, is a blast. It’s evidently a hit already, too. The mode quickly hit 272,000 concurrent players on Steam, and that’s before you include those playing on console, through the PC Xbox app and on cloud gaming. 

Source: Engadget – Halo Infinite’s campaign co-op and Forge modes have been delayed again