We’ve been spoiled with The Sims 4 expansions lately. We weren’t sure that last year’s Cottage Living and Dream Home Decorator could be beaten, but here we are. The Sims 4‘s latest Game Pack, My Wedding Stories, is all about planning the perfect Big Day. Every little girl’s dream, they say. And with a brand […]

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With The Sims 4's latest expansion, My Wedding Stories, just around the corner, the game's latest update is all about preparing for the weddings. 

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The third edition of the GPI Global Poker Awards are almost upon us, and VSO News writer David Lappin has made his predictions for the content creator category.

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Las Vegas wedding chapels have experienced a decline in ceremonies in recent decades. But the upcoming 2-22-22 palindrome date has officiants and venues booked solid. Next Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, is likely to become the busiest day in recent Nevada history in terms of weddings. The surge of couples seeking to marry on the easily […]

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Freddy's Fuego in Washington State kills it — its flower is packed with flavor, potency, and smooth smoking experience that can make you say, “Alright yeah, that was worth the…

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On February 8, The Sims team revealed a first look at the next amorous addition to The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories. As the name implies, the upcoming game pack is centered entirely around love, romance, and the celebration of both through marriage--with special emphasis on showcasing the stories all too often forgotten by mainstream media; stories like Dom and Cam's.

Dom and Cam are the names of two new female characters in The Sims 4 who discover their feelings for one another are far stronger than friendship, a realization that arises shortly before one of the women is set to marry a man. After calling off the wedding, the two women get together, creating a union that spans across decades and overcomes all obstacles. Their touching story, accompanied by a Simlish version of Etta James "At Last," unfolds throughout the pack's trailer, setting the tone for the newest add-on and acting as a show of solidarity for the game's many LGBTQ+ players. However, just a day after the trailer dropped, The Sims team announced that some The Sims 4 players will not be able to join in on Dom and Cam's marital bliss.

On February 9, an open letter was shared on The Sims 4's official blog stating that, due to federal laws, The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories will not be sold in Russia. In the letter, The Sims team explained their choice, stating they are "steadfast in upholding that commitment by shining a light on and celebrating stories like Dom and Cam’s" and therefore have made the decision to "forgo the release of My Wedding Stories where our storytelling would be subject to changes because of federal laws."

The Sims team continued: "Regrettably, this means that members ofThe Sims community in Russia will not be able to purchase this game pack."

Throughout the letter, The Sims team reinforced the decision was a commitment to "the values we live by," such as the freedom to "be who you are, to love who you love, and tell the stories you want to tell." Shortly after the blog post was published, many players--primarily those based in Western countries--took to Twitter to praise the team's conviction, sharing sentiments such as "love is love" and expressing gratitude toward the studio. To their credit, it's not hard to see why this decision does seem praiseworthy: A company choosing to stand by equal rights over greater sales seems like a brave and selfless move. However, it turns out the situation is a lot more complicated than that.

While some celebrated EA's choice as an LGBTQ+ win, Sims players in Russia found themselves faced with a lot of pain, confusion, and panic. Nushanchel, an illustrator based in Moscow, Russia, was quick to voice their frustration with The Sims team's choice, stating EA's decision comes across as "cruel" and exclusionary to the Russian LGBTQ+ community.

"We have a big LGBTQ+ community that is suffering so much under Putin’s regime and homophobic laws that are harsher and harsher every year," Nushanchel said. "What we really need is some support and love, because [Western] content is what we see as an example of freedom and we want this too. When this content continues to exclude or belittle us it acts just like our government. So where [does the] Russian LGBTQ+ community go?"

When this content continues to exclude or belittle us it acts just like our government ... where [does the] Russian LGBTQ+ community go?

The issue of community has been on Oleg Kushakov's mind as well. A community manager for a Russian Sims 4 Facebook group boasting nearly 68,000 followers, Kushakov said he quickly braced himself for toxicity and backlash following the blog post.

"Managing a big Russian Sims community on social media, my first thought when I saw the news was "Oh no, they're gonna blame the gay community for this, it's gonna get even more worse,'" Kushakov said. "There's already so much homophobia that can be noticed every time The Sims celebrates being queer. And this is exactly what this decision does: You're making homophobes even angrier at the LBGTQ+ community. They think 'First they ruined my favorite games with their gay stuff and now I can't even play it.'"

Kushakov shares in Nushanchel's belief that The Sims team's decision to not sell the game in Russia is exclusionary. Kushakov then added that he believes the incident is also an example of well-intentioned but harmful allyship. According to Kushakov, the federal laws The Sims team mentioned do not prevent the sale of The Sims in Russia, nor require EA to remove any of the game's content. This is how games with gay romances, including both Stardew Valley and Miitopia, are still able to be sold in the country. Instead, the laws instead prohibit LGBTQ+ content to be used in marketing, stating the use of such could be considered "gay propoganda" aimed towards minors. Interestingly enough, however, Kuskakov also noted that in the Russian version of the blog post, The Sims team made no mention of federal laws at all.

As such, The Sims 4--LGBTQ+ content and all--seems to be legal in Russia so long as the game is listed as 18+. Because of that, The Sims has served as a way for LGBTQ+ communities in Russia to live out their authentic lives in a country that, oftentimes, makes it difficult to. While Kushakov said the gay relationship seen in the trailer was great and progressive, he believes The Sims team's unwillingness to alter the marketing in favor of making sure Russian LGBTQ+ players have access to the game is detrimental and ultimately complies with Russia's desire to keep LGBTQ+ content out of the country.

"There are movies, shows, books, and games who tell queer stories--would the community want all of it to be gone? No, they want those small pieces of representation, they want to be able to see stories they can relate to and they want to make them too." Kushakov explained. "It's better to see a Disney movie without a few scenes with gays that were added as a token then not see it at all--and the lesbian couple that's being used for the promotional campaign is, while being super great and progressive, essentially a tiny part of a game that's going to exist for many more years. This tiny part can be changed for the sake of the long history."

It's been just over a day since The Sims team's announcement, and since then the hashtag "#WeddingsForRussia'' has grown increasingly popular on Twitter. Much like Kushakov, those using the hashtag are doing so as a way to draw attention to how the decision hurts LGBTQ+ communities in Russia. According to Kushakov, the hope is The Sims team will "learn who their allies are and what they want'' rather than "excluding the ones that are being more affected than others" in the struggle for equality.

"When you're celebrating equality and your 'values', you're celebrating it with everyone except for the more oppressed gay community that you just excluded from the narrative. You're fighting for something excluding the ones that are being affected more than others."

GameSpot reached out to The Sims 4 team for additional information regarding the decision, but the team declined to comment. Earlier today, The Sims team hosted a livestream event on both YouTube and Twitch highlighting even more features available in The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories game pack. The chat for both streams were disabled approximately 30 minutes prior to the start of the showcase following a mass influx of "#WeddingsForRussia" being shared in the chat.

Triangle Strategy has a free demo that encompasses the first three chapters of the upcoming tactical HD-2D turn-based JRPG. Those three chapters take about four hours to complete, which sounds like a fairly decent chunk of the game if you're looking to check it out prior to deciding whether to buy it--and since your progress from the demo carries over, you don't have to worry about playing those four hours over again. But a huge portion of that four hours is scene after scene of story exposition. There's a potentially good game here with Triangle Strategy, but it takes way too long to set-up its fantastical world and get to its most promising feature.

In Triangle Strategy, you play as Serenoa Wolffort, a young man who has recently taken control of House Wolffort. Serenoa lives in the continent of Norzelia, a land that has entered a strained peace as its three countries--Glenbrook, Aesfrost, and Hyzante--agree to a truce in order to avoid all-out war. Glenbrook is most well-known for its military might and managing trade routes, while Aesfrost and Hyzante control the continent's most valuable resources, iron and salt, respectively.

Alongside becoming the new lord of House Wolffort, Serenoa must prepare for his arranged wedding with Frederica Aesfrost, a union designed to unite Glenbrook and Aesfrost, pressuring Hyzante to remain in the proposed alliance or risk becoming the weakest country. It is a fragile peace at best--the first few hours of Triangle Strategy constantly imply that the continent is a powder keg, and everyone is warily eyeing each other while holding lit matches.

Triangle Strategy endeavors to impart all of Norzelia's backstory prior to actually putting the plot in motion, making for one of the slowest opening arcs I've ever seen. It certainly doesn't help that so much of the setup involves tired tropes that aren't all that interesting. Like, Serenoa is a good-natured man in a cynical world, whose desire for peace and cooperation attracts a large number of followers and allies. And despite her noble birth, Frederica faces discrimination for her pink hair (a physical signifier of her Rosellan heritage--Triangle Strategy's stand-in fantasy race for "marginalized people"). And who could have possibly foreseen that the religious country that preaches freedom for all and is also supposedly devoid of any and all crime is actually *gasp* not all that of a great place to live if you don't buy into the teachings of the ruling faith? Everyone who's ever played a fantasy JRPG before, that's who. It's all stuff that's been done before (and better) in other fantasy games.

Granted, these are all storylines and tropes explored in many recent HD-2D JRPGs, like the Bravely Default series and Octopath Traveler. And given the fact that Tomoya Asano--producer for the Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler games--is leading the team on Triangle Strategy, it's not a huge surprise that Triangle Strategy is exploring themes and tropes we've seen in those games. I just wish Triangle Strategy would have broken free of those storylines (and it very well could since I've only played the first four hours). It's disheartening to see Triangle Strategy seemingly just retread old ground as opposed to doing something new.

All that said, Triangle Strategy's opening three chapters have two saving graces: combat and character relationships. The game's tactical turn-based battles play out like something seen in Fire Emblem, with different characters taking on specific roles, encouraging some semblance of planning and purposeful consideration to every fight. It's fairly straightforward and approachable in the game's opening chapters--you don't have to be a strategic wizard to win fights.

Triangle Strategy shows the most promise in how it tackles the evolving relationships between its characters. House Wolffort isn't like the other houses--it doesn't follow the direction of its one lord; instead, the leader of the house picks their seven closest and trusted companions and they in turn vote to decide the best course of action. It is the lord's job to listen to their advisors' words, potentially trying to sway them if need be but always following their lead.

This means that your direction in the campaign is not entirely your own. All of your companions have their own goals and dreams, each of which evolves depending on how the story develops. Their relationship to Serenoa can also change depending on his convictions and ideals, which are defined by the choices you make in conversations and the decisions you make in battle.

Triangle Strategy's demo only offers a taste of how this can play out, presenting the opportunity mid-way through the preview to visit Aesfrost or Hyzante as a representative of the king. You don't have enough time to visit both, and you'll get different stories and companions depending on where you end up. But you can't just pick which to go to--your party picks for you. Prior to the choice being made, you can see where everyone stands and then try to convince people to change their position if you so desire. The dialogue options you have at your disposal in those moments are determined based on what information you learned from previous conversations, and your ability to sway others to your cause will depend on how they think of you. So while some folks may be easy to convince, others may prove significantly more difficult.

In my playthrough, I did my best to convince my seven companions to visit Hyzante, and though I did manage to secure enough votes in my favor, I didn't talk everyone into agreeing with me. It made what would have been an already harrowing RPG choice--it's implied that your decision to go to one country over the other may impact Glenbrook's relations with the other two nations--even more stressful. After thinking it over and making my choice, I had to accept the realization that it was completely possible that my party members would decide to do something else. As they one-by-one cast their votes, I waited with bated breath to see where my companions were choosing to take me.

It's an intriguing enough feature that I will probably give Triangle Strategy the benefit of the doubt and see how the game's story unfolds past its slow opening chapters. I'm running under the assumption that the alliance uniting Glenbrook, Aesfrost, and Hyzante isn't going to last very long--the game has utilized numerous fantasy tropes already, so what's one more? And in a typical RPG, where I alone decide the fate of the story, I'd probably aim for a return to peace. But Triangle Strategy doesn't leave it up to me--this is a story where my companions' decisions carry more agency than the protagonist--and that opens up the potential for my fate to be an interesting surprise.

Triangle Strategy is set to launch for Switch on March 4.

It’s that time of year again. Time to show your undying love to your significant other. Or to try to mend things with your partner. Or to just try to get some action from your last-minute date. No matter how the holiday hits you this year, here are some great stoner Valentine’s Day ideas to […]

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