A persistent rumour has sprung up regarding yesterday's newest (and 100% canon, for those who don't know) entry in the Aliens franchise. According to a forum by post by someone who identified themselves as a former Gearbox employee, the first majority of the single player campaign was licensed out to Gearbox and was not handled in house at all. A rumour that has earned a strong level of credibility by Gearbox being listed within the game's production credits. Oh yeah, that and because it's the internet, where people can start arguments on YouTube videos, about marijuana, that the US government is trying to irradiate the countries water supply for... a reason they never gave. True story bro. I was going back and forth with that guy for two weeks about it. His entire argument consisted of “it says so on the government website” which it does. There is, in fact, Cobalt 60 used in sanitation of the US water supply and this fact is, indeed, clearly stated on the governments own website. It, of course, has nothing to do with the current issue. But it does serve as a suitable example to highlight the reactionary nature of people online. Tell them something that sounds controversial and some people are pre-programmed to believe it, regardless of facts. It's so much more interesting to latch onto something that everyone else thinks is bunk. Because only you and the select few others know the truth!

Now, I'm not one for launching ad hominem arguments, but it must also be said, the snippet of being a former employee casts further suspicion. There's the inevitable “why did s/he leave then?” question, as well as the far too vague nature of such a claim. Gearbox, like any company, will have a large number of ex staff. Many who left disgruntled, looking for a way to get a dig in, but equally as many, if not more, who simply moved on to other things because they just wanted to. The main point is that it's far too broad of a demographic. If this unnamed individual had any supporting evidence for such an assertion, it behooves them to present it. The lack of such evidence, coupled with the official statement by SEGA's Senior Producer, Mister Matthew J. Powers, yesterday, argues strongly against its veracity.

“Absolutely not, the game has been developed by Gearbox Software. Other studios [like Timegate] helped Gearbox on the production of single and multiplayer.”

Sadly, this is the internet, so this will not be the end of the issue. Far from it. The rumours will persist, new evidence (most of it a regurgitation of the initial claim) will be unearthed, and the detractors will face the inevitable screams and yells of being closed minded sheepel. Like myself. Blinded by our 'love' of the franchise, SEGA, Henry's cat, or whatever else you feel appropriate to use as 'evidence' to disprove and shake my conclusions, which are annoyingly based on facts, that this was all some asshat trying to make a scene.  So bring it. Drop your hatred, or support, or evidence about the poisoned water, in the comments below. If anything new comes to light, by which I mean actual evidence, not unfounded internet hearsay, we (hopefully I) at Pixel Judge will be just as ready to relate, collate and re-evaluate the situation. But frankly, as it currently stands, there's nothing in this. It's a whole load of hot air by someone with a completely unknown, personal agenda, which only serves to poison the well against what, according to a great many people, is one of the most disappointing games ever made. At least according to reviewers. The feedback from those I know personally has, shockingly, been mixed. Some people love it, some hate it, some are meh. How unexpected. It's almost like... different people have different opinions. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for mine to arrive in the post, so I can't comment just yet. But I can say, none of this has curbed my enthusiasm.

In other news, I'd like to wrap this up soon, because I've gone on a lot longer than needed. However, it's something important, that I felt needed a more indepth disambiguation than many seem to be giving. But anyway. Something else, which will doubtless only add fuel to the fire, is a hefty patch that has already been rolled out (full details below) to address a number of problems that have arisen. But, again, I'd like to point out, this kind of thing is far from uncommon. In fact, it's pretty much the norm these days. There's a hell of a lot more involved in making a game than most people realise and there really is only so much playtesting you can do before going live. This isn't like releasing for one, closed platform. There is a massive amount of diversity in the technology people are using now, even in the home console market. So perhaps, instead of throwing insults about “lulz, day one patch!” show a little appreciation that it happened on day one, instead of waiting three bloody months for it. Anyway, that's enough for now, thank you for reading this far. Please take a moment to look over the patch list, then join us for your own ten cents worth in the comments below.

General

• General user interface improvements.
•  Various performance improvements.
•  Fixed issue where a door may not function properly if a Xeno was killed while opening it.
•  Addressed issue where players could become stuck in a close encounter after killing a Lurker that had pounced them.
•  Fixed collision issue where bullets would not pass through certain open doorways.
•  Fixed an issue related to clients incorrectly interrupting Xeno melee encounters.
•  Addressed an issue where doors would sometimes not open properly.
•  Addressed an exploit where players could melee while throwing a grenade or placing a claymore.
•  Fixed some collision detection issues that could result from a close encounter.
•  Prevented campaign pop-ups from appearing outside of campaign.

Campaign 

• Fixed an issue that could prevent NPCs from getting on the elevator in the Sulaco.
• NPCs no longer attempt to open doors while being welded.
• Fixed issue where Raven could sometimes pass through welded door.
• Implementing a message to warn players that campaign progress will be overwritten if they try to start an offline campaign game from within the co-op campaign UI.
• Adjusted the distance between players before they're warped to the location of furthest player in co-op.
• Fixed issue where torch would sometimes appear incorrectly to co-op clients.
• Fixed issue where difficulty could sometimes become stuck incorrectly after switching modes.
• Fixed issue where co-op player would not recover properly after being saved from a close encounter.
• Fixed issue where Russian players could not drop into a co-op match in some missions.
• Updated late-game close encounter moment to disable player input, which could cause them to become stuck.

Multiplayer 

• Resolved issue where campaign Motion Tracker could incorrectly in multiplayer loadouts.
• Fixed issue where clients would sometimes be invisible after spawning in No Hope in Hadleys.
• Multiplayer teams are now randomized (parties excluded) if percentage difference in scores is greater than 15%
• 'Switch Teams' option removed from the Pause menu.
• Corrected issue where server and client could get out-of-sync when switching out of a power-up while firing.
• Fixed issue where controller would vibrate during the scores screen if Rage ability was active upon match end.
• Fixed issue where Cloak ability would not conceal the Lurker when walking or jogging.
• Corrected bug where clients appeared to spawn outside of world before match start.
• Removed placeholder text from appearing on scoreboard in certain situations.
• Improved camera transition when Xeno enters a vent.
• Fixed issue where Xenomorph HUD could sometimes appear in the wrong color.
• Fixed issue with Spitter acid sometimes preventing players from deploying a Sentry Turret for a short while.
• Spitter's "Acid Spray" now originates from the mouth.
• Escape: Fixed issue where Xenos could spawn in unplayable space.
• Escape: Fixed issue where Xeno players could lose functionality if warped to next area while in a vent.
• Escape: Addressed issues where players would spawn with no weapon if they were the last Marine to die in Escape.
• Escape: Fixed issue where Cat-Like Reflexes ability would not properly complete in an Escape match.
• Escape: Improved timing and placement of warp locations in Emergency Evac map.