The developer of old-school first-person shooter Ion Fury has U-turned on its promise to pull a homophobic slur from the game amid a Steam review bomb.

Last week developer Voidpoint admitted members of its team made "sexist and transphobic comments, and included homophobic language in Ion Fury".

"We recognise these statements are insensitive, unacceptable, and counterproductive to causes of equality," the statement issued to Eurogamer continued.

Read more

The developer of recently-released old-school first-person shooter Ion Fury has apologised after some of its staff were found to have made sexist and transphobic comments online, and homophobic language was discovered in the game itself.

Voidpoint came under fire over the weekend after ResetEra user Twenty5Thousand brought to light sexist and transphobic comments made by staff in Ion Fury's official Discord.

Among the raft of comments criticised is this post from a developer who goes by the name "terminx":

Read more

Ion Fury isn't so much a blast from the past as a gunshot straight through it, carving its way along time's back-alley and punching a hole in history's skull. Coming at you from the business end of 1996, Ion Fury is a brand new 2.5d shooter published by 3D Realms (the publishers of Duke Nukem 3D) and created in the Build Engine (the engine used to design Duke Nukem 3D).

Let's stop for a moment and take that in. For a fan of classic shooters, this is like finding out John Romero has created a fifth episode to the original Doom. Oh wait, that happened as well. Somebody pinch me, I must be asleep.

In truth, I've been living in FPS dream-world for the best part of a year. The last nine months have seen the birth of two knockout retro shooters - the magnificent Dusk and the scintillating Amid Evil. Ion Fury, however, is the first one to come at me toting not just a shotgun but pedigree as well. Ion Fury is here to remind us what it was like to kick ass and not chew bubblegum, in the days before Duke fell forever into decline.

Read more

Back in May, news emerged that British metal band Iron Maiden had taken umbrage with developer Voidpoint's promising retro FPS Ion Maiden. Claiming the studio was attempting "to trade off... Iron Maiden's notoriety", a $2m lawsuit was filed, and, as a result, publisher 3D Realms has opted to give Ion Maiden a brand-new name: Ion Fury.

Ion Fury, if you're unfamiliar, is a spin-off of 3D Realms' not-exactly-mind-blowing shooter Bombshell (developed by Slipgate Ironworks). Its questionable origins are largely irrelevant, however; Ion Fury, which stars Bombshell protagonist Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison, has received much praise since launching in early access last February.

This early version, described as a standalone "preview campaign" by Voidpoint (to be upgraded to the full campaign on release), is currently quivering between "Very Positive" and "Overwhelmingly Positive" on Steam.

Read more

Heavy metal band Iron Maiden has launched legal action against game developer 3D Realms, publisher of retro first-person shooter Ion Maiden.

Lawyers for the legendary British band want $2m ( 1.58m) for the attempt "to trade off... Iron Maiden's notoriety", The Guardian reports.

Ion Maiden (the game, not the band) has been available via Steam Early Access since February 2018, with a full release set for later this year. It stars bomb disposal expert Shelley Harrison, which the lawsuit argues is a nod to Iron Maiden member Steve Harris. It also has a skull in its logo, which the lawsuit suggests is a reference to band mascot Eddie.

Read more