From loot box controversies to the announcement of PewDiePie’s retirement, Ronan Jennings looks at some of the issues for gamers over the past year, and speculates on some of the developments for 2020

After a week of Fortnite Chapter 2, we think it’s fair to say Epic lived up to their name with the game’s ‘re-launch’.

While most people wait with excitement for the next season of Love Island, we usually have our eyes on a different island. The new season of Fortnite is here, but is it love at first sight?

The body which reviews the deaths of children known to care services has urged the government to address the lack of adequate mental health services after outlining how it has been a factor in some of the cases it has reviewed.

Ireland's EPIC Emigration Museum has been voted Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction for 2019.

You can never tell what the future will hold. Except in the case of Fortnite, where it probably holds a shotgun, aimed at your face.

So, pirates finally came to Fortnite. The only surprise was how long it took.

In space, no one can hear you (on) Steam. That opening line isn’t worth a euro, but then again neither is Spaceport Hope, our featured budget game this week. Spaceport Hope will only set you back 10 space credits, or a mere 90 cents on Steam, writes Ronan Jennings.

A Tusla-funded charity with 23 staff had no monthly payroll reports despite spending almost 81% of its income on payroll over three years.

A new advocacy report from Epic (Empowering People In Care) shows that 12% of its clients, who have been or are in the care system, were homeless.

Visitor numbers at one of the country’s newest and most original visitor attractions have more than doubled expectations during its first year in operation.

Politicians and regulators are demanding answers from the social media giant in the wake of revelations about the use of users’ personal information, writes Ben Brody

A High Court judge will rule later on exactly what questions and information she should put before the Court of Justice of the EU.

Social worker research has indicated that the lives of young people leaving care at 18 could be improved if more supports were in place to help them through “a distinct life phase” rather than assuming they became an adult on turning 18.

A conference around issues affecting people leaving care will today hear that some young people still face uncertainty around the level of supports open to them, despite considerable improvements in the system over recent years.

The last white leader of South Africa FW de Klerk has warned US President Donald Trump that he is not doing the free world any favours by sending overzealous tweets.

Through his mother, Margaret Sinclair, he is a direct descendant of the Bernard family from County Cork.

The €40,000 disparity between the cost of placing a child in care through a private foster care agency as opposed to foster carers registered directly with Tusla is to be examined by an Oireachtas committee.

Five reports into the deaths of children known to the care services have found shortcomings in how the cases were dealt with.

Five staff members at a Limerick care home for children were found by the health watchdog to have been seriously assaulted over a number of months.

Rick and Morty co-creator and star Justin Roiland has teamed up with former Epic Games producer Tanya Watson to launch a VR studio called Squanchtendo.

The Child and Family Agency says it improved its services for young people last year “with limited resources” and despite having received 43,596 referrals.

The deaths of nine young people, who had been in the Irish care system, were not as a result of the services they had received.

A High Court judge will hear the action by the Data Protection Commissioner over the legality of existing data transfer channels between the EU and US next year.

Parents of people in care have pleaded for the HSE to come clean on all internal reviews and reports carried out into residential, respite, and foster care settings in the wake of the latest concerns raised in leaked documents.

Almost 1,000 “high-priority” cases involving at-risk children had not been assigned a social worker by the end of last year.

Several agencies charged with representing vulnerable children and young adults in State care have demanded an independent inquiry into allegations that children were left in foster care settings despite allegations of sexual abuse.

Children's charity the ISPCC says it wants to find out if abuse is "systemic" in foster care in Ireland.

This letter is an urgent appeal from 14 organisations who work with children to call on An Taoiseach to show leadership on the issue of child homelessness.

Project Bluestream begat The Shattering which has now gone and begotten... LawBreakers.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, says it supports a move to having private children’s residential care centres being independently inspected as suggested in a report highlighting major shortfalls in the process.

People Can Fly, the developers of Bulletstorm and Painkiller, is now an independent studio once again after breaking away from Epic.

Inspections watchdog Hiqa has expressed serious concerns about children living in the direct provision system, with an inspection report showing they are at risk of physical and mental abuse.

A new generation has spoken, said the yes side after a landslide victory and an historic weekend.

Children’s rights groups have reacted with concern to the news that a completed review of previously unattended-to child welfare files has found that at least 127 children in Laois/Offaly require immediate intervention.

Usually, I start with a phrase or a few simple lyrics, then I try to find a melody to suit what I’m trying to say.

The Child and Family Agency says it is hopeful no other area of the country will reveal unaddressed files as was the case in Portlaoise, following a national audit of cases awaiting allocation.

The Child and Family Agency has announced a major programme of early intervention measures for children after it received over €8m in one-off Atlantic Philanthropies funding.