The Impact Factor

News & Views

1/24/15-1/30/15

Hello everyone! Another week, another News and Views! This week was filled with a bunch of different interesting stories, from all sorts of different disciplines. Whether it was how Disney is attempting to capitalize on the "eSports" craze or how fat avatars do worse than their skinny counterparts, I hope you will all find something that interests you. Again, please feel free to post a comment letting me know great stories you read this week. Have a great weekend, and may the team you are rooting for win the Superbowl! I'm just looking forward to the chorizo nachos I have planned for game time.

Spotlight

Can gaming’s great women characters be written by men?

Colin Campbell, Polygon

Worth Reading

My boyfriend in Dragon Age: Inquistion broke my hearth when he told me he was gay

Kate Gray, The Guardian

Overweight video game avatars “play” worse than thin ones, study says

Jorge Pena, UC Davis

The best sports games make you finish what you start, every time

Owen Good, Polygon

Why It Took Final Fantasy VI to Show Me Life was Worth Living

MementoMorie, Kotaku

Why We Need Games like Social Justice Warriors

Vince Ingenito, IGN

And the rest!

Microsoft's HoloLens is no joke: My reality augmented with Skype, Minecraft

Nick Statt, CNET

Microsoft is stepping into the virtual reality realm with the HoloLens, following Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus. The HoloLens looks really cool, and I look forward to learning more.

Disney’s making a show about a retired 15-year-old eSports Player

Michael McWhertor, Polygon

Can we finally stop using the term eSports now? How about "competitive gaming" or anything other than that horrible term.

Three simple ways to make Hearthstone more fun

Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler, BMK Gaming

You all know I love Hearthstone. The game is not without its frustrations, however. Kibler covers some of the biggest flaws and offers great solutions to move the game forward.

Islamophobic Bus Ads in San Francisco Are Being Defaced With Kamala Khan

James Whitbrook, iO9

These ads are disgusting. Happy someone is taking matters into their own hands to cover up this hate speech.

Exploding Kittens, a Russian Roulette Style Game

The Oatmeal, Kickstarter, Etc.

A profoundly successful kickstarter (perhaps the most successful in history) for what looks to be a neat little card game. I have been tempted to jump on board myself.

There’s A Gap Between What The Public Thinks And What Scientists Know

Christie Aschwanden, FiveThirtyEight

An interesting look at knowledge gaps and how it may be affecting public policy.