Friday, March 13, 2015

News & Views
3/7/15-3/13/15

I hope you enjoyed the special feature this week—it was great getting to attend GDC. As always, I have compiled a bunch of great stuff for you all to read. There were some big news items, like the next Hearthstone adventure and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End delayed until Spring 2016. We all saw that one coming! I also came across some great pieces about gaming and gender, how my favorite Zelda game (Wind Waker) eschews conventions, and the dramatic tale of the not-as-deaf-as-he-claimed composer for Resident Evil. Kick back, enjoy, and see you all here again soon.

Spotlight
Christopher Beam, New Republic

Worth Reading
Charlie Hall, Polygon

Katherine Cross, Paste

Madeline Messer, The Washington Post

Ben Kuchera, Polygon

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

And the rest!
Jared Petty, IGN
It is always great to see some of gaming’s oldest legacies, and Petty does a great job at detailing and demonstrating the first hidden secret in a video game.

Eddie Makuch, Gamespot
House of Cards is one of my favorite shows. One of the most pleasantly surprising aspects of the show is its depiction of the people who play video games. Aside from being a little product placement-y, it is great for a character to play video games and not be the stereotypical “gamer”. Makuch has a nice piece covering how the iOS/Andoid indie hit Monument Valley made its way into season 3.

Jake Muncy, A.V. Club
Wind Waker is my favorite Legend of Zelda game, due in part to its fresh take on the established Zelda formula. Muncy hypothesizes that Wind Waker breaks from Zelda traditions to warn the player about blinding following the path set before you.

Zeriyah, Hearthstone, Blizzard
You all know I love me some Hearthstone. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into more single player adventure content.

Alexa Ray Corriea, Gamespot
Corriea explores the relationship between the four male protagonists in Final Fantasy XV. This kind of “bromance” is a new direction for the series, and I am interested to see how the game handles the depiction of these intimate friendships. As if I needed another reason to be excited for the game.

Kahgro, Reddit (r/hearthstone)
More Hearthstone stuff! One of the most fiercely debated topics in the game right now is whether to change the extremely powerful Dr. Boom card. Reddit user Kahgro gives an insightful analysis of the situation and draws a well-reasoned conclusion that the card should be changed. Designers on the game, however, have recently said there are currently no plans to change Dr. Boom. So we will see what happens!

Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog, PS Blog
A sad, if expected, delay. A relatively recent change in the project’s leadership led many in the games media, and myself, to assume that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End would be delayed. Naughty Dog does not release bad games, though, so I’m sure this delay is for the best.

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