News & Views
5/16/15-5/22/15
This week
was quite an adventure for me! I got to meet with someone I deeply admire and
respect, read a lot of great pieces, and record the third episode of The Impact
Factor podcast,
up now on SoundCloud! But let’s get into this week’s News & Views. It’s
overflowing with great stuff! Check out the links below for some great
editorial pieces, spanning topics from research into gaming, mortality in games,
and how one decision can destroy a console’s hope for success. Even though E3
is only three weeks away, we’re still getting a ton of big news. This week saw
stories about Nintendo’s World Championship plans, Oculus pricing/release/tech
specs, Street Fighter character
reveals, and more. See you all here again soon!
Spotlight
Charlie Hall, Polygon
Worth Reading
Keith
Stuart, The Guardian
Ben
Lewis-Evans, Gamasutra
Kevin
Ohannessian, KillScreen
Blake
Reynold, Dinofarm games
Joe
Bernardi, Hopes and Fears
And the rest!
Jane
Wakefield, BBC News
Wakefield takes a look into the
ever-expanding culture of Minecraft YouTube content. It’s
insane; there are just so many people producing videos for the game. And it’s all
hugely popular. Parts of the article come off as alarmist, and I certainly
don’t think the popularity of Minecraft videos
is something to be worried about.
Patrick
Klepek, Kotaku
I can’t not post these Bloodborne stories, folks. I’m sorry. Klepek discovered and linked an intense,
exhausting fight between two highly devoted players. To think a fight could
last more than ten minutes is crazy, but two hours?! The video is definitely
worth checking out.
Leigh
Alexander, Offworld
This is an editorial piece Fliss and I discussed in episode three
of The Impact Factor! Alexander makes some great points about the separation of
writers from the rest of the development team, how writers should view game
writing, and thoughts about how to move forward. Check it out!
Justin
Pottle, arstechnica
I love watching competitive fighting
games. For the past three or four years I have tuned into Evo, the biggest
fighting game tournament in the world. Smash has recently
come into its own as a more widely accepted, and widely viewed, fighting game.
However, huge arguments about what game the community wants to rally behind has
created a damaging rift and splintered an already unstable community. That
said, I understand the debate. I’m still not sure if I would prefer watching Melee
or Smash for WiiU. Probably the former.
Colin
Campbell, Polygon
Campbell has an interview with the
legendary Tim Schafer, getting his perspective on Broken Age, self-publishing, having a big hit, and more. Campbell draws conclusions
a little further than I would like from Schafer’s quotes themselves, but it’s
always interesting to get into the mind of the guy behind the amazing Grim
Fandango, Psychonauts, and Costume
Quest.
Miguel
Penabella, Haywire Magazine
SPOILERS! The Last of Us is a phenomenal experience. I played the game when it first came out
and I am still thinking about it. Penabella uses TLOU as a platform to discuss cinematic elements in gaming, think about TLOU’s
episodic-like structure, and draw
parallels between the game and John Ford’s 1956 film The Searchers.
Vince
Ingenito, IGN
You all know how much I love me some
Hearthstone. Ingenito goes into a little detail as to why
he thinks the card minigame included in The Witcher: Wild Hunt is better than Hearthstone, or even Magic: The Gathering! A lot of his arguments boil down to not
liking the draw mechanic of card games, nor board clearing effects (i.e. doesn’t
like to lose when it looks like he is ahead). At this point, from what I’ve
seen and read, Gwent looks fun, but certainly can’t be compared to the more
fully fleshed out and complex Hearthstone or MTG. Regardless, it’s
exciting to hear how much Ingenito loved the Gwent card game, and makes me even
more excited to pick up The Witcher: Wild Hunt.
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