News & Views

1/23/16-1/29/16

Welcome back everyone to another week of News & Views. Crazy to think that next time I’ll be posting here we’ll already be one month into 2016. Time sure does go fast! Got a lot of exciting things cooking both in and out of the science world, so I am feeling pretty swell. Anyway, onto the stories!

This week I found a heaping helping of video game writing goodness. Check out the authors’ work below for stories about the relationship between walking simulators and fun, avoiding the ‘tagalong’ trap in co-op games, and how some of the best new video games are about making video games.

And of course you can check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

The best new videogames are all about... videogames

Jake Muncy, Wired

Worth Reading

School life in Rockstar's Bully

Samuel Roberts, PC Gamer

How "girl games" will save the post-apocalypse

Sarah Doukakos, Kill Screen

Avoiding the "Tagalong Trap"

Catharina Bohler, Gamasutra

Walking Simulators and the Theory of Fun

Alisha Karabinus, Not You Mama’s Gamer

You must construct additional pylons: South Korea's shrinking StarCraft II pool

Stephen Chiu, ESPN

With Comments

Stop asking about all female tournaments

Lillian Chen, Lilichen

Lillian Chen writes a super interesting piece about her evolving thoughts on what can be done to make women in competitive gaming feel more comfortable. The author is a long time veteran of the pro Super Smash Bros. scene, having felt first hand what it is like to attend a tournament as a woman. This article is about more than just having an all female tournament or not, and is well worth a read for anyone with an interest in how to make eSports better.

10 of the scariest expressions in game development

Geoff Coates, CG Society

Reading through this list of scariest expressions in game dev reminds me so much of similar situations in biomedical sciences. Coates’s humorous piece covers ten of these fear-inducing phrases, using his distance from the traumatizing moments to great comedic effect. If I could also never hear “It’s whatever you want it to be” or “Huh, that’s weird” again I would be a happier scientist.

Most Notoriously Difficult JRPG Bosses

Gamesradar, YouTube

As a big fan of JRPG’s, this click-bait title got me good. Gamesradar does a great job with this short video. It not only spotlights some brutally punishing bosses, but also some great JRPGs you might have forgotten about. It certainly did not inspire any confidence in me to start up my copy of Suikoden II that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while, though. A certain final boss of that game may or may not have made this list. Uh oh.

Death is random, but so is survival: Learning to love random chance in Tharsis

Ben Kuchera, Polygon

Kuchera’s piece on Polygon covers more of what I can’t stop thinking / talking / arguing about Tharsis. Kuchera does a great job at articulating how, by embracing the highs and lows of randomness, you can look past Tharsis being too hard or too luck based to be fun. I maintain that strategy can trump bad luck, but the game does rely on randomness (and all the fun / unfun that goes with it). Both Kuchera and I agree that gambling is an underutilized (and poorly implemented) mechanic in modern games, and Tharsis gives some hope that more can be done with it in the future.

The Impact Factor Ep. 39: Zangief Pikachu
Podcast

Welcome to the 39th episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about EVO 2016, Pokken Tournament, Street Fighter V, Song of the Deep, Destiny, Mighty No. 9, ‘must play’ games, Star Wars Battlefront, PvZ GW2, Ni no Kuni, baking, wrestling and much more!

Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impact-factor/id993404882?mt=2

 
For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:

www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

YouTube page: www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zpRq6h1O7d2MlMYWhNNjw 

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss @thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:

You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

Virtual Reality and the Steep Cost of an Over-Promised Future

Article

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) may not be the future it has promised to be. Not on a technical level, but on an availability and accessibility one. Despite my newfound enthusiasm for VR, I remain skeptical for the future of the technology. An unhealthy hype cycle and misinformation about pricing created an unfounded hope for VR as consumer-friendly product. 2016 VR devices look to only for a hyper small niche of people, which makes me fear for VR and game developers alike. VR will make its mark in 2016. Let’s just hope it is a good one.

2016 is the year of virtual reality according to, well, everyone. I want to start this article the only way I know how. And that’s by telling you that, despite what the article below might sound like, I’m excited for virtual reality (VR). Really excited. My skepticism was converted to enthusiasm at the PlayStation Experience (PSX) in December of last year. My fiancée and I were able to book two appointments to PSX’s PlayStation (PS) VR demo area, one for each of the days we were at the event. Though Rez Infinite left me hesitant, the exceptional Job Simulator opened my eyes to how wholly different VR is from any gaming experience I’ve had before. After we took off our headsets from the Job Simulator demo we looked at each other and nodded—PS VR would be something that, price permitting, the two of us wanted in our household. VR is exciting. VR is really unlike anything you’ve seen before. And yet, I’m still here writing this.

All of the promise of VR, in one neat little gif.

If you have been following the gaming industry for any time at all, you’ll know just how much VR is discussed. It’s quite a bit. For years now we’ve heard promises of our simulated futures. A future in which you are transported to new worlds, so compelling a facsimile of reality that your brain is deceived into filling in the missing pieces, further selling the illusion of presence. The hype cycle surrounding VR has been loud, and strong, for half a decade. VR manufacturers, VR software makers, and games pundits alike rushed to their pulpits to decry the virtues of this new, most world changing, technology to date. It’s easy to see why the product was so easy to hype, too. VR has been a mainstay in science fiction for decades. VR seemingly delivers on a promise our collective imagination has had since we had cognition. At this point in the technology’s life, it’s hard to say how well it will live up to its lofty promises. I was certainly taken somewhere while playing Job Simulator, but I was also keenly aware I had a clunky headset on, was holding a PS4 controller, and was looking at simulated images. This article isn’t here to speculate on how well modern VR technology will actually work, though. This article is about how VR was hyped; how it was ‘sold’ to consumers. And how we were deceived.

 

The technology is still clunky, but it has me excited. What I can't get
behind is how VR has been talked about.

What is the deception at the heart of VR’s over-promised future? That VR will be for anyone. Far from it. This introduction to new VR will be only for the hardest of core, the spendthriftiest of spendthrifts. Nothing any VR developer, manufacturer, or mouthpiece has said to the contrary can be taken seriously. This started back in August 2012 when the ‘Oculus Rift’ announced its first Kickstarter. For a mere $300 pledge, you could get your hands on a functional dev kit version of the headset. The PC requirements to run the headset were always on the high end, but this pricing structure had my interest piqued. $300 is something I happily spend on new consoles. For a VR headset the price seemed more than fair. Facebook’s purchase of Oculus in March 2014 threw gas on the growing VR-excitement fire (and by association, VR-as-widespread-consumer-product fire). Facebook is a company that appeals to essentially everyone. It’s a site, and a service, is transcends age, socio-economic status, interests, etc. The way it was discussed, Facebook’s purchase of Oculus meant that one of the biggest companies in the world not only thought VR worked, but was also worth funding. A company as large as Facebook wouldn’t invest this kind of money and energy into a product that at best will be in the hands of a few thousand of gaming’s most devoted enthusiasts, right? This buyout meant that Oculus could have the support it needed to make the best VR headset possible, and have the resources to get a VR headset into the hands of everyone who wanted it.

I had remained skeptical, up to that point. No way is this high-powered VR headset that requires an even higher-powered PC making it into the hands of Joe Nebraska or Jane Oregon. No way. Yet no one was trying to put out the aforementioned VR-excitement fires. Then in September 2015 Oculus head Palmer Luckey was asked if his VR headset would be priced around $350, a number that had been tossed around by the company in the years prior. Luckey responded, “We’re roughly in that ballpark.” Luckey would go onto say that the headset would likely cost more than that ($350), but his “ballpark” quote still stood. I felt confident after this that VR would cost around $400. A price that, while high, was not totally unreasonable. A price I suspected would be ‘justifiable’ to most of those interested in experiencing VR. As we found out a couple months later in January 2016, though, Luckey has a pretty large ballpark. The Oculus would launch at $600.

 

Maybe not.

I’m sure $600 may not seem like a lot to some people. To me, however, this was the final nail in the VR as general consumer product coffin. From its earliest embryonic stages through today, VR has faced a slew of hurdles in its attempt at mass appeal. For starters, VR is a new technology that is not only difficult to describe (‘it feels like you’re there!’) but is also impossible to demo. In the years since its announcement, there have been shockingly few VR demos on stages at press conferences and trade events. The answer to “why” is quite simple: demos cannot replicate the experience of being inside a VR headset. Looking at a 2D screen loses the depth and sense of presence you feel with the headset on. It pretty much looks like any other game. The only way to sell the technology, other than lofty promises, is to get the headsets onto consumers. That hasn’t (really) happened. As someone intrigued by VR who actively sought chances to demo, it still took me until PSX 2015 to get one on my face. I even attended Game Developer's Conference (GDC) 2015 and unless you had a reservation (press & devs only), you had little chance to try out the tech. But the challenges don’t stop there. The cost to run Oculus far exceeds the headset’s $600 price tag. Building a PC that has the power to run VR will cost you $1200--$1500. So now it’s roughly $2000 to get into VR. That’s more than most people pay for monthly rent.

 

VR's clear challenges make me scratch my head, too.

So what are we left with? At best, a highly vocal minority that advocate for the technology. People will buy the first generation of VR. I’m sure many of those will enjoy the headset. But is that enough? One of my more minor worries is that those who buy in will feel the burn of being an early adopter. Early adopters getting punished is certainly nothing new to tech, but I suspect VR could elicit a particularly strong pushback. I imagine it’s hard to temper your expectations when you invest ~$2000 for something that has been sold as THE FUTURE (of gaming? Of entertainment? Of the world?! It’s unclear). If these vocal minority fall on the side of disliking the product, it could mean very bad news.

What worries me more as a gaming enthusiast, though, is that this barrier to entry to VR is already enough to torpedo its future. VR is nothing without the experiences you have on it. If only a few thousand people own a VR headset, what is the financial incentive to develop games for the device? Are software developers going to be able to make their money back? Even if the attach rate (the number of games, on average, each owner of the device purchases) is high, and I suspect it will be, will there simply be enough VR owners to make it worth it? A recent survey of game developers by GDC indicated interest in developing for VR is at an all time high, but the survey was taken before the first VR headset announced its price. Will this change things? I suspect it might. A quick glance at any VR enthusiast forum or website around the time of Oculus’s pricing told a grim story. Even the most devoted VR fanatics were angry at the price. Many said they would be holding off on their purchase. I hope for the best for VR developers, but it is unclear to me if that hope is naïve.

I do not believe all hope is lost for a consumer-friendly VR headset, however. The HTC Vive VR headset announced a pre-order date of February 29^th, but has yet to release a price. All predictions cite that the device will cost as much or more than the Oculus, however, given the extra features the Vive offers. Bummer. You have Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear, but running VR off the comparatively small processing power of a smartphone limits the kinds of experiences you can have. And then there is Sony’s PS VR. We’ve yet to hear a pre-order or release date, or price, but its ties to console gives me some hope. Bundles excluded, a PS4 should never cost you more than $400. The same cannot be said for a PC, where the price range is huge. I find it hard to imagine (though I expect I may be proven wrong yet again), that Sony would sell an accessory for the PS4 that costs much more than the console itself. (I’m only calling it an ‘accessory’ here because PS VR cannot run without a PS4.) The PS4 is one of the best selling consoles of all time with nearly 36 million units sold through as of December 2015. If Sony can release a VR device that costs roughly the same as the PS4, we may finally see a consumer-friendly VR headset. Finally, there’s still hope for the second generation of VR headsets. Assuming the VR ecosystem hasn’t already collapsed by that point.

The last great hope for a powerful consumer-friendly VR headset? Who knows.

And that’s where we stand. Despite how it might have read, I’m a believer in VR. I’m excited to buy PS VR, for the right price. But I’m worried. I’m more than a little scared for the hundreds of VR game developers out there, too. I wonder if the first wave of this VR generation will 'hurt' the VR industry like Nintendo's Virtual Boy did back in the 90's. How precarious is VR? The technical, graphical, immersive promise of VR is more real than ever, but we still seem so far away from it being anything other than an experience for a small niche of people. Here’s to hoping 2016 is not only the “year of VR”, but also a great year for VR. It’s got its work cut out.

At least nothing is as bad as the Virtual Boy. Right?

TIF Plays: Week of 1/18-1/22
Gameplay

Hey blog! I've decided to do something new for gameplay posts on The Impact Factor. Previously, I just posted every single video in its own post. That created a huge glut of posts each week, which could make it difficult to find the rest of my content. To make things more tidy, I'll post all of my gameplay videos from the past week in one roundup post each Monday here on the blog! Of course everything would be easier if you just subscribed to The Impact Factor's YouTube channel, but hey, don't let me tell you what to do! So let's get it started:

Welcome to the The Impact Factor's last week of gameplay! Check out below to links of all my gameplay. Be sure to catch me live on Twitch (MegalodonPhD). I stream every Tuesday at 5:30pm PST and Thursday at 6:30pm PST. Plus some special Friday streams, too!

To keep up to date with everything The Impact Factor, and me, follow me on Twitter: @alexsamocha

See you all next week!

News & Views

1/16/16-1/22/16

Let The Impact Factor keep you cozy on this cold, dark and rainy (at least in the Bay Area) Friday. This week was a pretty good one, though I’m more than ready for the weekend. So many great games to play!

News & Views compiles the best and most interesting gaming stories from around the web each week. Check out the links below for cool writing about the PhD’s who are changing games, the math of Hearthstone, making roguelike randomness visible in Tharsis, and how emulation is good for more than just archival.

And of course you can check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

Brain wave: The PhDs changing games

Patrick Stafford, Polygon

Worth Reading

Touching Obama's hair and my hope for the future of games

Jamin Warren, Kill Screen

The Math of Hearthstone

Michael Shalyt, Gamasutra

How Sony Stopped A Vita Port From Being Canned

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

Californium brings Phillip K. Dick's vision of the world to life

Chris Priestman, Kill Screen

Why I Quit my Dream Job at Ubisoft

Maxime Beaudoin, Gingear Studio

With Comments

In praise of the "bad" design of Tharsis

Will Partin, Kill Screen

Tharsis is a game I’ve been having a good time with this past week or so. Now that I’ve put it down (likely for good), I was curious what others were saying. Much to my surprise, so many people loathe the game. Huh. While reading through all the negativity I found this, a piece by Will Partin praising the ‘bad’ game design of Tharsis. His take is an interesting one. His thesis essentially boils down to how the punishing and random nature of Tharsis is emblematic of the unseen forces of the universe, and how reality is impartial towards human life. The inevitability of death is a constant. I liked what Partin had to say.

Roll for your life: Making randomness transparent in Tharsis

Roy Graham, Gamasutra

More Tharsis talk. Sorry, this game (& even more so the discussion around it) has really sucked me in. Roy Graham writes about the randomness of Tharsis and how, at times, progression is more about gambling than it is about strategy. I agree. I wish the article had talked about the dichotomy between randomness and strategy, which is the issue at the heart of the game’s detractors. A good read regardless.

Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann on why Uncharted has to end

Dan Silver, Eurogamer

Dan Silver has a great interview with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann about the end of Uncharted, one of last generation’s best IPs. I’ll be sad to see it go, but Druckmann has me convinced it’s the right move. Really excited for what they have coming next.

Emulators, Speedruns, and That Video Where the Guy Only Presses A 0.5 Times

Jeff Gerstmann, Giantbomb

Gertsmann writes a great little piece about how emulating old games can go far, far beyond archival. One of most salient points is about how contemporary emulation allows old games to be dissected, and inspected, in ways that were never possible before. Looking at, and playing with, the code of old titles gives insight into game design (the hows & whys of its existence), and discovering the many secrets hidden below the player interface. We live in an exciting time.

The Impact Factor Ep. 38: Cannibalism, In Space!
Podcast

Welcome to the 38th episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about Minecraft: Education Edition, Oregon Trail, game dev, eSports, Heroes of the Storm, ESPN, Mortal Kombat XL, Star War Battlefront, Tharsis, Lifeline, comic books and more!

'Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the dubious benefit of a console exclusive' by Bo Moore, Gamasutra

Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impact-factor/id993404882?mt=2

 
For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:

www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

YouTube page: www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zpRq6h1O7d2MlMYWhNNjw 

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss @thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:

You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

One Impactful Year: A Thank You

Perspectives

Hello everyone, Alex here. I wanted to take the opportunity this week to write a special little perspectives for The Impact Factor. This won’t be about games. This will be about me. This will be about the blog. This will be about you. I hope you don’t mind me getting sappy for a bit. If the idea of a short retrospective and ‘thank you’ post isn’t for you, that’s cool. Just check back here this Friday as the normal video game posts continue. Now onto the reminiscing.

One year ago today The Impact Factor posted it’s first real video game content. Aside from a short pair of introductory posts earlier in the month, it was on this day, January 19^th, that The Impact Factor had its first article. I started it off in the only way I knew was right, talking about 2014's best games. From there I went on to discuss how EA spent 2014 trying to rebuild their image, why mobile game ads at the Superbowl are here to stay, and a review of Spec Ops: The Line. It only kept going from there. Now one full year in, The Impact Factor has 191 posts, including this one, with nearly 10,000 page views.

 

No, of course I don't obsessively check my numbers. Pfft.

From the outset, and if I’m being truthful from the present as well, The Impact Factor has never been about finding an audience or being the next big name in games punditry. The Impact Factor was about dealing with a difficult time in my life. As you all know, I’m a Ph.D. student in biomedical sciences. As I write this post, it’s from the relative comfort of a 4^th year graduate student. I have an outline for my thesis project. I have a roadmap for the experiments I need to run for the next six plus months. Should things go well (a dangerous phrase in experimental science), I hope to have a manuscript together by summer, which once accepted, will mark the beginning of the end for my Ph.D. training. A year ago, this was absolutely not the case. Third year is infamous among biomedical science Ph.D. students as the ‘dark times.’ You have just finished your qualifying exam (a test that serves as the make or break to continue working towards your Ph.D.) and are thrown back into lab to make headway on your project. You’re filled with tons of ideas and now have nothing in your way from doing experiment after experiment. The thing is, at this time you’re trying to figure out what works and what’s actually worth pursuing. The process can be absolutely demoralizing. You can struggle for weeks or months at a time trying to get one thing to work, which ends up never quite right. You bounce around trying everything, most of which bear no fruit. At least for me, around January of last year, I felt like I had made no progress whatsoever in the months since 3^rd year started. I felt like a failure who was going nowhere in his life. It was terrible.

Visualization of my third year. Biomedical sciences Ph.D. training has its rough patches.

A career development program I started taking in my 3^rd year suggested trying out new things. Exploring new avenues. This sounded perfect. I wanted to do everything in my power to keep my mind off lab stuff when out of the lab. From the process of trying to better understand myself, and what would make me happy, came The Impact Factor. I’ve always loved games. About midway through high school and onward, I became increasingly interested (and knowledgeable) about the video game industry, new releases, genres, trends, gameplay, etc. My now fiancée Justine couldn’t get me to shut up about them. My free time not spent doing stuff with her is monopolized by games. So I wanted to take that energy I spent playing games and try to make it into something concrete. That’s The Impact Factor.

I’ve tried to make things better and better as I continued with this process. From formatting my articles better, to strengthening my writing, to redesigning the site, I wanted The Impact Factor to reflect my goal of moving forward. This meant that I also wanted to branch off into doing more than just writing. In May I started something I had wanted to do for years: a video game podcast. That same month I also started streaming some of my gameplay to Twitch, though it wasn’t until September that I started streaming regularly each week. Throughout the year I went to video game related events in the bay area and shared my experience here. So pardon me the brief indulgence, I’d like to give a timeline of some of the year’s biggest events:

January 12: Introduction to the blog

January 16: First News & Views

January 19: GOTY 2014

January 27: First article

February 3: First review

March 10: Game Developers Conference (GDC) report

March 19: First perspectives

April 21: First ranked list

May 7: First TIF podcast (listener beware!)

May 12: Most viewed piece on TIF

June 15: 'Live' E3 coverage

June 23: E3 Synthesis

August 7: First guest host on TIF podcast

August 18: First video article

September 3: Start of regular Twitch streams

October 1: October Scare Fest 2015

October 13: Hearthstone US Championship report

October 14: Snuggle & Scream podcast begins

November 9: First YouTube video to hit 200+ views

December 8: PlayStation Experience report

January 11: TIF podcast GOTY 2015

January 12: TIF Blog 2015 GOTY

Phew, that was even more than expected. A year really is quite a long time.

 

My organization of TIF content is a little neurotic. Just a little.

The Impact Factor has been more than just a destresser or creative outlet, though. It’s been something that is constant in my life. It’s also been measuring stick for me. At the beginning of 2015 I set out to accomplish one big goal: to never miss a week of content on the blog. That meant every Tuesday would be a new review/article/perspective/parallels, and every Friday would be a News & Views. Come May, it also meant recording, editing, and posting a new podcast every week. Come September, it meant sticking to a regular stream schedule each week. It’s hard to say it without sounding corny, but it meant a lot for me not to miss my goal. To fulfill the promise I made to myself. And… I did it. I never missed a week. Sickness, vacation, busy week in lab, it didn’t matter. I accomplished my goal. It feels good.

I’m writing here to today to say, more than numbers or links or what it’s like to be a graduate student: thank you. Thank you to everyone who has consumed my content. Thank you to those of you who have been here since the beginning. Thank you to those of you who came in the later months. Thank you for the people who pop in-and-out, checking out the content that appeals the most to them. I’m not delusional: I know The Impact Factor is, and never will be, some internet sensation. But The Impact Factor has a community. A family. This goes out to everyone who is reading this post: you mean a lot to me. You really do. I hope you’ll stick with me throughout 2016.

As this year goes on I hope to keep making The Impact Factor something worth checking out. Articles, reviews, podcasts, streams—all of it will continue in 2016. Thank you again to everyone who has joined me on this journey.  It’s meant more to me than you can know.

TIF Plays: A Gaming Medley
Gameplay

Hey blog! It's been a while since I posted my gameplay here. I've accumulated a nice couple of videos, so instead of posting them all separately I decided to combine them into one mini-mega-post. More Nuclear Throne goodness, and two videos from a special Friday night stream I did this past week. Check out an archive of my stream linked below, and be sure to catch me when I go live by following me on Twitter (@alexsamocha) and Twitch (MegalodonPhD) Enjoy!

The Impact Factor Ep. 37: A Glitch In The Matrix
Podcast

Welcome to the 37th episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about Amazon Prime, FIFA, Pokemon, Final Fantasy XV, Hitman, For Honor, VR, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Monument Valley, Dr. Langeskev & much more!

“‘Life is Strange’ passes the Spielberg test for video game as artform,” Christopher Byrd

Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impact-factor/id993404882?mt=2

 
For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:

www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

YouTube page: www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zpRq6h1O7d2MlMYWhNNjw 

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss @thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:

You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

News & Views

1/9/16-1/15/16

Welcome everyone to a much more normal News & Views! It’s been a busy first full week back in lab, but The Impact Factor never skips a beat! Really looking forward to relaxing some this weekend, though.

News & Views is always here to bring you the best video game writing, stories, editorials & opinions from around the web. This week, I found great pieces about drug use in eSports, how a dating app is like Warcraft, why Life is Strange passes the Spielberg test of games as art, and how H.G. Wells was one of the impactful pioneers of tabletop gaming. Enjoy!

And of course you can check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

Werner Herzog Talks Virtual Reality

Patrick House, The New Yorker

Worth Reading

Analysis: Drugs and Competitive Gaming (eSports)

Core-A-Gaming, YouTube

'Life is Strange' passes the Spielberg test for video game as artform

Christopher Byrd, The Washington Post

The Mechanics of Tension

Chris Pruett, Gamasutra

How the voices behind your favorite games and shows are re-inventing live D&D

Ben Kuchera, Polygon

Tinder matchmaking is more like Warcraft than you might think

Michelle Ehrhardt, Kill Screen

With Comments

Behind the dice-based design of space cannibalism sim Tharsis

Zach Gage, Gamasutra

What an awesome look into the analytical mind of a game designer. So many games use, and rely upon, dice rolls (hidden from the player or not). Gage runs through the evolution of the dice-rolling system in Tharsis and it’s fascinating. One of the key points here is the balance of dice rolls leading choices or making a choice and then relying upon dice to see if you can accomplish your goal. It’s the difference between craps and King of Tokyo. Very interesting and well worth a watch if you have any interest in board games, video games, randomness, or game design.

Black women are already superheroes

Sidney Fussell, Offworld

Fussell continues to write extraordinary pieces for Offworld. Here, Fussell ponders what games can do to better represent black women. The depiction of black women often focuses on strength, but in the process loses ‘personhood.’ It would be great to see more characters that are funny or quirky or dark, and less one-note.

How H.G. Wells Helped Pioneer Tabletop Gaming in 1913

Brian Taylor, Paste

Well, if you needed any more reason to like (or at the very least appreciate) H.G. Wells, here it is. Taylor details how Wells championed a tactical tabletop game titled Little Wars, and the evolution of that idea into the modern board game, especially those that are miniature-based. Very cool.

The 25 best Final Fantasy games

Gamesradar Staff, Gamesradar

I’m a big fan of ranked lists. For example, you can check out a list of my #12-7 and #6-1 top games of 2015. Or my ranking of the Souls games. I can’t say this Final Fantasy list is 100% accurate (since I haven’t played them all), but I mostly agree with their ordering. Final Fantasy 6 is the best. Period.

TIF & FNS Plays: The Jackbox Party Pack!
Gameplay

My great friend and podcast cohost Charles Fliss (@thecfliss) visited me in the bay area this past weekend. What a great time is was! We decided to get a little silly and play some Jackbox Party Pack with Justine and put it on stream. We got some great viewer participation too! Check out an archive of my stream linked below, and be sure to catch me when I go live by following me on Twitter (@alexsamocha) and Twitch (MegalodonPhD) Enjoy!

Warning: large amounts of goofiness below.

The Impact Factor’s 2015 Game of the Year Awards!

Article, Part 2 of 2

Here's part two of The Impact Factor's game of the year discussion! If you missed it, you can find part one HERE. Onto more great games!

Honorable Mention: Shovel Knight, Heroes of the Storm, Rocket League, Cibele

These games were all great, but just missed the cut. These four stood out as ones that, at one point or another, were well within my top 10 games of 2015 before being shuffled out for the others I’ve listed here. Congrats to these games on a job well done!

6. Fallout 4

What can I say about Fallout 4 that hasn’t been said a million times in a million different places before? Let’s check some of the boxes off: Fallout 4 is amazing. Fallout 4 builds upon and refines the gameplay foundation laid out by Fallout 3. Fallout 4 has an immersive open world so filled with great details, side-quests and environmental storytelling you won’t ever want to leave. Fallout 4 is peerless in the type of game it tries to be. Fallout 4 gives the player agency in nearly every element of the game, creating one of the best truly role-playing games released this year. Fallout 4 finally made it fun to shoot things without the use of V.A.T.S. Phew, that’s a lot of boxes. All of that aside, Fallout 4 meant a lot to me personally. I had been craving a content dense open world for months leading up it its release. I was lukewarm on Fallout 3 but wanted to be part of the Fallout fervor. I wanted to play a game where reality would fade away, where I would be a survivor in post-nuclear war America. Fallout 4 met and exceeded all of my expectations. I essentially played the game without interruption until I had not only beaten the main story, but also accomplished nearly every in-game achievement (trophy). I loved exploring, finding the hidden richness of every nook and cranny. Voice acting added a new level of gravity to the game’s world, and for the first time I cared about the goings on of other survivors. The harshest critique I’ll levy here is that Fallout 4 is just Fallout 3, but better. Is that really so bad? I respect Fallout 4 as a game on so many different levels, not the least of which was (hopefully) setting a new precedent in which you don’t need a multi-year marketing and preview cycle to make a game a success. I can’t wait to jump back in once DLC is released.

5. Nuclear Throne

The team that made Ridiculous Fishing and Luftrausers is making a 2D twin-stick bullet hell roguelike? You had my attention, Nuclear Throne. Little did I know that attention would turn to adoration and my dabbling would turn into full on obsession. Nuclear Throne is fantastic. It’s my new Spelunky. Ponder for a second what I mean when I write that. Spelunky is in my top five favorite games of all time. Nuclear Throne is giving me the same kind of feeling that I had while I was learning Spelunky, during which every day was an adventure as I set new goals for myself. Nuclear Throne has me fully in its clutches. The team at Vlambeer know how to make a game with sublimely satisfying gameplay and a loop that hooks you, and Nuclear Throne is no different. Where it is different, though, is just how deep and nuanced a game Nuclear Throne can be. Each character you play as completely changes the way you approach the levels. The game is filled with secrets, some clear some obscure. Some that require an unfathomable level of skill. Nuclear Throne is a perfect roguelike. You never feel like stopping a run prematurely because you either took too much damage early or found bad weapons. At the end of each run, good or bad, I found myself thinking, “just one more run.” I played Nuclear Throne for over 35 hours after only two weeks of owning the game. Considering each run is usually between 5-15 minutes, that’s a whole lot of runs (& deaths). And still, I feel like I have such a long way to go because the skill ceiling is so high. I keep on coming back for more because it’s a perfect test of what I’ve learned. It’s fun, frantic, punishing, and addicting. Nuclear Throne sounds good, looks good, and is expertly designed. Of all the games on this list, Nuclear Throne is the one I’ll still be playing in 2016. And I can’t wait.

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

If you were to go around the internet and see what game won the most ‘Game of the Year’ awards, it would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. By a landslide. For a lot of good reasons too. The Witcher 3 is one of the best open-world western RPGs ever made. The team at CD Projekt Red poured their heart and soul into the game, and it can be seen in every element of The Witcher 3. The world is expansive and brimming with things to see, people to meet, and quests to complete. The story, while simple, is easy to follow and unencumbered by usual RPG tedium. Combat is simple too, but its speed and fluidity give the player a great feeling of power. Most strikingly, every single thing in The Witcher 3 feels hand crafted. No location or path or monster is just there to fill space. Side quests are meaningful, more so than any other RPG I’ve ever played. They feel just as fleshed out as the main story quests, always having something to say or giving the player something new to do. Geralt, Yennifer, Tris and the rest of the cast are instantly familiar with distinct and charming personalities. The Witcher 3 is steeped in Slavic lore, making the monsters you fight all the more interesting (i.e. not always your standard western fantasy fare). Heck, The Witcher 3 even has a fully fleshed out card-based mini game that could have easily been a standalone release. It’s baffling to think how much work into creating The Witcher 3. But the payoff is worth it. The Witcher 3 has made me into both a Witcher and CD Projekt Red fan for life, even if I didn't like item degradation in the game. I’m so excited for what comes next.

3. SOMA

I’ll let a bit of my SOMA review serve as a quick intro, “SOMA sets a new high watermark for narrative in games. Frictional’s newest explorer slash survival horror title is a thought provoking, immersive masterpiece. Smart level and monster design keep the player actively engaged with the heady experience and maintain a great sense of momentum throughout. SOMA is deeply unnerving, content to keep you up at night rather than jump out of a dark corner to scare you.” SOMA is a game that asks the player questions about what it means to be human and what it means to die. Frictional Games matured in their storytelling, world building and gameplay in a way I never expected following Amnesia: The Dark Descent. You can tell each and every part of your trying experience in SOMA is handcrafted to immerse you in the world and the questions it asks. Long after I finished playing SOMA I wrestled with the ideas put forth by the game. How do I define my own humanity, for instance. But SOMA isn’t just some philosophy textbook. It’s a meticulously well thought out interactive experience. SOMA is a game that uses the tangibility and immersion to reinforce a narrative that could only be found in games. Frictional’s horror pedigree strengthens the game’s more terrifying moments, but also acknowledges that the scariest thing is your imagination. SOMA is easily one of the best horror games I’ve played in years and makes me so excited for the future of narrative in gaming.

2. Undertale

I was a bit late to the Undertale party, but man oh man I’m so happy I played it. This charming, old school-inspired RPG from toby fox met, exceeded, and subverted my expectations. Narrative, gameplay, fourth wall or otherwise. Undertale is a game that both stands alone as an exceptional experience as well as offers a commentary on games as a whole. The central message behind Undertale is one of non-violence or, at the very least, understanding the ramifications for your violent actions in video games. Undertale is supremely clever in doing so, with an innovative battle system and remembering your actions across play throughs or saves. The world Undertale establishes is so fully realized it comes as no surprise when you start discovering all the game’s hidden complexity. Undertale is also genuinely funny, filled with hilarious dialogue and some of the best gaming characters of 2015 (Sans and Papyrus are so great). And the music! Undertale has the best soundtrack of the year, too. I’ve seen Undertale described as a JRPG in which tedium and monotony is stripped away and replaced by humor. I can’t say I disagree (though I often like JRPG tedium). Undertale is a concise 5-8 hour experience that knows what it is and what its not. In these couple of hours Undertale establishes its own rules, tweaks them, breaks them, and keeps you on the edge of your seat as it constantly keeps the gameplay and story fresh. Undertale is probably one of the most replayable RPGs ever made, as each time you play you gain a new or fuller appreciation for the world. From my Undertale review, “Undertale is a peerless experience and serves as a perfect example of the power of auteurship in games. It’s one you shouldn’t miss.” I couldn’t agree more, me.

1. Bloodborne

“Bloodborne is a true evolution of the Souls series, taking an enormous leap forward in much the same way Dark Souls did for Demon’s Souls before it. Miyazaki and team distilled the truest essence of what makes a Souls game work and builds upon that foundation in a thoroughly unique and profoundly interesting way. The brutal and often unforgiving nature of Bloodborne works in perfect synergy with its lightning fast, hyper-aggressive precision combat. A dark and grotesque world serves as the perfect foundation of this blood-filled dark odyssey into madness and nightmares. Bloodborne has a nearly unparalleled sense of cohesion, and exudes complete confidence in every single design decision. I cannot recommend Bloodborne highly enough.” (You can read my full Bloodborne review for more)

Bloodborne is a masterpiece. Bloodborne has fought off a deluge of exceptional games over the course of 2015, staying at the top of my tentative game of the year list ever since it was release. The game is just…perfect. Combat is at a series best. The world is dark and fascinating. The gameplay loop is better than ever. The feeling of satisfaction you get when taking down one of the game’s many challenges is unrivaled in gaming. Perhaps the highest praise I can give Bloodborne is that it is just so damn confident in its design. Nothing has been compromised. Bloodborne is unashamed by its ambition, unfettered by the demands of modern gaming. It gives you a fun you can only ever find while playing Bloodborne. I’m confident Bloodborne will be looked back on as one of the best games this console generation. Bloodborne is not only my favorite game of the year, but it’s objectively 2015’s best too. So congratulations Bloodborne, you are The Impact Factor’s Game of the Year!

And of course you can hear my thoughts on the top five I listed here in The Impact Factor's game of the year podcast! You can find it below.