News & Views
12/5/15-12/11/15
Phew, a lot
has happened since last News & Views! I got to attend both days of
PlayStation Experience and try VR, got back a very high and likely-to-be-funded
NIH grant score, and started playing some new killer games. I hope you all have
had a good week too.
But let’s
get right into it. The reason you’re all here: News & Views! Every Friday I
compile the week’s best video game writing and most interesting stories about
the wider world of gaming. This week is no different. I found great writing
about what it was like to be a Nintendo ‘gameplay counselor’ back in the 90s,
how video games can act as self-expression for Saudi women, why a little more
corporate sponsorship might not be bad for the fighting game community, and much
more! Grab a cup of something warm and read a great article or two!
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
Douglas Heaven, New
Scientist
Worth Reading
Annie
Zaleski, A.V. Club
Sam Coster,
Polygon
Deborah
Amos, NPR
Julie Beck,
The Atlantic
Carly
Smith, Gamasutra
With Comments
Mark Hill,
The Atlantic
Hill wrote an interesting piece
about the detrimental power of nostalgia in entertainment culture. As any
faithful TIF podcast listener will attest, I’m fully aware of how destructive
nostalgia can be for both critical thought and innovation (listen here). Overly
dramatic title aside, more people need to be more aware of the bad-side of
nostalgia, so I’m glad Hill wrote about it here.
Michael
Thomsen, Forbes
What a fascinating, bizarre, and
just plain awesome way to ‘review’ a game. Thomsen gives his review of Bloodborne, one of my favorite games of the year, after watching it be played for
longer than it takes most people to beat the game. I find it so hard to derive
something intellectually nourishing from Twitch streams, so it’s cool to see
Thomsen process his experience into something stimulating. Watch or play, Bloodborne remains fantastic.
Suriel
Vasquez, Paste
I got to attend Capcom Cup! It was
so cool being in the crowd, only a couple dozen feet from people like Daigo,
Gamerbee, Infiltration, Momochi, Justin Wong, etc. I didn’t think about it at
the time, but the event had production value I had not seen before at an FGC
event. It was really nice to see live brackets, stat breakdowns, etc. The FGC
has long been against corporate money. I certainly agree that major sponsorship
money can be a corrupting influence on eSports (just look at almost any other eSport). But here, it worked.
Finding the right balance is going to be important for all eSports in the
future, Street
Fighter included.
Katherine
Cross, Gamasutra
Fallout games are so cool in their ability to be
totally different experiences for different people. I, for example, never tried
to romance anyone. I think I flirted once and got rejected. But Cross went deep
into the romance system present in Bethesda’s massive new RPG, exploring how it
handles polyamory in new ways. A fascinating read that gave a new perspective
on a game that keeps on giving.
Jason
Schrier, Kotaku
Oh Devil’s Third. I remember your god-awful E3 2014 demo on the IGN Live stage. I
thought it had been cancelled until it quietly popped back up this summer. The
game represents a fascinating phenomenon: Nintendo actively trying to bury one
of its new releases. When has Nintendo ever quietly launched a game, without
review copies without marketing without any fanfare whatsoever? Devil’s
Third must be really bad.
