Da
News
& Views
1/30/16-2/5/16
Happy February to all you Impact Factors! Heh, I like that. January
might have been a bit slow for new releases, but February is no slouch! With Crypt of the Necrodancer this week, Firewatch the next, and Street Fighter V after that, there’s no
shortage of awesome gaming goodness coming our way. Keep up with the blog or
follow me on Twitter to stay
on top of it!
Onto News & Views! As always, this Friday feature compiles my favorite
video game writing, stories, videos and more. I found some really good ones
this week. From how the PC port of Final
Fantasy VI is secretly good for modding, how to talk about games if you’re
blind, and a report on the state of game development in central Africa, this
week has it all. Let me know which stories you found the most resonant!
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
Robert Kingett, Kill Screen
Worth
Reading
Jonathan Epstein, Gamasutra
Patrick Klepek, Kotaku
Tauriq Moosa, Polygon
Richard Moss, Gamasutra
Wes Fenlon, PC Gamer
With
Comments
Chris Park, Arcen Games
Chris
Park of Arcen Games shares a truly tragic story of the risk, sacrifice, and
harsh reality of being an independent game developer. Despite the hard work of
the team and a well-reviewed final product, the financial realities of the
fledgling studio meant that a large number of employees had to be let go. Game
development at all levels is difficult, but these vignettes about indie
development should serve as a warning sign for both young and old: it ain’t
easy. I hope everyone let go can land on their feet somewhere else.
Anna Moore, The Guardian
Not the kind
of story I usually share with you all here on the blog, but one I felt I needed
to. Online gaming isn’t all fun and games. My heart goes out to this family.
Especially for those of you with young children, but still important for those
without, be vigilant about your online activity. There are some bad people out
there. Further, this story reinforces a stance I’ve had for quite a while—law
enforcement needs to take these situations more seriously. Whether it be better
tools to seek out offenders or protections for potential victims. Just
something more.
Zack Hage, Medium
Rev3Games
was a big part of my video game media consumption a few years ago. They
produced thoughtful, quality content that wasn’t ashamed of being different
from other gaming news or op/ed sites. Rev3Games gave one of my favorite games
pundits, Adam Sessler, a vehicle to share his uninhibited self with the world. It
was great, until it was just…gone. Sessler’s departure was the beginning of a
very rapid end. As a footnote to the article, one of Rev3Games’s alums Max Scoville
took to Reddit to clarify (and refute) some of the topics the author discussed.
“Max: The people most responsible for its creation were Zac Minor and
Anthony Carboni. Everyone left for different reasons. I won't go into
those (partially because it'd be unprofessional, partially because it's tedious
boring business stuff) but it wasn't just as simple as the thumbnails not being
flashy enough, or headlines not being stupid enough.”
Kaitlin Tremblay, VICE
Video
games haven’t always (read: ever) been a source of the most dynamic character
relationships. If it’s some big budget AAA game and there a few guys and a few
girls, odds are two or more of them are in a romantic relationship with each
other. Tremblay writes both specifically and generally about why games need
more ‘just good friends’ relationships, citing Tales
from the Borderlands as a recent success.
Agreed. We need more Rhys & Fiona.
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