News & Views
3/19/16-3/25/16
Happy
weekend and Happy (almost) Easter to all who choose to celebrate! I’m looking
forward to a nice couple of days ahead. I also made some plans for next week
that have me super excited. Just got to get through the rest of today and I’m
in the clear!
News &
Views is my attempt to curate the week’s best video game writing. I feature
great articles, opinions, editorials, and whatever else catches my critical
eye. Check out the links below for stories about action game design from one of
the best in the business, the cognitive dissonance of The Division’s violence, and the triumph of tragedy in Life is Strange.
And of
course please 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
John Andersen, Kill Screen
Worth Reading
Christian Nutt, Gamasutra
Matt Sayer, Unwinnable
Patrick Klepek, Kotaku
Forest Handford, Gamasutra
Cassidee Moser, IGN
With Comments
Ferguson Mitchell, The Daily
Dot
I may not play it anymore, but Magic
remains one of the most compelling card games (and card game communities) out
there. I was savvy to this story as it unfurled, so it was great to see it in a
concise summary form here. The story of how one card can be worth $15,000 is a
great one. I remember trying to open a Tarmogoyf back when it was first
released (then ~$40, now $130). No luck. Dangit.
Ed Smith, Kill Screen
Life is Strange caught me by surprise. I knew I wanted to
play it because I love playing interactive narrative games with my fiancée, but
was so pleasantly surprised when the game was stellar. One aspect that stood
out was just how deep the sadness was in Life is Strange. Ed Smith writes about how despair is
represented well in the game, especially in how it undermines the black &
white morality choice systems we’ve seen in similar titles. Beware spoilers,
but well worth a read.
Derek Yu, Gamasutra
I got to (kind of) meet Derek Yu the other
week!! It was so exciting. I did get
to buy his book though! Not only is Yu an exceptional game designer (Spelunky is
one of my favorites of all time), but it also turns out he’s not too shabby a
writer as well. I highly recommend reading this excerpt from his book, as it
touches on the core design foundation of Spelunky—one of the most influential titles of the past decade.
Eric Van Allen, Paste
I’ve seen this argument a lot, but I have not
tired of reading about it (yet). It’s hard to feel heroic when you’re
ruthlessly gunning down people in the streets. Not aliens, not demons, not
abstract forms. Real, living, people. For many, the gameplay’s interaction with
narrative has troubling implications. You kill looters but then proceed to loot
yourself. There are no non-lethal options to stopping foes. Some have argued
about the racial undertones of the game’s attempt at distinguishing looters
from friendly NPCs (they are wearing hoodies). I still have little to no
interest in playing The
Division, but man is there a lot of interesting
things to say about it. So, congrats Ubisoft?
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