News & Views
4/30/16-5/6/16
Hello and
welcome to another week of News & Views! I know I’m excited to sit down and
re-read some of these fantastic pieces I found around the web this week. So
whether you’re taking a break from the Overwatch
open beta or waiting in the theater to see Captain America: Civil War, take some time to give these great
authors a read!
This week I
found stories about the history of the fireball spell in games, lamenting the
loss of the cheesy yet iconic Street
Fighter music, and design lessons learned after working on a massively
successful game for over 20 years.
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
Mark Rosewater,
Gamasutra
Worth Reading
Brian
Crecente, Polygon
Kenneth
Lowe, Paste
Charles
Singletary, Unwinnable
Jon
Peterson, Gamasutra
Jon Irwin,
Paste
With Comments
Joshua
Calixto, Kill Screen
The first in a pair of musical
stories I wanted to spotlight this week. Joshua Calixto comments on a video
that made its way around the web this week – an impressive improvisational jazz
drumming performance set to one of the most infamous Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive matches of all time. The
synesthetic experience is not one to be missed. I love the performance and
would love to see more like this.
Ario
Barzan, Kill Screen
Onto the second musical story. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything Barzan says, his point is well taken. Old Street Fighter music is corny, terrible, yet totally glorious and memorable. I don’t think that Street Figher V is a quote “aural swamp” (as much as I like the term), but much of the music has been toned down. I, however, do not see how anyone can deny the greatness that is RA-SHI-DOOOOOOOOOO.
Onto the second musical story. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything Barzan says, his point is well taken. Old Street Fighter music is corny, terrible, yet totally glorious and memorable. I don’t think that Street Figher V is a quote “aural swamp” (as much as I like the term), but much of the music has been toned down. I, however, do not see how anyone can deny the greatness that is RA-SHI-DOOOOOOOOOO.
Alex Wawro,
Gamasutra
In no-one-was-surprised news, it
turns out betas work as game ads. It’s something we’ve talked a lot about on
the podcast. We are seeing more and more ‘betas’ that aren’t beta builds at
all, but rather are snippets of a finished final game. Betas are now game
demos. This report hit close to home for me because I am using Overwatch’s current open beta to determine whether or not I want to buy it at release.
If that’s not an ad, I don’t know what is.
Rick Lane,
Eurogamer
Pandemic is the board game that got me into designer
board games. Its simple premise and gameplay mask extraordinary complexity and
unlimited fun. Author Rick Lane speaks with the game’s designer, Matt Leacock,
about the conceptual and physical journey to creating and releasing the now
mega-famous board game. Worth reading to be sure.
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