Friday, May 13, 2016

News & Views
5/7/16-5/13/16

Hello and happy Friday! I know that I’m looking forward to the weekend, what about you? My last few have been relatively busy, so I can’t wait to just relax with the fiancée, watch some K Dramas, and play the heck out of Uncharted 4. It has been fantastic so far.

News & Views collects the week’s best writing about video games. Check out the links below to stories about the best hand animations in first-person games, the artists and art that inspired Dark Souls, an argument for better systems in place to stop racist Twitch chat, and an opus on Lionhead studio from origin to closure.

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
Wesley Yin-Poole, Eurogamer

Worth Reading
Zack Kotzer, Kill Screen

Alex Wawro, Gamasutra

Gareth Damian Martin, Kill Screen

Chris Plante, The Verge

Patricia Hernandez, Kotaku

With Comments
Christopher Livingston, PC Gamer
What a fascinating spotlight article. Hand animations are an essential part of so many games today. In my experience I don’t tend to notice when they are bad, but holy cow do you notice when they are done well. One of 2016’s best games, Firewatch, features great hand animations. The article is worth reading for the gifs alone.

Carling Filewich, GosuGamers
I’ve had it with Twitch chat for large gaming tournaments. An unacceptable level of “trolling” i.e. racist, sexist, disgusting vitriol is allowed to happen. I was so excited to see TerrenceM play at Dreamhack this past weekend – and he was playing great. To see what was happening in the chat every time he was spotlighted made me sick to my stomach, though. Enough is enough. If Twitch users can’t responsibly chat, there shouldn’t be chat at all.

Alex Gilyadov, Paste
Alex Gilyadov presents some compelling arguments as to why you shouldn’t immediately write off the much-maligned Final Fantasy XII. I enjoyed playing XII contemporary to its release, but the game never really clicked with me. Do I think it is the most underrated game in the series? Actually? Maybe. There are several overrated Final Fantasy titles (VIII comes to mind), but not too many that are underrated. So congrats, Final Fantasy XII. At least you have that going for you. (P.S. The Zodiark fight is still bullcrap)

Philippa Warr, RockPaperShotgun
Philippa Warr’s piece on RPS is the Dark Souls of articles. Haha, joking. I, too, am guilty of describing things as the “Dark Souls of ____.” Warr’s comedic take on this now common gaming jargon is great and well worth reading. Not that I agree with all her points, of course. But I supposed I couldn’t fully agree, since The Impact Factor is the Dark Souls of gaming blogs. Ok, sorry. That’s the last one I promise.

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