The Impact Factor

News & Views

5/28/16-6/3/16

This week went by in an instant. I had a great time relaxing with my fiancée, got some nice experiments done in lab, and of course I played the hell out of Overwatch. It has been years since I got this sucked into a multiplayer shooter.

News & Views collects the week’s best video game writing. Check out the links below for stories about how Rocket League strategies have made it clear that the game is more than just soccer with cars, how Final Fantasy IX handles the inevitability of death, and why crafting that perfect ending to your game might not be worth it.

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

Learning About Life and Death From a Little Black Mage

Gino Grieco, Giant Bomb

Worth Reading

Soccer tactics and the evolution of Rocket League

Bhernardo Viana, Kill Screen

Growing Esports: Inspiration From Other Industries

Jake Parmley, Gamasutra

How To Stop Worrying And Love Overwatch

Nico Deyo, Paste

Melee players can develop different physical ailments depending on their main character? Understanding the hand health epidemic in competitive Smash

John Macone, Eventhubs

Doom is asking important questions that FPSes aren't

Greg Kasavin, PC Gamer

With Comments

Overwatch cheaters are having a hard time

Angus Morrison, PC Gamer

Blizzard came out early and aggressively against Overwatch cheaters. In fact, they promised to permanently ban a player after their first offense. Little did we know how serious Blizzard was. I’ve copied an anecdote from the article that summarizes it perfectly: You cheat, you lose. Period.

"Got banned one day after the official release," one enemy of fair play recounts. "Thought I got detected for using RPM tools, because the game was crashing for it at that time.

"Bought the game again... didn't hack on it at all, just wanted to enjoy the game a bit. Two days later—banned again.

"Bought the game... again. But before doing that, I deleted Overwatch and launcher completely. Enjoyed it again without cheating only for a day."

            On his fourth attempt, he purged his PC, changing hard drive IDs, MAC address, BiosDate and buying a VPN to throw Blizzard's anticheat off. It didn't work.

Uncharted 4 Solves The Series' Identity Crisis

Evan Narcisse, Kotaku

When the term “ludonarrative dissonance” was common parlance in the greater games discussion, Uncharted was always the first title named. People weren’t wrong for naming it, either. How can Nathan Drake be a loveable rogue when he literally kills hundreds of people each and every game? Part of what I touched upon in my review, but it written much better by Evan Narcisse over at Kotaku, is how Uncharted 4 leans into this dissonance – co-opting it to serve as the narrative foundation. Beware spoilers, but thoroughly worth reading.

Endings Won't Be Remembered

Matt Sayer, Unwinnable

It astounds me how few game owners finish the games they buy. Since the advent of trophies / achievements, it has been possible to ascertain completion percentage on a game-to-game basis. As Matt Sayer writes, laughably few players manage to finish games. Even when a game is just a few hours long the completion percentage remains sub 50%. It’s insane. Maybe it’s not so important to have that perfect ending to your narrative game. Chances are no more than 30% of players will even get to it.