Friday, June 24, 2016

News & Views
6/18/16-6/24/16

I'm so excited for this week to be finally ending! It was my first full week back at lab after E3 and it felt like it. On top of all that, next week I'll be heading out to vacation so working on my experiments felt even longer! I know what you're thinking -- don't worry! The Impact Factor never skips a beat. We'll have TIF Plays on Monday, a new article on Tuesday, and a brand new episode of the podcast on Friday. Please be excited.

News & Views compiles the week's best video game writing into one convenient place. Check out the links below for stories about how millennial gamers may be shaping Las Vegas, Konami's living death at E3 2016, and how DOTA2 eSports might be nearing its Moneyball moment.

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
Keza MacDonald, Kotaku UK
Worth Reading
Guest Post, Unwinnable

Ian Bogost, Gamasutra

Allegra Frank, Polygon

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

Kyle Orland, ars technica

Jordan Minor, Geek

With Comments
Richard Leadbetter, Eurogamer
E3 2016 brought about the first official announcement of this next (new?) console generation. Microsoft bragged about Project Scorpio and how it will deliver 4K visuals for both movies and games alike. Rumored specs for the PlayStation Neo suggest it too will be going into 4K. Richard Leadbetter of Eurogamer argues that maybe pushing for 4K isn’t the best use of the power in these machines. I know I don’t really care so much about 4K, especially if it is at the expense of running games at 60FPS. I guess we’ll see in the year to come.

Will Partin, Kill Screen
I love this. I loved what Oakland did to make the A’s relevant all those years back, and it’s fascinating to see the same ideas take shape in DOTA eSports. The notion that you could assemble a statistically strong squad, just going by in-game performance and role filling, and have that team be exceptional? So cool. I’ll be keeping my eye on the DOTA scene, looking for that Moneyball moment.

Brian Crecente, Polygon
Crecente’s piece must have taken courage to write. In it, he suggests guns' depictions in video games may not be as innocuous as we’ve been led to believe. The argument is a complex one with no real answer. Many studies have been done showing no link between playing video games and real life gun violence, but nothing de rigeur has been performed. I strongly believe there is no correlation, but the guns in games could have any number of other effects. For example, I can tell the difference between a FAMAS and a UMP-45 and a M4A1 just by looking, and that’s insane. Why should I know anything about these deadly weapons? As games continue to get bigger, maybe we’ll get a better view into the bigger picture. Until then, just game responsibly and be actively engaged in what your children are playing. It couldn’t hurt.

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